"Keep going!" San urged. He tugged on Wooyoung's hand to pull him forward. There was no way he was letting the merman out of his sight.

He had no idea what was out there, which scared him even more. The whole unicorn thing was still trying to work itself out in his mind. He had figured out that the unicorn could talk to Wooyoung based on the one-sided conversation, but he had no idea what had been said.

Their new fairy friends darted through the tees in front of them. For the first time that night, they were almost completely silent. Even their lights were dimmed.

"I think we are almost there." Yeosang said through heavy breaths. He shoved his hand in his pocket and pulled out the car keys, then held them tight so they didn't make any noise.

"I see it!" Jongho pointed just to the left of where they were running. "Go!"

Yeosang peeled away from them we a few fairies fluttering around his head.

The other three ran to their camp and started throwing everyone onto one of the blankets, piling it up to just wrap it inside.

San glanced over t where Wooyoung was trying to take down one of the tents and noticed his hands were shaking. He rushed over to pull the merman to his chest and shushed him gently. "It's ok. We aren't going to let them get you."

"Guys, we need to go." Jongho grunted while lifting the blanket sac over his shoulder.

Wooyoung lifted his head up and looked at the lake.

"No. Don't even think about it." San grabbed his hand and started walking to the car.

"No, San! Let go." Wooyoung yanked his arm away and clasped his hands together, then brought them to his chest while shaking his head. "I'm putting you in danger. M-Maybe I can hide or lead them away."

"Are you crazy? I'm not leaving you behind!" San lunged forward to try and grab him again, but Wooyoung backed away. "Wooyoung, we need to go!"

The merman had tears running down his cheeks now. "S-Sannie... I..."

San couldn't believe what was happening. There was no way he was letting Wooyoung do this! He would not abandon the love of his life to some unknown danger. "Woo, this isn't funny!"

"They only want me! What if... What if they kill you?" Wooyoung's voice cracked on the last part. He continued to move away from San. "I c-couldn't live with m-myself." He took a deep breath and opened his mouth to speak again, but he gave a startled cry instead.

Jongho had crept up behind him and was now in the process of manhandling the merman to turn him around. Then he picked Wooyoung up and threw him over his shoulder. "We don't have time for you to be a hero, and we aren't leaving you behind."

Without another word, he and San ran toward the car, where he very unceremoniously dumped Wooyoung in the back seat. The merman yelped and hurried to pull his legs to his chest as soon as San got in. "Drive!"

The car lurched forward, spraying dirt behind it. Yeosang's face was set in a glare as he started to make his way through the trees.

Outside, a few of the fairies were doing their best to keep pace with them, zooming beside the window and going as fast as their tiny wings could handle.

But San couldn't focus on that right now. His heart was pounding in his head, taking nearly all of his attention. It hurt so much...

Suddenly a whimper came from his right and he turned to see Wooyoung clutching his head and rocking back and forth. He quickly pulled the boy to him and held him tight. "It's ok. We are going to get you out of here."

"I'm going straight to the ocean." Yeosang's voice was dark as he spoke. "We can't take anymore chances."

"Don't use the main highway." Jongho pulled out his phone and started tapping against the screen. "If they are here for Woo, they know what he is and I'm sure they will guess that the ocean is our next destination."

"The highways are faster. Either way we are screwed, but they will have a harder time shutting down an entire highway."

Jongho pursed his lips, but nodded. "Alright, I'll get you there."

They drove in near silence for about fifteen minutes and were starting to think they'd get away.

But then the fairies vanished.

San had a sinking feeling that this wasn't over...

He was right.

As soon as Yeosang drove around the next bend, he had to slam on the brakes. Several colorful swear words left his mouth and he did his best to keep the car straight as it threatened to spiral out of control.

The two hey ran over a rock and one of the tires exploded.

Wooyoung seemed to react before San could register what was going on. He threw his hands out and gave a long, loud yell.

The car jolted and rocked back and forth, but it never spun out like San thought it would, and it managed to avoid hitting any of the trees around them.

Unfortunately that also meant it came to a perfect stop in front of the large armored truck blocking the road.

All four boys were breathing heavily, starring out the front window at the seven armed guards aiming guns at them.

"Step out of your vehicle!" One of them shouted.

San tightened his grip on the merman next to him. "What do we do?" His voice shook as he spoke.

"I don't know. I don't think they are police..." Yeosang whispered.

Wooyoung bit his lip and looked down. San knew he was blaming himself right now, but e didn't know what to do about it.

"Get out now!" The men all started shouting while advancing forward.

They were running out of time...

Then San's world stopped.

.

.

.

.

Wooyoung knew he needed to make a decision, and fast. This was all his fault. He turned his head to look up at San, working hard to memorize every curve.

Then he extended his neck to place a quick kiss to his human's cheek. "I love you." He whispered.

Sun opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, Wooyoung drew upon his magic to lock all three of his friends in place with their seat belts.

"No!" Jongho yelled first, yanking on his as hard as he could.

"What are you doing?" Yeosang was trying his best to twist out of his.

But San... San was oozing at Wooyoung with a mixture of fear and shock. "No..." He whispered.

"I love you." Wooyoung said again, wanting to savor the way his lips formed the words.

Then he slipped out of the car.

"No!"

"Woo! No!"

"Don't do this!"

"NO!"

"Put your hands up!" One of the men yelled.

Wooyoung obeyed immediately and took a few steps away from the car. "I'll come with you, just let the others go."

"And what makes you think we'd agree to that?" A new voice said after a door on the truck opened.

A bright light flashed in the merman's direction and he scrunched his eyes. "Because I'm what you're looking for."

The man stepped down from the truck and crossed his arms. "Let's say I know what you're talking about. How can we trust you?"

"Mr. Kim, stay back." One of the guards held out his arm to stop him from going forward.

Wooyoung did his best to drown out the shouts of his friends. He started to slowly lower one of his hands and turned it palm facing up to repeat the same trick he did with the fairies. Except this time he let the water overflow so that it dripped onto the forest floor.

The new. Man stood up a little straighter. "How are you doing that?"

"Leave the others alone. They are human and have nothing to do with this."

"NO! STOP!" Shouts kept coming from the car, distracting Wooyoung from what was in front of him.

"Take him."

Everyone started moving at once.

Wooyoung knew he should try and run, but the only thing he could thin about was protecting his friends.

He spun around, sending water flying in all directions from his hand, and used his magic to oak all the doors on the car, then created a barrier around it.

Just before his arms were yanked behind his back and lashed together with a thick coil of rope.

"Don't hurt him, and leave the others, I've seen enough."

Wooyoung whimpered when he was lifted up and carried to the truck, where he was then tossed on the floor.

"Ride in the other one."

The back door closed before the merman had a chance to look back at his friends. Everything was happening so fast...

They were just... gone.

"That was very foolish." Mr. Kim said. He stepped over Wooyoung's body and took a seat on one of the benches along the side. "Why would you give yourself up like that?"

The truck jolted forward, sending Wooyoung sliding into the doors with a light grunt. He looked up at the man and narrowed his eyes, knowing full well that he couldn't pull off not talking now, but he would say as little as possible. "To protect them."

"Yes, but how do you know my men won't stay until your little barrier disappears?"

"No!"

The man held up a hand and shook his head. "Don't worry, they aren't. But while it's clear you can use magic, I'm afraid you aren't what I'm looking for."

So he didn't know what Wooyoung was...

But the longer he stared at his captor, the more Wooyoung realized he recognized him.

He was always with the intimidating one who would stare at Wooyoung in the tank... But this one was always doing something else, so he never paid much attention to Wooyoung.

"I will be taking you to Mr. Park, though. He's a 'collector' of magic, so I'm sure he will want to know your story. Maybe you can help us in the end."

There wasn't anything he could do... Wooyoung tried to think of a spell or really anything that could help him.

Unfortunately, he was starting to feel the dreaded tingling sensation running across his body. He had to fight the urge to start rubbing himself on the truck bed.

He was running out of time as a human. And that could be the only thing keeping him alive.

.

.

.

.

The car shook violently as San did everything he could to free himself from his seat belt. His voice was raw from how much he had been yelling.

"San, stop! You're going to hurt yourself." Yeosang pleaded. He was reaching behind him to try and grab the younger's knee, but San was moving too much. "Please."

"No! We have to go after him! We have to save him!"

The truck was long gone by now. All of the men had left with it, riding in a second one that was hidden behind the first.

Now they were surrounded in total darkness. Whatever Wooyoung had done to the car must have messed with something, because it had shut off some time ago.

The endless black around them seemed to go on forever, reflecting the endless despair filling San's heart.

How could Wooyoung do this to him? How could he be so selfish?

Painful sobs tore from San's throat the same instant all the fight left his body.

He bent in half to bury his face in his knees, letting all his anger and frustration and fear out.

"San..." Yeosang sounded like he was in just as much pain. He kept trying to reach out to touch his friend. "We are going to figure this out."

"Ho- How... He left me..."

"He saved us." Jongho said softly. "You heard him, he told them to leave us alone. He sacrificed himself for us." He spoke with a monotone, reflecting the pain they were all in right now.

"How could he be so STUPID?" San shouted, his voice cracking again. "He's such an idiot! We were going to protect him! I could have protected him!"

"Not with seven guns on us, San, don't do this to yourself." Yeosang was crying now. "S-Sannie, please."

The cry of anguish that came from San was enough to break anyone's heart.

He fisted his hair and pulled as hard as he could, looking for anything to distract from the pain in his heart.

Wooyoung was gone.

And part of San feared this had been the last time he'd ever see the man he loved.