I didn’t want to go to the Palace.

No way that my first actual face-to-face meeting with my favorite person ever (after my parents, kid and Daesung) would be in a freaking dress. Actually, scratch that. The high-heels are the worst pat.

Hahahaha, I would end up on my nose with the dress up and in the air in front of the damn Queen. What a sight to behold! I’m sure the Queen will laugh it off and then subtly kick me out of the palace because no real lady does the dirty job herself – except the fact that she was a warrior foremost and fought those rebels over and over again in order to establish peace in our side of the Empire.

It’s rather strange how everything works in our continent. From what I know, all kingdoms slash countries slash I have no idea what to call them anymore, are part of a larger unit that is the Empire. There’s no emperor or empress, but a council formed of the entire kingdom slash whatever rulers. Our Queen fought those that wanted to take our land and made sure the plains filled with rice wouldn’t be taken.

And there I was, the one that saved the damn world from pissed demons, rebel reapers and I tried again to fix things – and not a single thank you.

Huh.

Alright, I never wanted to dance under the spotlight, so somewhere in the audience, cheering for the actual winners, is way better. At first, I refused to get out of bed and get pretty for the ball. 

My mission was to inspect the Palace area and find Death. Maybe I could also get to the bottom of why reapers worked for the Palace – okay, if Death is there, of course there would be reapers, but it’s still fishy – and why they wanted me there in the first place. Point was that only I and Daesung would go, along with Jung Min for safety measures, while Yuri and Yoona would stay behind and take care of Changmin. I didn’t trust the fairy, really didn’t, but with Yuri around, I was sure nothing could go wrong. If Yoona tried something, she would get her fried before she’d even get the chance to blink.

At least the kid enjoyed those shows – that little sadistic punk, he’d grow up to become some kind of hybrid between Yuri and I. At one moment, I wished he’d take everything after Daesung – except the looks – for I wanted him to grow up as a kind hearted man who loved life and did everything to protect those around him.

I smiled and closed my eyes. It was still pretty early when I drifted in another weird dream, only to realize after that I witnessed something real and not my brain’s fictive story.

I saw a small TV with weirdly drawn animals moving around and fighting over a ridiculous topic. They were black and white and the static interrupted it from minute to minute. I felt rather stressed because of that and no matter how many times I saw Yuri smack the TV, it didn’t work. She kicked it over and over again, until the TV died for good. My eyes teared up and Yuri only glared at it more, before she patted my head like I was a freaking dog. Before she’d open to say something, Yoona came out of nowhere and started arguing with Yuri about the TV and why she shouldn’t be a brute with everything around her. The cartoon came to life in that moment and it entertained me more than those animals. Yuri finally snapped, pointed her finger and brought flames up. Yoona did the same, only her flames were jets of water swirling around her tattooed arm.

They stopped when a high pitched scream came from my side. I realized I was the one who did it.

Yuri and Yoona calmed down. The priestess walked back at my side, crouched and worryingly tilted her head to the side.

“I’m sorry Changmin,” she spoke softly.

That’s when I woke up, jolted off bed and climbed downstairs to see the exact same scene as in my dream – Yuri was in front of Changmin, who sat on the floor and sobbed silently. Yoona looked rather ashamed of what she had done and averted her eyes from the kid.

Kneeling in front of him, I pulled my boy in a tight embrace.

“It’s a freaking TV!” I shouted with my hands shielding Changmin’s ears “stop messing around, what in the world is wrong with both of you?!”

They exchanged some more glares before both talked on top of the other of how water and fire don’t mix and they felt nervous around each other. I rolled my eyes and cursed a few times before I let go of Changmin’s ears and pecked his head.

“Also,” Yuri spoke before Yoona “she’s a fairy. Why would we trust her?”

“Ha!” the girl scorned and agitatedly stomped on spot “how can you trust a reaper?!”

I covered Changmin’s ears again.

“He’s my father and Yuri’s my mother, that’s how!”  

Yoona went silent, stared at us before she cleared .

“I’m...” she huffed and puffed, before she finally sighed “...sorry.”

“Reapers might be the lowest of the lowest, but they are better than fairies. We cannot trust you.”

Of course Yuri had to apply her talents on the poor girl. I am not taking sides, but she sometimes knew how to slap you straight in the place that hurt most. Had it not been for my intervention, it could have been much worse... unless I already made it worse.

Either way, everybody was acting strange. Yuri was the only one to voice our collective worries in one of her rage fits.

“I hate this place,” she scoffed with arms around her body “those ghosts around the city, those damn reapers, people that don’t care about anything else but their ia and weird kids!” she pointed at Changmin. Good thing my hands flew in time back over his ears. “And him! Shouldn’t he act like a 4 year old?! I don’t like him! Goddamnit, I feel like everybody wants to the life out of me! Add some demons to the mix and I’m done!”

“He's just a child...” the fairy murmured with her eyes fixed on us “What’s so strange about him?”

Changmin blinked when I took my palms away and pulled him in a tight hug.

“Strange or not strange, I’m still his mother.”

“Mother my !” there she went again “I’m the one that had to take care of him while you and Daesung were running around the mountain area and helping spirits.”

“That’s not true!”

“Ahem,” a male voice snapped our necks in its direction and I must say, I heard mine crack a little. Out of shape? No, I wasn’t out of shape, just really lazy to work out some more during times of peace. Well, a pretense of a peace from all the that went down that week. 

Jung Min rolled his eyes.

“Sooyoung,” he threw a bag in my direction. Ugh, black dress. “Stop it and get ready,” he ordered right away, eyeing Yuri. “You help her out.”

I wish I had a knife sharp enough to cut the thick atmosphere between those two. Unfortunately, my sobs weren’t enough to make them reconcile, for my pain was bigger when it came to that damn dress and those damn pointy shoes and oh my God, where those earrings beautiful, where in the world did he find them? If there’s something Jung Min was good at, that was finding shiny stuff that actually looked darn precious. Sometimes, I wondered whether he got the wrong bird form.

“I hate this place,” Yuri started again “we should have rented a house again or went to that Golden Hotel near the---”

“NO HOTELS!” Jung Min and I shouted together.

Yuri gathered herself from her spot, grabbed my arm, the bag and then pulled me back in my bedroom to get ready. Changmin pouted after us.

I heard Daesung came back later, fully dressed and pampered by the tailor. While everybody was chit-chatting downstairs and enjoyed dinner, a carriage parked outside. Jung Min was just as formal dressed as we were. Yuri rushed me downstairs after she finished with everything and the only sounds I could produce right then were groans.

I had to skip dinner.

Step after step, Jung Min extended his hand for me to grab before I’d trip over my feet. Daesung on the other was busy gaping, as he examined everything – from the way those high-heels glinted in the dim light, to the way the dress swayed around my hips and produced a dark blue shade. Changmin ran to my side before Daesung, hugged my leg with another of his infamous pouts and hurt puppy look and I wanted at that moment to suffocate him through repeated monster hugs.

Taking the bundle of love at my chest and after a quick peck on both of his chubby cheeks, I placed one more over his forehead and told him to listen to his aunties.

Yuri snorted.

At least she wasn’t going to be called grandmother again.

After a good slap on Daesung’s chin – he kept that mouth wide open way too long – we got out. We met the same reaper from before and this time, my thoughts were confirmed by Jung Min who snarled in his direction. He stopped me and held my hand in his. I felt something cold touch my palm before Jung Min closed my fingers and pushed me to the carriage.

Finally inside, with the two and with bloody drapes obscuring the windows, Daesung’s hands didn’t leave his heart the entire time. Something seemed to be applying pressure over it, like an invisible ghost with one deeply seeded grudge.

I finally opened my palm to see the medallion I took down at one point. Before, back when I had my first big quarrel with Jung Min, I got rid of his feather from the inside. One year ago, I unhooked the chain for good and I no longer felt the need to wear it. It was always my good luck charm. No longer needing it, I never thought I’d be so glad to see it once more in my grasp. Jung Min peeked for one second before his eyes returned to the drapes, content with the surprise he gave me. One elbow in Daesung’s ribcage later, the blond helped me get the medallion back to where it belonged.

I had a feeling Jung Min put his feather inside again and for some reason, I was alright with that.

Everything was in the past. Only the future and solving one last case mattered most. We’d remain a team until the end.

---

The carriage stopped inside the large courtyard.

I didn’t have time to admire the palace and its numerous golden decorations, fancy miniature gardens along the main building or the masks we were given. Everybody else that got out of similar looking carriages used the masks, so we did the same and followed the crowd inside.

The ballroom was huge... and I mean huge... It probably fit the entire forest from the mountains and still had enough room for tables filled with the most expensive food in the entire world. It was packed with heated conversations, glasses after glasses of clear or colored drinks and the same mask present on everybody's faces.

I don’t understand why we were invited there. The eerie scenery made me nervous.

There was a single person not wearing any mask – even the waiters had something to hide their features. She stood at the high balcony with a white fur boa and the actual snake around her shoulders. A freaking snow crawling reptile was tied around her neck as she gave it a peck on its slimy snout. I and Daesung shuddered, while Jung Min’s eyes turned red again and were fixed over her.

The blond nudged at my side.

“Uhm, Sooyoung...” he forced my arm to wrap around his “...I have a really bad feeling about this. I mean... aren’t they all...”

“Reapers,” Jung Min frowned “...they are all reapers.”

“Wait, so we’re the only humans here?!”

“And that,” he growled low “is no stranger to us.”

Daesung squinted at the snake loving woman.

“Holy , is that...”

“Jessica.” Jung Min nodded. “That’s Jessica.”

She gave us a small smile and signaled to climb those stairs up at the balcony. At least we knew where to go rather than get lost in the sea of people.

Out of habit, my fingertips brushed over the medallion.