Yoona sprawled on the soft, hammock hanging between two sturdy trees in her backyard. With a sigh of content, she dropped her book bag on the ground with a satisfying clunk.

“Ahhhh! I don’t care anymore!” she tossed her head and pouted, “I’ll do my homework later. Why did teacher have to give us so much? Huh? It’s not fair!!” But her complaints soon faded away because soon, she was napping, without any regard in the world.

The G.A and Devil stood in the yard a few yards away, and did what they did every day during that time. The practiced martial arts, and weaponry. It was so much easier to stay in shape if you had someone to help you, and they both got in ready position, as sweat gleamed on their foreheads and dripped from their damp hair. Yoona sometimes watched them practice, and sometimes, even was included in their sparring so that she could learn a little self-defense. But today, she was tired, and that let the Devil and G.A. go all out without having to worry.

They started with a few warm up exercises until they got into lots of complex maneuverings with knives, swords, and plain fist fighting, and grappling. Of course since they couldn’t really kill each other, it was perfectly all right. If a weapon would have injured them but froze an inch from their bodies, then they’d score it as a ‘hit’ in their favor and keep tally that way. Needless to say, they were very well matched and completely competitive. There were spiral rolls, twist flips, round about kicks, and yes, even some hair pulling it has to be admitted was used. (Although they’d never admit to the hair pulling. That was only for wimpy non-macho guys.)

When they felt like they’d done enough, they stopped, and collapsed under the shade near the hammock. Letting a cool breeze blow across their overheated bodies with pleasure.

“Yah,” Lee Joon gasped, “That left punch, upper cut was totally cheating! You could’ve broken my nose!”

“Oh get over it. You’re perfect face is completely fine…wimp.” muttered Jang Geun Suk under his breath.

“Well of course my face would be perfect even with a broken nose, but don’t go flattering me or else I’ll think you like me or something. ” Joon stuck his tongue out at his ‘rival’. Jang Geun Suk rolled his eyes, and glanced around the yard. Despite the overwhelming heat and Joon’s childish sarcasm (which he would never admit that he was slowly getting used to), there was a chill in the air.

 Wait a minute.

 He sat up suddenly. He knew that feeling. It had been years since he’d last felt the presence of his Master. Sixteen years to be exact. This did not bode well, and Jang Geun Suk let out a faint hiss under his breath.

Lee Joon noticed his discomfort and asked, “What’s the matter with you? Is something wrong?” He glanced around the yard as well, trying to stay alert for any signs of potential danger to Yoona. But since only Jang Geun Suk could truly pose as a threat and other immortal creatures couldn’t hurt her because it would ‘upset the balance of things’ and because they didn’t know they could hurt her by being able to touch her, Lee Joon failed to notice the dark, black, chill creeping its way through the yard.

“Nothing. I just need to take a walk and cool down. Stay here with Yoona.” Jang Geun Suk replied tersely before smoothly rising to his feet and vanishing from the yard almost imperceptibly. Lee Joon shrugged. It had already been sixteen years he’d known that Devil and he still didn’t completely understand the guy. He stretched and frowned as his sweat-soaked shirt stuck to his torso in an uncomfortable way. In a few moments, the shirt had been thrown a yard away, and Joon settled his worn out self comfortably in the grass, next to the napping Yoona, wondering idly when that Devil would return.

Jang Geun Suk strode across the front yard and across the street. He acted like he was just out for a stroll, not for the benefit of those mortals who couldn’t see him, but for any possible other supernatural being who might be around. However, he kept his eyes peeled, and his senses open. He instantly saw a dark, shadowy outline for an instant before it vanished into an alleyway. Jang Geun Suk knew instinctively it was his master. Silently, he followed his master’s lead, slipping into the alley and following the dark shape for a couple of blocks away from the house. He stopped a few feet from the shadow that had its back turned to him.

The shadow rasped something intelligible in a dark chant. It made the air go from a hot, sweltering day, to a freezing, dramatic drop. However Jang Geun Suk didn’t express any emotion as the air around him grew frigid and his breath hung in the air like smoke. Somehow or other, his Master had found out about him failing in the tempting of Yoona and whatever was to come of this, he had to be ready. He’d made his decision long ago, that he couldn’t force Yoona to live in Hell for eternity. He’d lived there most of his life, and he knew of the horrors and evils that awaited those in the darkness. Someone as good and pure as Yoona, could never be allowed to go there. He knew it in his heart, for he had soon after being assigned to Yoona, found he had one, that he couldn’t let her face something so terrible. Therefore, everything depended on this meeting, whether he lived or died.

But he had to live because if he was killed, he would be replaced with another Devil who would not want to protect Yoona, but destroy her completely. He couldn’t let that happen. He just couldn’t.

His Master’s chanting, had made the winds around them speed up in an imitation of a tornado, surrounding them, engulfing them, and through the wind that raged and thrashed as though it were trying to escape from a cage there emerged a portal. Jang Geun Suk immediately knew where it led, and he also knew he didn’t want to go down there. But he reminded himself that if he showed any signs of resistance, he might just as well have verbally told his Master of his betrayal, and he had to play along with this for now. So with a cold face, and a cold step, he stepped through the portal, his fashionable, boots, hanging with small chains, didn’t make any sound as he vanished from our world into a different, more hostile one.

He felt the presence of his Master follow close behind him, and together, they vanished, and the portal disappeared as they stepped through it, and the wind instantly died. There were no signs that anything other-worldly had occurred there only moments before.

The Devil and his Master emerged from the other side of the portal into a tower room of The Keeper of Destruction’s underworld mansion. It had been Jang Geun Suk’s old home, where he had lived for the first five years of his life. The familiar cold, that surrounded him almost made him flinch after having been exposed to the sunlight, and warmth, of the Surface, being back down here, felt almost unbearable. But he told himself to endure it. He let the icy frigidness settle slowly over him, sinking into his skin, seeping down to the bone. And he showed no sign of discomfort for although he had been exposed to warmth on the Surface, and although it was uncomfortable, his body, jumping into survival mode, remembered that it could survive here. It therefore adjusted to the temperature, and dark surroundings as if it had never left, and Jang Geun Suk found himself not in the least bothered after that.

The stone walls of the room they had entered were spider webbed with dust and some bits of mold. He realized, they’d come back to his old room. The room that had housed him for the first years of his despicable life. He knew every inch of this room by heart. His wooden desk that had been shoved in the corner, was slathered in layers of dust motes, and the small domed window he knew without glancing out it, overlooked a dead field, with a broken, cracked fountain that didn’t spout water, but the crying of broken hearts, and a blazing red and gold ‘sky’ overlooked it all. The only other color it ever turned was a blackish purple or grey. But usually it was always red and gold, the color of fire, and hatred.

“What have you been doing?” The Keeper of Destruction’s voice was icy calm…dangerous.

“I’m sorry?” Jang Geun Suk asked staring down his Master with an ultimate poker face that would put Lady Gaga’s song to shame.

“You haven’t tempted that girl once?!” The Keeper of Destruction hissed.

“No, I haven’t,” Jang Geun Suk admitted. It would be impossible to lie to his Master, because there was no proof he’d tempted her, and his Master had the uncanny, and definitely intimidating talent of knowing if he was told a lie, you had to be a very good liar to avoid his radar. Usually that was impossible. If he’d lied and his Master had found out, not only would it have been a hopeless case, but the repercussions would have been great. Jang Geun Suk therefore decided to ride this out. He wasn’t a helpless five year old anymore. Heck, he’d never been helpless, but now, he had something to actually fight for.

“There had better be a good explanation for this, or you know the consequences.” The Keeper of Destruction’s was calm, making the threat and warning within sound detached and bland. Jang Geun Suk knew better. That just meant, the malice was even more strong. Weak opponents raged and screamed. The truly terrifying, were those who stayed calm, and were patient. Those enemies, knew how to plot and get what they wanted. Those were the enemies to watch out for. Luckily, he had been an apprentice to this horror, and had learned a few tricks of his own. Namely, he knew how to be just that enemy that had been described in his Master. Scary, determined, terrifying.

                Jang Geun Suk hesitated before replying, “I have been helping her be good, so that she’ll recognize my voice and come to trust in it. Then, when there’s a good opportunity, I’ll tempt her…” the lie sounded false even to his own ears. He grimaced barely perceptibly. But the Keeper of Destruction noticed.

“You dare to lie to me?” he shrieked, “Because of your weakness, we could both be undone!”

Jang Geun Suk made no reply. It was usually the wisest course of action.

“How can you not tempt her? You have been trained. You showed no signs of weakness when I deposited you there. Why would you throw betrayal in my face?” he demanded softly. “Don’t tell me you’ve fallen in love with her.” he laughed nastily at his own joke a raspy, sickly sound.

Jang Geun Suk said nothing, but his face flushed so slightly, the Keeper of Destruction almost missed it.

“You’re kidding,” he cried actually losing his calm for an instant in his horror and disbelief, “You actually did fall for such a thing as that?” Jang Geun Suk’s silence was answer enough to confirm what he’d just said.

“You have broken one of the oldest laws! No immortal can fall for a human! How could you do such a thing?! If anyone finds out about this, we are both dead!” the Keeper of Destruction punctuated every sentence with force. He also lowered his voice just in case someone or something should overhear them; though it was very unlikely.

“And if I have?” Jang Geun Suk’s eyes flashed fire and defiance, “I love her, and I intend to save her.” He threw his caution into the wind because he’d already been discovered and there was no point in continued lying.

“You! You!!” the Keeper of Destruction for the first time seemed at a loss for words. A tense silence settled over the room. The Devil stood in angry defiance, and his Master stood in angry horror. The tension in the air was electric and yet both sides refused to back down.

That was when, in desperation, the Keeper of Destruction hit upon a gold mine of inspiration. He didn’t know how he could obtain such luck, but he saw the weak link in the chain of Jang Geun Suk’s armor, the chink that could make him listen…although, he’d have to be even more secretive because if the Council were to ever find out…

“So you would do anything to be with her?” he asked slowly…slyly.

Jang Geun Suk didn’t miss a beat, “I would.”

“Then why are you trying to ‘save’ her?” scoffed the Keeper of Destruction, “If she’s saved, she can never be yours. You will return to our realms, knowing that you’ve given the only thing that could make you happy away, to an unreachable and unattainable realm. If you love her, then you should do everything in your power to obtain and possess her. It is the only way.”

Jang Geun Suk’s heart started racing with a painful lurch. If he saved Yoona…then he’d never get to be with her. He hadn’t thought of that! His fear of never being with her, never seeing her smile, never holding her in his protective arms, never kissing her sweet lips which had tempted him for years now. Pain erupted in his mind…and he turned in anger on his Master.

“Why are you telling me this?” he snarled, although it sounded more like an animal in pain, knowing they looked Death in the face than anything really threatening.

“Because it is so rare that a creature of darkness like us, actually loves something besides wealth and power, that what you have found is a one in a million occurrence. I know what it is to love, just not a mortal. But if you truly love her, and you can have her, then you’ll still work for me, with more incentive, so that I protect your little secret. You cannot betray me again, or I can betray you and make your life a living nightmare.”

Jang Geun Suk knew that his Master was telling the truth. It only made sense. Beings of darkness used whatever advantage they could to obtain whatever it was that they wanted, to satisfy their greed, and hunger. Yoona was in danger. He’d have no choice in this matter and that frustrated him, but he couldn’t do anything about it. His thoughts turned to Lee Joon. Lee Joon up in heaven, with his woman, occupying his spot. It would be him she looked at with admiration and love and it would be Jang Geun Suk that she forgot, engulfed in all his misery in the underworld. He couldn’t let that happen. Yoona would be his. It was the only thing that mattered.

“What do I have to do to make Yoona mine?” he whispered.

“Break her,” the Keeper of Destruction smiled. It was not a pretty sight, “Tempt her past the point of no return, and she will fall with you. But then, once she falls, you will be there to protect her from anything that’s dangerous down here, will you not?”

“Yes. Yes, I will…” Jang Geun Suk breathed. But he knew he couldn’t tempt Yoona to do anything bad. Nothing truly bad. He hadn’t tempted her, and she’d already established in her mind what was right and wrong. At her young age, when it had been crucial for her to be tempted, he had helped the blasted G.A. instead of doing what mattered! What could he do? How could he tempt such a good, naturally pure person? The thought was agony.

Their discussion finished, the Keeper of Destruction, satisfied with how their meeting had gone, summoned up another portal, and the agonized Devil stepped through it, his dark hair whipping into his eyes and around his chiseled cheeks due to the force of the wind. He was soon in, and tossed into the void only to reappear in the alleyway on the Surface again.

He hardly noticed. His troubled mind was frantically searching for a way to tempt the most precious girl in the world. He couldn’t live without her light. He knew if he was forced to enter the Darkness again for life, unless he had her to cling to, and a purpose in life-that is to protect her, he would never survive. He couldn’t after already being exposed to her brilliant light.

Suddenly, his Master’s previous words came to him. You have broken one of the oldest laws! No immortal can fall for a human! That mean, that no mortal could fall for an immortal either. If it broke the oldest law, surely, it would be enough to ensure that Yoona never went to heaven. If he just made her fall for him... He was also sure that even though there was a balance to things meaning that they weren’t supposed to fall in love by the standards of either Heaven or Hell, darkness never fully kept the rules. They actually tended to bend them to the breaking point.

That’s what he would do. He would make Yoona see him not as a ‘Fallen Angel’, that he’d told her he was when she was just five, he’d make her see him as a man. Although as a Devil, trying to look as a man…that was a stretch, but he knew he could do it. He would simply have to be cautious. He couldn’t let the G.A. know of this, or it would simply complicate matters. No way would Joon let him make a move on Yoona without finding some way to also break the law of balance by killing him.

With a determined air, and a light in his eyes, he headed back to the house where the G.A. was lazily plucking grass from under the tree, and Yoona was napping, with her hair obscuring part of her face. He took the picture in. He was sorry that he would betray his almost-friend and rival. Because they had both loved her, but known they couldn’t break the rules, they had lived in some sort of peace together. But now that Jang Geun Suk had no intention of thinking along those lines, he felt a small pang of guilt towards Lee Joon. He glanced over at the still sleeping Yoona, and his guilt evaporated instantly. As long as he had her, he wouldn’t regret anything.

Lee Joon glanced up at him, and gave a lazy yawn. He didn’t notice anything unusual.

“Finally. You’re back,” he called with a slight smile, “Have a nice trip?”

Jang Geun Suk’s smiled back, not betraying a flicker of his inner thoughts. “Actually, I had a splendid one.”