Ara would have thought she was dreaming. 

Stepping through the entry felt like dropping from the highest peak of a roller coaster, her stomach churned and she stumbled - Mingi caught hold of her just in time. "Y-you okay?" he asked her, when he seemed to have gone white too and was holding back from lurching. 

Regaining stability, Ara nodded. "Yeah," and she steadied herself. From the corner of her eye, she was sure she saw Yunho look away for some reason. Oddly enough, she realised he had been awfully quiet. But that wasn't the main concern now, maybe he was just as anxious as them. Once the anxiety faded, all her senses seemed to sharpen and hit her all at once. 

She noticed the sky in Faerie displayed the aurora light, a phospenes of colours against the beautiful dusk; hawthorn trees of various colours of pure white and cherry pink surrounded them, little twinkling lights danced around her and she swore she could hear the jinggling of bells as each one passed. Everything was straight out of the storybooks she had read when she was a child. 

Rocco could see her awe and smirked, "First visits to Faerie are always enchanting," he said when the music became louder from a distance. "Come, the revel is this way."

"It's beautiful," said Mingi as they walked. Ara guessed they had taken an entrance lesser known to people, as she could spot the other guests coming from further away towards what looked like a central area of the forest. Older people in pearls and designer purses, clad in suits and tophats much to Ara's amusement and a number of younger people their age as well. "I recognise her," Mingi whispered, pointing at the girl in a purple gown and light blonde hair. "One of my mom's clients' daughter, Elise Pevensie."

"You close?" 

"No but my mom's been trying to make me take her out to dinner," he groaned. "Maybe since she thinks you and I are dating now she'll stop."

Ara snorted. As Rocco led the way in his flamboyant tailcoat and crow's head cane, blending into the crowd of equally well-dressed individuals, Ara sneaked a glance at Yunho from time to time. She knew he was just as nervous about their mission, but this was an unnatural silence from him and she was compelled to ask the reason behind it. "Yunho-" she began.

"Now before we enter, a few reminders," Rocco interrupted before she could say anything else. The elfman turned to them, his expression more stern than usual. "Do not eat or drink anything offered, unless you want this all to be dream like for everyone otherwise all you do tonight will be gone to waste; two, once you venture deeper into Faerie do not strike any deals with the folk for their honesty comes with great irony and their promises are followed with consequences. They will not be as kind as I am. Do you understand?" his eyes darted at all three of them with thoughtful concern. 

There was no other way to respond, they all nodded.

"Wonderful!" he cheered and hurried forward to the archway. Ara could tell he was more excited about the revel that they were, almost skipping in excitement and that threw her off. The celebration music was loud and clear now, and tones of vibrant lanterns decorated the venue, canopies of luscious greens and royal golds. "Act natural." Rocco murmured at her and instinctively, Ara looped her arm around Mingi's. 

When no one else was looking, she quickly linked her free hand with Yunho's invisible one. He glanced at her for a moment, and gave a quick smile. Even that made Ara's heart ease a little. 

Crowds of the fashionable had gathered, excited chatter awaiting for something Ara did not know. A red-haired girl had offered a tray of bright pink drinks, and she declined before slipping past the sea of guests. The further they marched forward, Ara had a clearly view of the very front of the revel - a line of elaborately decorated chairs made of blooming flowers and vines, seated in three of them were who Ara guessed, the ones throwing the party tonight. 

"So it's the fourth, seventh princes and the third princess who are hosting," he marveled. Two princes, one who towered over the other two was dressed in midnight blue embedded with dazzling gems, the other one in a teal frock coat and a glinting gold laurel wreath on his head and finally, the third princess in a beautiful yellow gown that complimented her warm brown skin. They all looked nothing alike but exuded the same royal aura even from a mile away. 

"Are all faeries this...good looking?" even Mingi gawked. 

Rocco laughed, "Subjective really, but they are not called the royal gentry for nothing. Now I think it's time to leave you to attend to your own matters. Good luck!" he exclaimed and without another word, he had dissolved into the masses of people. 

Ara rolled her eyes, "So much help you are," she muttered. 

"So what now?" Yunho asked. 

Ara looked about, "We need to to blend in before we do anything suspicious. Yunho, you have to try and give us a clearing out of here since well...you're a ghost so people won't pay much attention to you, even if it's just the faeries. Can you do that?"

Yunho nodded, "What about you two?"

Ara filled in for Mingi the details. "We'll try and not look too obvious that we're sneaking off," he answered. "I'm sure the girls would love to dance with me," he said it with confidence. 

"Are you good at dancing?" Yunho asked, raising his eyebrows. 

"Not at all. But I'll charm them with my killer wits."

They all spread out to commence the plan. 

Naturally Mingi engaged in conversation with people Ara assumed were some other of his mother's acquaintances, shaking hands and exchanging confidences. Ara watched Yunho slide between guests who were unaware of his presence, every once in a while his eyes met hers so that they wouldn't lose each other. Lose each other, Ara thought absently. 

"Will you do me the honor of this dance?" 

Ara spun around, and she felt like running away. Standing in front of her was one of the faerie princes she had seen earlier, the one with the teal frock coat. Now she could see much clearer and she never thought 'capable of taking her breath away' was something of literal sense: the seventh prince was breathtakingly beautiful. People were staring, excited gasps followed - and the prince seemed perfectly at ease. Ara wasn't sure what she was supposed to do, was she supposed to bow? Curtsy? Let him kiss her hand?

Instead she blurted in the most un-graceful way. "I can't dance."

The prince chuckled, his voice smooth as silk. "When you are dancing with one of the fey, you most definitely can." And without objection, Ara allowed him to guide her to the dance floor; Ambient music performed by the players on the fiddles, pipes and chimes set the tone to a more slow-paced waltz - and soon Ara wasn't worried she'd step on the prince's toes. 

Her eyes refused to look away from him, in a captivating way. His strawberry blonde hair was decorated by the gold wreath, dark blue eyes that reminded Ara of stained glass in a cathedral, in them golden flecks seemed to dance around with the music. Looking into them seemed to make Ara forget the reason she was there-

"Perhaps a bit of practice, but the native talent is there," said the prince. 

"What?" Ara blurted again. "Oh! Thank you, your highness."

"We didn't even properly introduce ourselves. Please, call me Septimus."

Despite it all, Ara stiffled a laugh. Septimus arched a bemused brow, "Does something humour you? Do tell, I'm dreading to know." he was grinning, and god was it charming. 

"No, it's just well...you're the seventh prince and your name literally means 'the seventh' in latin,"

"It's an appropriate name then." The prince's laugh felt genuine, and despite his inhuman beauty, he gave off a friendly warmth. "And yours?"

"Araminta."

"Beautiful name for a beautiful lady," he remarked and it made Ara blush. "Alas, 'tis will all be a dream in the morning and you won't even remember my name," he sighed, but Ara felt that he wasn't that concerned by it. 

"Isn't that what dreams are supposed to be? Beautiful but forgotten?" she asked.

He did not expect that answer and a smile spread on his face. "So tell me Araminta," he switched topics, the small smile still present. "Do you have any dreams? Desires? Wishes?"

Ara considered it carefully, she had to be cautious. The prince was charming, but it could also be deceitful. She had to tell something somewhat true, and there were many things she wanted in life: I wish to be a hero.

"I wish for nothing but happiness for me and my brother," she decided, which wasn't a lie at all. "We used to play pretend ballroom when we were kids, he would have loved this."

"Well your brother sounds like a wonderful person." And as soon as Septimus said that, the music stopped. The dance had ended. 

Septimus let go of her hand curtly, and both of them bowed. "I shall take my leave. Enjoy the night, Araminta and may we meet in your dreams." With a wink, Septimus stepped away, shifting further and further from her until she could no longer see him in the sea of strangers. 

It was like a daze had lifted, and Ara then spotted Yunho from across the floor. He was beckoning at her to follow, but his expression seemed bleak - Ara still didn't know why. Hurriedly, she searched for Mingi and found him kissing Elise Pevensie's hand, apparently they had been dancing too. Together, they made their way past the guests and sooner than they expected, they separated from the twilight revel and into the deeper trenches of Faerie.

Hongjoong had a bad feeling and he didn't know why.

There he was, the last person left in the office of the Bellamy & Co. building. He knew Ara was on her mission into Faerieland (Hongjoong had a lot of other burning questions, but he figured there was no point in asking) and to distract himself, he had voluntereed to complete the rest of his group's presentation before submission tomorrow. 

Yawning, he checked the time on his phone: 2 a.m. . He was feeling sleepy, but there was only a bit more to be done so he had to pull through no matter what. Looking at the script he had written himself, once again, he started recording his voice as he read aloud so that when he actually got back home he could listen to it on repeat as he slept.

Then there was a loud knock on the door of the office, and Hongjoong jumped. He frowned, who could it be at this hour? Derek would be too lazy to come back even if he forgot something, and any ghosts lurking would have no effect on Hongjoong. That he definitely knew.

As confused as he was, he walked over to open the door anyway. 

He didn't realise soon enough when he was trapped.

And when he tried to run, it was too late.