The moon shone darker that night, at least it seemed that way to Taemin. He enjoyed lying in Minho's arms and feeling his breath tenderly on his skin. But all that was just a fantasy. As soon as he fell asleep, the shadow would absorb Minho and Taemin would spend that night alone too.

Minho Taemin's back. He knew it was only a weak comfort, but he wanted to use everything he had to reassure Taemin. They both tried to pretend that this night was normal. As if they had spent the 100 nights before together, and would lie with each other the next night as well.

"I'll be with you when you fall asleep and I'll be there when you wake up." Minho whispered, kissing Taemin's knuckles.

"I know you will, because I won't let us lose each other again."

The light of the moon shone in Taemin's eyes, revealing his true thoughts, but neither dared speak them. If it was their last night together, they wanted to pretend it was forever.

"Tell me about our first kiss." Taemin asked. He snuggled against Minho's chest and closed his eyes.

"We were very young." Started Minho. A smile framed his lips. He hadn't thought about it for a long time. "I've known for a long time that you were more to me than just my best friend. I knew that nothing could ever separate us. But I was also scared. I thought, what if he doesn't feel the same way?"

Taemin had to chuckle. He may not have remembered - or not yet - but he knew it couldn't have been any other way. That he had probably been waiting for this and had the same worries. In no life would he feel less than love for Minho.

"We spent the whole day in the library, you helped me study for my exams. But both of us couldn't concentrate. Like children, every time we looked at each other we had to laugh."

Images of a long forgotten day stirred in Taemin. It was Minho who sat next to him, but unlike today, he wore his hair much shorter and smartly combed to one side. Taemin wrapped one of Minho's curls around his finger and played with it.

"Today, of course, I know I wasn't imagining it, but back then I thought maybe I was dreaming it all. Your eyes, somehow they said what I too had been trying to say to you all day, at least I had hoped so."

Melancholy spread through Minho. If they really were to never see each other again after that night, then he would have all those memories. He could relive all this over and over again. He wondered if his memories faded, would they still be real? Would the traces of their love eventually be found?

"At some point you suggested we go for a walk. I remember we saw so many butterflies in all colours."

With every word, Minho also remembered that day more. It had been summer, he could still clearly hear the cicadas in the meadows as they walked home. The air was fresh, despite the elevated temperatures.

"A cat ran towards us. Of course you petted it." Minho had to laugh because that was Taemin's essence. He could see beauty in everything and give love away so easily and effortlessly. "And that's when I knew I never wanted to be without you again. Even if you wanted to have hundreds of cats, I would love them all because you love them."

Minho put his index finger to Taemin's chin and pushed his face so that they were looking at each other. Taemin's eyes were only half open, Minho's dark baritone had put him into a state of calm.

"It was a perfect day. It was like it was only the two of us." Whispered Minho. "The cat went its way and you came to me. You were so happy, your smile only showed half your joy."

Minho came closer to Taemin, they could feel each other's breath on their skin. Minho continued to speak, saying his last words under his breath, but Taemin could hear them clearly. For all this he too could see in his mind's eye.

"I looked into your eyes and then..."

Their lips met and ecstasy flooded both their bodies. For that moment there was no fear, no tomorrow and no shadow. Only the two of them and their love for each other existed in for that moment. Taemin would cling to that moment as he fell asleep. He would light a bonfire inside himself for Minho, so that he had a safe haven from the shadow and a home as soon as he too would be devoured.

The uncertainties and insecurities that had settled over his memories over time blurred like chalk wiped away by the rain. They were nothing more than small streaks in the distance, one more step and they would disappear completely. With the certainty of their love and the newly created memory, Taemin fell asleep in the arms of his lover and fear was no more than what it was - a word.

Quietly, Minho closed the door behind him. He leaned against it and took a deep breath before turning to Jonghyun. They looked into each other's eyes. And even though Jonghyun was not yet convinced that Taemin was completely innocent, at that moment he wished for nothing more than to be able to take on his human form again and hug Minho.

Wordlessly, Minho sat down on the couch. His elbows on his knees to rest his head on his hands. Endless imaginings surfaced in his mind of what would happen now and none foresaw him getting out of there alive.

"Everything will be all right, won't it?" Jonghyun had sat down beside him. The silence crushed him.

Minho tried to muster a smile and his friend's furry head. He nodded.

"The shadow, it spared you last time. What if it, does it again today?"

"I'm afraid tonight I won't be so lucky."

"Why, what has changed?"

"If Taemin loses me again, then the shadow will finally be able to have him fully. Then it will no longer be bound to Taemin and can find a new shell. It will not miss the chance. The shadow did not spare me then, it planned everything." Explained Minho.

"Then we're walking right into its trap?" Jonghyun couldn't help laughing and Minho joined in too. "And we don't know how to defeat it or how to get out, right?"

"Right."

"Then I'm glad I get to be by your side."

"Your friendship-" began Minho, unsure if he should say everything. He didn't want to sound like it was a goodbye, but it felt like one.

"Will be yours in all our lives." Jonghyun promised.

Jonghyun's gaze slid behind Minho. He stared at the dense black that crept through the doorway. He nodded to Minho with a determined look.

"See you on the other side." Minho said and took Jonghyun in his arms.

"And remember, I will save Key!" said the little cat with a confident grin.

As the shadow sensed their presence, Jonghyun's cat hairs bristled. He wanted to snarl and fight, but he didn't want to waste his strength unnecessarily.

As the darkness rushed towards them, they did not dodge, even though everything in their heads screamed to do just that.  Cold and merciless, the black shadow pressed around them. It trapped them so that they could hardly breathe and their bones cracked with pain. It was as if their body parts were being pulled from all directions. Minho thought he would have to pick up the pieces before he went in search of the souls.

Fire burned at his limbs, making them hang loose as all strength and stabilization was gone from them. Pain spread to his guts, his lungs and his eyes. As if something was invading his innermost being and trying to scare him away. There was no place that wasn't slashed as if by a knife. And when Minho felt everything implode inside him, he lost the last spark of his consciousness.

It was the wail of a high-pitched voice that Minho perceived. He could hear that it was words being spoken, but everything was still muffled around him and he did not understand what was being said. The woman was crying and croaking, it hardly sounded human. Irregular cries rang out in her lament. 

Minho blinked a few times. At first only because he was slowly waking up, then in panic as he briefly thought he had lost his sight. Nothing. He did not know how to describe it. He was in an endless space that stretched out in all directions. At the same time, he couldn't tell if it was endless or if it was a loop. No light, no wind, nothing to orientate himself by. In the Never Realm everything had been white, that had already bothered him, but the absence of everything frightened him.

He sat up, but had to do so slowly as all his limbs ached when he moved. Slowly the plaintive sounds took shape. With the words becoming clearer with each passing moment, the lady sounded even more distressed.

"My son died in his bed. At least he wasn't scared. I hope he had a nice dream when he died."

Minho wanted to follow the voice, but it came from all directions. He turned and tried to make out something in the nothingness. He stopped when he saw something old and familiar in the distance. A white dot, tiny, but it was the white of the Never Realm.

With each step he took, the voice around him grew louder, more distorted.

"His own father killed him. He fell asleep in front of the fireplace with a book. The neighbors had called the fire brigade. They only managed to save my husband." Snarled the voice.

Minho's eyes widened. "Jonghyun!" he said breathlessly, running towards him as he spotted the large, graceful wings. Minho's footsteps echoed in the vast void and his friend, in the form Minho had met him in, turned to face him.

He did not wait for Jonghyun to realize it was him. He ran into his arms and embraced him. Jonghyun's broad wings nestled around them both, giving Minho the first warmth since he had woken up there.

"It's good to see you as you again." He said.

"Nice to have thumbs again." Jonghyun joked. He returned the hug, he could always give the best ones thought Minho.

"Where are we exactly?" asked Minho as he broke away from him.

Jonghyun looked at the image in front of them and Minho looked in the same direction. They were looking at a room. There were about 15 people sitting in a circle of chairs listening to the woman tell her tragic story. Behind the puffy eyes they recognized a once hopeful structure. The red eyes and the furrows underneath showed that she had not slept much.   

"It's one of Taemin's memories." Said Jonghyun, pointing at the man who was now only a shadow of himself.

"Taemin! Taemin I'm here!" shouted Minho. But of course Taemin did not turn to him or pay any attention. Minho's muscles clenched, he now understood how Taemin must have felt every time he looked at a strange memory.

His shoulders slumped as he realized that this was Taemin's memory in the shadows. But why? They had promised to cling to the good ones, after all. It cut his heart to pieces to see Taemin so restless. He had lost a lot of weight and slept at least as little as the woman whose hand he held.

"How could I have done this to him?" Minho's eyes filled with tears.

"Hey. This isn't reality anymore, you've found each other again, understand?" Jonghyun grabbed Minho by the shoulders and looked him seriously in the eyes. "That was a hard time, but it's over. This is a memory!"

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