“Will you smile again?” Kibum asked, staring into the flames in front of him.

Jonghyun looked up at him in surprise. They had sat up in the bed, staring into the fire and thinking about everything that could and would happen after having their somewhat strange and sudden confession of love. Jonghyun's hands, which had been holding one of Kibum's and drawing circles in his palm, stopped momentarily.

“Why do you ask that?”

Kibum turned to him and smiled a small smile, warmth filling his chest and stomach as their eyes met.

“Because I like your smile and I’ve only seen it two times.” He frowned thoughtfully. “Well, two and a half.”

Jonghyun raised his eyebrows at him. “A half?”

Kibum nodded.

“Hm,” he sighed, “I probably will, but you know it’s not something I control, right?”

“Yeah, usually you’re just lurking around, sniffing people and being generally grumpy.” Kibum chuckled, earning a disgruntled grimace from Jonghyun. “And playing that piano too.”

Jonghyun straightened his back abruptly, his face going blank.

“What?” Kibum whispered, glancing around the room, suddenly worried.

“I haven’t played for over 24 hours.” Jonghyun said monotonically.

Kibum looked at him with a confused frown.

“And that’s bad because…?” He wondered.

Jonghyun put a hand to his chest, looking down at it with a confounded expression. “Because that is supposed to keep me human enough.”

Kibum let his eyes travel up and down over him once. “Well, you don’t look any less human to me.”

Jonghyun turned to him with big eyes that displayed nothing but bewilderment. Then he blinked a few times, his brown orbs getting a glint of comprehension to them and laughed.

“It’s you.”

“Uh...” Kibum said unintelligently, his whole being turning into soft, pink fluff at the sound of Jonghyun's genuine, breathy laugh that he was hearing for the first time.

“I didn’t notice. But now that I think about it, the curse, it’s weakened!” He exclaimed happily, his body twitching in excitement.

Kibum entered a state of shock. He had never thought he would see the grumpy Jonghyun this elated and it filled him with so much happiness that he wanted to run around in joy.

“O-oh?” He said distractedly, trying to compose himself. “But I haven’t done anything. I haven’t even found the anti-curse thing I thought I was supposed t-”

Without warning Jonghyun tackled Kibum and kissed him, both toppling over from the force of the attack. Kibum let out a surprised sound but then laughed and kissed him back before Jonghyun suddenly turned his head to the side, looking at the mirror.

“Sekyung!” He called, seemingly hyperactive with this newfound information. “I want to talk to you!”

“So it’s safe for me to come out now?” She grumbled and appeared, glaring at both of them. Kibum cheeks heated and he immediately pushed Jonghyun off of him, sitting up. “You know, I didn’t dare return to this mirror for several hours! And I couldn’t go back to the one in the study either!”

“Then where were you?” Kibum frowned.

She turned to him with eyes ready to kill. “I do not have the energy nor the desire to explain it.”

“Sorry.” Kibum mumbled guiltily, glancing at the man beside him.

Sekyung nodded at him, satisfied with his apology, and turned to Jonghyun with an expectant scowl. He ignored her silent demand, standing up instead and walking closer to the mirror.

“Listen,” he started excitedly, “I barely feel the curse anymore!”

Sekyung’s eyes narrowed at him and it looked like she was thinking about a hundred and one ways to kill Jonghyun.

“I know.” She said curtly. “But it’s not over.”

“And I’m feeling!” He continued, not listening to her in his eagerness. “Do you know how long it has been since I’ve felt this much emotion?” He looked between the both of them with shining eyes. “Do you?”

Kibum shook his head in lack of anything else to say.

“And this relief in here!” He put his hand to his chest again. “It’s-”

“IT’S NOT OVER!” Sekyung exploded. Then she deflated and sank to the floor looking devastated. “It’s not over.”

Jonghyun's face fell along with Kibum's heart.

“Sekyung, what…?” Jonghyun asked and Kibum’s stomach turned with discomfort at the apparent fright in his voice.

“He’s taking more life-force.” She explained emptily, without looking at them.

Jonghyun inhaled sharply, but Kibum blinked at them uncomprehendingly.

“What does that mean?” He asked, not sure he really wanted to know the answer.

Sekyung’s attention turned to him. “He… he is gathering more life-force.”

“You said that, but that doesn’t mean anything for me at the moment.” Kibum frowned but spoke gently. “Care to elaborate?”

“He is taking it from us.” She almost whispered.

Kibum crossed his arms, not feeling the least enlightened, expression growing more confused.

“I thought he already did that?”

“Yes, he did.” She nodded, expression turning grim. “But not all of it. If he had we wouldn’t be able to exist like now.”

Kibum's stomach jolted as a sudden realization dawned on him. “Do you mean that you…?”

She nodded again, eyes void of any emotion. “We’re disappearing, Kibum.”

Kibum's heart stopped. He suddenly knew why something had felt out of place at the table that morning. Half of the people that usually were there had been gone, he had just been too preoccupied with other things to fully notice it. Tears sprung to his eyes and his breath hitched.

“No!”

Kibum felt a hand slip into his, the bed dipping slightly, and looked to his side. Jonghyun had sat down beside him again and was trying to reassure him that everything was okay. But Kibum didn’t want to feel okay. He had finally found people he cared about, people who had become his friends and people he could treat as family. Beautiful people, who he realized had become his world during the little time he had spent in the mansion. He was shocked by how quickly he had taken to them, somehow they all had treated him like a long lost friend and he hadn’t minded. That was what had given them the spot they had in his heart. They had managed to make him feel life was fun again, instead of something he had to get through for his parents and his cat. And now they were going to disappear?

Like hell I’ll let them!

“Tell me.” Kibum said, sounding desperate. “What do I do? I’ll do it right now. I won’t let you die!”

Sekyung smiled sadly. “We’re not dying, we just cease to exist.”

“Same thing, different name!”

“We weren’t supposed to live right now anyway.” She said with an empty laugh. “It doesn’t make any difference.”

“But you are!” Kibum protested. Jonghyun squeezed his hand, his thumb rubbing comforting circles on the top. “And it does make a difference. It makes a difference to me!”

Sekyung sighed, shaking her head. “It’s just maddening that he is going to use us to destroy you and make Jonghyun his own.”

Kibum turned to Jonghyun, who looked at him with helplessness. “Then leave! Leave this place!”

“We can’t.” He whispered. “Lightwood has managed to take control of the magical barrier that I put up around this mansion and it is now hindering anyone to leave or enter.”

A tear ran down Kibum's cheek and he bit his lip to stop himself from sobbing. Jonghyun reached out and dried the wetness.

I can’t lose you. Any of you.

“T-then,” Kibum took a breath to calm down, “what do I do?”

Sekyung studied him for a moment. “Make this hope last.”

Kibum started and stared up at her with big eyes and she looked like she herself didn’t understand what she had just said. The phrase sounded vaguely familiar and something tugged at his memory.

“Sekyung,” He gasped when his brain put the pieces together, “I’ve been seeing you in my dreams.”

She looked at him uncomprehendingly. “Excuse me?”

“Not in that way!” He added hastily as he also felt Jonghyun tense up beside him. “More like hearing you, to be exact. It was after I’d met Lightwood and he had…” Kibum gestured to his chest. “I would wake up in some sort of white world with the smell of roses and someone singing.”

She stared at him in shock and Jonghyun looked between them with a small frown.

“And I just realized that it was you I heard!”

“How…?” She breathed. “A white world?”

He nodded. “A white world.”

“That’s… in here…” She said, still staring at him in shock and pointing over her shoulder to the back of the mirror. “Why didn’t I know that?” She mumbled to herself.

Kibum raised his eyebrows in disbelief. “How does that make any sense?”

She looked back and forth between the two men on the bed. “It doesn’t. But what’s in here, behind me, is my life and if you heard me singing it must have been a song I learned from my mother, since that’s the only song I know.”

“But what does it mean?” Jonghyun asked her.

“It means that Lightwood used me to hide the reverse spell in a half forgotten song.” Sekyung answered staring at him as if she was seeing him for the first time. “Only, he never thought someone of his own bloodline would be the one breaking it, which pretty much renders his seals and protection around them useless. But how didn’t I know this!”

“Lightwood probably never taught you everything he knew about seeing.” Jonghyun growled lowly.

“Then let’s do it right now!” Kibum said loudly and suddenly, making the other two jump. “Let’s break the curse right at this moment!”

Jonghyun opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted as a loud rumble went through the mansion and he suddenly was enveloped in black. His eyes widened briefly in shock before he seemed to grasp the situation and looked up with a growl.

“Jonghyun!” Both Kibum and Sekyung screamed simultaneously as the man in front of them slowly started to disappear.

Jonghyun looked back down at them, hurriedly rummaging for something in his pocket and pulling out a string with something attached.

“Take this!” He yelled to Kibum and threw it at him before he disappeared to god knows where.

The thing thrown at him landed in Kibum's lap and he looked down at it, his heartbeat going wild with fright at what had just happened. It was a leather band with a small, perfectly round pendant hanging from it. The pendant was made out of what seemed like clear crystal that changed colors continuously as he examined it, gleaming prettily in the light from the fire.

“What is this? What just happened?” He asked, his head spinning.

Sekyung stared in front of her blankly, biting her lip. Then she snapped out of it and turned to Kibum with fiery eyes.

“That is a protective charm Jonghyun made for you and Lightwood just imprisoned Jonghyun somewhere I can’t see.” She closed her eyes with and angry growl. “This has to stop once and for all. He’s played with us enough!”

Kibum nodded. “Where is he?”

“In your room.”

Kibum shot up at once, putting the pendant around his neck and racing to the door.

“Kibum?” Sekyung called just as he put his hand on the doorknob and he turned to her halfway.

“Yes?”

“Just…” She bit her lip, looking close to tears. “Believe in yourself and… goodbye.”

That was when he noticed just how transparent she had become.

A/N: Uuum... this chapter might be a bit sloppy, sorry :/

I hope you liked it anyway! And since I don't really have much to tell you today, Imma keep this short:

Thanks to everyone of you! I mean it! ^_^ Without you there's no story, right?

Bye~! <3