“My...” Hyukjae started, but his words died off. He continued to stare wide-eyed at Donghae.

“Well, I'm not really,” Donghae said after he thought over his previous statement. “I sort of decided it on my own.”

“Why?”

“I... don't know.” And honestly, Donghae didn't know why. He still couldn't figure out why he chose to stay by Hyukjae even though he was able to leave. Besides, he was breaking one of his kind's biggest rules.

He did know, however, that there was some sort of attraction towards the other, and it was strong.

On the floor, Siwon groaned, signaling that he was regaining consciousness. Hyukjae grabbed Donghae's wrist and quickly dragged the angel out of the studio. They both ignored the electricity that shot up their arms at the contact.

Just before they got to the front door, Donghae bit his lip nervously. “Um...Hyukjae?” The other man stopped walking and turned to look at him. “I have to disappear.” He noticed the double meaning behind his words as Hyukjae's face became panicked and the grip he had on Donghae's arm tightened. He flashed Hyukjae a reassuring smile. “I'm not going anywhere. I just can't be seen by other humans or I'll get in trouble.” You're already in trouble, Donghae's inner self reminded him. Leeteuk hyung is going to kill you.

Hyukjae sighed in relief and nodded, letting Donghae's hand slip from his. He wondered why he was suddenly scared when Donghae said that he had to disappear. This was the first time he had actually talked to the person who saved his life, but he felt like he had known Donghae for a long time.

That night, they had a long talk. Donghae confessed nearly every detail about the accident, about how he had followed the latter around to make sure that he was safe, about how he was in fact an angel. But more importantly, he admitted that he might not be able to stay much longer due to some strict regulations from his own world he had freely broken.

That piece of news hurt Hyukjae the most. He didn't say anything, just nodded, but deep down inside, he wanted to ask Donghae to stay with him. But how could he act so selfishly, when Donghae was already in trouble for saving his life?

So as a way to ease their inevitable departure, Hyukjae distanced himself from Donghae. The angel knew this, but didn't say anything. They were both hurting for the same reason, but neither of them tried to fight it.

One night while Donghae sat on the floor in the corner of Hyukjae's room, his head buried in his knees, he felt a familiar presence beside him. Silently thankful that Hyukjae was asleep in his bed, the blonde didn't even have to look up before saying, “Hi, Teukie hyung.”

The older angel smiled sadly and placed a hand on his dongsaeng's head. “Donghae, why are you doing this to yourself? You know the consequences of what you've done. You broke one of our biggest laws by coming here.”

“No, hyung,” Donghae said in reply, lifting his head to meet Leeteuk's gaze. “I broke them both.”

*~*~*

The next morning, Hyukjae stirred in his sleep when he felt the softest pressure on his forehead. He blinked into the light only to see the faintest outline of Donghae's face. Perhaps he had imagined it because less than a second later, it was gone.

Furrowing his eyebrows, the dancer frowned at the empty room.

“Donghae?” he called out to no one. “Are you here? Donghae?”

There was no answer. He couldn't even sense the latter hiding himself either. It was suddenly very cold. So the time had finally come.

Hyukjae bit his lip to keep from crying. His fingernails bit into his palm as he clenched his fists, digging the heels of his hands into his forehead.

“You could have at least said good bye.”

*~*~*

“How was it?” Leeteuk asked once Donghae emerged from the floor-to-ceiling wooden doors. He had just been trialed by the High Courts in order to receive his punishment for breaking Heaven's two most sacred laws.

The blonde smiled tiredly. He began sarcastically ticking off the orders given to him with his fingers. “I've been forbidden to return to the human realm for the rest of eternity. I will have my wings bound. I'll be confined to the Tower for the next century. And, oh yeah, they've condemned Hyukjae's soul.” Seeing the shocked expression on his hyung's face, Donghae bitterly laughed. “He had nothing to do with this. I'm in love with him, not the other way around. There's no need for them to hurt him because of my stupid decision.

“Donghae, listen to me,” Leeteuk said seriously. He grasped Donghae's shaking shoulders and forced him to look him in the eyes. “I will talk to the Courts about Hyukjae. And falling in love was not stupid.”

“Just illegal.”

Leeteuk sighed. “I'll take care of this mess, okay?”

Just then, two winged guards appeared and took Donghae by the arms. In the blink of an eye, he was in the Tower, a prison-like room. It wasn't anything uncomfortable or medieval. There was a bed and everything else a bedroom required, including a mirror and marble bathtub in one corner. The only drawback was a single window nearly ten feet up the stone wall. Any other angel wouldn't have been bothered by that fact. But one who was to have his wings bound would never see the outside.

The two guards advanced on him and since there was nowhere to run, Donghae simply sat on the bed and waited. The blonde was unafraid to receive his punishment. He closed his eyes and imagined Hyukjae's smiling face. Everything seemed better.

Then there was pain; severe, excruciating pain. He screamed and hollered in agony. The sound echoed throughout Heaven so that every other angel would not follow the victim's example. Leeteuk who was currently trying to convince the Courts to reconsider their decision about Hyukjae's soul, winced when he heard his dongsaeng's cries.

Having one's wings bound was like breaking your arm at the elbow, folding it parallel to your shoulder, and then leaving it there. First, the delicate bones of each wing were broken, and then the guards tied the shattered remains tightly and left them like that.

For an angel whose wings had been bound, they would never heal correctly. Donghae would never fly again.

When it was over, the blonde angel was a sweating, panting mess. He collapsed on the soft mattress and swiftly passed out.

*~*~*

Hyukjae stopped dancing mid-step and tripped over his own foot, landing on the hard studio floor. He had heard Donghae's voice, he swore he had, and the latter was in pain. Hyukjae pressed a hand to his chest, feeling the quickened pace of his heart beating through his skin.

Running a hand through his dark hair, he exhaled sharply.

“I'm imagining things,” he said to himself. Pushing off the floor, he decided to call it a day and packed up his music and bag. He just wanted to go home, shower, and sleep. Besides, what was the point of sticking around anywhere. Donghae wasn't by his side. Hyukjae missed the tingles of electricity that shot through his veins each time they touched.

Why did this bother him so much? Why did Donghae's disappearance hurt? Of course he hadn't wanted the angel to leave, but shouldn't he have just forgotten or moved on by now?

Maybe the past few months had been a dream. Maybe he was still unconscious after the accident and had been dreaming the whole time.

Hyukjae pinched his arm, flinching at the sting, and sighed. He was wide awake.

So why?

“There's no way I fell in love with an angel,” he whispered.

“Are you talking about me?”

Hyukjae froze at the voice. Siwon stood casually at the door to the studio, leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed. The dancer unconsciously tugged the sides of his jacket closed in the front and hunched his shoulders. He tried to walk around Siwon, using his bag as shield, but the latter managed to catch his arm anyway.

“Let me go, Siwon. I'm not in the mood.”

“I can get you in the mood.”

“I highly doubt that.”

“Let's find out, shall we.”

*~*~*

“Donghae! Donghae!” Leeteuk yelled, pushing the guards out of his way so that he could open the door. They tried to stop him, but he help up a sheet of paper bearing the Councils' seal and they let him pass.

Inside, Donghae was staring at his reflection in the mirror. He was shirtless, admiring the nasty bruises that the tops of his shoulders. He couldn't see his back, but he could only imagine how awful he must have looked. He turned when he heard Leeteuk enter the room.

“What is it, Teukie hyung?” he asked.

Leeteuk paused only to avert his eyes from the two bandaged masses on his dongsaeng's back. Snapping out of it, he handed Donghae the paper. “It's the Councils! They wouldn't listen to me! They've issued Hyukjae's immediate removal from Earth! They've rearranged his fate! They're going to kill him and damn his soul!”

*~*~*

Hyukjae shoved hard at Siwon's chest, just enough so that he could escape and sprint down the hallway. He tugged his jacket harder around his body and tried to ignore the rip in the waistband of his sweatpants. He continued running, completely forgetting about his bag in the process. All that was on his mind was escape.

Once he was out of the building, Hyukjae ran as fast as he could down the sidewalk. He completely disregarded the DON'T WALK signal and sped across the nearest intersection. It was late so he figured that there wouldn't be an traffic.

He was about halfway across when a car seemed to appear out of nowhere. A severe case of deja vu washed over him as he stared helplessly at the oncoming vehicle...

*~*~*

“Hyung! You have to help me save him!” Donghae cried, grasping at Leeteuk's white T-shirt. “Please! I'm begging you!”

“D-Donghae...” Sighing, the older knew that he could never deny his dongsaeng anything. This was going to mean extra trouble for him, and just as he was going to become promoted to Head Angel. “All right, fine. What do you want me to do?”

“Push me out of the window.”

Leeteuk looked at the blonde like he was crazy. “You've got to be kidding. You can't fly anymore!”

“I don't care! I'm his guardian angel. Just do it! Now!”

Releasing an exasperated sigh, the older angel muttered something about a lack of respect, but obeyed anyway. He lifted Donghae in the air and flew up to the single window's ledge. Once up there, he unlocked the panels and opened them apart. Down below was a bed of clouds, but beneath them was the human realm.

“Be careful,” Leeteuk whispered before giving Donghae a shove and letting the blonde topple into the sky. He watched until the latter plummeted through the vaporous masses below. Saying a quick prayer, he turned and glided back down to the Tower's floor to face the music.

As he was falling, Donghae only had one picture in his mind. Hyukjae. Just Hyukjae. He could feel the current in the air, drawing him towards the latter. He was falling fast and hard, the wind tearing at the bandages around his destroyed wings. He grit his teeth to bear the pain. Feathers danced around him.

He could see the ground now. He could see Hyukjae frozen in the middle of a crosswalk with a pair of headlights barreling towards him.

In a last ditch effort to cushion his fall, Donghae willed his broken wings to open. Rippling, blazing fire tore at his back. He feared that the appendages were being ripped from him. The crumpled wings, however, served their purpose one last time and slowed him down enough to angle his body toward the human.

He hoped that he had enough strength in him to make one more maneuver. At the last second, Donghae's arms wrapped around Hyukjae's shoulders and waist, and he lifted the brunette out of danger. The car clipped one of Donghae's wings, sending the duo spiraling through the air and onto the nearby sidewalk. Their landing was not as graceful this time.

Donghae dropped Hyukjae on the pavement in one direction as he sprawled on the ground in the other. The dancer winced at the pain of landing wrongly on his ankle, but the familiarity of the situation sparked through his brain. He whipped his head around just as Donghae was struggling to get up.

The sound of the dancer's shouts for help were drowned out by the impending sirens. Before the brunette began to lose consciousness, the last thing he saw were a pair of white sneakers and a dimpled smile telling him that he'd be okay.

When Hyukjae woke up, he was in the hospital. He heard two voices he didn't recognize conversing near his bedside. Finally making a sound, a pathetic whimper, the voices stopped and the two men turned to face him. One was obviously a doctor. But the other was someone he didn't recognize. He was light-haired man who revealed dimples when he smiled gently at Hyukjae.

“I'm glad to see you're awake, Hyukjae,” the doctor said. “You suffered only a concussion and a sprained ankle from your accident. You were quite lucky.”

“W-Where's Donghae?” the dancer croaked.

“He's recovering in another room. His injuries were much more significant. I've never seen such gashes on a person before. His back required hours of careful stitching.” The doctor shook his head, then received a call from another patient and dismissed himself.

“Who are you?” Hyukjae asked the second man.

“I'm Leeteuk, Donghae's mentor and hyung of sorts.”

“Are you an angel too?”

“I was.”

*~*~*

As Donghae rested in their shared bed back at Hyukjae's apartment, the dancer absently traced the scars on the blonde's back. “I'm sorry,” he mumbled.

“I'm not,” Donghae returned sleepily. He rolled over and tucked Hyukjae into his embrace.

Hyukjae smiled shyly and pecked Donghae's mouth. “You're my guardian angel, you know that right?”

Donghae hummed in reply. “Yeah, but you saved me.”

1/29/12