"If we can get Taemin to stay in a happy memory, she'll be weaker." Said Key.

Jonghyun only vaguely heard what his partner said, his gaze still on the burning house which was slowly moving away. Key took Jonghyun's hand and managed to bring him back to the here and now. Warm and gentle, Jonghyun's gaze was on the hands he wanted to hold forever and would never let go.

How many lifetimes had they experienced together then? Ten or more? And all the time in the Never Realm they had used to bring soul mates together, knowing that life with your soul mate would always be a rewarding one, a joyful one.

And even though they had shared pain, sorrow and love through hundreds of times already, it would never be enough for Jonghyun. With each life they shared, he found something new why he loved Key even more than before. He felt it through every moment, his heart ached slightly every time then. And he wanted to experience that pain again and again.    

"He knows what he's doing. We have to keep it together now." Key's words were not harsh, on the contrary. He was afraid. Afraid for him and Jonghyun, afraid that the two of them would never have a life together again and that if they didn't make it, the same fate would befall Minho and Taemin.

Jonghyun took a deep breath and nodded. Minho was on his own, without powers, without Taemin. But Jonghyun had to trust that all would go well. He and Key had their own task to accomplish so that this nightmare would finally come to an end.

"Where do we find Taemin?" he asked. Determined and with fear in his eyes, he looked to Key and the latter was grateful to have such a brave man by his side.

"When we step into a memory...we feel it..." began Key slowly. He looked deep into Jonghyun's eyes. "We feel the pain they feel. It feels like you're being torn apart from the inside..." Key's voice became barely a whisper, but he did not avert his gaze.

All the pain and suffering they would feel as soon as they stepped into the memories would be cruel. But not to try and not to share another life, that thought was unbearable.

"I am with you. Nothing will separate us anymore. Nothing will break us." Jonghyun rested his forehead against Keys. "Show me." He asked him softly. He did not know what lay ahead, but he would save Taemin. And once that was done he would apologize to him. How could he believe that Taemin had done all this on purpose? 

Key took a shaky breath and closed his eyes. Fear and uncertainty made themselves ready in his limbs, but he focused on the nightmare the shadow had pulled Taemin into last. He pressed his lips and eyes tightly together and with trembling fingers he let the cruel images come into being.

Everything was still spinning when Minho opened his eyes. He had to blink several times because travelling between the worlds was still merciless to him. The bright light burned his eyes and his body ached. It was as if his limbs had been twisted on their own axis. They hung limp and powerless as he sat up with a croak. 

When he lifted his head he saw him. He was standing in front of the fireplace. The flames reflected softly in the lenses of his glasses. The man in the sweater and shirt looked frail, not at all like the being who had brought him into this cruel situation.

The office he hated so much was no more than a ramshackle memory. Every time he stepped into it, Minho felt as if Death was taunting him, but all he wanted was never to forget.

"I'm sorry for what happened to you." Minho's dark voice was the only thing that rang out besides the crackling of the fire.

The Never Realm was no different than the nothingness of the shadow. Two sides of the same coin. Two sides so close to each other, yet never looking at each other. Not knowing that the other side shines just the same, only in a different light.

Death remained silent and motionless. As if his eyes were under the spell of the flames. He didn't want to look, but the flames were the only thing that made him feel anything - even if those feelings were sorrow and pain.

"I thought you were always talking in riddles, but you told me the secret from the beginning. You said soul mates naturally attract each other. That Taemin was there was a happy coincidence for me. But it was your power that attracted her, and you felt her too, and that's why I ended up there, right Lee Jinki?"

Minho stood up and took a few steps behind Death. He saw his shoulders dangle slightly up and down. Death burst out laughing bitterly. "So you found it out, my last earthly name." He turned to Minho and interlocked his fingers behind his back. He looked perhaps in his mid-thirties, but at that moment Minho recognized in him what he was. An old, lonely man consumed by regret.

"You can still save her. She is still here, reliving the worst days of her life over and over again. You can free her from her torture."

"I took everything from her, it's only fair that she takes everything she wants now." Jinki smiled but his eyes glistened.

Minho's shoulders clenched. "I know your name, it's over. I will take your place as Death and save Taemin, but I will have no regard for her. Take the chance I give you."

A cruel smile formed on Death's face, "You really think it's that easy?" Death looked over at Minho in disappointment. "I thought you were smarter than that."

Minho did not understand what Death meant. He himself had said that the name was the key. He only had to figure it out. But what was he missing? What was the Grim Reaper talking about?

"Too bad. You really had the potential." Death said tonelessly, pointing his finger at Minho's expiring time. He twisted his finger and with each circle he made Minho's time ran down faster.

Minho writhed in pain. With each passing second he grew weaker and a sharp pain spread further into his bones. What had he missed? In agony, Minho tried to recall everything. Why had Death taken him out of his wife's memories? Why did he now let his time pass quickly after all? What was Death afraid of?

"Why won't you save her?" He could only croak out the words. His organs were spinning around, contracting and spreading. With every minute that passed, the pain grew and his will to fight weakened. The cold crept into his limbs and reached for him. It wanted to pull him down into the depths, into the emptiness from which he could never come out again. It would be so easy to close his eyes and fall asleep. Everything inside him ached, everything cried out to finally let go.

First his legs gave way. He fell to his knees and hit the ground with his elbows. He bent over in pain and tried not to vomit the bile that blazed in his stomach. Time kept running and running down without slowing down. Not much longer and he would become a lost soul. Not to be perceived, as if he had never existed.

He would never see Taemin again.

Trembling with pain, he closed his eyes. Maybe at least Jonghyun and Key would manage to free Taemin. That would be enough for him. That was all he wanted. Taemin deserved to finally have a life again.

Taemin.

Minho would do like Taemin. He would remember him, cling to a memory to return to again and again. At least then he could be with him like that. Even if it was not real.

And as his last seconds ticked away, he thought of Taemin's smile. Of his loving embraces and passionate kisses. Of all their shared dreams and wishes. And the cold wrapped itself around his aching limbs like a blanket and weighed him down.

The circle of chairs appeared again in front of Key and Jonghyun. It was the scene that Jonghyun had already seen with Minho and that Taemin had told about. The memory that was truly his. Somehow the walls of the room seemed even darker, the faces of the people even more decayed. An aggrieved silence had descended around the people. They had all lost a loved one. When Taemin finished his story, they waited for the next one to start talking.

"Something is wrong." Jonghyun said, looking at the scene, this time with more care. When the image first opened up to him, he couldn't concentrate. His guilt got the better of him when he saw Taemin sitting there so desolate. But by now he had met Taemin and he wondered how he could ever accuse him of doing such terrible things.

Now it was not Taemin's voice that rang out, it was the woman's. 

"My name is Lee Sooyoung." She bared her teeth as if the words were poison.

"Hello Lee Sooyoung." Said the group monotonously.

"What do you mean? I'm sure this is where we'll find Taemin. He's here too often..." said Key with a slight sigh.

"But...why here?" asked Jonghyun. "If she can drag him into every memory to become stronger as a result, why, if she feeds on the worst memories, why aren't we at Minho's funeral? Or in the day he died?"

Jonghyun looked at the woman who, with hatred in her eyes and tears on her eyes, told of how her husband had fallen asleep in front of the fireplace with a book, how the house had caught fire and their seven-year-old son had not survived the night.

"What am I missing?" Jonghyun moved even closer to the memory. He reached out to it, but his fingers stopped just short of the image and he had to swallow. A scream rang out from the distance. It was a mixture of anger, fear and pain and thundered deep in his ears.

"What should we do?" Key's voice was no more than a whisper. He jerked around in all directions. He couldn't make out where the wailing sounds were coming from, but he could sense it was getting closer. "Every time I've tried to get Taemin out she manages to pull him in deeper. I don't know how we can defeat her." Key explained hastily and continued to look around, the first beads of sweat visible on his forehead.

"Oh my Death..." Jonghyun's eyes grew wide as the pieces of the puzzle finally came together inside him. Firmly, he looked to his partner.

"This is not Taemin's memory! It never was!" He grabbed Key by the shoulders. "When you go into the memories, you said you could feel the pain, didn't you?"

The woman's cry grew louder. Key's limbs wrapped in the cold that was approaching, and yet he managed to nod and listen to Jonghyun.

"If you went into that memory then you felt pain, hatred and revenge didn't you?" How could he have missed that? Taemin was not full of hate or revenge. When he had Minho back, he didn't feel the need to hurt anyone, he just wanted to spend time with him. He was full of fear, he wanted to find his real memories, he was searching for himself all the time.

"But those are not Taemin's feelings! Key, I met Taemin and-" But before Jonghyun could speak further, a veil of black beside grabbed him and tossed him away. Jonghyun crashed to the floor and a gasp of pain escaped him. Key stood there with his mouth open and his shoulders hunched. He wanted to run to his partner, but the shadow loomed menacingly in front of him.

"Key, get Taemin out!" croaked Jonghyun who was struggling to get to his feet.

"But-"

"Now!" Jonghyun mustered all his strength and materialized a gust of wind that gave the shadows a massive fist. But it would not defeat it, hopefully, however, it would buy Key enough time.

Key nodded hastily at Jonghyun, clenched his hands into fists and jumped into memory.

The shadow, it reminded Jonghyun of a huge fire. The individual flames danced lightly back and forth. They spread upwards into thin and came to a smoky end.

"So that's how you've kept yourself alive. Quite clever I must say." Laughed Jonghyun, though already gasping for breath. "You're almost a lost soul. But Taemin was there for many of your sad memories, memories where you are angry and full of hate. You yourself are about to forget them, but Taemin...he helps you hold on. You need him to survive."

With a pounce the shadow approached him and covered Jonghyun with its darkness. Everywhere it touched him it was as if Jonghyun was being consumed by a sea of flames. He tried to scream, but he couldn't make a sound out of all the pain.

His wings once again felt heavy and like a burden. He could only drag himself through the memory with difficulty. Inside him, a deep hole opened up that was filled with hate and despair. And even if the shadow was cruel, he could understand its feelings. If he, as a human, had lost someone he loved, what would he have done?

Key walked along the room, it was as if his legs and wings were anchored in a deep morass that wanted to pull him down. Every time he had entered an ill-fated memory he felt constricted, but this time it felt as if he could never get out.

Key shook his head. "No! No!" He swallowed hard. He couldn't let these feelings consume him, then there would be no coming back for him either. Trembling, he looked around. He had to find Taemin, he had to get Taemin out of here. Then she would weaken and maybe they would all have a chance to survive.  

He had tried to get Taemin out of here several times. Sometimes he succeeded, but only for a short while. Each time, the shadow had found Taemin and pulled him back in. He looked around. The people were the same, they spoke the same words as always. But one thing was different and Key's limbs froze at the realization.

Taemin's soul was not there.

Key stopped. It was as if the mire had now completely enveloped him. He was so sure they would find Taemin here, after all, the shadow had brought him back here every time. But of course, the shadow had expected it. A single tear escaped him. They had a chance and he had blown it. What were they to do? Of all the memories scattered here, the shadow had been able to hide Taemin everywhere.

How was he supposed to explain this to Jonghyun? How was he supposed to live with the fact that everything was now lost because of him? Key tried to imagine that all his negative feelings were because of the memory, but even as he stepped out of it and looked back into the dark nothingness, his doubts did not disappear.

And all his remaining hope went up in smoke when he saw the shadow bending over Jonghyun and eating the last sparks of his soul.  

Minho felt his time running out. The last of the streng