In the dimly lit private council chamber, Khaos Representative Minki and Celestial Representative Amber looked over the latest, brief message from L.

                The Angel Heir has been found.  He is being held among the humans after his ship was destroyed by an unidentified spacecraft.  Of additional concern, he no longer has his wings.  The artificial angel and demon have not changed in status as of yet.

L

                “Troubling indeed,” Minki hummed with his index finger tapping against his upper lip.

                “It feels as if something is missing from this message,” Amber frowned, her lips pursed into thin lines.

                “I agree,” her counterpart nodded once, expression unreadable.

                “Does that not mean he can no longer be their Heir?” Minji asked, hovering as usual at Minki’s shoulder.  He hummed in silent agreement, though his gaze never left the message.

                “More troubling is that the first angel that found him should have noticed this… condition,” Kevin murmured with a curious look at his superior.

                “I’m sure he did,” Amber laughed softly, pulling up the other matters they had been looking into.  “It seems as if it is almost time for us to move,” she spoke, eyes narrowed as she reviewed the disappearance records of the missing angel and demon that had crashed on the planet centuries ago.  “Looks like we have more than enough reason now after all,” she laughed once as she pointed to the first name on the list.

                “Wu Yifan,” Minki nodded with a slow blink.  “A distant cousin to the Demon Emperor, he was nonetheless a very powerful Royal.  But no one said anything when he went missing because he’d disgraced himself by falling for and running off with a standard angel.”

                “Im Yoona,” Kevin spoke for them, gesturing at the second name on the list.  “She was equally disgraced for falling in love with a demon.”

                “Come now,” Amber chided softly with a raised brow.  “You know it’s worse for the Royals who depend so much on bloodlines to inherit.  The standards have a little more freedom in being able to love who they like, even if it they cannot have offspring as a result.”

                “It doesn’t matter,” Minki waved off their mini conversation.  “Now that we have confirmed the demon DNA they used came from a Royal, chances are much higher that the artificial demon will begin manifesting certain characteristics as well.  Whether we like it or not, we must send a retrieval unit to bring them into the fold.”

                “Such trouble for out of the way creations,” Amber laughed, though she appeared rather delighted by the idea of new additions.  “And now that Minji has brought us the Sentient Species Act, we can also confirm that the Earth Creatures are in unknowing violation of it and must therefore be apprehended before further harm can befall them or their targets.”

                “We shall pose it to the whole council shortly.  Minji, call a meeting,” Minki urged with a wave of his hand.

                “Kevin, would you be so kind as to make sure that The Jung Emperor and Empress are in attendance as well?” Amber smiled with cutting sweetness.  This time, the expression didn’t quite reach her eyes.

                “Of course,” the two subordinates bowed quickly, walking out one after the other as they moved to fulfill the desired orders.

                “Such troublesome creatures they can be,” Amber sighed, looking at Minki with a raised brow.

                “The earth creatures, the angels, or the demons?” Minki chuckled once, his eyes similarly shadowed.

                “All of them.”

                Victoria placed her hand on her bleeding head and took several deep breaths to slow her racing heart now that they were free of the two ships.  It had been a near thing.  She was fortunate only that her shields had held and that the Royal had never gotten a direct hit on her.  That ice attack was nothing to take lightly.  Even so, her systems were nearly fried and she herself was uncharacteristically drained.  It didn’t change the situation that she had essentially lost against the demons and the angels inside were currently in peril, but if she herself died, there would be no one to report back or provide any sort of assistance.

                “Ugh…”  A low groan from behind her reminded the angel she had a passenger who was not accustomed to escaping death by extreme piloting.

                Wincing as she unhooked herself and got out of the seat, she cringed upon seeing the bloody mess of the earth creature.  He wasn’t really conscious and he had an even worse head wound than she did.  It looked like one of his arms might have been broken and she wasn’t comfortable with the way his head was lolling against his chest.  That would be just her luck for him to be collateral damage after she’d taken him expressly to keep him from dying.  “Hey,” she called softly, placing a gentle hand against his shoulder.

                No response.  Star shards.  He was still breathing though, so that was something.  If there was a heartbeat, she should be able to pull him back from just about anything.

                “Alright you,” she murmured, stiffly shaking her wings out to separate the feathers more, allowing her to filter any cosmic energy nearby.  Victoria closed her eyes with her hand still touching the earth creature’s shoulder and let the healing energy within flow from her core, down her arm, and into the injured man.  Tender warmth blossomed and she felt the pull of energy indicating it was working.  Victoria opened one eye to see the gash on his head knit together seamlessly while his pallor became a less white shade.

                “Mmm,” he hummed this time, eyes scrunching tight as he started to come around.

                Pulling back, the angel knelt at his side, looking up into his lowered face.  “You alright?” she asked, touching his nearest knee with her fingertips.

                He jumped slightly at the contact, eyes flickering open, and then stilled as he recognized her.  “What happened?” he wondered, touching at his head carefully.  He seemed to expect worse injuries if the tentative nature of his exploration was any indication.  The blood didn’t help reassure him but the fact that nothing hurt obviously confused him too.

                “I healed you,” she explained with a tired smile, her own body complaining about the lack of healing and the energy cost needed to take care of him.

                “Oh,” he stated simply, not sure how to respond and still conflicted about the blood but lack of pain.  “I meant about the battle…” he trailed off, unable to ignore the wounds on her person.

                She waved them off easily, having suffered much worse in her days.  “We winged one ship but the other nearly downed us.  I had to pretend to go down just so they’d leave us alone,” she explained with a look up.  Being underwater was not her ideal situation, but it was better than being dead.

                Her companion grimaced at that but didn’t complain.  Then his eyes widened and he looked up too.  “What about Gunwoo?!” he asked hurriedly.

                Right.  She had mentioned his name before engaging the demons.  Cosmos thank her divination for even allowing her to follow them in the evening, but now she was truly at a disadvantage.  “I don’t know,” she admitted with a frown.  “The demons disrupted the null stasis field so anything could have happened with him and the other angel.”

                “Then we have to go help him!” her passenger gasped, looking almost as if he was going to get up and assault the base on his own.

                “How do you propose we help him?” Victoria wondered aloud as she clambered back into her seat and took another breath, struggling to draw enough cosmic energy to help power up her ship enough to be effective.

                That question stalled him.  For a second, he floundered for a decent response, his unease easy enough to feel without seeing him.  “I don’t know,” he gave in eventually.  “But we have to try, don’t we?”  The addition wasn’t entirely unexpected but it was still surprising that he felt so strongly about helping the Heir.  Truly, they must have had a close relationship for some time for him to feel this way.

                “I’m working on it,” Victoria murmured, clenching her eyes shut tight.  Curse the lack of energy in this area.  She could only imagine it was because the other angels and demons were using it themselves.  Even as she said that, the control panel came to dim life and she could see on the holoscreen once more.  While none of the signals were strong, she frowned in confusion at seeing several strange energy signatures.

                “What’s happening out there?” the earth creature asked over her shoulder, leaning close enough to make the hair on the back of her neck stand on end.

                Victoria shook her head and observed for a second longer before she explained.  “I’m not surprised I don’t see the demons from earlier, but there’s a pair of angels outside the complex and an angel and demon pair flying out from one of the other buildings.  Why would they be flying together?” she wondered aloud, baffled by that.

                “Oh!  Maybe they’re the angel and demon the A&D Program made!” he gasped.

                “Maybe,” she conceded, pushing them out of her mind almost immediately.  “Which means the other pair is hopefully Gunwoo and whoever the new angel is.  But novas, where are the demons?!” she scowled, scouring the screen as if that could somehow make them appear.

                “Does it matter right now?!” the earth creature flailed behind her.

                “Of course it does,” the angel snapped back with a frustrated glare.  “They have perfect invisibility in the dark and I’d rather they didn’t catch us by surprise.”

                “Oh…”

                “Now be quiet,” Victoria instructed, asking the ship to respond just a bit.  They needed to get out of the floating, holding position they were in and into one that would help the angel pair.  She was certain Gunwoo’s ship was gone and the other angel vessel had been destroyed with the null stasis field.  As such, she had the only functional ship and she needed to keep it that way if they had any chance of getting away from this spot with any success.  It was a death sentence trying to fly over that much water in the open, invisibility ability or not.

                With only the quiet responses of the controls as she coaxed her ship to life, Victoria and her earth guest ghosted under the water towards the angel pair signal they both hoped would be alright.

                “Are you okay?” Changmin asked him as he leaned over Gunwoo while the other angel rested against a large boulder.  It was dark with the loss of power in the area but his naturally sharp eyesight made use of the moon and starlight above, allowing him to see the other angel almost perfectly.

                Gunwoo’s resultant laugh was bitter and broken; he knew they weren’t safe and it was only a matter of time before they were tracked.  “Of course I’m not.”  His wound and whole body ached from the Royal demon’s attack.  In truth, he hadn’t realized just how much he’d lost in losing his wings and it made his eyes burn at his naivety.

                “Woo,” the angel guard murmured, lifting Gunwoo’s chin with his fingertips so that he would meet his eyes.

                Gunwoo wanted to look away.  He didn’t want to see the hurt and worry and…  “Why did it have to be you?” he asked in a weak and trembling voice as the unwanted tears seared his lashes.  He clenched his fists and glared at his former guard, deeply conflicted.

                Changmin winced at the question, but he didn’t look away.  Nor did he answer Gunwoo’s question.  “I can help you,” he stated instead, one hand moving to touch the hidden vial while a wing extended towards the other angel, the vague promise of protection inherent in the gesture.

                “You can’t even help yourself,” the Heir sniffed, eyeing the wing mournfully.  It wasn’t fair.  He’d tried so hard to get away from all of this and then Changmin had to appear and remind him of exactly what he had casually, voluntarily tossed aside.  It hurt more than he ever imagined it would.

                “I have a vial of unicorn’s blood,” he whispered quietly, though the truth blazed brightly in his eyes.

                Gunwoo’s mouth fell open and his eyes widened in horror, blood turning to ice in his veins.  “Min,” he gasped, his lips as he shook his head automatically, a roiling sensation beginning in his stomach.  “That’s impossible,” he denied, swallowing hard as the rush of fear and warring hope threatened to crush him in a wave of nauseous uncertainty.  It couldn’t be true, but if it was… if he could have his wings back despite what it meant…

                “Please,” Changmin begged, glancing over his shoulder worriedly.  They could both feel it: the demons were coming and neither of them were in any condition to do anything about it.  “Let me do this,” he whispered, starting to move closer to Gunwoo.

                Dazed and weak, his head still spinning from the roar of combat and his fluctuating emotions, Gunwoo tried to push Changmin away as the taller angel gathered him close anyway.  “No,” he panted, his weak struggles useless after the onslaught he had barely survived.  The demons were close.  Too close.  He could feel them nearby and he didn’t know what to do.

                “You have to or you’ll die,” Changmin gasped with an audible swallow, nearly crushing Gunwoo against his chest as his other hand fumbled at his pouch.

                “I won’t,” Gunwoo denied in reaction, turning his head to the side stubbornly; it was forbidden and he didn’t want or need it.  But he knew he was lying to himself, the wounds too deep for his fragile body without the magic of his wings to bolster him.  Even without the injuries, after seeing Changmin and the magnificence of his wings again, the temptation would have been great.  Now, without the healing it offered, he might well die as it was, much less from having his pursuers finish him off.  Damn the demons!  His body tensed when Changmin shifted, bracing Gunwoo’s back with his bent knee so he could free his other hand.

                “I won’t let you die,” the other angel promised sincerely, his face pained and his eyes bright.  He took a small breath and poured the contents of the forbidden bottle into his mouth before he thread his fingers through Gunwoo’s damp hair and pulled, forcing him to look at Changmin looming over him.

                “You can’t,” he whispered, mesmerized by the tiny smear of gold on the angel’s lips.  Before he could deny him further, those beautiful white wings folded around them and Changmin’s mouth came crashing down on his.  Another hand cupped the side of his face, tender and callused and strong, and Gunwoo was left to stare at Changmin’s open eyes.  The dark depths screamed a silent plea, and his lips moved just enough against Gunwoo’s, revealing the truth of what he had never been able to say aloud.  ‘Damn you,’ he wanted to curse as his lips parted ever so slightly, and he cried silent tears while the tonic slipped down his throat, forced past his pitiful defenses with trickery and passion.

                Swallowing the blood, it tasted like life but felt like poison.  Ambrosia on his tongue turned to fire in his belly and the inferno raged within as Gunwoo was hastily dropped to the ground, their embrace broken far too soon.  A gust of cold wind and an outraged cry warned him that Changmin was moving, but he couldn’t see.  Pain bound his eyes shut as he curled into the ground, trying to disappear as if it could make him feel better.  Tendrils of living flames writhed through him, digging into every wound without remorse, knitting torn skin and bruised flesh with too much heat… too much power.

                And he thought that was the worst of it as he screamed through clenched teeth, spasming where he lay.  But then the tendrils shifted, drawn by the absence of something, and Gunwoo arched in agony as a tortured cry clawed through his throat.  Burning hands grabbed his shoulders blades and pulled, forcing sharp tips of bone through his weak flesh and fragile cloth.  “Gyah!” he screamed, making it to his elbows and knees with his forehead pressed to the ground and his nails digging into the dirt.  Bone creaked and shifted, the sound grinding through his ears as the pulling just went on and on, drowning out everything else.

                “…ake care of hi…”

                A searing, prickling sensation eventually made its way through the haze of agony and Gunwoo faintly heard a rustling sound as a familiar but forgotten weight settled over him.  Ringing ears pricked when a pained voice shouted a rough warning.  “Woo!”

                Reactions he didn’t know he had anymore roared to life as the second skin of silken adamantine solidified over his rising left arm once more.  Unlike the first time, it provided a solid shield against the icy long sword arcing down on him.  Freezing mist washed over his body, briefly soothing the burning ache in his back but his arm trembled with the force needed to hold the attack.  He glanced up, noticing the edge of the blade poised just above his head.  At the end of the hilt, the Royal demon smirked and stabbed forward, pressing down on the top of the sword with his other hand.

                “Tch!” Gunwoo hissed, dropping his right shoulder so he could roll with the attack, guiding the blade to stab into the ground on the other side of him.  Completely pinned inside his opponent’s influence, he couldn’t do anything to block the toe kick to his side that stole the breath from his lungs.  A forced cough followed as he curled into a hurt ball at the demon’s feet, his circle of protection useless in this space.

                “Time to die, Prince,” the demon sneered, wasting no time as he raised his icy sword to impale his target.

                “No!” Changmin denied, the voice raspy and thin.

                There was no time to think about whether it would work or not.  Gunwoo reached out, praying the circle of deflection wouldn’t be there, and grabbed the demon’s ankle.  The Royal snorted in amusement, beginning to bring the sword down.  But then he screamed as his knee buckled when Gunwoo wounded him with all the impetus of the recent agony he’d just experienced.  The tip of his weapon swung out and over Gunwoo’s body, impaling several feathers instead.  Dead weight settled on top of the angel as the demon fell across him, pinning him in place.

                “Jae!” Hakyeon shrieked, the cry shifting when it seemed as if his fight resumed with a muffled curse from his opponent.

                ‘Go, go, go!’ Gunwoo chanted in his mind, teeth bared like fangs as he braced himself with his right elbow and shoved at Jaejoong’s body with his left.  ‘No time.  No time!’  The effect of the spell wouldn’t last long and he knew it.  “Get off!” he snarled, finally sliding out enough to kick away from the demon, scrambling unsteadily to his feet.  His balance felt off and his body was crashing, overloaded from the forced healing and regeneration.  Bursts of light danced in his vision and there was a ringing in his ears that wouldn’t go away.  But he saw Jaejoong moving already, and Changmin was struggling to deal with the nimble Hakyeon just a couple meters away.

                “You’re gonna regret that,” Jaejoong growled as he turned a feral, murderous glare on the angel, hefting his sword up again.

                Breathing hard, Gunwoo balled his hands into fists as he stood with his feet spaced widely apart while the useless remnants of his borrowed coat fluttered around his armor covered skin in tatters.  His legs trembled while his body slumped forward.  Black hair threatened to cloud his swimming vision.  He couldn’t win right now.  Impossible.  Gunwoo squinted hard and shook his right hand out, holding it at his side.  Screaming with the last vestiges of his resolve, pulling deep from the remnants of whatever reserves he had left, Gunwoo closed his hand as he felt the solid, molten weight of his fiery broadsword appear.

                Doggedly, the angel gripped the hilt with both hands and lurched forward, limp running towards his would-be assassin.  “Die!” he commanded through clenched teeth as he threw a clumsy side-swipe at the demon.  In an instant, he watched Jaejoong take stock of the situation and react like the trained fighter he was.  He managed a sluggish leap, using a flap of his wings to get up and over the attack.  His body was partially turning in the air so Gunwoo knew he’d be aiming to land behind him.  If he wanted to stay and fight, the maneuver would have worked wonders to keep them in close proximity, but the angel had other ideas.

                With another winded breath, Gunwoo resettled the sword on his left side.  He continued running towards Changmin and Hakyeon, the bright red hair and black wings setting the demon apart easily.  Too distracted with trying to kill Changmin – his tail was wrapped around the angel’s neck and a sword angled over his chest while he straddled the taller man – he almost didn’t see Gunwoo coming.

                “Hakyeon, duck!” Jaejoong warned, his clear voice flowing over Gunwoo’s shoulder as he swung the broadsword around again.  With a frightened gasp, Hakyeon avoided being cut in half by throwing his body to the side.  A wave of heat washed over the demon as he rolled over his and Changmin’s wing in the process, the sword clutched tight against his body.

                Gunwoo had little enough strength left to continue wielding his weapon, so he let the momentum continue to carry him around before he let it go, flinging the burning, tumbling blade at Jaejoong.  Already in the process of giving chase, the demon flailed to counter the unexpected attack.  His wings flared and the icy sword came up to try and deflect the projectile.  It was heavy though, and the elements conflicting.  Without Gunwoo’s hand to stabilize the flow of power, the weapon became unstable.  Jaejoong’s defenses held.  The weapon did not.  An explosion like thunder knocked the demon off his feet and sent shards of burning ice in every direction.

                “Jae!  NO!” Hakyeon howled, completely distracted by his partner’s body flying through the air.

                It was all the distraction Gunwoo needed.  Spinning another hundred and eighty degrees, and nearly falling in the process when he reached down, the restored angel grabbed Changmin’s shirt in both hands and used momentum and his body weight to pull the taller man up.  “Come on!” he hissed in desperation, already starting to fall backwards as Changmin followed him up when his feet couldn’t keep pace.  Gunwoo’s right hand swung wide to try and catch himself while he held onto his companion’s shirt with his left, his protective armor melting away as his concentration shattered.

                Changmin grabbed the outside of Gunwoo’s upper left arm though, stalling him long enough to stabilize.  Gravity pulled at him but Gunwoo resisted, his right hand suspended in the air for an instant.  With a little nudge on the left side of his body, Gunwoo was turned the rest of the way around so they could both start running in the same direction.  He stumbled anyway, his vision beginning to go black.  “Min…” he whispered, reaching for the angel by feel when his knees gave out.

                “I’ve got you,” Changmin grunted, belatedly cushioning Gunwoo’s collapse until he could gather the smaller man in his arms, new wings bunched uncomfortably together.  “You’re good,” he promised with a pained hitch in his breath.

                Gunwoo’s head lolled against Changmin’s chest as he heard massive wings labor to take flight.  Wind brushed against his face but his eyes closed before he could see if they were airborne.  His consciousness disappeared immediately after.