We decided it was best to split and take care of everything, at the same time.

After Jung Min told us about the Dragon, I wondered how he knew where Jaejoong was, yet I was too afraid to ask. He’ll never betray us, especially me, so I hoped his answer could be something witty and obvious, like having his own sources or even hearing about it from Death before Jaejoong killed him.

Either way, we prepared for departure.

More like, I forced Daesung to take Changmin and flee, while Jung Min and I went to the Black Ocean… alone… just the two of us. It was faster travelling with a reaper.  

---

The blond protested loudly and woke up the child in time for them to leave. With some more protests in front of a yawning Changmin, he finally gave up. We shared our last hugs and kisses before I took the necklace off and gave it to him.

“So we can find you,” I explained while my hand curled his fingers around the medallion “Jung Min will know where you are, no matter how far, okay?”

Daesung looked at our hands then pulled me in another hug, one that lasted for a full minute before Changmin pouted and tugged at our side.

“Don’t go…” he spoke softly, enough to make me lower at his height and give him a hug too.

“I’ll come back, pinky promise?” we held the fingers together and swore to meet again.

A mother never breaks her promises.

He ran after at Jung Min and hugged him too. The way he dashed afterwards back in my arms made us all laugh.

“Stinky man,” he mumbled at my chest, clinging to my shoulders.

Changmin looked back into my eyes and I kissed his forehead. He was about to cry when Daesung got him up and let the little one sob over his shoulder and bite at his thumb.

“Hey, hey,” he rocked him and placed the necklace down his small head “what are you crying for? You’re a big boy now. Say bye to your mother and grandpa.”

Changmin’s tiny hand waved at us. Daesung got their bag up his shoulder and put the four- year-old down.

Something told me, from the way they got out the door hand in hand and often turning back to catch last glimpses of our figures, that I wouldn’t be returning.

“Jung Min…” the reaper’s aura burned with the same sensation I had, a darkness too thick to break “…this is our last mission, isn’t it?”

“Haven’t you said that countless of times before?” he snorted and patted my back with the same fatherly slash brotherly love he offered me these past centuries.

“I have, haven’t I?” The time for smiling and making stupid jokes could no longer belong to us mere mortals. Jung Min embraced me to his chest with both of his arms tight around my body. The scent he carried was that of a thousand flowers dipped in one strong perfume. It was the stench of death, waiting for both of us to fulfill our last task as defenders of spirits. “Jung Min…”

“Hmmm?”

“Let me go, you ert.”

---

Who knew hiding behind large boulders was a good idea?

The tower before us collapsed after somebody bombarded its top, or so the locals told us when we asked around for anything suspicious. Jung Min informed me there were at least a dozen priests and priestesses in the small port city and from the look of it, they were making sure nobody got close to the ruins. I could hear the ocean not far from our location roaring while it ate the sun. The water was black, as the name suggested, and shone like expensive jewelry.

It was gorgeous.

“There he is,” Jung Min whispered with his red eyes focused on a blank spot “the man we are looking for.”

“Are you sure about it?”

After we talked to the locals, they all said something about the same stranger that healed their sick children and relatives. An unknown disease spread from home to home, leaving those vulnerable choke on a black substance. Jung Min told me reapers were at fault with their large numbers. I suspected it was more than that, yet I had no evidence.

I couldn’t see a thing beyond the fallen walls. With my back against the boulder, I closed my eyes and tried to contact Byung Hee or Yuri. Somebody had to have advanced with the plan. Concentrating wasn’t enough since I had no idea how that synchronizing thing worked. Everything I had done last time was accidental and ever since Junsu messed with me, I had lost almost all of my new abilities.

Well, that .

I became another ordinary Priestess. The only difference was the lack of red in my energy. It still flared blinding white whenever I snapped my fingers and made a small flame appear over my skin.

“Yes, he’s in there.” Jung Min grabbed at his chest. I heard him heavily pant. I stared at his pale face the moment his red eyes slowly faded back in their warmer dark brown hue.

“…what’s wrong?”

He turned to me and shook his head.

“Nothing, let’s go.”

I stopped him.

“You can’t go. They will kill you on spot.”

“But,” he winced and leaned against the boulder, his red eyes coming back in an instant. “Hurry up, Jaejoong isn’t far. I can feel him.”

“Got it.”

Before I could leap over the boulder and make my presence known, a grizzled haired man smiled and saluted me in an old-fashioned military style.

“Hello there, Sooyoung.”

When the did he get in my face?