"What is Changkyun actually doing?"

"What is he doing?" Jooheon mused, resting his chin on one fist.

"You mean you don't know?" Taehyung asked, eyes wide with surprise as he leaned back, still studying Jooheon's profile.

"Oh, I know, I'm just trying to decide whether or not to tell you," Jooheon said with a sheepish grin.

"Well you and Changkyun have already gotten me pretty involved," Taehyung argued, crossing his arms and glaring at Jooheon. While the witch had seemed intimidating at first, Taehyung's fear of him had quickly worn off, leaving him peeved at the mischievous male sitting before him.

"You right," Jooheon agreed easily, nodding before turning to face Taehyung. "Do you want the long version or the short version?"

Taehyung hesitated. "Well...what's the short version?"

"Changkyun's hunting down some bad witches," Jooheon said concisely.

Taehyung groaned, rubbing at his forehead. "The long version, then."

Jooheon snorted but leaned back. "Let's see...this was, what, two hundred years ago? Closer to three hundred, I think. You know what they say, time flies..." Jooheon began with a slight smirk.

"Woah woah woah, how long is the long version?" Taehyung quickly interrupted, somewhat worried because he had a fairly short attention span.

"Relax!" Jooheon said, leaning over and slapping him lightly on the back. "It's a good story with all your favorite characters!"

"Characters?"

"Of course! Me-" Jooheon paused to strike a pose, throwing up a cute peace sign. (Taehyung was not amused.) "-Changkyun, and Hyungwon."

"Wait, Hyungwon is involved?" Taehyung asked, brows creased.

"Of course, he's basically the main character," Jooheon said. "Well? Do you want to hear it or not?"

"Fine," Taehyung muttered gruffly. "Go ahead."

"Thank you," Jooheon said with a wink before picking back up with his story. "So, around three hundred years ago - don't quote me on that - the witches were gathering for nyayana." Upon seeing the questioning look in Taehyung's eyes, he quickly added, "Nyayana is...well, have you ever heard of the World Fair?"

Taehyung paused and nodded. "It's like an international exhibition they hold every few years, right?"

Jooheon nodded. "Exactly. Well, the witches have something like that too, called nyayana. It's held every fifty years or so. It's this big grand event where all the witches gather - all the powerful ones, anyway - and they show off their magic. Sometimes there are demonstrations of new spells or techniques, but the main focus is on reconnecting with other witches, since we're all scattered around the world and typically live pretty isolated lives. When everyone gets together, it's only natural that the witches want to show off how much power they've accumulated over the past 50 years, which is what nyayana is really about - entertainment."

"What kind of entertainment?" Taehyung asked with a slight frown, already sensing that this wouldn't be a happy story.

Jooheon sighed, tilting his head and rubbing at one side of it. "You have to understand, witches are a powerful lot. Things like fireworks aren't enough to please them."

"So?"

Jooheon sighed again, his head dropping slightly as he looked down, avoiding Taehyung's eyes. "They usually bring in humans."

"For entertainment?" Taehyung asked, a crinkle in his brow as he struggled to understand. "Why? I thought Changkyun said that humans are beneath witches."

"They are," Jooheon immediately replied before wincing. "That's the common perception, I mean. They bring in humans as part of the entertainment, and they...put on a show of sorts."

"A show?"

Jooheon bit his lip, trying to find a way to explain the concept without making himself out to be a horrible person. "They force humans to participate in games of the witches' design for the entertainment of everyone."

"What kind of games?" Taehyung asked, already feeling sick. "Where do these humans even come from? What happens to them?"

Jooheon licked his lips before biting them once more. "There are usually thirteen witches in charge of planning. They're responsible for gathering humans by...well, the standard practice is to abduct them from a nearby village or town or, in these days, city. It's just another way for witches to demonstrate their superiority over humans. Each of the witches is responsible for bringing one human, so thirteen total. And that year, Changkyun was one of the thirteen in charge, and he chose Hyungwon."

Jooheon looked over at Taehyung before breaking out in a grin. "I'm just kidding, Changkyun wasn't in charge. Some other witch took Hyungwon."

Taehyung glared at Jooheon, leaning over and punching the other in the arm. "Don't joke about that!"

"Sorry," Jooheon said, his face growing solemn. "A witch by the name of Seungcheol took Hyungwon from his home. Witches prefer children, particularly the ages of eleven or thirteen, as those numbers are considered sacred to the occult. Hyungwon was eleven, I believe," Jooheon said softly after a small pause before shaking his head and continuing on. "Seungcheol was head witch that year, so he was responsible for creating the game."

Jooheon took a deep breath, drawing back memories he hadn't revisited in a long time. "The rules were simple. Twelve mice and one cat. If any of the mice escaped, the mice would be set free, and the cat would be killed. But if the cat killed all of the mice, then the cat would be set free." Jooheon fell silent.

"What happened?" Taehyung asked, swallowing. "How did Hyungwon escape?"

"He didn't," Jooheon said, his tone odd as he stared down at the carpeting. "He was Seungheol's pick that year, and as the head witch, Seungcheol assigned Hyungwon to play the role of the cat."

Taehyung's eyes were still clouded with confusion.

"Curses are a delicate thing," Jooheon continued after a moment. "They're very difficult to get just right, and because they last for an indefinite amount of time - until certain requirements are met - they require an enormous amount of power. They brought in several conduits that year," Jooheon said, his fingers stilling. "Even with the thirteen witches working together, they still needed additional power. They drained three conduits in order to bestow the curses on the thirteen chosen child."

"That's how Hyungwon was cursed?" Taehyung asked, eyes seeking confirmation.

Jooheon nodded, lips twitching. "He was cursed into taking the form and limitations of a cat. As a cat, he cannot speak, but he retains his own mind, that of his human form. As for the other twelve, the same curse applied, only they took the form of mice. They are basic curses of transmutation."

"Then what happened after they were cursed?" Taehyung asked, biting his lip. "What happened to Hyungwon? And what about the other boys? Did any of them escape too?"

Jooheon looked down, intertwining his fingers. "Twelve mice and one cat. If any of the mice escaped, the mice would be set free, and the cat would be killed. But if the cat killed all of the mice, then the cat would be set free," he repeated from earlier in an empty voice. Jooheon hesitated before looking over at Taehyung with a pained smile. "I would appreciate it - as would Changkyun - if you wouldn't bring this up in Hyungwon's presence."

Taehyung paled, struck by an impossibly dark thought that could in no way be true. "No, Hyungwon didn't- He couldn't have-"

"The head witch set him free, as promised," Jooheon said, looking away toward the closed door to Hyungwon's bedroom. "Because a win for Hyungwon was a source of pride for Seungcheol, who had chosen him. And so he wandered the earth for some time before Changkyun found him by chance, more than anything. After reading Hyungwon's magical signature, he quickly connected Hyungwon to the nyayana from decades earlier, and it was then that he took Hyungwon in and began caring for him."

"Twelve boys," Taehyung said, ignoring the conclusion to the story, his voice haunted. He couldn't look toward the bedroom, not now. "Twelve boys, who died because of-"

"They'd be dead by now anyway," Jooheon snapped. "And if even one of them had escaped, Hyungwon would be the dead one and they would still be living cursed lives as miserable little rodents. The odds were against him, Taehyung."

Taehyung just shook his head slowly, thinking back to all the moments he'd shared with someone he'd thought of as a friend. Napping in the park. Curling up on the couch to watch CSI. Even-

He gagged at the thought of having woken up next to Hyungwon, the taller lying beside him only half-clothed.

Taehyung had lain in bed with a killer, a murderer. That was what he had been watching over - caring for - for the past two weeks. To think that he'd been worried, that he had wanted to protect him-

He scrambled up from the couch, a burning sensation in the back of his throat as he ran his hands down his pants, trying to wipe away any evidence of the brief connection he'd felt with Hyungwon.

"Taehyung, calm down-" Jooheon began, but Taehyung turned to him, anger and panic equally written in his eyes.

"Don't tell me to calm down! He's- It's a killer! It killed twelve people, maybe more! Twelve children! And you want me to take care of it? To feed it and- and-"

Jooheon stood up, his face stormy and cold. "Don't call Hyungwon an it. And he isn't a killer. He had no choice. The blame lies with those in charge and with those who looked on without stopping it," Jooheon said, his stony facade breaking momentarily as guilt washed over his face.

"It doesn't matter! He still- it still-" Taehyung couldn't finish his thought, too disgusted by the thought of that thing that he'd been living with for two weeks. The fact that he'd ever felt the slightest of affection for something that had killed twelve children-

Taehyung ran off to the bathroom, on the verge of vomiting, and Jooheon sighed before turning his head toward the cracked-open door.

"I'm sorry, Hyungwon. I didn't think he'd react like that," Jooheon said, wondering how much Hyungwon had heard, his heart aching at the thought of his friend in pain.

His answer was the soft sound of the door shutting.