Gold light infinitely brighter than the sun beams down and blankets the ethereal land with its warm rays, the all-seeing light glossing over everything in its path as it permitted not an inch of shadow to exist.

Yet there she is, beyond the steepest mountains and high above the clouds in the realm of the heavens, standing clad in her blood red robe and jet black satin as she suddenly feels like live bait drowning in an ocean of white and gold.

She shouldn’t be here, her gut tells her.

As if these creatures staring her down weren’t already unwelcoming…

Angels; the embodiment of light and good, yet she knows they thirsted for her blood.

She matched their glares with a lone pair of red eyes, hers clashing with a million golden ones.

“Yoona”, she feels a sudden but gentle squeeze on her hand.

She immediately looks up beside her, only to be greeted by another pair of golden orbs; the only ones that had ever held her gazes with care rather than hate.

Yoona felt tranquility wash over her at Seo’s mere attention; he always did have that calming effect.

She squeezes his hand back in gratitude and glues her stare on the thick clouds below, wishing to halt her increasing spite for this ‘paradise’ and all of its dwellers---in exception of the one standing beside her.

There is nothing to fear, especially with Seo by her side, she reassures herself.

Indeed the dark princess Yoona had once stood before an armed council of angels without a tinge of fear in her heart; she managed to kill them all with neither hesitance nor trouble, after all.

But her days of mindless destruction are long gone; the inadvertent effect of Seo’s companionship.

“Have you lost your mind, young cherub?…bringing a creature of darkness into our sanctuary. What is the meaning of this?!”, spoke the highest angel, no doubt the eldest and wisest as he hovered above them, the light behind him causing his silhouette to shine far brighter than the rest.

His voice reverberated in the vast kingdom of heaven; strong and booming, it commanded presence and authority to those who heard him.

But just as determined, Seo holds out their intertwined hands, presenting their amalgamation of eternal bond to their most critical adjudicators.

Now devoid of animosity, Yoona shrinks as newfound timidity takes over, slightly hiding behind the safety of Seo’s folded wings.

“I’ve come to ask for acceptance, not permission, Taeyeon“, Seo boldly stated.

Suddenly, Yoona couldn’t bear to look at any of their faces--especially not Seo’s.

She doesn’t want to see any of it: the judgments, the hate. But most of all, she doesn’t want to witness the hurt on his face when they inevitably crush him with their words.

As Yoona permits a sideway glance in Seo’s direction, she suddenly feels shame as she doesn’t have the courage to look as unyielding as he does.

He looks so determined; her heart broke even more at the sight.

Seo had always possessed a different kind of strength; an indestructible will power from within. Unlike herself, he didn’t carry a warrior’s aura. Even clad in his bulky gold armor and short white robe made of flowing satin, he is significantly leaner than his kind albeit taller, looking like a young man with short brown hair as he lacks the masculine trait of facial hair that most male angels possess. He exudes elegance and grace hard to find in men and angels alike.

She loved that gentle air around him.

Although they were both fighting the battle of their lives, for once, Yoona felt powerless as she could do nothing but let Seo take charge.

“I’ve stumbled upon a miracle: she possesses a heart”, Seo continues.

“She has no heart”, they parried, quick but definitely not painless.

She wants to tell them she had one since it ached at that very moment.

“She’s different”, he quickly defended, pulling her closer.

“She’s a demon”, they retorted.

“My brothers and sisters, we mustn’t be too rash…”, an angel beside their leader suddenly speaks up.

“Silence, Tiffany. You’ve already committed a similar offense in the past. It’s best to hold your tongue concerning this matter”, an older angel reprimands.

And just like that, not another word came out of this particular cherub as a look of guilt washes over her entire features.

“And just look at his wings; it’s turning into the color of blackest coal. You’ve let this demon gradually corrupt you without even realizing it. But it’s not too late. Save your purity and your soul while you still can”, another warns.




“I love her”




At Seo’s bold revelation, they all shoot him the spontaneous look of shock and disgust.

Unfazed, the mismatched lovers only held each other tighter; not as an action to prove it but rather to brace each other on what’s to come.

Judgment.

The main arch angel looks down at his blood brother sternly, knowing their familial link will no longer be enough to save him. But as his older brother, he had always sought to protect his innocent but otherwise naïve little brother.

“What will it take for you to accept us? I will do anything in my power”, Seo continues, determined for his kin to acknowledge the peculiar bond he shares with the dark princess.

“Although your past glories will not absolve your present sin, we are willing to overlook your impulsive and brief phase of insanity. Assuage and lessen the burden of your punishment by submitting to the council’s whims”, Taeyeon declares in finality, Seo’s and Yoona’s morale suddenly dropping.




“We want her life for yours”




Seo feels Yoona’s hold tighten at the ultimatum and soon finds himself seething in anger.

“You talk of purity yet you order me to take a life over my own?! What of forgiveness, love and understanding? The very notions we’ve always claimed to spread?”

“Her hands are forever stained by the blood of your brothers and sisters. You’ve clearly forgotten your duties as a servant of light”

“You’ve committed the highest form of treason and sin!”, more angels joined in protest.

“If loving is a sin then damn my soul to hell…along with all of yours”, Seo cursed uncharacteristically, clenching a fist at his own kind’s hard-headedness.

“Enough! You claim undying love for a demon, brother! The very demon whose clan rules the underworld; her kin is our sworn enemy!”, Taeyeon interjects with a roaring intensity.

“An alliance then. Our union will bring peace between our worlds”

“No, it will only bring destruction…as it had before. We are the forces of peace while they solely exist to create chaos. Just look at their reign on earth”

“But—“

“The council has spoken. I won’t offer this again; let this be your last chance: slay her and end this madness”, Taeyeon concludes grimly if not solemnly.

“No”

The two brothers glared at each other, equally unyielding.

“Then I have no choice but to do it for you”, Taeyeon swiftly descends to the doomed lovers, unsheathing the sword that had lay waste to a million demons as it prepared to bathe in the blood of another.

Immediately shielding her behind him, Seo spreads his arms and wings protectively.




“She carries my child! Do not harm her!”




His revelation caught Taeyeon mid-slash, stopping the mighty angel just before he struck.

Frozen he stood, mind whirring with a million incoherent thoughts as the rest of his brethren gasped at the young cherub’s revelation.

“You fool!”

A fist came crashing on Seo’s cheek, the force of Taeyeon’s blow almost knocking him off his feet while Yoona caught him stumbling backwards.

“Not only have you succumbed to temptation, you’ve allowed yourself to be seduced by the enemy. Defiled, you stand proud when you should be shriveling into nothing in self-shame! You are no longer a creature of light in the eyes of heaven. You are beyond salvation! Release him!”, he directs his last words to Yoona with unmatched spite.

“I rather rot in hell than allow you to separate us!”, she spoke for the first time, timidity replaced by increasing anger as she feels her entire being start to blaze.

“As it should be! Go back from whence you came, demon! Rot in hell you shall but you will do so in eternal solitude!”, the angel growls.

He rips Yoona’s supporting hold on his brother, tossing Seo aside before raising his sword and striking her down.

Her earsplitting shriek was all it took for Seo to recover, innately reaching for his own blade with godly speed before striking his own brother without hesitation to protect his beloved.

A pool of red stained the whiteness of the expansive floor as Taeyeon collapses on a knee, overwhelmed by the burning of his wounds and pride at the surprise of his usually obedient brother’s sudden hostility.

Summoned by their master’s cries of anguish, the wrath of hellfire suddenly surrounds Yoona in its protective embrace, the whirring tornado of flames consuming all within reach as all angels scrambled to get out of the way.

The jaws of hellfire would’ve consumed Taeyeon had the angel Tiffany not flown down to pick him up by an arm to flee.

But paying no heed to the chaos nor the scalding heat emitting from Yoona’s body, Seo stayed to gather her up in his arms, careless of his burning flesh as protecting her encompassed every thought and dictated every action.

He spreads his majestic wings, sprinkling the air with golden dust as he descended down through the thick clouds with unmatched speed. With a hand gripping her tightly, he grimaces when he feels the opened flesh on her back where a leathery wing should be. Seo presses a palm on the gash, trying to ignore her rushing blood on his hand when he begins healing it to the best of his abilities as they fled to seek escape from this ‘paradise’.

Curled in his arms, Yoona gathers her breath, recovering enough to dismiss the fire that is subsequently scorching everything in its grasp, Seo included.

And just as quickly as the hellfire vanished, they found themselves tailed by a thousand angels, swords readily drawn. Without her deadweight slowing them down, they caught up faster, gaining significant distance by the second.

An arrow whizzes past Seo’s ear only to be followed by a dozen others.

Somersaulting skillfully in midair, he manages to dodge them all until it started hailing daggers and spears.

Yoona feels a knocking force followed by a pained groan from Seo and she immediately knows he’s been hit.

“Put me down. Let me fight!”

Ignoring her, he continues to breeze through the thick clouds faster than a bullet, lines of white trailing behind them as they finally reached the last level connecting the ethereal realm to Earth.

To Yoona’s surprise, he suddenly stops on the edge of the cliff, with the view of earth greeting them just below.

Seemingly an approval from him to enter combat, she summons her black sword out of thick smoldering smoke and turns to the incoming barrage of angels in the distance.

She briefly looks at him to inspect his condition, surprised to find so many armaments digging into his flesh, trails of red staining his purity.

He tries to catch his breath, heaving shallow breaths while Yoona could only look on hopelessly.

Switching her sword to the uninjured arm, she tells him, “Fly to Earth and tell my brother what’s happened. He’ll send help. I’ll keep them all from pursuing you”, mindful of a broken wing entrapping her to this realm.

Though doubting her own hopes of survival, she’s sure Seo could outfly them especially without her dead-weight. Her odds are very grim indeed, fighting against an army of angels on their own turf especially with a massive injury but she’s finally found something worth protecting and she’s willing to sacrifice herself to keep him alive.

As if reading her thoughts, he pulls her closer to share a final farewell.

“Go”, she whispers into his lips after a brief moment of bliss, feeling sincere contentment at the thought of sacrificing her once destructive life in exchange for her soul mate’s.

He pulls away just enough to offer a small but otherwise comforting smile,



“No, you must take our child”



She furrows her eyebrows as she realizes his intentions but before she could begin her protest, he silences her with one last kiss; light yet passionate, brief but eternal.

Momentarily losing grip of reality, Yoona finds herself not entrapped within the fiery wrath of heaven but instead, in the midst of a quiet earth forest where they fatefully met, tranquility overtaking the senses as Seo embraced her with his warmth.

But mindful of the predatory swarm of angels closing in, he parts unwillingly, bringing a gentle finger to Yoona’s chin before planting a chaste kiss to her forehead.

Just when she thinks they will never part, he pushes her over the edge, but not before whispering his last words,




“I know we'll be reunited again, my love”




As she slowly fell from the grace of heaven with wide eyes, Seo never broke their eye contact even after she saw a horde of angels and gold spears engulf his shrinking figure.




“NO!”



--



Yoona awoke slowly and painfully as the drizzle of rain gently caressed her face. Desperately trying to clear her blurry vision, she attempts to furiously blink the dirt and exhaustion away.

She weakly turns on her side, feeling gravel shift beneath her when she moved.

Earth.

With hands outstretched for support, she feels something soft in her hands. After capturing it into her palms, Yoona snakes her closed hand to her face along with a fistful of earth.

When she unclenched them, a lone bloodied feather slowly glides to the ground.

Her heart wrenched at the sight, tears slowly pooling before streaming down across her nose and into dirt, further darkening the ground as the heavens cried with her.

On a black throne miles beneath Yoona sat a solemn brother, desperate to drown out the screeching cries of the banished princess.

“You’ve brought this upon yourself”, she hears her brother whisper. “I warned you not to fall for an angel”

Yuri’s words falls on deaf ears when the demon princess noticed a mass of white and gold at a distance.

Gathering her strength, she tries to get up only to collapse when her legs failed her.

Relentless, she crawls through mud to follow the trail of bloodied feathers whilst ignoring the broken pieces of mail, armor and swords leading to her beloved.

When she finally reached him, she immediately notices the infinite number of wounds his body endured, turning his once majestic being into nothing but a pile of tattered flesh.

But his face, aside from hair matted in clumps with blood and the occasional scratch, is a serene portrait; it’s as if he is in a seemingly peaceful slumber.

But she doesn’t want him to sleep; she won’t let him leave her like this.

“Wake up!”, Yoona yells, shaking his shoulder in desperation.

Unresponsive, she takes matters into her own hands, placing her palms on any opened wounds and searing them shut.

But soon, she found herself overwhelmed. Her hands were never meant for healing; they were only capable of scorching and incinerating, after all, she was the perfect being of destruction.

And by these very same hands, she destroyed the first man she ever loved.

“Get up and heal yourself!”, she erupts, slamming her clenched fists onto his chest.

“I can’t do it! Wake up…and help me…”, her anger slowly becoming helpless fits of sobs at the reluctant acceptance of Seo’s death.

He’s dead; dead before he even hit the ground.

Deemed a tainted being, she imagines Seo’s limp form violently kicked over the edge to fall crudely on Earth, his body unworthy even of presiding in the purity of heaven.

Physically and emotionally drained, she lays her head on his chest, now devoid of the lulling beating of his heart, seeking the usual comfort it had always provided as she cried an oath to unhearing ears:




“I’ll find you again, Seo...I promise...”




--




“So do I have a little sister or a little brother?!”, a child excitedly jumps up and down near the edge of a white hospital bed.

“Hyoyeon, don’t crowd around your mother. Let her rest”, reprimanded a father.

A door suddenly opens, immediately attracting everyone’s’ attention.

“Is my baby okay?”, the nervous mother weakly snaps awake to ask.

“Well after countless hours of delivery and intense recovery work in the ICU, I’m honored to congratulate you parents of a newborn baby!“, exclaimed the nurse in white, holding a bundle in her arms as a collective sigh of relief followed by excitement spread throughout the whole room.

“So everything’s okay?”, the father asks when he stepped besides his wife as the nurse handed her their newborn child.

“Besides a slight skin discoloration all over the torso and arms--which oddly resemble burn scars--your baby is a normal healthy newborn. Did you have any names in mind?”

Unaware of the angel hovering beside his wife, he squeezes her hand in comfort as Tiffany whispered into her ears.





“Seo. Her name will be Seo”

----------------------------------------

Author's Notes: We need more dark/fantasy Yoonhyun centric fics