“Are you okay?”

She could only shake her head as an answer. Her eyes were fixated on the body that stood at the entrance of the apartment, the darkest aura surrounding his figure.

Joon started stepping forward; he stretched out his arms so his hands could face one another. Just like magnets, electricity jolted out in between.

She was too shocked to be confused about what she was seeing.

Just as they were about to be hit, Cheondung pushed Sora back on the floor, using his body as a shield as the wall behind them became the sudden target. Smoke grew, slowly covering the living room; it didn’t stop the demon to walk further inside just as much for the couple who quickly got back up and ran away, making their way towards the bedroom.

Cheondung locked the door before running towards the bed, fetching out a gun that was hidden and attached under the mattress; he picked out the bullets from the rusty nightstand and loaded the gun before placing it behind him; Sora was still frozen in the middle of the room, her eyes staring at the closed door as the pounding started.

Her body was still shaking in fright.

“Sora! Hurry!”

At the calling of her name, she turned her head to where the voice came from and saw Cheondung opening the window before reaching the fire escape. She ran towards him just as the door cracked. The moment it had exploded into pieces, she had reached the boy as he led her down the stairs, escaping the wrath of his brother.

“W-where are we going?”

“For now, just far away from him.”

Once they reached the bottom of the stairs, they were abruptly stopped with the intrusion of two other figures; their bodies were big and heavy from the endless muscles that covered them.

“Holy ! Where the did they come from!”

Cheondung ignored her question; he was too preoccupied to find a way out alive for the both of them.

What made things worse was the fact that he couldn’t fight them off because he was still without powers; only ten days left before the punishment was over.

Still holding onto her hand, he turned around and started running; the two bodies were left standing as they watched the pair escape.

Sora titled her head to look back at the two strangers, left dumbfounded on their attitude. “Why aren’t they running?” She had stopped for one moment, resulting into letting go of Cheondung’s hand.

She turned around, staring at the two men while she tried to figure out what was stopping them from coming after her.

“Sora, what are you doing?”

“Why aren’t they coming after us?”

“Does it matter?!”

“Yes it does! What if this is a trap? What if there are other people waiting for us just on the other side?”

“We’ll have to take that chance-”

“But I don’t want too!”

“Sora! Listen to me! If we don’t leave now, he will kill the both of us. Do you understand me? We can’t just wonder why they aren’t doing anything; we don’t have the time to worry! We just have to run and get the hell out of here.”

He grabbed her hand and started tugging towards him as he walked backwards, closer towards their exit. She gave one last glance behind her only to see Joon standing in between the two others, a venomous smirk painted across his face.

It gave her the boost she needed to pick up her pace.

By the time they had reached the other side of the alley, they found themselves in the middle of the morning rush; hundreds of people were filling up the streets as each of them were in their own rush to get to work and school, to bring their kids to daycare and to attend appointments.

The pair meshed into the heavy crowd, hoping their predator won’t see them. From running, they walked, marching rapidly and yet trying to keep it discreet.

She eventually ran out of breath, making both of them stop their run. She could feel her lungs burn and the ache running its course through her body; she could barely stand straight and had herself lean over with her hands resting on her knees as she breathed in large gulps of air.

“Are you hurt?”

“I c-can’t breathe with all that damn running away crap.”

He didn’t want to push her buttons, knowing she was on the verge of outburst with her emotions.

“Let me carry you.”

“No, it’s okay… I just need to catch my breath.”

He approached her gently and held onto her as his fingertips caressed her cheeks. “You don’t look so well.”

“Well, considering what is happening, of course I’m not the most cheery person at the moment.”

“I’m sorry…” He let her go as he breathed out, letting his arms fall on the sides of his body in defeat.

“Don’t apologize, it’s not your fault-”

“It is. You’re caught in between because of me.”

“If worst is to come… are you going to kill him?”

“That’s the plan.”

She simply looked at him, letting the gentle breeze swiftly dance around them; she broke eye contact at the sudden sound of a honking car, bringing them both back to their reality.

“Can we get something to eat first? We still didn’t have breakfast.”

“Sure.”

Out of habit, he held her hand and interlaced their fingers together as they searched for a place to eat, until he stopped after realizing something small though significant. “We don’t have money. I forgot my wallet.”

She shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, unfazed by the boy’s words. “Who says we need to pay?”

He looked at her, baffled by her indifference, which only left him to chuckle at her attitude. “And how are we going to do that?”

“Just follow my lead~”

She led him at the edge of the sidewalk, making them cross the street towards a small store that hasn’t begun its opening hours yet. “What kind of convenience store isn’t open by now?”

“The kind where the owner is too drunk and too lazy to be on time.”

“It looks like it’s not your first time.”

“It’s never a first time with me Cheondung. Not anymore, anyways.”

“What do you mean?” She didn’t answer right away, as she was too preoccupied to walk around the small building until they were facing the back entry of the store. “I had my first times of everything. Even my first robbery.”

“You did?”

“Hell yea, and it was one the finest experiences of my life~” She was leaning against the door as she took off her boot, searching for something that she had hidden. She sighed in victory once she was able to fetch out a single pink lock pick earring. Cheondung was only standing a few inches away, looking back at the girl with complete shock written on his face.

She put her boot back and crouched down on her knees as she faced the lock, working her way into opening the door. It took her a few minutes, but she was finally able to manage to open the door, inviting the boy inside. “How about some shopping?” A sly smile appeared across her lips, leaving him to do the same.

“What about the security cameras?”

“Like I said, the boss is too lazy to fix up his shop. He’s got good stuff, but is too damn ed up to do anything else.”

“Let’s get going then~”

From the store, Sora led the way to an abandoned church that was just a few streets down from where they were.

Once they reached the site, she led Cheondung to the back so they would be out of sight from the rest of the population that was roaming the streets.

“Do you need to pick that lock too?”

“Nope, since it’s vacant, there is obviously no need to unlock it~”

“Obviously.” She giggled at his try to imitate her with his sense of sarcasm as they made their way inside where the sound of his voice gently echoed through the emptiness of the church.

Silence settled between them as Sora walked around until she found her seat at the steps that were leading to the bema, close to the altar. Cheondung followed her and sat down next to her before pulling up their food supplies out of the bag he had carried from the store. He emptied it in the space that separated both bodies, giving the chance for Sora to pick up what she wanted to eat.

Cheondung glanced from his breakfast to Sora, wanting to pick up their conversation from where they had left off. “What did you steal?”

“Huh?” She tilted her head up by the sudden question, losing herself for a split second.

“Your first robbery.”

“O-oh, it was jewelry.”

“So you went for the classic~” He smiled at her while sitting more comfortable on the dusty marbled floor. She smiled back at him, making her loosen up the tension that stuck on her shoulders. “It’s always the best way to start as a first time.”

“What else did you do?”

“Mostly, pickpocketing…”

“Do you still do it?”

“Not until I eventually got caught and then arrested. The police called my parents and when my dad found out, I was sure that the vein on his forehead was going to burst…” The smile erased from her lips, her eyes were blank as she found herself walking back down memory lane with a bitter souvenir of her past.

“He was so angry with me and so disappointed. He eventually kicked me out of the house, which I didn’t really have much of a problem with since I had Seungho waiting for me. It made things worse because they hated him; they thought – my father thought – that Seungho corrupted me somehow…”

“Did he?”

Her gaze went back to Cheondung as a frown appeared on her face. “Of course not. He wasn’t a bad guy. He was just… carefree. Living with that whole ‘carpe diem’ saying, and that’s what he did. He made me live my life. He actually took the time to show me how to live at all.”

“Even with the drugs you’re taking?”

She was speechless for just mere seconds, the bitterness of her memories becoming more painful.

“No. That’s just me. He did smoke sometimes though, but the coke was just me… He even hated that I was doing drugs and we eventually had a fall out because of it.”

“Was that the breakup you told me about?”

“No, that was something else. We didn’t break up about that, but I eventually stopped because I didn’t want to lose him… Even though I did lose him and then I fell off the wagon.”

“How did you recover the first time?” His voice was so soft, it could’ve been mistaken for a whisper. He noticed the pain that painted her eyes as it got entangled with her words and voice.

Only her answer was able to bring him back with a gleeful smile that eventually turned into laughter.

“… Lots and lots of it… Though food helped too.”

The atmosphere eased up between them, making them forget for that moment the danger that was waiting for them outside of their shelter.

Soon enough, they were interrupted with the loudest of pounding that came from the main entrance of the church.

Someone was trying to get in.

The banging was followed by a scream, as if someone was suffering from torture.

“W-what was that?”

“My brother. We need to get out of here.”

Another pounding echoed, leaving Sora to tremble in fright. Cheondung caught her attention as he grabbed her hand, pulling her back from where they had come from.

The moment they had opened the back door, they were already on the run until they suffered from the biggest blow yet.

“You gotta stop escaping from me Cheondung! Just give up already!”

“Why should I?”

“Because you’re weak and pathetic.”

“Are you trying to insult me or convince yourself that you are stronger?”

A bolt of electricity emanated from the friction between the demon’s hands as his stare darkened.

On sight, Cheondung moved to shield over Sora’s body; the girl was barely conscious from what was going on as her focus was put on the headache that came from the crash.

Joon noticed the shift in position; he smirked at what he saw finding the situation purely amusing. “You’re protecting the girl? Looks like she’s more important than I thought~”

“Just leave her out of this.”

“Why would I when I can double on the fun?”

Cheondung was tossed away, leaving Sora unprotected; Joon caught onto her ankles and violently pulled her against him. The sudden action left her wide-awake as she felt sparks of electricity coursing through her vein.

She tried to grasp onto something while shook from the cries that came out of . Her breath ran short when she was faced with Joon as he was hovering above her, digging her back deeper into the ground.

He leaned in closer until his nose brushed up against her neck.

She had her hands pressed up against his chest, fighting him off; she used her forehead to knock him out, but it wasn’t enough.

Only when she had her arm stretched out, reaching for a hand full of mud that she finally broke free after having the wet dirt shoved in his face. She kicked him off as she escaped from him.

The rage that built up in his body formed a ball of fire in the palm of the demon’s hand.

Sora had her back facing him as she was getting up on her feet just to be thrown back with the burning sensation on the left side of her shoulder blade.

She gasped from the scorch mark, her body unable to move with her fingers digging into the ground. Only a scream of help rolled down her tongue when she was forcefully handled by the demon. She wandered her eyes around but couldn’t see Cheondung or the two other strangers around; her worrisome thoughts were soon washed away when Joon held onto her tightly, almost crushing the bones in her arms.

She was struggling to get away from him, but his strength left her to fight an already doomed battle for her own freedom.

He locked her lower body with his own as he sat on her and lifted her arm above her head, sticking her skin against the mud.

That’s when he took notice of the tattoo that painted her wrist; the crown of a queen colored her skin. Though trivial to the human eye, something lured the demon closer towards it, as if it drew some kind of power. From the ink, he looked straight into her eyes, his mind drilling deep into her soul; his eyes were wide open when he thought he saw the shadow of his dead older brother in the girl’s blue eyes. ‘Impossible…’

He was too distracted as his mind worked to put together the pieces of his own puzzle; Sora took this chance to free herself. She punched the man right in his face and pushed his body away before getting up and running back towards the church.

“Damn it!”

He ran just as fast only to find himself thrown back a few feet when he reached the back entrance of the building.

He tried to walk back inside, but once again, he was forbidden to enter such sacred ground.

Sora was confused on what she was seeing but the voiced struggles coming from inside made her chase away from one demon to rejoin another; she was facing another dangerous situation when spotting Cheondung fighting with the pairing. She could see the bruises forming on his body, showing how he was growing weak.

She looked around for any weapon until she grabbed onto a body-length metal candlestick. From the back, she swiftly hid the head from one body before attacking the other, fast enough to draw both demons in confusion.

She threw the piece of metal on the ground and ran towards Cheondung. She helped him back up on his feet and started to run just when the two demons were standing back up.

They rushed their steps until they made it to the front entrance of the church; they didn’t stop as their feet took them down the staircase and right back on the streets.

The pain was excruciating and clawed all around her body but all she did was run as fast as she could, ignoring the ache in her muscles and the burning scar on her back. Cheondung did the same, knowing that finding shelter was more important than worrying about his bruises.

They skillfully slithered themselves in between the busy bodies that formed the crowd, blocking the displeasing sounds of the people that were in their way with the simple goal of getting away from the revenge that awaited the youngest sibling.

They kept running until Cheondung was sure that they were out of sight. He led them both back to where they had first met as they made their path down through the alley between two buildings. They were catching their breaths as they slid their backs down to the ground, not caring about ruining their clothes with the dirt.^(chapter1)

The boy’s mind was running wild; a headache pounded its way through his brains as millions of thoughts were let loose.

He was anxious and stressed, and most of all, he was terrified about what was to come.

“Chaos, revenge and death.”