With a feeling of unease, Changmin finally saw planet Earth approaching in the distance.  He chewed his bottom lip and frowned worriedly as long range scanners picked up on trace signatures of cosmic energy he didn’t want to see.  Even more bizarre, the one confirmed angel class transport ship appeared to have headed towards the sun of this solar system; Changmin had no idea why that would be the case, but everything about it felt wrong.  Especially with the demon cosmic energy traces still lingering in the perimeter around the planet.

                “Something’s not right,” he hummed, pulling out his ship headset to enhance his divination ability.  He blinked with the lens over one eye and took a breath as the dual vision briefly surprised him, like it always did.  Tiny fragments of glowing dots sparkled in his eyes, showing remnants of ship pieces, but they all seemed to be angel in signature.  As he approached, a distance scanner picked up on a larger signal near one of the orbiting devices, and Changmin zoomed in on the satellite.  It was only a proximity saturation effect and it was likely it would dissipate quickly, which meant that the ship hadn’t been gone too long, but an angel vessel had been near it for at least a little bit of time.

                As much as he wanted to rush on down to the planet, Changmin forced himself to wait.  If there were demons in the area, as he was beginning to suspect and fear, a misstep could be deadly.  For him and Gunwoo.  But a nervous glance at his ship told him it was hardly in any condition to match another vessel at the moment.  In his desperation to get here, he’d pushed the engines too hard.  It would need an extensive break and a tune-up before it would be back in prime condition, neither of which he had time for.  At least the magi-techno drive was still functional so he could become invisible as needed.  It wasn’t as powerful as a Royal’s invisibility, but it should allow him to get past any Earth sensors.

                “That’s the idea, anyway,” he sighed, extending his scans to see if he could pick up on any transmissions being broadcast around the world.  It was a longshot but there was a chance the earth creatures had noticed the presence of demons or angels.  If so, he might be able to locate them in a roundabout way.  Or at least confirm their presence.

                It took a moment for the microunitranscoordinator to begin picking up and interpreting the various language signals, but when it did, Changmin blinked in surprise.  The earth creatures were worried about something unusual, but they weren’t sure what it was.  With a concentrated frown, Changmin his invisibility and eased closer to the outer atmosphere of the planet, mindful of the gravitational pull.  He needed to see if he could tap into the visual component of any of the signals.  A few thoughtful taps on his console allowed him to pick out bits and pieces of still frames, the disappearance of which shouldn’t catch anybody’s attention too early on.  It was easier than trying to maintain a continuous stream of contact which would also be easier to trace.

                Most were useless or poorly timed, giving nothing but the sky or a part of the horizon or something completely random.  But he did find one in particular with two blurry spots in the frame.  Immediately, Changmin inhaled and leaned closer, blowing up the image as he did so.  No doubt about it…  Demons.  He couldn’t tell if they were standards or Royals – their cloaked in shadow ability wouldn’t work perfectly in broad daylight regardless of power, but the ships themselves were small: personal skimmers if he had to guess.  That meant there was a larger control ship somewhere else and at least three demons in the area.

                “Star shards,” he scowled, brushing the picture back so he could his lips and rethink his approach.  Three demons and a departing angel ship.  In all likelihood, that meant the angels on the transport vessel were dead.  Or they would be soon with the trajectory aimed at the sun with the obvious purpose of eliminating any evidence.  Even if he could catch up to make sure, that would only endanger Gunwoo further and that Changmin could not allow.  He wasn’t detecting any angel vessel signatures on the planet but if there was anyone left, it would be a Royal and their invisibility would be almost completely full proof.

                Wait a minute…  He didn’t get a reading on a vessel or an angel in particular, but there was still a hotspot of cosmic energy simmering in one of the cities, and another from what appeared to be some kind of wreckage.  By the energy reading, even diminished with time, he could only think of one thing it could be.  “Divine ray,” he murmured, indirectly confirming the presence of a Royal angel.  So they were probably one of the ones sent to initially retrieve Gunwoo, but why had they gone to that location?  Not that it mattered anymore.  With the discharge of that ability, there was no way the attacker or Gunwoo would be anywhere near that spot.

                What about the wreckage over the water?  He couldn’t tell if it had been a skimmer or a larger vessel either.  The cosmic energy reading was strangely weak too.  Was it from a survivor of the transport ship?  His stomach dropped at the sudden thought that there was a chance it had been Gunwoo’s ship.  Changmin doubted the Heir would have gotten rid of it entirely, but depending on when he cut his wings off, he might not have had them for over two years’ time.  This planet didn’t have a lot of cosmic energy available and without his wings to refine what little there was, he wouldn’t be able to recharge the magi-techno systems like normal.

                Confused and unsure, Changmin finally tilted his ship to breech the atmosphere, slipping into the outermost layer as he invoked his own protection.  Falling into the shadowy part of the planet, his nervousness increased considerably.  Demons were always more dangerous in the dark.  But he was running out of time, he could feel it, and he needed to be nearby to respond appropriately.  The ship rattled quietly as he dove down and down, sinking through a visibly clear sky to peer at sparkling water and glittering land far below.

                Scans picked up on pockets of residual saturation points as well as an accumulation of demonic and angelic energy centered on an island in the sea, but there was nothing in particular to indicate where the Heir would be.  Except, Changmin knew that Gunwoo didn’t have his wings anymore.  He couldn’t cast invisibility and he wouldn’t be able to effectively hide his presence like a complete Royal would, vastly limiting any places he would be able to hide.  But… maybe, just maybe, he was hiding in plain sight.  The others should know that the earth creatures had been trying to create artificial angels and demons; Gunwoo would be aware of that too – by feel alone if nothing else.

                Turning his ship in the direction of the island, Changmin tried to divine any additional information.  But he was stymied by the utter lack of clarity.  “What in the cosmos?” he murmured, flipping the lens up and rubbing at his burning, tearing eye.  “That’s strange.”  He squinted at the screen with normal vision, zooming in on it from afar.  It looked normal enough, lit up so brightly it could have been day, even though the sun had long since set.  But it also helped him to see the strange hole in one of the buildings.  While he didn’t know what made it, the size was substantial and the fact they were apparently on some sort of high alert made him suspicious.  Especially given what he’d seen of the demons so far.

                Taking a breath, Changmin increased his speed.  He had little to lose in checking it out in the meantime.  There was no way he could be sure until he got a better reading or until Gunwoo did something to reveal himself, but he knew he was being chased so that shouldn’t happen unless he had no other choice.  “Where are you, Woo?” he whispered, praying he was still in time.  As if in answer to his prayers, only a few moments later, an angel reading spiked on his viewing screen.

                Focusing on the nature of the spike when compared to previous expenditures and readings of other angels, Changmin confirmed it was circle of protection, which could have been the artificial angel, to be fair, but his eyes widened when he recognized the second simultaneous reading.  “Celestial armor!” he gasped, knowing with an almost ironclad certainty that it had to be a born angel.  Dual layering abilities was not a simple trick just stumbled upon even by a fledgling angel, much less a made one.  And both were defensive abilities which meant that the angel was in trouble.

                “I’m coming!” he announced, ramping the speed up as high as he could, emitting an explosion of sound as he broke the barrier.

                It hurt.  Trapped in the see through prison and suspended in some sort of fluid, he wasn’t entirely sure where he was, but they were hurting him.  “I don’t know!” he shouted, arms flailing for some kind of purchase.  But his fingers slipped against the smooth material encasing him and his movements were sluggish, impeded by the liquid.

                The pain stopped and he sagged against his suspension cable, taking deep breaths through the mask on his face.  He was able to see through the fluid well enough to notice the man in front shaking his head with a look of frustrated confusion.  He was trying to give them the answers he could, so why did they keep trying to force more out of him?  Could they not understand?  Was the microunitranscoordinator not working right now?  Just as confused, he reached to test it, but as soon as he did so, movement outside made him pause.  They were reacting to him!  “No!” he cried in denial before the pain hit him again.

                Burning electricity surrounded him, biting at every available piece of flesh and burrowing inside to snap and stun within.  It seared his eyes and made his teeth ache, tracing down nerves and diving into bones as it went.  He just wanted it to stop!  Without conscious thought, his dwindling magics responded to try and protect him.  The shield of protection snapped into place, a reactive measure that didn’t do anything to stop his torment, but then he felt celestial armor beginning to bubble up from his skin.  Gunwoo gasped as shining, liquefied silver oozed free and expanded to cover around his unclothed form.  The cosmic energies muted the pain, allowing him to take a breath and see the panicked mayhem the appearance of his armor caused.

                “Stop it, you fools,” he panted, swallowing hard when the electricity continued, but at a much more bearable level.

                His brow furrowed when the sound of voices came in again, reverberating through his head.  They were strange though, foreign.  He knew they should be familiar but he couldn’t pick up on them.  the only word that came through was ‘stasis’ and he knew that wouldn’t be good.  It couldn’t be.

                “No!” he cried out, kicking at the containing walls with enough power to cause a small crack to appear in the surface.  Shouting reactions followed and he felt a drag on his senses, making movement difficult.  This was not how he envisioned his interaction with the humans to be.  This was not how it was supposed to be…

                Just as he was teetering on the edge of losing touch again, Gunwoo frowned when everything came to a screeching halt.  He blinked to make sure he wasn’t seeing things but it was true: the people outside were in various states of movements, though it seemed as if they were statues for the moment.  His slow thoughts weren’t able to move fast enough to comprehend it, so the explosion overhead surprised him completely.  Small bits of debris erupted inward, spraying the various people with projectiles, though again, no one moved.

                “Null stasis field?” he murmured, inhaling in slow surprise when white wings unfurled from the hole, the alabaster color nearly glowing in the overhead lights.

                Like a figure in a dream, the angel swooped down and swung his astrilite sword against the barrier around Gunwoo, shattering the container and spilling its contents to the floor in a rush of escaping liquid.  His body became heavy again, hanging limply from the suspension stabilizer.  But it didn’t matter, because the angel was there, breaking the rest of the containment unit to reach for him.  Reactively, he dropped the circle of protection so they could get close.  Who was it?  He strained to see the face of who had come… and felt his breath escape from his lungs as if he’d been punched.

                “Woo?” Changmin asked worriedly, his left hand reaching to brush wet bangs out of the other angel’s face.

                It was impossible.  Why was he here?  How?  Gunwoo swallowed and weakly reached up to paw at the mask on his face.

                “Here,” Changmin urged, sheathing his sword so he could help instead.  Carefully, he pried the mask off, revealing Gunwoo’s pale face in its entirety.  “Are you alright?” he asked, fingertips brushing against Gunwoo’s cheek as if they wanted to linger before falling away.  But the utter concern in his eyes was impossible to miss.

                “How did you find me?” was all Gunwoo managed to ask instead, still dumbfounded by who his rescuer was.

                “I’ll explain later, but I must get you out of here first,” Changmin explained, unhooking the suspension stabilizer so he could physically lift Gunwoo free.  When the Heir hissed in discomfit, he apologized, “Sorry.”

                “Did you use a-”

                “Null stasis field?  Yes,” he confirmed, carefully setting the Prince down before he ran over to steal one of the coats from the humans to cover him with.  “Here.  We don’t have much time,” Changmin explained, helping Gunwoo into the flimsy fabric.  “The field won’t last long and I fear the demons will see it.”

                “Demons?” Gunwoo gasped, jerked into greater consciousness by the announcement of that threat.  That’s right.  The humans had been asking him about them.  There had been the one that shot him down but he didn’t know about more.

                “Aye, Highness,” Changmin nodded tersely, his dark brown eyes filled with worry.  “At least three of them.  We must get away before they come.”  His hands moved to help the other angel up, but Gunwoo brushed him off, face scrunched in confusion.

                “You shouldn’t be here,” he shook his head, staring at Changmin with uncertainty hesitation.  ‘I escaped from you.  Why would they send you?’ crowded in his mind.  “How did you know where I was?” Gunwoo asked again, pulling the coat around him closer.

                “Highness,” his former guard gasped, hands clenching into fists at his side as if he didn’t know how to answer or what to do.  “I promise I will explain everything later, but please!  We must flee,” he urged again, shoving as much emotion as he could into his voice.

                Gunwoo was not immune to it either: the fear for him was real enough.  So was the concern.  And when Changmin gathered him close, he bit his tongue on being carried like a princess, feeling uncomfortable and vulnerable in the simple, flimsy lab coat.  How else were they going to get up to the roof of the building though?  He couldn’t help but stare in awe as the huge wings opened, catching the rays of interior lighting in the multitudinous feathers.  His body jerked when they flapped, grabbing at pockets of air to lift the pair higher.  Gunwoo remembered the sensation and his heart ached for what he had given up once more.

                But their ascent stalled all too soon when Changmin paused to hover in the air, eyes narrowed while he looked around intently, even as he clutched Gunwoo to him harder.  “Star shards!” he cursed, looking up with a concentrated expression as he renewed his flapping.

                Knowing he was missing something, Gunwoo closed his eyes and focused on divining what was going on.  He inhaled sharply as soon as he understood that danger was nearby.  He couldn’t see anything else but danger signals, and they hit him all at once, making him light headed.  “Hurry!” he pleaded, for the first time concerned with the possibility of being more than just captured by angels or humans.

                Both tensed when they heard the tell tale sound of a ship gun going off, and Changmin turned in midair, folding his wings around Gunwoo with a panicked, “Hold on!”

                Gunwoo screamed as he clung to Changmin while an explosion went off overhead and they fell towards the ground.  The ceiling caved in and the angel ship fell through with a peculiar whining sound.  As it dropped, time resumed around them and the humans below launched into a frenzy of frightened movement.  An alarm went off and flashing lights erupted, but none of it mattered as the falling ship quickly crumpled in on itself, imploding in seconds.  “Changmin!” the angel Prince cried, hiding his face against the other man’s chest as the resultant shockwave emerged.

                It plucked the angels from the air and unceremoniously shoved them along, sending them tumbling through the darkened space.  Lights burnt out all around them while systems went down in an instant.  And still the humans floundered and cried out as the angels hit the ground.  The impact jarred Gunwoo sharply, even cushioned as he was by Changmin’s presence, though he didn’t seem to be hurt.  But above the cries of the humans, they heard something else as well: ships battling.

                “The Royal!” Changmin gasped, clambering to his feet with a pained hiss.  “Come on, Highness.  It’s not safe here,” he urged, reaching down to grab one of Gunwoo’s arms to help him up as well.

                “Where can we go?!” Gunwoo snapped at him as soon as he was standing, feeling unsettled and lost.  He’d never expected Changmin to be the one to find him; he’d never expected demons to be after him; and he certainly hadn’t expected to be pinned down by one and trapped with the other.

                “Anywhere but here!” the guard hissed in return, grabbing Gunwoo’s hand as he started to pull him away from the central room.  Humans all around them continued to panic as they fled, though new ones began to show up from a different pried open door and both angels stiffened.  “Stay close and put up your shield,” Changmin commanded as he put himself between the newest intruders and Gunwoo.

                Neither were fully prepared for the first shots that were fired, and they jumped as the projectiles ricocheted off Changmin’s protection.  The building shook from other explosions elsewhere and everyone froze as more of the ceiling threatened to give way.  Gunwoo tried to focus on anything the humans were saying, but he truly couldn’t understand them, and a look up through the hole in the roof showed a dark sky filled with stars and the occasional flash of light from a ship’s cannon going off.  His eyes instinctively widened in fear at the sight of darkness overhead: demons had the advantage during the night.  And if there was more than one, whatever angel Changmin had been referring to would not last long.

                An angry shout from his guard drew his attention back to the closer matters at hand.  With helpless frustration, he watched as Changmin took on six of them at once, determined to keep them from reaching Gunwoo.  He wanted to help.  He wanted to do something, but he couldn’t even summon his sword and his protection was weak at best.  If he joined the fray, he would probably just get in Changmin’s way and someone might actually get killed.  The other angel was doing his best to incapacitate them without killing them outright; even now he was mindful of intergalactic rules.  The Heir didn’t know whether to curse him or bless him for that, in all honesty.

                “!” he flinched when something decently large flew through the opening in the roof.  Wispy shadows wreathed it before it crashed through one of the still standing walls.  “Demon…” he gasped, immediately looking around for anything to defend himself with.  Nothing!

                “Found you,” a voice whispered in his ear, smug and predatory.

                Every warning sense came to life and screamed danger at the same time.  Gunwoo gasped, already jumping back as he turned to try and block however he could.  If he’d had his wings, maybe he would have sensed the demon sneaking up on him.  If he had his wings, maybe he could have reacted to block appropriately.  If he’d had his wings, maybe he would have been able to do something, but it was a miracle in itself that the icy strike that should have killed him merely shattered his protection, scored a deep wound through his celestial armor, and sent him flying across the room.  “Gyah!” he screamed, losing his breath entirely when he hit a wall, feeling as if every bone in his body should have been crushed.

                “Gunwoo!” he heard Changmin shout as he pried open blurry eyes.  Not sure he was seeing things correctly, he watched as Changmin hurtled across the room towards the revealed demon who was smiling at them.  Dark auburn hair graced his head while he wore an insufferable smirk as he waited, unguarded, for Changmin to close.  “Die!” the guard roared, using his momentum and the full strength of a two handed attack to clash swords with the Royal demon.  He stopped in midair, arms bowing slightly against the resistance, but with a final defiant shove, he upset the demon’s balance.  Unable to stay standing, the Royal laughed as he was shunted back, crashing back through one of the weakened walls as he did.

                Changmin landed with a gasp, holding the sword tightly as his wings trembled.  Staring at the opening for only a second more, he spun around and sprinted for Gunwoo, eyes darting in every direction as he searched for any other danger.  “Come on!” he murmured, gathering the Heir’s injured body close once more, carefully holding him with the sword still out in the open.

                Without complaint, Gunwoo wrapped one arm around Changmin’s neck and held to the other shoulder with his free hand.  “Can you beat him?” he panted through the pain, staring at the hole in nervous fear.

                “No,” Changmin admitted honestly without looking down.  “But I can buy you time to escape,” he added, his lips as he launched himself into the air.  He jerked erratically though, jostling Gunwoo, when he lurched to avoid a diopsilite sword aiming to cut off one of his wings.  “Hang onto me!” he growled through clenched teeth as he let Gunwoo go with his right hand to spin and swing his astrilite blade at the new opponent.

                “Hah!” the redheaded demon laughed, catching the blade with his as they remained suspended in the air.

                “Novas take you!” Changmin snarled, bearing down as he kicked off the deflection shield hastily, gaining distance between them.

                “Like that’ll work!” his opponent smirked, wings flapping to make up the lost ground while Changmin desperately tried to get them through the hole in the ceiling.

                “Hakyeon!” a voice below stalled the demon.  With a pout, he stopped and all eyes turned to the Royal on the ground who quite calmly followed the angels as they rose higher.  “Let them go,” he grinned, the predatory gleam unmistakable in his gaze.  “It’s more fun when they run,” he added with a laugh as he turned his sights to the remaining humans inside.

                “See you soon,” Hakyeon promised with a flick of his tail before he too flapped back down, murder in his eyes and excitement in his step.

                “Go, Changmin!  Go!” Gunwoo urged as he clung to his guardian and stared down in horror at the demons who promised to kill him.