The gardens were filled with a cacophony of various overlapping sounds, the cries of animals, the voices of students, and the roar of the wind.  Level II students were shouting over each other, and every now and then someone burst out laughing loudly when their pet did something cute or funny.  Only one person didn't share the enthusiasm of the whole group.  It was Phuwin practicing alone.

“Give me that!” Cooper shouted at his dog, who ran away with his guardian's boot in his teeth, happily wagging his tail.

“Luna, Luna come here, come to me beautiful”.

“Be careful!”

“Chico, where are you?”

“Gemini, your lion! Can you take this little monster away from me?”

“But he just wants to play! He won't hurt you”.

“Maybe it won't hurt me, but it'll tear my monkey apart.”

“It's not true, it's such a nice and cute lion cub, look at it” Gemini tried to convince Joong, pointing with his finger at the lion cub, which had just rolled over on its back and started licking its rear big and fluffy paw.

Fourth called his phoenix by name for the tenth time, but it was sitting on the highest branch of an old, dry, thick willow, as if nothing had happened, it was cleaning its red-gold feathers with its beak, ignoring the calls of its guardian.

Phuwin tried to do it again, but when he missed the target again, he felt resigned and powerless.  He didn't even tell his brothers about it, didn't complain, pretended he didn't need anyone's help, but the truth was quite different.  He sighed heavily and sat down on the grass.  He was sorry for many reasons, one of which was that Zee had not given him any pets.  He watched with silent envy as the others trained their animals under Mixxiw's supervision, while he stood in a remote part of the garden and tried to shoot an arrow into the center of a target attached to man-height rectangular bundles of straw.  It didn't work out for him because the bow wasn't his weapon, he didn't feel comfortable with it.  He would rather use a pistol or a sword, even a dagger would be better than that.

Phuwin thought that no one was paying attention to him anyway, so he just sat on the grass and watched the other students of the Academy of the Knights of the Light.  It's been more than 7 months since the last expected candidate for Knight appeared here, but so far little has changed except that the exams selected the 12 most outstanding students who were sent to the next stage of study.  The others had yet to complete their Level I training. Phuwin remembered that he, Dunk, Joong and Pond had also previously had to stay and wait for the second round of eliminations, in which luckily all the exams passed.

Not much has happened in the last 7 months.

Mainly trained with weapons, without any weapons, stele practice, rune drawing (initially they did it by drawing all the marks on paper with pencils or pens so as not to accidentally activate the wrong rune, Phu didn't expect it to be so hard)  brewed more potions and learned their uses, looked at the stars and learned astronomy.  There was little time for a good night's sleep and rest, if you included the acting classes that Gun Atthaphan had insisted on taking.

Personally, Phuwin had nothing against Gun, but he didn't understand why Gun was so insistent on shoving acting into their overstuffed graphics.

As he sat there, someone approached him from behind and put their hands on his shoulders.

Phuwin turned sharply to see Pond leaning over him, to his great relief.

“Phu, are you okay?” Pond asked, looking him up and down.

“Let's say yes.”

“Let's say?  So it's not okay, but you don't want to tell us because you don't want to worry us?”

Phuwin sighed a second time and shrugged.  What was he supposed to say?  Pond was the one person in the whole Institute he couldn't fool.  And he wasn't even going to.

“Then tell me what's going on.”

“Nothing is happening!” Phuwin replied a little too loudly and too violently for Pond to believe it.  One look at his face was enough for Phu to realize that he had made a mistake.  “Sorry.  Indeed, you are right.  It's fucking hard for me to watch you guys train in a group with your pets, and because of my twisted magical talent that grants me the ability to turn into an animal, I can only stand here alone practicing something I'm totally incapable of!  It hurts, Pond, it fucking hurts!  I feel like I'm worse than all of you, like I deserve less.  See, even First, who came from virtually nowhere, is now everyone's favorite, as is my little brother.  Everyone loves them.  I've heard rumors that Gemini might be a Hybrid with a capital H, whose coming was foretold in ancient books, Dunk is talented in many ways and he got this cute chinchilla on top of it, and what do I? Zee must really dislike me a lot.”

Pond listened to his boyfriend's grumbling in silence.  He understood his uncertainty and was afraid that this uncertainty would take away from Phuwin any joy resulting from their activities together.  The more so that Zee, after the announcement of the exam results, divided the students into pairs, choosing each partner himself, thus separating the lovers.  Each pair had to move to a shared flat for the duration of the training.

The list of rooms and the pairs assigned to them was posted in several places throughout the Institute so that anyone could look at it at any time.

When they returned from training with the animals Mix had ordered them to put in specially designed houses or cages, the first thing they saw was their luggage packed and neatly arranged in the main hall.

“What is this?”

“What's going on?”

“Are these our things?” They asked one after the other, not believing what they were seeing.  Zee, who was watching them from a safe distance, standing on the inner balcony just above their heads, clearly heard every word they said.  Max stared at his boss in disbelief.

“This love for NuNew has already completely turned your head, hasn't it?”  Max laughed softly, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

“Not true.  What did I do to make you think like that?”

“Like how you assigned the boys to their rooms.  You let the girls choose!  Where this sudden feminism comes from?”

“Nowhere, I've always been like this.”

Max didn't believe him, but Zee didn't care.  He watched the students with amusement.  He knew exactly what he was doing as he compiled this list, a copy of which he had saved on the tablet he held in his hand.  He paired experienced Knights of Light with youngsters so that they could learn from them.

×××××××××××××××××××××
Room No.: Nicknames

208: Force and Khaotung

209: Gawin and Cooper

210: Gun and Fourth

211: NuNew and Phuwin

212: Max and  First

213: Tay and Gemini

214: Off and Kaownah

215: Sea and Dunk

216: Cooheart and Pond

217: Jimmy and Joong

218: Mix and  Santa

219: Turbo and Fluke

220: Oreo and Book
×××××××××××××××××××

All the rooms were placed in one corridor on the third floor, and the students had to redecorate the empty spaces in the rooms themselves so that each pair would feel comfortable.  Zee also announced that every morning, right after waking up, there will be specially delegated candidates from Level I who will give marks for each room (and therefore for each pair jointly) for, for example, maintaining cleanliness or evenly arranged bedding.

The boys, still arguing with each other and discussing who had it worse, reluctantly took their bags and began carrying them up to their rooms.

“Hey, that means we won't even be next to each other in our rooms!”

“I will miss you!”

“Ha ha ha, not funny.”

“But I'm telling the truth! How can you be so cruel?  I'll really miss you, you should be in the room with me, not Jimmy!”

“Why don't you want him in the room with me? You have something to me?” Jimmy brought his fist up to Dunk's face as if to punch him.  Dunk knew Jimmy well enough to know that the young medic wouldn't hit him, though he couldn't be sure of anything.

“Shall we eat something first?”  Suggested Gemini, hungry as usual, who simply did not want to play with unpacking his luggage right now after a tiring workout.

“GEM!!!”  Everyone shouted in unison, amused by his proposal.

“Come on?  I'm hungry, aren't I?”

Tay, who had been assigned Gemini's care, put his arm around him and smiled at him.

“Actually, I'm hungry too. Look, we'll do it while they're busy carrying their stuff, the two of us sneak out to the kitchen and eat something, what do you say?”

Gemini nodded approvingly, ready to run to the kitchen now, where there was definitely something delicious to eat, but they were not allowed by Zee, who coughed loudly, thus attracting the attention of everyone who looked up curiously to  a little to your right, on the fourth-floor balcony, your boss looking at them with a menacing look that seemed to shoot lightning.  Zee didn't look happy about their little scheming.

“Oh, hello boss,” NuNew was the first to pluck up the courage.  He waved his hand, which caused a huge sensation among the others, the only person he did not surprise was Gemini.

“Hello boys.  I see you already know who you will be sharing rooms with for the foreseeable future?”

“Mhm.” Only a few disgruntled grunts answered him.

“I understand that you don't like the way I assigned you.  But I'd like you to master as many new skills as you can by the end of the term, and if I assigned you partners the way you want me to, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have learned much.”

“You don't believe in us, boss?”  Book asked and made a sulky face.

“Whether I believe in you or not is of no importance, nong Book.  I've been here longer than you and I've seen much more.  Believe me, I know what I'm doing.”

Book shrugged and moved his lips silently, but Zee read a short "You're just saying that" even from this distance.  He wanted to laugh, he felt like laughing a lot more these days, but he didn't want to lose face and respect from his students, so he just cleared his throat loudly and shooed them to their rooms.

“And if you are hungry, no one forbids you to eat.  The only thing I ask of you is that you learn to manage your time so that you have time for everything, both for training and studying, as well as for rest and meals.  Your future missions will not be easy, and this skill may come in handy.  Well, go to your rooms then.”

As soon as Zee finished speaking and the students dispersed, Max suddenly screamed and hid behind his boss's back.

“Max?  What's wrong with you?”

“Mouse!  There is a mouse!”  Max yelled and pointed at something that was not more than a meter away.  Zee looked in that direction.  A small gray mouse crouched on the floor on its hind legs, stretching its mouth upwards and wiggling its nose playfully.  The animal was so small and harmless that Zee only gave his friend an incredulous look.

“Seriously?  Are you afraid of mouse?”

“Uhm!  Take this thing away from me, take this monster away!”

“Max, get a grip.  We fight powerful demons every day, and you are afraid of a tiny, harmless mouse?”

“I know how to defeat demons.  Besides, I'm not the one fighting them, in case you forgot.”

“Well, you don't fight them, you just send our Knights to such tasks.” Zee sighed heavily.  “Come to my place, I need to talk to you about something.“

“With me?  About what?”

“About boys.  Especially about Fourth and First.  We can't make contact with their real mother, Mrs. Puitrakul, and the family that kidnapped them seems to have vanished into thin air.  I don't like it.”  He confided his doubts to Zee as they walked to his own office.

“Do you think they might have attacked Lady Puitrakul?”

“I don't know, but that's what I'm afraid of.”

“With all due respect, boss, that's unlikely.  Mrs. Puitrakul is a very famous and powerful sorceress, she can't be fooled so easily, she is strong, she has come out of many troubles unscathed.  She's a rebel, you know her.  Maybe she just hid?”

“Yes, but that means she still doesn't know we found her sons.”

“Oh shit.”

“That's right, Max, oh shit.”

“You mean to tell me that you, the big boss who always gives everyone a task without hesitation, don't know what to do?”

“Looks like it.” Zee spread his hands helplessly.  They got to his room.  He opened the door and let Max in.  “There's something else that worries me”.

“What?”

“As long as the brothers are with us at the Institute, they're safe, but I can't keep them here indefinitely, it's not a prison, and if I try to keep them here, they might feel that way and just run away. You've seen for yourself that these workouts are exhausting.  I don't want a repeat of what happened with Nanon.”

“Repeat of what happened with Nanon? I don't understand.”

“I'll explain,” Zee said, and poured them both a little liquor he had hidden in his bar next to a four-volume encyclopedia drawn from the world of the Non-Magical and a collection of different-colored elephants of various sizes, each with its trunk up.  The superstition of the Non-Magicians was that elephants with their trunks up were supposed to bring good luck.  Zee handed the glass to Max, who was sitting on the couch, and sat next to him.  He took one sip and began to talk.  “Remember our candidate from the last Level I training, Nanon Korapat?”

“Yes, I remember, but what about him? I haven't seen him in over two months.”

“No wonder you haven't seen him. He was an unskilled Shadowhunter, and he had left the Institute grounds.  He's complained before that our training is very demanding, mind training can drive you insane, and the schedules are so full that they don't have time to themselves, so when he disappeared we thought he just ran away.  We didn't focus on looking for him, I believed that he would think about everything and come back to us.  Sometimes that happened.  Not all candidates were suitable to be future Knights of the Light, even despite their background or the magical abilities they possessed.  I thought Nanon was one of them.  I couldn't be more wrong.  His body was found yesterday.  He had been attacked by something that certainly had nothing to do with the Non-Magical world, but his corpse was found near his old bar where he worked.”

“Why didn't you tell anyone about this? Some of our students were his friends.  Ohm Pawat, the one who stayed on Level I, seemed to be especially close to him.”

“The problem is that Ohm has disappeared too.  And no one knows where he is.  Do you understand now how dangerous it is to let untrained or inadequately trained students out of the Institute?  So I assigned a more experienced partner to each of them.  I'd also like you to tell them that from now on, they can only go into the Non-Magical world in the company of a trained Knight of the Light.  They can move freely around the Institute, but we do not know what awaits them outside.”

“But Zee, you can't keep them prisoner like that!  Our students would like to visit their friends and families they left behind in the Non-Magical world.  Some have not seen their loved ones for over 7 months since the beginning of the training!  How can you be so cruel? ”

“I'm not cruel.  It's for their own good, they're not yet qualified enough to deal with a demon attack, and we can't afford to lose any more of our ranks, Nanon was one of our best students, and I was going to train him to be my successor.”

Max felt he couldn't keep up with what Zee was trying to tell him.  The only thing he realized was that one of their students had died, and they didn't know how or why.  A difficult investigation awaited them, which he would probably have to watch over, and it would be up to him to write reports for Zee and the entire Institute.  Seven months earlier, it had been quiet, demons barely attacked, vampire gangs scaring the Non-Magicals, almost nothing happened, but since new students had joined their squad, the calm had faded, and there was an increasingly tense, nervous atmosphere among the experienced Knights of the Light.

“There's something else,” Zee's voice snapped Max out of his thoughts.  Max looked at his friend with a slightly dazed look.

“Huh?  What?”

“Have you heard of Fourth's nong dreams?”

“Yes, he is said to have nightmares in which he wanders to another world.”

“That's where I see the biggest threat. The boy is still weak, unable to close his mind or control his emotions, and this is an excellent source of food for a certain type of demons, which, unfortunately, the walls of our Institute don't deter.  I have no doubt that one day nong Fourth will be a mighty Knight of Light and perhaps he will be the one to lead us to victory over the forces of darkness, but for now he is still just a weak, untrained boy, he needs a strong protector.”

“I think I know the solution.” This time Max smiled with obvious relief.

“Do you know the solution?”

“Mmm.  Let him live with Gemini.  I know from a well-informed source that Gemini works on him like an amulet to ward off demons.  Apparently, the company of Gemini makes the demons weaker and they no longer have control over the boy.”

“But they both already have partners assigned to them.”

“Gun and Tay?”

“Uhm.”

“Let the four of them live together. That will be the safest way.  You give them an apartment in the east wing, they can even live in the empty one next to mine, it'll be nice to finally have some neighbors, I'm tired of living alone.”

“You wanted to live alone,” Zee reminded him.

“Maybe I wanted to then, but now... I feel so empty now.”

“Okay, I'll think about it.  Let it stay as it is for now.  We have to watch out for Fourth.  Make sure Gun teaches him how to close his mind so no other being can access his thoughts and feelings.”

“As you wish,”  Max replied casually and rested his head tiredly on his friend's shoulder.  He closed his eyes and fell asleep after a few moments.

It had been a long and tiring day for everyone, Zee wasn't going to chase Max away, they'd known each other too long, so he let him sleep with his head on his shoulder, finishing drinking from his own glass.  He had a lot to think about, and he had been suffering from insomnia more and more lately.  Max's presence pleased him.  At least he didn't have to deal with it all alone.

When he started, he never thought that being the head of the Institute could be so difficult and tiring.  He couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that tormented him every time he looked at Gemini and Fourth.  He often watched them from a distance, watched how, despite the almost complete lack of free time, the two always found a way to sneak away and stroll through the gardens, talking.  Sometimes they would eat ice cream on that occasion, tease each other, exercise together, and Zee was beginning to envy them a little.  He and New did things completely differently.  He couldn't forget about their first rapprochement, which happened mainly on his initiative.  Perhaps his concern was also that Gemini and Fourth's relationship developed slowly but seemed to be going in the right direction, while what was between him and NuNew was often based on their mutual desire for closeness. 

From that day on, they had a contractual relationship: if either of them wanted closeness, they would just come to the other and they didn't even have to say anything.  Sometimes it helped him get rid of frustration, relieve tension, and although he felt very comfortable with it at first, now doubts arose.

"But we two are adults, and those guys are still kids, no wonder they're taking their time," Zee tried to reassure himself, unknowingly squeezing Max's hand.

In fact, he didn't know what he and Nu had in common.  He felt that it wasn't quite right, but at the same time he couldn't back down.  Nu had something about him that drew him to him like a magnet.  And he was surprised to discover that it wasn't just physical intimacy, something called lust, because he knew it perfectly well.  New awakened in him emotions and feelings that he had no idea existed.  They spent more and more nights together, only to return to their roles in the morning.  They hid as much as they could, but Zee sometimes caught himself in the naughty thoughts that popped into his head whenever they were in the same room.

NuNew was important to him and he tried to show it as best he could, but when he stood outside the door of the boy's apartment one evening with a red rose in his hand and a small gift perfectly wrapped in a small white paper bag, he felt stupid.  It seemed to him that he was making a scene unnecessarily and acting like a puppy that he had not been in a long time.

Finally, the sound of rain outside the window, Max's presence and his quiet snores put him to sleep as well.  Zee could safely call Max his parabatai, and it was from this bond that he drew the most strength, but he lacked stability and something that could be called a home.  He suddenly missed having a family of his own, and for some reason he always had NuNew at the center of his imagination.

In the meantime, the students, together with their assigned tutors, ate a modest dinner and went to their rooms.  To their great relief, each apartment consisted of several rooms, including a shared bathroom and separate bedrooms, which gave them a certain amount of privacy.  Gemini was so tired that right after the shower he crawled into bed and fell asleep immediately.  Tay slipped out into the corridor, where he made an appointment with Gun.  They were both already in pajamas.  Gun was leaning against the parapet and looking out, taking in the view of the Institute's inner courtyard.  It was a calm, quiet night.  Little trickles of rain streamed down the windows, and the branches of the trees bent slightly under the touch of the wind.

Somewhere inside the building, other Knights of the Light who had been assigned the night shift were still bustling about.  Someone always had to watch so that someone else could sleep peacefully.

“You are here” Gun greeted him shortly.

Tay leaned against the sill next to Gun, placing a cup of steaming tea in front of him.  It felt like a long conversation.

“Yes.  I couldn't sleep.”

“And that's why you dragged me out of my room in the middle of the night?”

“Hmmm... Not only that, actually. There's a lot going on lately.  Everyone is restless, but we have to pretend to be happy and carefree in front of our students.  It's hard.”

“You speak as if you didn't know what you were signing up for when you made Promise.”

“I knew something, but that's not the point.  I feel like something's going to happen, but I don't know what, and it's pissing me off.  Normally, with my abilities, I can detect a threat almost immediately, but lately I feel as if danger lurks in every corner.”

“Eh, you're exaggerating,” Gun decided to dismiss his words with a casual wave of his hand.

“You do not believe me.”

“No.  You know I prefer to think positively.  Whatever lies ahead, we'll deal with it, we've always dealt with it.”

“Yeah, forgot I was talking to an immortal,” Tay muttered softly.

“Vampires are lethal, you know, you just need to know how to kill them.  And I'm not a pureblood vampire.”

“You're getting smart again.”

“I'm just informing you.”

“Oh, so next time you piss me off, I can just stick a stake through your heart and you'll vanish into thin air?”

“You won't.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“You'd be bored without me.”

“Yeah,” Tay admitted softly.  Somehow he couldn't imagine his life without Gun, who adored trinkets and jewels, whom the Institute considered a fashion icon.  Gun always knew what to wear, he chose his outfits very carefully and he was responsible for the current look of the uniforms worn by the students of the Academy of the Knights of the Light, he designed most of them, including light and airy sweaters that could be worn  even in the hot and steamy climate of Thailand.  Gun often exchanged fashion news with Magnus Bane and Lewis Hamilton.  Sometimes, as a joke, he suggested to NuNew some styling in which the musician looked so funny that looking at him aroused general hilarity.  He laughed that NuNuew, despite being a well-known artist in the Non-Magical world, had no idea about fashion, yet he tried to pass himself off as an expert in this field.  It was quite nice to rub his nose now and then.

Each of them had their own place here, which over time they began to call home.  They felt safe here.  Here they could return to lick the wounds sustained not only in the fight against demons and the forces of darkness, but also in everyday life.  Here they made friends, argued with each other and reconciled.  This was where it all made sense.

Gun smiled at Tay and patted him on the shoulder.

“Don't worry.  We can do it.  Think about your strengths and don't give up.  We are still needed.”

“I know.  I'll try to remember that.  Thanks.”

“No problem.  Shall we go to the gardens?”

“I can't, I have to keep an eye on Gemini.  Zee would rip my head off if he found out I left the boy alone.”

“Come on, Max got a First, and I didn't see him doing that either.  The boys are safe here, nothing will happen if we go for a little walk.”

Tay knew what that meant.  Gun used to ask him to take a walk together when he had an argument with Off.  He wondered what it was about this time.

“Wait... How do you know he's not taking care of him?”

“Because he went to Zee and hasn't left him yet.  I'm starting to wonder if Zee and Max are a couple by any chance?”

“Oh, do you have any new gossip? Come on, tell me what you know!”  Tay grabbed his arm and shook him a little too enthusiastically.

“No gossip, but I peeked in on Zee for a while and saw them lying on the couch together.  They were sleeping holding hands, I didn't want to disturb them, so I left.”

“Zee and Max?  Are you sure you saw everything right?”

“Yes!  And I was sure you wouldn't believe me, so I snapped a few pictures of them.” Gun took his phone out of the pocket of his pajama shorts, unlocked the screen, and showed his friend one of the many pictures he'd managed to take.  In fact, the photo clearly showed Max sleeping with his head on Zee's shoulder, who was holding his hand and also dozing.

“He's quite a playboy, this boss of ours, isn't he?”

“Exactly!  Plus, that secret bar of his... Have you heard of it?”

“A secret bar?  What's strange?”

“Listen carefully, this is going to be interesting.  Nat just told me everything.  Oh dear elf!  He will tell you everything, normally everything!”  Gun crowed with delight.  As soon as he found out, he wanted to share the news with someone, but so far he has not had the opportunity to do so.  Off had to deal with Kaownah, whom P'Zee had sent for additional taekwondo training.  Off complained that he didn't want to do it at all, but he had no choice if he didn't want to piss off his boss.

“Okay, then tell me everything you know.” Tay's eyes also lit up with curiosity.  He took a cup of tea and they started walking slowly towards the gardens.  Gun took one of the umbrellas, a purple one, from the umbrella stand and spread it over them to protect them from the rain.

“It all supposedly started about twenty years ago on Gaia II, a twin planet to our planet, only located in a parallel universe.  Zee sometimes escapes there when he has too much on his mind.  He and Max recently reportedly bought a bar, and you can't guess what he called it?”

“How? You won't tell me it's «at Max's»?”

“Worse!  I'm beginning to wonder if he has a crush on one of our students!”

“HUH?!  IMPOSSIBLE!”  Tay screamed and immediately covered his mouth with his hand and looked around in horror realizing that someone might have heard them.

“Yes, possible.  Give me a nickname, who is the first one that comes to mind when I talk about someone who is very close to the boss?”

Tay thought for a moment.  Two nicknames came to mind, although one of them was no longer a student, that stage was long past.

“You won't tell me that... That it's Gemini!”

“Yes!”

“Are you saying the boss named the bar after one of his students because he has crush on him? I don't think that's likely, especially if you think he's having an affair with Max.”

Zee couldn't bear to hear this nonsense any longer.  He emerged from the darkness like a black shadow.  His hair and clothes were wet, but he didn't care.  He's been following Gun since he took the pictures of him.  He didn't want to reveal that he had heard everything, but he also couldn't let rumors spread around their ward that had no basis in fact.

“Is this how you look after your pupils?” He asked coldly, looking down at them.  He didn't like what he heard and he was going to punish them for it.

“Boss...” Tay began, but stopped.  He was out of words.  He only glanced briefly at Zee and immediately tried to back away, sidestepping his boss, but he stopped him by holding out his arm, which Tay bumped into.

“Would you mind double-checking your sources of knowledge before you talk about something you know nothing about?”

“W-we...”

“Spare yourself, Tay.  I've known for a long time that you, Off, Gun and Nat love juicy news and hot gossip, but this time I can't let you spread such misunderstandings.  I invite you to my office, I will explain everything to you.”

They didn't expect this.  Gun scratched his neck where an annoying mosquito had bitten him.  The rain slowly stopped.  Zee actually took them to his place and made them as welcome as he could.  Two other guests were already sitting on the couch.  Tay and Gun greeted briefly with NuNew sipping warm milk, which sometimes helped him sleep, and Max, who was drinking old red wine for a change.

“I'm doing this because of your services to the Institute.” He explained the reason for his kindness.  “Sit down.  Would you like something to drink?”

“No, thank you,” Gun thanked politely.  He'd known Zee for a long time, but he'd never seen him act like this before.  Usually he just ignored what was said about him, never confirmed or denied any rumors, and now he suddenly wanted to clarify something?  Why?  What drove him?

“Okay, so let's start with how you know about my secret bar?”

“Oh, that!  Nat, that's what Nat told us.”

“I could have guessed.  I must warn you, Max, you must to be careful what you say in front of him.  As for the bar... I actually own one and it's called Gemini because the previous owner was called Gemini Norawit Titicharoenrak.”

“Our Gemini?!”  Tay and Gun asked simultaneously.

“Yeah, or rather him in a previous life before he was shot. That's why I became the owner of the Gemini bar.  It's a very sad story.  Gemini Norawit in the parallel universe was born twenty our years ago, for them it will be about forty-five.  Time, as you know, flows differently there.  Gemini was born to an ordinary family there, among the Non-Magical, and was an ordinary but very talented student.  He also had a lot of luck, which allowed him to win a lot of money in the lottery, which he used to build a bar where his boyfriend performed.”

“Let me guess, his boyfriend's name was Fourth Nattawat Puitrakul?”

“Close.  Third Nattawat Jirochtikul.  They went to the same high school, fell in love, planned to go to college together, Third wanted to study economics, and Gemini wanted to study law.  When Gemini won the lottery, they abandoned these plans and started building a house and a bar.  After paying off the loan, they intended to adopt two children, toddlers from a nearby orphanage, which they often visited together.  People loved them and strongly supported them.  They finished construction.  Third asked Gemini to name the bar in his honor the Gemini Club.  On the very first day after the club opened, there was a shooting.  Three masked men burst into the club, as I managed to find out, they were emissaries of one of the princes of hell.  Gemini wanted to protect his beloved, covered him with his own body, but he died on the spot.  On the day Gemini from planet Gaia II died, Gemini on our planet was born.  It's the same soul.  You know what's the most tragic?  That Third couldn't live without his boyfriend and committed suicide four months later: Fourth was born.  I know this story from the angel who watches over lovers, and it was he who directed me to buy this bar, renovate it, and let New perform there as Kirin.  Maybe one day we'll take the boys there, and then they'll regain their memories of their lost lives.”

“So you're saying that...”

“That the boys' story is more tragic than we thought,”  Gun finished Tay's sentence.

“You're right, but they've found each other now, haven't they? So they have a chance for a happy ending?”  Tay asked hopefully.  If there was one thing he hated most in the world, it was movies and romance books with sad endings.  In life, he also preferred that every couple find their happiness.  Although he tried not to show it, he was very sensitive and easily attached to people, and he already loved Gemini and Fourth as his own younger brothers.

“Nobody can guarantee that.  Especially now that they are training as Knights of the Light.  After all, you know how it is in our world, each of us can go on a mission at any time from which we will not return.”

“Don't scare us, Zee.”

“Gemini won't die” NuNew, who had been silent until now, interjected.  “The ancient legends say that a Hybrid will appear, which will be much more powerful than the others, and its hallmark will be immortality.  All signs in heaven and earth tell us that such a Hybrid can be either Fourth or First or Gemini.  I personally prefer to think it's Gemini.”

“That's even worse! Just think how he will feel!  If Gem really is immortal, he will only be able to watch helplessly as the person most important to him grows old and dies!  Longing will torment him forever!”  Gun tried to explain everything.  He knew it all too well from his own experience.  He knew that one day he himself would have to say goodbye to Off forever and that's why he valued every moment spent with him much more than the time spent with others.

“There's a way, but you'll have to transform him” Tay suggested, remembering that vampires are immortal.   “I mean Fourth, transform Fourth, then Fourth won't die either and we'll have a happy ending”.

“Unfortunately, that's impossible.”

“What?  Why?”

“We suspect Fourth has angel blood in him.  If that's the case, the angel's blood may begin to fight the venom from my bite.  It may turn out that we will turn him into a demon this way.  Will you risk it?”

“I don't, but Gem and Fourth should be able to make that decision themselves, don't you think?”

“Why are we even talking about this? They're not even together yet,”  Max interjected.

“But they will be together, it's inevitable.  They are two molecules from the death of the same ancient star, they have searched for each other for billions of years, now that they have finally found each other, they will never part, their bond is too strong”.

“You sound like you're a big fan of them, Zee,” Max suggested to him, fiddling with the glass that had only a little red wine left in it.

“Of course.  I will always be a fan of love, honesty and kindness.  Isn't that what Knights of Light are for?  To fight the darkness and bring love and kindness to the world?”

“And I thought that there are guardian angels for love and kindness. And we are the ones who fight demons and darkness”.

“Yes, they too.”

Silence fell between them.  Each of them thought about the story they had just told.  New and Gun felt that instead of providing answers to old questions, this story raised more questions that seemed to have no answers.

“There's one more thing... We need to tell everyone about Nanon in the morning,” Max reminded them.

“Yes.  We'll have to say goodbye to him.  Prepare his photos, hang black cloths in all rooms, watch your charges carefully and report anything suspicious to me immediately,” Zee ordered.  “Well, now it's time to sleep, we need to get some sleep."  See you at breakfast in the main canteen.  Good night.”

  “Good night.”

Everyone gathered to leave.  Only New stayed.  He walked over to Zee and hugged him from behind.

“Thank you for being here, Nu,”Zee whispered softly.  “You, Max and Gemini are the best things that could have happened to me in my life.  Thank you and please take care of yourself when you go on missions.”

“It's okay P'Zee, I'll be careful.  I promise that nothing will happen to me and I will annoy you until the day I die with my company and my talk.”

“You never annoy me.”

“Never?”

“Never.  On the contrary, I love to hear it. Whatever you want to tell me, I'm here to listen.”

New smiled.  Zee lifted NuNew's hand to his mouth and kissed it.  The New was his home, his refuge, where he could run from any storm.  Until now, he had resisted this feeling, didn't want it, thought it didn't fit his image of a tough guy, but now he realized that to love also takes a lot of strength and courage.

❤️💎🪄✨4️⃣❤️💎🪄✨4️⃣❤️💎🪄✨4️⃣

Hey my dear lovely Magical People 🪄✨❤️

I love you and I'm sorry for making you wait, but writing this chapter took me a lot of time, because I wanted to make it great for you because you deserve only the best and my friends told me to not give you anything if it's less than I wanted it too be, so I waited and today I got inspiration to wrote it like this.

I'm sorry for everyone who same as me loves Nanon 💔 but this... This is very much needed for something what will happen later.

It has only 6700 words, I saw people writing more than 40k of words, but I'm not that level yet and I didn't wanted to make you feel bored and leave me so I wrote less. I know that in the future I'll probably change it a bit and maybe fix the mistakes that I don't see today.

I love you ❤️

I'm super grateful for all the love and support you have given to this work. Doing this for you with our favourite actors is a pleasure ❤️😭

At the end of last chapter I'll explain all the inspiration that I had to write each chapter, maybe it'll become a little bit clearer for you ☺️🤗

Magical People!

You are trully Magical 🪄✨💎4️⃣

Babies, if you like this story, don't be scared to tell me in the comments, also if you don't like it, you're free to tell me that too, because maybe there's something I can change to make you like it? Without any talking we won't understand each other.

Thank you my Treasures 💎

At the end I want to thank these few special people who read it and enjoy it the most. You are my sunshines, my Magical Creatures I value the most. You make my writing problems easier to solve ❤️ You are my strength and I know you know that I know about you ❤️ you're watching me closely, you read this story, you see my mistakes but you let me make them, because you're very patient for me. I love that you always find a way to support me.

One question only: do you like these songs(below)?:

Harry Styles — As It Was

Ruelle — Monsters

Gemini Norawit — Hook

GeminiFourth cover for „City”

The Script — Hall Of Fame

Nanon Korapat — Our Song

Louis Tomlinson — Too Young

Khaotung Thanawat — Over The Moon

Because... They're my fav ever... I can't stop listening to them...