Sana seemed speechless at Nayeon’s words, staring at the woman as though she feared speaking or moving would ruin everything and render her alone again. 

 

“Or not…” The witch trailed, slightly self conscious at putting herself out there, but Sana sat up. 

 

“Would you seriously do that for me?” She asked, a smile on her face beyond Nayeon’s vision in the dark. 

 

“I-I mean, if you want that.” Nayeon sputtered, something out of character for the usually confident young witch. 

 

“I’d love that!” Sana gasped, turning to turn the light on to look at Nayeon excitedly, her body vibrating with excitement, but the loss of physical contact made Nayeon frown. 

 

“Okay, where do you want to go?” Nayeon asked, sitting up and turning to slip her shoes on. “Japan?” 

 

“No.” Sana turned her nose up before putting her own shoes on. “Anywhere but there.” 

 

“Alright.” Nayeon sighed, standing up and rounding the bed to Sana’s side and holding a hand out for the girl to take. 

 

“Where are we going?” The human asked, causing the witch to shrug. 

 

“My favorite place in this realm.” She grinned, and something about the look in her eyes made it impossible for Sana not to find herself reaching out. 

 

Before she knew it, the two were standing in the middle of an open field on top of a hill, which overlooked a skyline that took Sana’s breath away. 

 

“Wow,” she whispered in awe as she stepped forward and looked out at the horizon. Nayeon noted Sana’s excitement from afar, a small smile on her lips as she looked on as the human’s big, wonderstruck smile and wide eyes fell open, her shoulders slumped, palms out as though she was taking in the sun, welcoming it into her soul in a way that could only be done at the top of a hill filled with pink and purple lupins that kissed the backs of her calves as the wind blew them against her flesh. 

 

Nayeon’s eyes couldn’t help but drink in the way the orange glow of the sun washed over her inhumanly beautiful visage, casting a shadow over every other work of art or beautiful woman Nayeon had ever seen in all the places she’s been, in all the faces she’s set eyes on. She noted the way her skin looked so natural and warm under the rays kissing the surface of her skin that, somehow, always glowed just a little bit brighter than the sun. 

 

And the glint in her warm honey brown orbs that, somehow, sparkled brighter than every star that blanketed the night sky. 

 

“It’s beautiful.” Sana gasped finally, astonished at the way the mountains somehow disappeared in favor of the crystal clear ocean in the foreground, as still as the night sky as the sun untucked itself from its hiding place and prepared itself to shine on the people for another day. 

 

"It really is." Nayeon smiled blissfully, wanting to close her eyes to take everything in through the rest of her senses, but not willing to pass up on a second where she isn't looking at the woman in her midst.

 

Sana exhaled as though she'd just accomplished something amazing before looking over her shoulder at the woman staring at her before running through the field to take Nayeon's hand and head toward the water. 

 

Nayeon thought about closing her eyes and orbing them to the beach. She thought about how, if she were with Jeongyeon, or anyone else across any dimension, she would do just that. 

 

But this is Sana. 

 

A wonderful, beautiful woman who was used to running rather than orbing. 

 

A human. 

 

A human who was holding her hand. 

 

So no, Nayeon didn't orb. 

 

Because Nayeon would give anything to spend just one more second with the rush of lightning running through her veins. 

 

Because Nayeon would give up everything she knew to hold Sana's hand for just a little bit longer. 

 

Once the two got down to the water, Sana kicked her shoes off and, much to Nayeon's dismay, released her grasp on the woman's hand to run along the wet patch where the water kisses the sand, hands out at her sides like a little witch trying to take flight. 

 

Her hair flew around as the ocean breeze combed through it and demanded Nayeon's eyes in a way Sana always does. 

 

"What do you usually do when you come here?" Asked the human, shaking the messenger out of her stupor. 

 

Nayeon smiled softly to herself before leaning down to sit right where the water and the shore met, allowing the icy water to kiss the backs of her thighs. Sana rose her brow, wondering how, when there was all the sun, all this water, all this space, Nayeon would wish just to sit there. 

 

Until she finally mirrored Nayeon’s position and took the time to take in the scenery like Nayeon did.

 

“Wow.” Sana sighed wondrously, pulling her knees to her chest and leaning her head on the witch’s shoulder as they both looked out upon the horizon of dawn casting a soft orange glow over everything the light touched, including Nayeon’s warm, sun kissed skin. “This is incredible.” Sana whispered, closing her eyes to listen to the gulls cawing in the distance.

 

“Everyone deserves to have a favorite place.” Admitted the witch as she turned her head to scan her eyes over the human who laid against her, not able to get enough of the unscathed features of her peaceful visage. Her gaze etched and traced every centimeter, commiting the smallest pore, the slightest change in tone, every last teeny, tiny strand of peach fuzz to her long term memory, in case this was the last time she was ever able to see Sana like this. 

 

She made sure to store everything. 

 

The feeling of Sana’s chest as it rose and fell peacefully against her arm, to the way the sun melded with the ocean, to the way Nayeon’s heartbeat went a little faster every time she let it sink in that she was sitting next to, quite possibly, the most devine creature to ever meet eyes with this god forsaken planet, and across any and every demension she has, and will ever be blessed or cursed to lay eyes upon in her long, long lifetime to come. 

 

“I haven’t been to enough places to have a favorite.” Sana admitted, and Nayeon smiled softly before finally laying her head against the one that rested on her shoulder.

 

“I guess that just means I’ll have to take you somewhere else one day.” She assured, and Sana looked up into Nayeon’s eyes, a warm, kind look that made the messenger’s chest ache in the most beautiful and unfamiliar way. 

 

“I think any place you take me will be my new favorite.” She whispered, her breath shaky as her eyes fell to Nayeon’s lips with a lightning fast speed that made the witch think she imagined it.

 

“And why is that?” Nayeon asked shakily, her own eyes daring their own pace downward, until she felt Sana’s breath against her chin. 

 

“Because I’ve never felt so special with someone before.” She whispered, and the witch couldn’t help herself when she found her hand coming up to move Sana’s hair out of her face. 

 

“I’ve never seen someone so special before.” She admitted, hand cradling Sana s though she was precious and priceless. 

 

“Will you kiss me?” Sana asked, her eyes slowly falling closed, and the taller woman’s breath hitched, her chest heaving and heart beating around her ears as she broke through the last inch of space, reaping the rewards of such a move in the form of a set of lungs devoid of air, a stomach frenzied with butterflies, and a surge of electricity igniting throughout every ounce of blood, coursing through her veins and making her fingertips tremble as their lips melded together, to pieces of a puzzle coming together in a way almost unfathomable. 

 

… 

 

“Jihyo,” The Quizmaster witch snapped her head to find the source of the voice that, somehow, was painfully familiar and completely distant. She looked through the darkness to find something, anything that would make it easier for her to figure out where she was, and why she was there. “Jihyo!” Called the voice again, and Jihyo’s chest twisted in discomfort as her instincts told her just to close her eyes. 

 

Behind her lids, like a projector, lit up a face, but only in remnants. Like the broken parts of her memory from so long ago could only string together the most important things Jihyo could make out. 

 

A thin, soft, warm smile. The memory of which was vivid. The laugh she let out, warm and heartfelt, something Jihyo could never forget, including the little crescent dimples that lined her lips in an inviting way. A way that brushed away any doubt Jihyo had about this woman being anything but the pure embodiment of good. 

 

“Jihyo, my love, you shouldn’t be in here.” Smiled that smile as the woman who belonged to it leaned down and reached her arms up to pick up Jihyo, reminding her of what it felt like to be young again, something she wasn’t allowed to feel growing up. Her chest was filled with a pleasant swell that reminded Jihyo of one person and only one. 

 

“Mom?” Jihyo asked wondrously, looking around and turning her head in hopes to catch up to where she was, but through the darkness shone a face she so hated, only much younger. 

 

“I’m sorry, honey.” He smiled, leaning in to kiss his wife softly, “I know you’re busy with your research.” 

 

“I’m never too busy for my baby.” She offered before pulling Jihyo’s eyes away from her father to sit at the desk of her office, which Jihyo recognized as the old library she met Sana in. 

 

She looked around, but it was as though the only light was where her mother smiled, and the rest was a shadow of darkness that covered Jihyo in fear, but it was the least she could recongnize before she was thrown to the ground by a force slamming into her body and knocking the air out of her lungs, making her painfully aware that she wasn’t dreaming like she thought. 

 

Suddenly, she wasn’t in control of her body anymore, and she was stuck looking through her eyes as her limbs moved of their own accord. The vessel that caried her eyes struggled to stand to her feet, stumbling as though too disoriented to walk in a straight line. Balled fists came up to rub fuzzy eyes and once they were away, Jihyo’s eyes were met with a river, her nostrils filled with the smells of nature, from fresh, damp grass and trees to the rancid smell of something dead in the distance, and her ears were painfully aware of the water rushing down the stream in the distance, the sound of footsteps pounding against her skull like the mighty swing of a hammer poppy hacking away at the very casing of her brain. 

 

Jihyo’s body looked around frantically before running in the opposite direction of the footsteps, weaving in and out of trees with the agility of a quadriped and the reflexes of a trained fighter. Suddenly, her spine began to tingle, then sting, then rip through her entire being like lightning tearing her skin and muscles until a mighty crack resounded in her poor, aching skull, making her want to let out a blood curdling wail, but the vessel wouldn’t allow it. 

 

Though, suddenly, she was close to the ground, and below her was a pair of stark white paws, finally allowing Jihyo to figure out exactly whose body she was observing. 

 

“You won’t get far, witch!” Called one man, from behind, while others screamed in languages she didn’t understand but recognized from their Latin conjugation as something along the lines of French or Spanish. 

 

The body she was inside of quickly took a harsh right before slipping through the lip of a small cave before turning toward the opening, watching in terrified silence as the men passed by, much to her relief. Her bones cracked agonzingly again, back into place so she was standing to full height and staring down at fleshy hands, which were shaking and covered in mud from running through the forest. 

 

Jihyo heard crying, and the vessel she resided in fell to her bare knees in the back of the cage, uncovering the small bundle and revealing an infant who seemed unable to sit up or feed itself, and apparently too young even to know not to cry when being pursued, because cry it did. 

 

Jihyo found herself holding it and hushing it desperately, eyes leaking and body trembling in fear as the sounds came back near. 

 

“I hear something!” Called the man from the distance, something that this species was able to hear with its enhanced hearing. 

 

The hands that belonged to Jihyo set the wailing baby on the ground and let out pained sobs before picking up a large, heavy rock. 

 

Jihyo wanted nothing more than to close her eyes in this moment. To leave, to die, to be swallowed whole before having to experience this, but still, she coudln’t help her arms’ (harsh, white-knuckled grip on the rock) upward, or the way they rushed back downward, directly at the crying child. 

 

“Wake up!” Shouted Chaeyoung, taking Jihyo out of her heated memory just before she was forced to witness such a thing.

 

“Oh my God,” Jihyo gasped as she sat up, chest heaving, forehead laced with sweat and hands trembling from the stress of her dream. 

 

“You were screaming.” Chaeyoung deadpanned, eyes glazed over with boredom as she jumped down from the coffee table and handed her a bottle of water. 

 

“Did I say anything?” Jihyo asked breathily before taking the water greatfully and downing it. 

 

“Nope.” The necromancer shrugged as she sat back down in her recliner, kicking her feet up and crossing them before speaking up again. “But I know what you were dreaming about.” 

 

“What?” Jihyo asked, trying to turn in her place on the couch, suddenly becoming aware of the weight on her feet. She pulled the covers off of her legs and saw the subject of her dream, curled into a ball like a puppy, right on top of her feet, letting out a soft purring noise, despite the fact that she was in human form. “H-how do you know?” She stuttered, painfully aware of the past of this poor woman. 

 

Chaeyoung scoffed, “I think you people all forget that I’m a death witch. Everything that deals with death, or destruction…” Chaeyoung sighed, painfully aware of the reality of such a statement. “I can feel it all.” 

 

“That sounds awful.” Jihyo frowned, and the shorter witch shrugged. 

 

“It is what it is. I guess my existence is important enough to be in a prophecy.” 

 

It was silent for a moment, the two just lingering in an awkward bout of dissatisfied quietude that seemed to eat away at the little comfort they felt. 

 

“I know this is probably a less than ideal situation to be in,” Jihyo sighed, “And I am sorry that your only semblance of normalcy seems to be your lover, and I am even more sorry that you have to be away from her while trapped here.” She knew what it was like being shrouded in misfortune, better than anyone else, other than, maybe the girl who treated her legs like a pillow. 

“I haven’t left her side in three hundred years.” Chaeyoung admitted, dropping her head back against the back of the chair and looking up at the high rise ceiling. “They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, but I feel as though I’m losing the bond we had for so long, and I’ve only gone one night without sleeping by her side.” Or sleeping at all. 

 

“I’m sorry.” Jihyo frowned, “I wish I could sympathize, but the only person I’ve felt anything close to love for died when I was a small child.” 

 

“And who was that?” Chaeyoung asked, raising a brow upon lifting her head again.

 

“My mother.” 

 

… 

 

“Can’t sleep?” Tzuyu asked, turning around in the bed to face Mina, who’s been tossing and turning for the past three hours. 

 

“Losing your father does that to you.” Mina sighed, eyes fixed on the ceiling, head resting on the pillow beneath her head that was far too cushy in comparison to the single Jeckleskin blanket she was accustomed to sleeping with. 

 

“Yeah, well…” Tzuyu sighed, “I died a few hours ago so... I get it.” She assured, making the ice witch turn her head to look her betrothed in the eyes. 

 

“Are you okay?” It may have been a stupid question, and Mina immediately regretted it, but something about the concern in her eyes made Tzuyu smile. 

 

“I am, yeah.” She assured, “What about you?” 

 

It was the first time anyone asked her how she felt, not just about her father’s death, but in her entire life, and that fact made Mina’s lip tremble. 

 

“No.” She whimpered, feeling her angry resolve crumble into a million pieces. “I don’t think I have ever been okay.” 

 

Her broken voice made Tzuyu’s face soften, and she scooted closer to her fiance, opening her arms and pulling the poor, fragile girl into her body. 

 

“It’s okay to be hurting, Mina.” Tzuyu whispered as Mina sobbed into her chest, soaking Dahyun’s top with her tears. The taller girl ran her fingers through soft locks of brown hair as the girl’s shoulders shook against her. “It’s okay to feel lost, it’s okay to break sometimes, as long as someone is there to help stitch the cracks back together.” 

 

Her voice was warm, and soft, and it engulfed Mina in a feeling she has never felt, in all her years of life, not around anyone. 

 

That feeling was comfort. 

 

That feeling was, for a lack of a better word… 

 

Warmth. 

 

And warmth was all she never knew she needed. 

 

… 

 

The next morning, when Sana and Nayeon left their shared room, they walked out to see six pairs of eyes on them. 

 

“What?” Asked Nayeon in confusion, and Jihyo was the first to speak up. 

 

“I already told them you left last night.” She admitted, making Sana groan. 

 

“You know, you have got to stop reading our minds, Jihyo, it’s really invasive, and now everyone knows we kissed, which is really-” 

 

“You kissed the human?” Jeongyeon asked of her best friend from her place on the counter of the kitchen area, and now gazes got more prying. 

 

“I didn’t read your mind,” Jihyo fought back an amused grin, “Momo heard you guys talking about leaving, and she woke up when she heard you come back.” 

 

Momo was sitting at the table with an orange split open in her hands, looking over it at everyone with wide eyes as though she had done something wrong. 

 

“It’s nice to know you have a type though, Im.” Chaeyoung smirked as she brushed past her to make her way to the bathroom. “I guess you must have dibs on the other human.” She finished before closing the door, making Nayeon roll her eyes. 

 

“I’m not strictly into humans,” Nayeon insisted, “Sana is just…” She trailed, cheeks flushing when she met the human’s eyes. “She’s different.” She shrugged, unsure of what she was trying to convince other people, but she knew she wasn’t ready to explain what she feels when she looks at that beautiful young human.

 

“Anyway,” Jeongyeon trailed awkwardly, “has anybody had an epiphany over night? I really need to head home.” 

 

“Why? Have more fathers to kill?” Mina sneered from Tzuyu’s side on the couch, making Jeongyeon roll her eyes. 

 

“Look, I said I’m sorry. I don’t know what else you want from me but-” 

 

“God, shut up.” Chaeyoung groaned, swinging the bathroom door open and walking out, catching everybody’s attention. “I found out that time works differently in each realm.” She admitted before seating herself on the counter beside Jeongyeon. “I don’t know how time works differently between here and our realm, but my source says that the realm Yerim is on works a month for every two hours.” 

 

“Your source being your… uh…” Tzuyu trailed, and Chaeyoung narrowed her eyes at the nature witch. 

 

“Yes.” She answered simply, not blinking or showing any emotion on her face at the mention of her lover. “But that also means that there is a very real possibility that time is going either much faster or much slower in our world than it is here.” 

 

“So… for all we know, we could end up going back and our entire world could’ve changed?” Sana asked, and the death witch rolled her eyes. 

 

“Obviously.” Chaeyoung rolled her eyes, making Sana hug her torso insecurely. 

 

“I just wish that we knew any other witches here.” Tzuyu sighed, and for the first time all morning, Momo spoke up. 

 

“I know where other witches are.” Momo admitted, mouth full of the orange she was snacking on. 

 

“Where?” Asked Nayeon excitedly, and the fox shrugged.

 

“I only know how to get there.” She admitted, “There isn’t a map to it, and it’s invisible to the eyes of the unworthy.” 

 

“So, does that mean we’re going on a trip?” Chaeyoung asked, putting a foot out at her side and resting her arm on her knee. 

 

“I think it means we have to talk to Dahyun.” Sana piped, and Jeongyeon scoffed. 

 

“Why are we bringing a human when the fox clearly said that only the worthy can see it?” 

 

“Do you know how to summon an ‘Uber,’ Jeongyeon?” Nayeon asked, venom laced in her tone at the assumption that Dahyun’s human status deems her unworthy of seeing such a place. 

 

Jeongyeon rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest in a pout. 

 

“Whatever.” 

 

… 

 

“Are you sure Yerim would approve of you taking control of her vessel?” Asked Jihyo from where she sat in the front middle seat of Yeri’s green, beat up six seater truck, Momo sitting next to her with her eyes trained on the things flying by her outside of the window. 

 

“I mean, she leaves a spare key at the shop for emergencies, so I’m sure she’d be fine with us using it.” Dahyun smiled, eyes trained on the road in front of her.

 

“She trusted you with something so special to her?” Jihyo asked, noting that she didn’t know anyone she trusted enough with her last name, let alone a giant metal vessel she used to get around. 

 

“She and I became close really fast.” Dahyun admitted, “I trust her with my life.”

 

“Do you love her?” Jihyo chanced, causing the human to turn and look Jihyo in the eyes briefly before looking back to the road. 

 

“I think I do, yeah.” Dahyun smiled softly to herself. “I mean, we’ve kissed once, but everything with her has always felt right.” Her lips buzzed at the memory of their lock, and her entire body ignited in warmth at the memory of the way Yerim made her feel. “Nothing has ever felt more right than when I kissed her.” 

 

“How did you meet?” Jihyo asked, intrigued, and Dahyun grinned before shifting in her seat, and tucking her right ankle under her left leg, which stayed near the brake pedal, her knee against Jihyo’s outer thigh. 

 

“She was walking by while I was getting the store set up, and she helped me unpack boxes and put things on shelves.” She smiled, and suddenly, Jihyo’s eyelids grew heavy and she was forced to close her eyes. 

 

-

 

“Need a hand?” Asked an unfamiliar voice from somewhere out of Dahyun’s sight, and when she set the giant box down, she was able to meet eyes with who was beyond her obstructed views. 

 

“Uh… no thanks.” She chuckled awkwardly, cheeks flush when she let her eyes sink in upon just how beautiful this woman was. 

 

“Are you sure?” She smiled, pulling her phone out of her pocket and presenting it to the woman. “I’ll give you this as insurance that I won’t take anything.” 

 

Dahyun knew it was out of the ordinary, but something about the woman’s warm eyes and kind smile told her that there was nothing to worry about. 

 

“Alright… yeah.” She smiled, taking the phone and slipping it into her back pocket. 

 

“I’m Yerim.” She offered as she followed Dahyun out of the store, to the moving truck to grab boxes. 

 

“Dahyun.” She smiled naturally, something she hasn’t found herself doing since she lost her grandmother. 

 

“That’s a beautiful name.” The girl smiled over her shoulder, and that smile, suddenly, it hit the eyes of the woman viewing. 

 

-

 

Jihyo opened her eyes and gasped as though all the air had been thrown back into her lungs all at once. 

 

“Th-that’s my mom!” Jihyo breathed, her head pounding and her body trembling upon the realization. 

 

“She’s alive?”