Was there anything worse than grey, smothering blob of shapes and figures melted together? Could anything even more draining and painfully mocking exist than all the colors spitting at you like at a fallen beggar? Something more devastating than routine and it’s mundane fulfillment? As TaekWoon had found out there was. ‘Nothing’.

When he could see all the colors, but couldn’t remember their meanings - their names vanished from his mind. When ‘nothing’ was the only thing he saw and registered around him. The ‘nothing’ next to him in the bed when he woke up, the ‘nothing’ in the kitchen when he sauntered to it to down a bottle of hangover medicine instead of coffee, as it tasted like swamp water now. The ‘nothing’ in front of the grand window, filled with bottles and tear stains. The ‘nothing’ ringing through the air instead of laughter, the ‘nothing’ in the air instead of the scent of a summer day.

It was without a doubt miserable to be likes, to drown himself in alcohol and being swept away by marriages of those chocolate brown eyes he loved, no, still loves, to get lost in even though they are just memories. He was a wreck, an empty vessel, his soul and heart sunk in the bottomless void that not so long was a lush green valley. How long was it exactly? The bare trees and houses, frozen sidewalks and to the bone freezing wind told it was winter. December? Or was it January?

It must have been the latter, as a disgusting memory of the fire flowers in sky mocking TaekWoon was far too vivid. They had spat countless colors of him, knowing well enough he had gone blind to them. Without his light he was lost yet again, even worse than before as for that painfully short time he had seen a path so beautiful, now he couldn’t see anything else. Pathetic. Pathetic, tragic and wretched was how TaekWoon felt and only a single promise kept him from drowning in nothingness. A single promise pumped air in his lungs, pushed blood through his veins and kept him away from thoughts dangerous and tempting. A promise that he will return, a promise TaekWoon will wait. Those few words were the lifeline TaekWoon was holding on to every single day from dawn till dawn.

The clouds had brewed over the city, forming a dome of nothing over the sickeningly tall apartment buildings and stomach turning asphalt. Today a snow storm was predicted, but so was said about yesterday and the day before as well. Now only wind blew around the last, dead leaves and rustled the mustard yellow grass. At least TaekWoon assumed those were the colors around him.

He wasn’t sure was his shirt blue or purple, was his jacket navy or moss green. His coat was black as always, the loose scarf around his neck matched with his now shoulder length hair and the coat, so it was probably black as well. Maybe his jacket was black and so was his shirt? He couldn’t remember and it didn’t really matter.

    He was taking the same route he had been taking for near 4 years now to the same job he still felt nothing against. He didn’t care. Silently he worked his hours, doing everything averagely - not too good or too bad to stand out - and returned to the cold, drafty nothing of the apartment.

    His footsteps were the only sound echoing around the empty streets, the howling of the wind through the empty side streets and alleys accompanying his walk home in the late gloomy afternoon. Everything around him was still and quiet, dull and sluggish, empty and abandoned just like everything inside him - and suddenly all that was shaken to a whole new extent. A grand roar came from somewhere above him and his eyes automatically searched for one thing - the stream of light coming from the dome of clouds.

    The very second he saw a slight glimpse of the heavenly portal he began to run. It didn’t matter was it him or someone else. If it was the latter TaekWoon could ask if he was okay, did he recover, did… did he still love TaekWoon… But if it would be him… What would TaekWoon do then? Would his worn wreck of a human being would become whole the very second? Or would he have to heal for months again?

    TaekWoon ran as fast as he could, maneuvering between the buildings, tripping over his own feet and bumping into trashcans. The promised snowstorm finally arrived from nowhere, swirling the air in a white wall, the beam of light almost disappearing in the mess. Stubbornly TaekWoon continued to advance forward. He stopped only when the alleyway he knew already was before him. The light disappeared a minute ago, the snow turning in smaller and bigger vortexes between the houses and it took a regretful second for TaekWoon to notice a figure lying on the ground. He would recognize it anywhere.

    He rushed forward, falling on his knees next to the body, two large, angry red and barely healed scars looking at him from where wings should be. TaekWoon didn’t have time to think or hesitate. He turned the man on the ground around, his eyes, his instincts were not deceiving him. It was HongBin. Wingless, unconscious and probably freezing, but it was him.

    TaekWoon’s heart began to beat twice as fast, his eyes blurry as he shrugged his coat of his shoulders, wrapping it around the former angel, the scarf following, and gathered him in his arms. His mind, his heart -  none of him - had even registered, even comprehended the situation, the miracle that had just happened. All he could think about was getting home. He had to get HongBin home.

    The wind howled in the maze of buildings, snow maliciously making walls where they weren’t before. It was like the nature suddenly, bravely and boldly had decided to claim the city back. Not gradually, sending one snowflake soldier after another, but pouring all of its warriors out at once. Desperately it tried to regain its human claimed kingdom, yet the battle between the grey nothing and the overflowing white was now nothing more than annoyance in TaekWoon’s path.

    He ran as fast as the rapidly twirling snow allowed him to, his shoes not just occasionally slipping on the fresh white that covered the pavement. No time could be wasted, a strange feeling of deja vu present in the rush of taking HongBin to safety. He might have ran past person or two, maybe even knocked someone over, but it didn’t matter to him not even near as much as the man in his arms.

    TaekWoon jumped over steps while running up the stairs, despite his lungs aching from the sprint in the blizzard. He near kicked open the door of the apartment, and stumbled in, kicking it shut. While breathi