𝒯𝒶ℯ𝒽𝓎𝓊𝓃 

I carefully walked along the stream to the meadow... sprinkled with dew, sparkling under the moonlight that weaved through delicate emerald wings, shimmering in the fine mist rising from the river. 

They quickly fluttered a few more times before the fairy, like a child learning to take the first steps, landed in the angel's arms with a loud laugh. 

Kai... you're alright... 

Taking a full hour turn with the bride of light, Amor's eyes smoothly met my stare with a comforting tick... making me close my mouth and blink... making him whisper, lips close to dark strands of hair as he tightly hugged the cheerful fairy. 

My Muse... 

"Taehyunie is awake..." 

Beomgyu let go of Huening Kai's hug to face me too, same relieved expression falling on his fair features, as they both walked towards me and imprisoned me in their warm embrace. Only then did I feel a bit of long-held tension fall from my torso. I leaned my forehead on Kai's shoulder and placed my hands on sides of their necks to hold them both close. 

"Welcome back...," Hyuka murmured, placing his lips in my hair. 

"How are you feeling?" Beomgyu's eyes wandered across my face I turned to him. 

"Thanks to your dinner I rose from the dead," I gave him a gentle thankful smile that shone with a bit of wit in my eyes. 

Beomgyu's lips curled up at the corners, gently revealing the rows of his teeth. 

"The same could be said for me and his soup," Kai complimented as well, causing Beomgyu to lightly nudge our chests with his palms. 

"Healers gonna' heal~ You should finally respect me more," he played a bit offended. 

"We definitely should," the light fairy's giggle mirrored in my frozen smirk for a while... until it faded in remembering why I came here in the first place: "On that note of respect-" 

I looked back at the couple I'd noticed resting by the rock on the way here, then nervously flicked my eyes from Beomgyu to Kai. 

Hyuka, could you please- 

"I'll go and check on the elders. Flying lesson is over, class is dismissed. Have fun and be carefull, Loves!" Clap.

Hyuka's intuitive heart was faster than my thoughts. Before I managed to finish the request, he patted our shoulders with a bright understanding smile and flew towards the sleeping Guardian and Archer, leaving my and Beomgyu's hair confused in the wind wave he left behind.

The air cooled a little and caressed my burning cheeks.

"What was that again?" quietly chuckled Beomgyu standing by my side, taking back my attention.

Now or never...

"It's - I need to talk to you, Gyu," I exhaled with the pressure on my chest.

Talk to me? The slightly worried spark glowed back into Healer's eyes as he replayed the tone of my voice in his head. Then he reached out his hand to mine and took it with a certain patient kindness.

"Let's take a walk," he suggested and bit on his lip.

Walking by the river, the screeching of the pebbles under our bare feet became somehow louder than the water slowly flowing towards us. Louder than the night birds singing the songs of gloomy nightmares.

"The wings - they are stunning, you really deserve them... They belong to you," I whispered, trying to compliment him first alike a kid cleaning the mess after it does some mistake that's gonna be revealed very soon.

But he was indeed so enchantingly beautiful being finally his whole true self. The only one who had no secret.

"Are you still disappointed about them?" Beomgyu responded with a hidden tease to lighten the mood a bit.

It made me chuckle and shake my head.

"Still disappointed? Do I look like a child?"

"Mhmm... but you are a little bit jealous, aren't you?" he continued with a smirk, trying to catch my look.

However, I turned it to the stars, silently wishing I could be one of them right now. "C'mon, I try to be serious here."

With those dry words, Beomgyu gave up on his teasing and hid my hand in both of his.

Have we not been serious enough? The thought lingered only in his mind and silenced him for a while, but he couldn't remain speechless for long... not in this tension I baked and was not able to cut yet.

"Those butterflies were protecting me... guiding me on the right path to my higher self..."

Butterflies? But that's not-

"First we thought they are enemies, because of that incident with Heeseung, then the fact Yeonjun saw them crossing the portal to Neverlands too... but if I reflect about it-"

No... nonono, stop. I stepped in front of Beomgyu, wrapping my other hand over his with a glazy prayerful look worth of sinner begging for forgiveness.

"Beomgyu, I owe you an apology."

Finally. I breathed out, as our eyes darted over each other's face, waiting for another move in this game I couldn't quit anymore.

Apology... for what? Beomgyu's eyes whispered in unspoken worries. Emerald wings hid between his shoulder blades.

"When the demon possessed Heeseung and I told you it can't possess mind fairies... I lied and made you look like a fool. I'm sorry for that. Actually, Kai is the only one who can not be possessed by it, I only learned how to fight it." 

Beomgyu shook his head, the confusion from his mind seeped into the surface of his face: "... why would you? How?" 

Ready to tell Beomgyu the whole story before I'd start making desperate and needless excuses about how I just wanted to protect everyone, including him, I pulled him to the ground with me, so we could sit across from each other. 

"The Book of Legends and Fairytales... You know I've always felt like we are predestined to be a part of it, I knew there is something big we'll have to face." 

"Sure - the book you were so obsessed with we started to play role plays according to its characters. The book you even taught your students about... The book and your theories you made Kai and Soobin be so obsessed with that Kai gathered the courage to leave the Knights of Light and Soobin was labeled as a fool..." 

"I'd prefer adjective 'fascinated' over 'obsessed'," I managed to object. 

"The book from which you deduced that at the fateful moment, Soobin would be the true prince of the split blood and not Heeseung who is blood royalty - thus offending the majority who believed in him by the way, ehem," the nature fairy couldn't hold his mouth closed from panic.

"Yesyesyes." 

"But you didn't learn to fight demons from a book of fairy tales, did you?" he doubted.

"I didn't. Can you just listen to me? Please," I begged him in need to finish my shrift. 

"Sorry," Beomgyu exhaled the stress with which he was squeezing my hands. 

Looking away into the deep valley covered in mist, a sigh left my mouth as well. Then I looked him back in the eyes. 

"Soobin's powers were growing stronger and it could seem to be natural that he suffered so much... but it wasn't. Something didn't want him to awaken his full potential," I continued slowly. 

"The demon... Because then Soobin would become the real prophet and could quickly lead us to another steps..." 

My nod confirmed Beomgyu's whispered guess. 

"Universe didn't send me any other clue... and so I entered Akasha Chronicles to search for something that could help me to find out what to do. I just figured out that those visions are something more than a random selection from the threads of the future, when I suddenly felt some weird energy sneaking to me... That- was the first time I felt the dark demon's aura..." 

Oh my goodness... The hands of inner bloom fairy got a little bit colder with the worried caresses, as he was slowly stroking my palms and fingers.

He obviously wasn't going to interrupt me anymore. 

... so here... here comes the second lie. I gulped, looking down. 

"Actually, it's not like I'm out of nowhere not able to enter the Akashic library anymore, Gyu." 

The addressing, my tone, but mainly my hand sliding out from his own, caught his attention tightly. 

I circled my palm in front of my right eye, exposing it from the charm that hid its clouded, originally purple iris. The spell hiding the extinguished starry-eye was gone. No more secrets. 

Healer immediately cupped my face, his solicitous eyes running from one iris to the other. 

I made you worry again. 

"You mad pixie. What happened to you? What have you done?" his voice choked.

After a while of handling his saddened direct gaze I was forced to lower my tear-covered one and focus it on my palm. 

"I- was punished for stealing this in a rush..." A book in a brown leather cover with imprinted golden patterns manifested in my hand and I put it on Beomgyu's lap. "It's a book hiding all the secrets, rules and names of magical chaos in our universe... This is from what I found out that with pure love, trust and light we can fight against demons..." 

The dryad robbed of his breath quickly flipped through a few random pages until he confirmed that their contents would never be visible to his eyes. For him, the yellowed sheets of paper appeared empty. 

He handed the book back to me as if it were a weapon, a tool too sharp and heavy for him to hold. 

"This is just for general defense though... my third eye's vision is blurry and I don't know the name of the specific demon to try and find out anything about it and really have a chance to defeat it completely... if that's even possible," I added. Meanwhile, the magic book dissolved from the material world back into my energetic essence. 

It's finally out...

Beomgyu sighed deeply into his hands... laboriously sliding them down his face turned aside. 

"You know what's funny? Actually, there is no need for a demon or universe... We make fools of each other ourselves," he chuckled, slightly shaking his head above that irony in disbelief.

Even though I knew those words were not meant to hurt me... they sharpened the blades of my self-blaming thoughts that cut through the dam holding back tears. I could have been faster, I could have done more... I didn't want to make a fool of anyone. 

... and so the excuses leaked to the surface anyway. 

"I'm so sorry... for being so foolish and not telling you. I just wanted to be the only resistant target and protect you until I came up with something really worthwhile, but before I could, Soobin's visions and prophecy sketches were suddenly gone..."

And so was my scattered mind right now... already lost somewhere in the dark silhouettes of trees bathed in the muddy blurred moonlight.

"... Only later did I find out thanks to Kai that the curse was apparently taken by Yeonjun... It took me too much time," I swallowed the bitterness.

"Tae..."

The wailful pain and tears I soaked up from Soobin the morning we lost Yeonjun ran down my cheeks... How many of them have not yet escaped from the prison in which I have bound them?

"I'm so sorry I couldn't save him... I couldn't protect Yeonjun and he is still suffering because... because I have already sacrificed myself while protecting the Prince," I cried not seeing a way out.

"It is all about you, Yeonjun and the hero complex limiting your minds. Soobin's suffering is all your fault," dream voices scolded me from the bottom of my subconscious. All their misery... 

"Taehyun, look at me," Healer raised his voice and touched my chin to pull me out of the abyss of my thoughts.

My consciousness came back with a jolt and as soon as I glanced Beomgyu's light in his loving eyes, he wrapped me warmly in his embrace.

"I have already forgiven you, Tyun... a long time ago, remember? When I understood I love this mad pixie...," his velvety voice comforted me. "I love you unconditionally. The days were hard and you were even harder on yourself, but I know you wouldn't ever hurt any of us on purpose... even if you could. You already did so much. For Yeonjun... For Soobin... For any fairy in our world."

I wrapped my arms around his waist, tears alike melting grains of salt soaking into his fertile chest... warmed by his heartbeat grounding my trembling body. Thank you...

His fingers gently caressing my hair meant so much... No, we'll never change...

"I intuitively knew that Soobin and Yeonjun were suffering... Why didn't anyone tell me the reason...," Beomgyu whispered into the breeze that settled on my eyelashes and closed my lids.

"Gosh... it was about Soobin, you should've tell me...," he sighed, thoughtfully placing his lips on my crown.

"For that exact reason I didn't - the less you knew, the most likely it would leave you alone...," I paused lowering my voice. Twinkling stars quietly questioned my past worries and decisions... even though I knew I would always act the same way. "Also... I didn't want Kai to find out and worry about me," I added anxiously.

I felt Beomgyu's embrace tighten with empathy... pulling me closer to his chest, his fingers digging into my lavender locks - you must have been so lonely. After all, he felt the same way because of our secrets.

"Hyuka... He doesn't know you got hurt either?"

"No..."

"Ahhh, you mad... mad pixies," he sighed with a faint bitter smile, repeating it as if he knew something Kai and I were absurdly missing in the background.

"Please don't tell him... not yet. I- I can do it myself."

"Ahhh. Sure, you can," Beomgyu chuckled softly, then ruffled my hair, causing me to squirm between my shoulders in an attempt to escape him with this cat-like maneuver.

"What? Don't you like it? Too bad, this is how I plan to bully you in every possible universe now," he giggled a little mischievously, his mood lighten up by my reactions he probably found adorable.

Honestly, I didn't try too hard... no, I practically only faked it, because I didn't want to move away from the warmth of his body.

"Oh damn, hope the universe spares me from that," a sarcasm quietly left my mouth, as the smirk in the corner of my lips predicted my victory.

Grabbing Beomgyu tightly around the chest I easily put him on his back. Warm breaths met within a short distance between our faces and slightly parted lips.

His ethereal face under the pale light... playful eyes intimately mirroring the brightness and clarity of the misleading moon - that was indeed something pleasing to observe. Somehow I always saw fragments of myself in them... despite our differences and struggles. 

"It survived the worst unscathed... Our love. Right, Taehyun?"

Maybe it was just another innocent lie... maybe just a pure belief I planted from my fingers into the fine strands of his hair so easily...

... but I nodded with a reassuring smile, imprinting the promise of eternity into his soft lips.

We will survive...

•.°❀⍟❀°.•

•.°❀⍟❀°.•

+x+

Good, now to my excuses 🤣
Nah, I won't make any... it just somehow took me so long for many reasons I am still going through. Anyway, I'm back now and this chapter is as long as 2 regular ones✨️ I hope you enjoyed Taehyun crying out the rest of his regrets, pain and just everything he suppressed so far... Now that many secrets are revealed, every puzzle is slowly going to fall into its right place 🥰 

Anyway, any ship you'd like to see in the following chapter/s? I have some vision, but your wishes might help me to figure out with what should I continue now✨️🙏

Thank you so so much for your support even in my inactivity, love you Pixies~ <3

All ships: yeonbin, soogyu, taebin, sookai, beomjun, taejun, yeonkai, taegyu, beomkai, tyunning~ thick ones are kinda more possible to happen XD