Luhan snapped back to reality when he felt a warm sensation travelling up his arm. He looked down to see Yixing’s hand placed on top of his own, a blinding white light dispersed out of his palm, spreading over the wound and lighting up the dusk around them. Luhan could see the cut on his arm getting thinner and thinner, until all that was left was a faint shadow where the injury had once been a few moments ago.

“You have no idea how much I’ve missed that.” Luhan grinned, looking up at his friend.

“What would you do without me?” Yixing returned a smile, leaning back on the trunk to sit beside Luhan.

A comfortable silence fell between them as the two boys sat side by side, watching the world fall quiet before them. Twilight had always been Luhan’s favourite time of the day; it was the only time that he allowed himself to be completely immersed in his own little world, roaming around in a world that belonged to him and him only. It was the only place where he could be truly free, free of the never-ending training and constant fear of what tomorrow would bring.

Twilight is also the shortest time of the day. Twilight always ends.

Just like now. The sky was completely dark and so was everything around them. The only light in the world was the faint glow coming out of Yixing’s palms; bright enough to light up their faces, but still dim enough to rest their eyes comfortably.

“Yixing?” Luhan asked quietly, pondering over how to construct his next sentence.

“Hmm?”

“I…” Luhan gulped. Yixing sensed the strain in his voice and turned towards him to give him his full attention. “I…I passed my graduation last week.”

Yixing’s body tensed. Even in the dim light Luhan could see how his brows knotted into a tight frown, his eyes were full of worry as they searched his own desperately, as if waiting for Luhan to break into laughter and tell him that he was only joking. It wasn’t until minutes had passed that the truth finally sank in and Yixing was able to speak again.

“Have they…” He paused to gather his thoughts, “Has the council spoken to you yet?” Yixing was looking at him with those eyes again, pleading for the answer he wanted to hear.

Luhan dropped his gaze and nodded. A sharp intake of breath was heard beside him. “I will be given my first mission tomorrow.”

“No!” Yixing jumped up, almost scaring Luhan. “No! You can’t!” He spun around and started pacing back and forth, his hands grasping at his own hair as he pulled on it angrily. “I’ll talk to them, there must be a way…”

“No Yixing listen to me,” Luhan stood up too and had his hand over Yixing’s arm trying to calm him down, “I’m just going to go and I’ll come back real soon.” He smiled a sad smile. “I will be fine.”

“How the hell will you be fine?!” Yixing shouted as he shrugged off Luhan’s hand. Luhan flinched, making Yixing hate himself for getting angry at him. His voice softened, “You have no idea what it’s like.”

“I’ve had my training too, you know.” Luhan retorted, almost annoyed that Yixing had so little faith in him, “I’m more than prepared for it.”

For a minute Yixing just stood there and stared at him. His eyes unmoving and boring into Luhan’s, making him feel ly exposed; the knot in his brows was still there; his lips formed a tight line, hiding the dimple that once existed happily. Luhan could almost see the cogs turning in his head as he thought of ways to get Luhan out of this.

 “I’ll talk to Kris tomorrow.” Yixing broke the eye contact, “I’ll go on the mission for you.”

“What?” Luhan nearly choked on air. “No! That is absurd!” Luhan grabbed both of Yixing’s shoulders to make him look at him. “Listen to me Yixing: I was chosen.” Luhan shook him, “The council chose me out of everyone just like how they chose you. They need me.”

“But…”

“No buts! I don’t have a choice Yixing, none of us do.” Luhan squeezed his shoulders, “We are angels; we go to Earth, we die, we reform and we die again. Don't you see?” He sighed, “There is no way out.”

**********************************************

Luhan woke up unusually early the next morning. Under normal circumstances he would always treasure the extra minutes he allowed himself in bed every morning, yawning and stretching his well-rested muscles while he bathed lazily in the morning sun.

Today though, he was in no mood for that. The prominent dark circles under his eyes were enough to tell he’d had a sleepless night. Despite all the encouraging words he said to Yixing last night in attempt to reassure him, he himself was not convinced by any of it: he spent the entire night replaying in his head the scene of Yixing crumbling apart before him after his first mission, his cries still fresh in Luhan’s memory. It made him feel agitated and nauseated, and certainly in no condition to rest.  After all the tossing and turning, he finally managed to fall asleep at dawn before waking up again two hours later.

He got up quickly and went straight to the bathroom, desperate for a cold shower to clear his mind and rid the clamminess on his skin. The icy cold water pierced through his body like thousands of tiny knives, making him unable to think about anything other than the physical pain. For that he was grateful: it meant that he was unable to think about the daunting day ahead of him, and that he was getting used to experiencing pain. Two birds with one stone.

After eating a spoonful and porridge and threatening to throw up straight afterwards, Luhan gave up on breakfast and decided to report to his mission early. It was not a pleasing thought but he figured that he shouldn’t leave a bad impression on his first day. As he locked up the front door and walked towards the gate, Luhan looked back at his tiny apartment, saying a silent goodbye, knowing that he would not return until a long while.

********************************************

Luhan had never been inside of the Council Hall before. He had walked past the colossal and extravagant building numerous times on his way to training, its overpowering aura subduing him every time, but he had never seen what it was like on the inside. He couldn’t have even if he’d wanted to: the Council Hall was only accessible to Council members and fully fledged angels; and Luhan was neither.

Until now. A guard with an emotionless expression opened the gate before Luhan had to knock and led him inside the building. Luhan was surprised by what he saw: judging by the grand display of the exterior design, he’d expected the inside to be just as, if not more, luxurious as the outside, but all he could see were white rooms surrounded by bare walls that merged into the equally white ceiling. The furniture was also minimal, just a couple of plain chairs around what seemed like meeting tables. Everything inside was so white it was almost blinding, light was reflecting off every corner, making Luhan squint his eyes at the uncomfortable exposure.

 Luhan followed the guard as he led him through endless corridors that looked almost identical except for the paintings hung on the walls. He wondered why there would be paintings when the rest of the place was stripped of any type of decoration, but as he looked closer he realised that the paintings seemed to mark important events in the angels’ history, spanning from the formation of the legendary Tree of Life to the present reign of the Council. However Luhan’s history knowledge was far too limited to recall any of their meanings.

Finally, the guard stopped in front of a pair of ceiling-high, double doors and opened them to direct him inside. As soon as Luhan took a step inside, without even a chance to take in his surroundings, the doors slammed shut behind him loudly, making him spring around in panic as he realised that he was now indeed trapped in this foreign room.

“Welcome to the Council Hall” A familiar voice came from behind, Luhan turned around slowly to face the owner of the voice. It came from someone standing in the middle of the room next to an oddly shaped podium. He was not so much older than Luhan but was extremely tall, almost a head taller than himself.  As he walked closer he could see that he had golden coloured hair that was swept back, showing his sharp features which were set in a stern expression. Luhan recognised him immediately: It was the person that took Yixing away.

“How are you feeling?” Kris asked as he stopped just in front of Luhan, eyes piercing into his own as he studied him, making him uncomfortable under the intense glare.

“Slightly nervous.” Luhan replied, trying his best to keep his voice level and stop himself from trembling: he did not want to show weakness before his mission had even started.

“Well I’m not surprised,” Kris smiled slightly, somehow making Luhan feel at ease. “Follow me.”

Kris turned around to walk back to the podium in the middle of the room and motioned Luhan to step onto it. Luhan did as he was told, curious of what this had to do with his mission. Without speaking, Kris then turned to the corner of the huge room and pressed a button on the wall.

The room changed instantly. The walls were no longer white and bare, but were now full of colour and covered with portrait photos of people’s faces. Some male, some female; some as young as one or two years old, while others are in their teenage years. Luhan gasped at the sudden change, and stared in shock as he was gazed at by hundreds of expressionless faces, all of them boring deep into Luhan’s eyes as if asking him a silent question that no one knew the answer to.

“Now,” Kris instructed from the corner of the room, “choose your human.”

It wasn’t until then that he’d noticed that each photo had a name and a number attached just below it. It was more than just a number. It was a count down. Time was running out for each of the faces Luhan was staring at – they were all so young – Luhan was suddenly overwhelmed by a sense of sadness flowing inside him.

Just then, as Luhan darted his eyes through the sea of photos scanning each face, his eyes laid upon a certain individual which made him in his breath as he felt as if his whole world had stopped. He stared into the dark brown orbs of the pale-skinned boy, his gaze gentle but fierce at the same time, and they held onto Luhan’s own making him forget how to breathe. Suddenly he could no longer feel the fear that he had felt this morning: right now he wanted nothing more than to touch the smooth alabaster skin of the boy’s cheeks; to knot his fingers in his soft silver locks; and to hear the melody of his voice in his ears. He wanted nothing in the world but him.

Oh Sehun. 

Aaaaaaah sorry that's it's late and crappy!

I know I said Sehun will be introduced but I kinda got carried away writing other stuffs....

But I promise Sehunnie will be in the next chapter!

Actually all of the the next chapter will be in Sehun's POV

So please forgive me hunhan shippers!

Anyways....

what do you guys think of the story so far??

do you think that the pace is too slow? am i rambling to much? more convos? less descriptions?

PLEASE GIVE ME FEEDBACK

and thank you guys so so much for reading it makes me so happy :3

Saranghae my lovely readers~~