“If this keeps happening there won’t be much of a church left to break,” Sungkyu frowned as CL swept up rubble from the floor. Jepp and Min were outside clearing the broken glass, and he could hear Jepp yelping now and then as he cut himself on the shards.

“Guess we’ll just have to end up becoming hobos and living on the street then,” CL replied cheerfully. She had appeared to come back to normal, grinning non-stop and being her usual annoying self as she attempted to engage his broom into a war with him. “Come on Skyu, just one smile! Isn’t this just like old times?” She nudged his broom.

“I don’t recall anywhere in our past of ‘us’ having to clear this place up,” Sungkyu deadpanned at her. “And will you stop doing that?” he narrowed his eyes and smacked back at her broom.

“Oh come on, we cleaned this place up plenty when we first moved in,” CL insisted, continuing to mess up the pile he was working on. “Remember? There were cobwebs there,” she looked up at the ceiling and pointed. “And there, and there. Oh, and that window over there was shattered. And that one. And that one. Remember how we fixed them? You wouldn’t stop yelling at me because I wouldn’t hold the ladder steady…”

“CL…” Sungkyu started quietly, no longer attempting to stop her from sabotaging his best efforts at cleaning the floor.

“… and there was dust everywhere and you wouldn’t stop sneezing when I blew it all up. I really thought you were going to die at that moment, you know. Oh and remember when we found that bird nest in your room and there were eggs in it –.”

“CL.”

“- and I thought we could eat those but you said we shouldn’t and then the mother bird came back and nearly pecked out my eyes. Oh! And that time we went to look at the attic and my ears got stuck in the door? That was bloody embarrassing. And -.”

“CL,” Sungkyu dropped the broom with a clatter and grabbed her around the shoulders, cutting her off. She stared back at him with wide eyes, surprise written all over her face. “I said stop.” She nodded numbly, and he sighed and released her, picking up his broom again and continuing to sweep.

“All I’m saying is that we’ve always been clearing up this place,” she shrugged. “Even before Jepp came, or Min. We were meant to clean this place up.” She colored slightly and hurriedly turned around, her hands moving the broom back and forth. “Together,” she mumbled, soft enough that she was sure he wouldn’t hear.

“More like I’m just meant to clean up your mess,” Sungkyu said with a sigh. She turned back, a fresh smile lighting her face.

“And I’m meant to clean up yours,” she said with a wink.

Instead of replying, Sungkyu simply turned away. “Get back to work,” he simply said, waving a hand at her. CL pouted and made a face at his back. “And I saw that.” She rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him. “And that.”

“Shut up, Skyu,” she groaned.

-

A memory.

It was Sungkyu who found the church.

He liked it immediately. It was mysterious and spacious and something familiar to him – even if he had never been religious. He had been sleeping in a pew one day when the door banged open and he awoke with a start, falling on to the cold floor with a jolt that left him breathless. A head appeared above him, and lo and behold it was the rabbit-eared girl again.

“Oh, hello,” she smiled, and he realized that her hair was longer than it had been 2 months ago. “We meet again.” He also noticed that she had a lollipop stick hanging out from the corner of . Strange. She hadn’t seemed so childlike and innocent the first time he met her. “Is the floor comfy?”

He glared at her and clambered to his feet. “What do you want?” he asked, not rudely, but not friendly either. “You don’t seem like the religious type.”

“Oh, I don’t know what religion is,” she replied cheerily. “I just came because I find this building really pretty and wanted to know what was inside.” Sungkyu looked around him. Parts of the roof was missing and so were several panes of the stained glass, but he supposed he had to admit that it was really rather beautiful.

“Okay,” he shrugged. “You take a good look. I’m going back to sleep.” He made his way up the aisle and turned right at the altar, where a hidden staircase would lead him to the loft he had found while exploring the place. He paused when he felt a presence behind him, and turned to find her grinning at him. “Umm, why are you following me?”

“Do you live here?” she asked, voice hushed with excitement. He saw the gleam in her pale blue eye, and he didn’t like it.

“Only enough space for one,” he replied off-handedly, then reached out timidly and pushed her away on the shoulder. Her hand shot up and gripped him around the wrist, just as she had done a few months before.

“I thought I said,” she said warningly, and the gleeful look on her face faded. Sungkyu was reminded of her hysterical eyes, her bared teeth and the animalistic look on her face, “Don’t touch me.”

“I thought the bunny ears might have changed you,” he blinked, tugging his hand away. Her eyes narrowed slightly at him. “You didn’t have those the first time we met,” he blurted out before he could stop himself.

“You seemed to care less the last time we met,” she replied scathingly. “You are the only one who knew me before I had these,” her tone grew softer as she touched the said ears lightly, and he noticed that she had several piercings in them– she hadn’t had those the last time either. “You can’t tell anyone about them.” Her eye bore into his. “You look like a good guy, and I trust you, so-.”

“Get out,” he whispered suddenly, hands balling themselves into fists.

“What?” she looked bewildered.

“I said get out!” he shouted, cowering against the wall, his eyes wide and his hands shaking. His heart was palpitating madly in his chest – he hadn’t asked for this. Karma had finally caught up to him.

“What…” she stepped forward, looking concerned.

“LEAVE!” he roared, and, without thinking, whipped his black gun out from behind him and pointed it at her, the chain it was attached to jangling eerily in the silence that followed.

“Okay…” she backed away, hands raised. “Okay.” When she was halfway down the aisle she turned tail and fled. Sungkyu slid down the wall, chest heaving. He looked the gun in his hand and threw it to one side, covering his face as he tried to calm himself down. This was the only way he could save this girl. He felt better that he still didn’t know her name.

-

Sungkyu allowed himself to snatch a glance at CL as she hummed to herself and paused in her sweeping to pop a new lolly into . Even after yelling at her and pointing a gun in her face she had still come back, had still stuck by his side for nearly 2 years despite the way he treated her. Granted they both treated each other like dirt so he could do it without feeling guilty afterward, but the fact that she had come back still intrigued him.

Had she seen something inside him or had she just not wanted to be saved?

She turned around suddenly and caught his eye before he could hurriedly look away. As the seconds flew by the smile on her face faded as they stared at each other. “…” He opened his mouth to say something, anything, but the words wouldn’t come. The words had all stopped coming that moment the bullet left his barrel and flew straight at Jiyoon.

The door banged open and they both jumped at the sudden noise, relief flooding into Sungkyu’s palpitating heart. “It’s starting to get dark,” Jepp called out, entering the church with Min in tow. “So who’s up for the Taking tonight? And when I mean who I really mean you two because Min still doesn’t feel up to it and I don’t feel like leaving her alone here with that L guy still around.” Sungkyu raised his eyebrow slightly at Min but she only stared stonily back.

“I think I can take care of myself Jepp,” she said quietly. Sungkyu still couldn’t tell which was more unnerving – the convincingly weak, silent façade she put on in front of Jepp and CL or the fact that she was capable of singlehandedly taking out a group of highly trained killers who had also been her acquaintances. But then again, didn’t you kill your entire team and your girlfriend? asked a voice within him. He brushed it away.

“But you’d get lonely without me,” Jepp pouted, putting his arm around her shoulder and pulling her into him. “And L isn’t someone to not take seriously,” he added.

You’re going to have to tell him one day, Sungkyu communicated through his eyes. He knew Min got the message when she dropped her gaze and bit her lip.

“So it’s Skyu and me then?” CL bounded forward, slinging an arm around his shoulders, which he immediately ducked out of. “This is gonna be fun, isn’t it?” She grinned at him unabashedly. “We haven’t worked together in ages.”

“… We hardly work together, CL,” he simply replied, but he knew from the look she sent him that they both knew he was lying.

-

Only a few weeks had passed since the time they met in the church before he saw her again. He was being hounded by a particularly persistent group of Snatchers and when he turned the corner he spotted her straight away, 7 or so of the bloody things on her heels. “Hey!” he yelled out impulsively. “Look out!” Their eyes met and in an instant everything clicked into place. As they neared each other she launched forward in a slide and he dove above her, arms outstretched and bullets flying. He was vaguely aware that she had brought down a few more than him, and for a second he wondered how she did it.

“Back of the neck or the eye!” she shouted, and as he watched she plunged a long knife into the neck of a Snatcher and twisted, violently dislodging its head. It flew through the air before vanishing in a wisp of smoke. “Duck!” she yelled suddenly, and he dropped to the ground as she threw something silver through the air. When he turned around a Snatcher dropped to the ground, the weapon lodged firmly in its eye. “Don’t get distracted,” she growled. In response he lifted a gun and fired one round. There was a metallic clang and the Snatcher that suddenly appeared behind her fell backwards.

“Same to you,” he almost smirked. More black shapes began appearing around them, and the found themselves back to back, completely surrounded. “They never go for full-growns,” the girl muttered to herself. “What?” he demanded. “Nothing!” she replied, then somersaulted backwards on to his back, pushing lightly off and decapitating two Snatchers at once.

Sungkyu still didn’t know her name, knew nothing about her except for the fact that her rabbit ears had sprouted out of nowhere, but he did know one thing: they worked well as a team. Really well. He knew exactly what she was about to do next and she seemed to be able to read his thoughts as well, both of them coordinating their bodies to work with each other in a fluid dance of bullets and knives.

He would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy it.

“What’s your name?” she panted slightly when they had eliminated every Snatcher. She brushed at the sweat on her forehead with the back of her gloved hand as she extended the other towards him with a winning smile. “I’m CL.”

He stared down at her hand before looking up at her. “I thought you didn’t want anyone to touch you,” he said pointedly.

The smile on her face didn’t even waver. “That was without permission. I’m giving permission to you now.”

Sungkyu hesitated for a second more before grasping her hand. Her grip was firm around his as she shook his hand, and then released him. “You still haven’t told me your name,” she added. “It’s Sungkyu,” he told her, looking away. “Kim Sungkyu.”

“Well Kim Sungkyu, you’re pretty unsociable, aren’t you?” She remarked, though the smile never left her face. “Probably the first one here that I’ve met. It’s interesting, really.”

Sungkyu had never heard anyone be so blunt about pointing out his recently obvious flaw and be so calm about it. “And you’re the first person I’ve met to have rabbit ears sprouting of their head,” he shot back. “Which, by the way, you still haven’t told me where they came from. It’s interesting, really.”

If possible, she smiled even harder. “Interesting people always find interesting people,” she winked. “I think you and I are going to get along great.”

-

“You never told me how you got the ears,” Sungkyu said as he and CL set off from the church, the light steadily fading around them. They would have to work fast if they wanted to keep any kids from getting taken today.

Sungkyu shivered slightly in the cool air, remembering the children in their glass cages, remembering the paleness of their skin. Pale as death. His fist curled at his side as his eyes narrowed. No one would be taken tonight. He would make sure of that.

“… you said I didn’t need to know everything about you, so you don’t need to know everything about me,” CL replied after a pause, snapping him out of his reverie. “It’s a bit too late to be curious now, isn’t it?” He looked over at her and she smiled back.

“You just never replied the first time I asked,” he looked away. “Actually, just forget it.”

They walked on in silence, CL fidgeting more and more as they made their way to the heart of the Precinct. She always got a little jumpy before each Taking, he remembered. It wasn’t from nerves; it was from excitement.

Sungkyu never questioned that, just as he never questioned anything about her.

-

Sungkyu remembered when he first met her. He was warily making his way through the dark alleyways of the Precinct, trying to gather his thoughts and his bearings, trying to get used to this strange new world where everything was perpetually gray and everything was cold to the touch.

A child, a little girl, ran towards him with her head faced the other way. He stopped, uncertain of how to react. The girl turned around, but not fast enough. She collided into his legs, her small hands grasping at the fabric of his trousers to keep her balance. Instinctively, he reached down to steady her. “Hey…” he started, but she looked up at him and he was at a loss for words. There was a deep scratch across her cheek and dark blood beginning to escape the wound, staining her pale cheek with something evil.

“Run, mister!” she cried, going to dodge past him, but something behind him made her eyes widen, and she emitted a small shriek. Sungkyu turned around, his own eyes widening as he came face to face with a figure completely clothed in black, a glowing red eye visible in a hooded, shadowed face. Vile, ominous clouds of black smoke swirled up from its feet, and it took a step closer.

Sungkyu pushed the little girl behind his legs, and she clutched desperately at him. “Who are you?” he asked out loud, fixating the strange figure with a scrutinizing glare. It didn’t reply, simply taking another step. “Cover your ears and get down,” Sungkyu ordered the little girl, who nodded and let him go to crouch by his feet. “I’ll ask this again,” he turned back to the figure. “Who the hell are -.” The figure sprang forward, arms outstretched as shadows began to form around its hands.

He reacted instantly, pulling out his guns from their holsters and shooting the figure straight in the chest as it appeared above his head. The little girl screamed, and the creature disappeared in a puff of black smoke. Sungkyu stared at the place where it had disappeared, but then a faint yell lower down the street caught his attention. “Go home, quickly,” he told the girl, pushing her slightly along the road. She nodded and sprinted off without another word, as he took off towards the direction of the yell.

He arrived in a deserted alleyway in time to see three puffs of black smoke vanishing into the air. There was no one left except a figure settling back down against the wall, a dirty and thatched wrap covering its face and wrapped around its shoulders. “Hey,” he panted. “Are you okay?” He approached the person cautiously, reaching out to pull the hood back, but there was a flash of silver and he jumped backwards. A few seconds too late and his hand would have been sliced clean off.

“Don’t touch me,” the girl standing in front of him snarled. Her hood had fallen back and he saw that she had chin-length, unkempt, messy blonde hair with black stripes running through it, and an animalistic look in her eyes. Her teeth were bared at him in a way that reminded him of a wolf, and he noticed two brown stumps beginning to protrude from the top of her head. She held a silver dagger in her right hand. “Who are you?” she demanded.

“I could say the same for you,” he said as unaffectedly as he could, but his eyes were drawn to her left wrist, where a copious amount of blood covered her hand and left dark spots on the ground. “You’re bleeding,” he pointed out. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she snapped, but something in her face shifted and he saw the pain in her eyes before they squeezed shut and she fell to her knees, hands gripping her head. The dagger fell to the ground with a clatter. Sungkyu froze, blinking rapidly as she let out a low moan of pain, clutching at her hair. He could see the fingernails digging into her scalp and he hurriedly dropped to his knees, putting out a hand to grab on to her. He barely made contact with her skin when she grabbed his wrist, her fingernails digging painfully into him. She raised her head, her breathing haggard, and he was horrified to see that her eyes were completely red. There was no sign of any pupils or irises, and for the first time in a few years, he felt a little frightened.

“I said don’t touch me,” the girl said in a hoarse voice, before her hand slipped away and she crouched over again, hands scrabbling at her head. “Leave,” she panted at his feet, her body seizing up as she cried out in agony. “Get out of here!” she shrieked, shaking hands scrabbling around for her weapon, and Sungkyu realized that she had gone blind. He his lips nervously, then clambered to his feet and hurried out of the alleyway, her screams still echoing in his ears.

-

“Not a soul in sight. Maybe the kids have finally learnt to stay indoors when the sun starts to set,” CL stretched and yawned slightly, though her eyes gleamed with slight disappointment. She kicked at the dirt around her feet. “I guess there’ll be no workout tonight. Though sweeping the floor is a workout in itself.”

“They’ll be here,” Sungkyu said firmly. “They will.” He rubbed the armour that wrapped around each of his arms; he might be an excellent marksman, but sometimes extra precaution had to be taken in case of a close combat fight.

“You can go if you want,” CL said suddenly. He looked up at her. “I know you want to see him. Jonghyun.”

“What?” Sungkyu raised an eyebrow. She smiled.

“It’s okay, it doesn’t look like there’ll be many tonight. While you’re going to Narsha’s you can patrol at the same time, and I’ll do the same. That way we’ll still be doing our job, wouldn’t we?” She laughed slightly and patted his cheek, which he flinched from slightly. “Don’t look so worried, it’s hardly like I’m incapable of taking care of myself. You worry too much, Skyu.”

“I…” Sungkyu started, but she reached up to ruffle his hair.

“I’m going this way,” she sing-songed, stepping away and jabbing her thumb behind her. “And you go that way, okay?” She a finger in the opposite direction. “See you back home!” She was about to run off when Sungkyu touched her lightly on the arm before drawing it away. She looked back at him questioningly.

“It hurt, didn’t it?” he blurted out, almost immediately regretting the outburst. There was Old Impulsive Sungkyu again. He had carefully buried this persona of his under years of emptiness and silence, but these days it seemed to be popping up far too often. Damn it brain, why didn’t you stop me? He could feel a blush coming on. Isn’t this just brilliant.

“What?” CL’s eyes were wide. Were her own cheeks reddening, or was the dimming light playing tricks on his eyes?

He swallowed and shook his head, staring down at his feet. “I… It’s nothing. Sorry.” He turned and started walking.

“Yeah,” he heard CL say quietly. “It did hurt.” He paused. “Thanks… Sungkyu.” He kept walking.

He heard her footsteps diminish in the distance before running his hands through his hair and raising his eyes to the sky that wasn’t there. He closed his eyes for a few seconds and let out a lonely sigh before straightening up and continuing on his way.