BAEKHYUN’S POV

I beat my wings strongly, my legs locked around a harpy’s waist. She screeched, trying to fight me off, but I leaned forward and sunk my pointed teeth into her neck. I used my legs to keep her from getting away, ripping a gaping hole in her neck. I let her fall, watching her plummet down and crash into the snow.

I familiar smell hit me, and I immediately turned to find its source. I would recognize the sweet tang of Jaeshin’s blood anywhere, from when I healed his wings, and the scent was thick in the air now. I looked down, trying to see where he was, and saw a dark shadow lying on the ground. The treetops above the figure had been ripped, like something had crashed into them, and I tucked my wings.

As more details came into focus, I noticed another figure with curling red hair walking towards the shape on the ground. I recognized Aurora with a bolt of anger, and tried to go even faster. I stopped myself just short of crashing into the ground, but found myself held quickly in the grip of two faerie knights. I struggled against their hold, but one cut a shallow slice in my wrist.

I smelled the iron immediately, desperately trying to fight the sleepy feeling that accompanied the poison. Aurora caught my attention, holding her finger to her lips while I struggled.

"Shhh. Don’t disturb him." Aurora said, a cruel smile twisting her red lips as she regarded Jaeshin. He was unconscious, his face paler than ever before with a grey tint. She watched him, and I felt my heart twist when I saw his broken and battered body.

His creamy skin was covered with bruises and cuts, his wings a battered mess, and I could hear him wheezing for breath from where I stood. Aurora stepped closer, giving Jaeshin a coldly calculating look before swiftly stepping forward and planting her foot right over a clear break in his wings.

Jaeshin jerked back awake, yelling out in pain before being reduced to coughing. His eyes widened in fear when he saw Aurora, who kept regarding him with the same insensitively curious look.

"Wings." Aurora leaned her weight back on the break, making Jaeshin throw back his head and open his mouth in a silent scream. "Are not natural."

I struggled again, fighting against the guards, but they wouldn’t let go. I watched as Aurora walked quietly over to Jaeshin’s other side, raising her foot and pressing it down across his throat. He immediately gasped for air, choking.

"Stop!" I cried, seeing him start to turn red. My heart twisted painfully in my chest, my eyes unable to look away. Aurora turned her head my way, her glinting green eyes reminding me of a hawk’s, and lifted her foot slightly.

"What was that?" Aurora said.

"I said, stop! Don’t hut him, please!" I begged, praying that Aurora would listen. She nodded after a second, raising her foot and looking down at Jaeshin in disgust as he in air.

"Deformed creature." Aurora hissed, looking down at Jaeshin. He couldn’t hear her, his eyes half-lidded, swaying on the verge of unconscious.

"Fine." Aurora turned back to me. "I won’t hurt him." I breathed a sigh of relief, letting myself sag in the hold of the knights, but immediately straightened when Aurora unsheathed a wicked iron dagger.

It sang when it sprung from the sheath, the silver handle protecting Aurora’s flawless white hands as she held it over Jaeshin’s chest.

"I won’t hurt him." Aurora repeated. "I’ll kill him."

She dropped the dagger straight down, plunging it directly into Jaeshin’s heart. I froze for a second, unable to believe the sight of the dagger hilt, rising from Jaeshin’s chest. And then I got angry. Really angry.

I yelled, arching my back and flexing my wings, beating the knights with them. They let go of me under the force of my attack and I rose into the air, muscles singing with the need for revenge. I dove forward, grabbing the first knight and snapping his neck with a flick of my wrist. I was much stronger than I remembered, my eyes and wings blazing silver.

I grabbed the next knight, ripping in half, and then looked to Aurora. She looked frightened for the first time I had ever seen, backing away from Jaeshin’s body and raising another iron dagger. I ignored it, diving forward and knocking directly into her chest.

Aurora fell back, plunging the dagger multiple times into my sides and stomach, but I didn’t feel it. All I could feel was white hot rage, coursing through me and making me almost explode with the force of it. My vision flickered again, disappearing into various shades of silver, my color vision gone. I didn’t mind, ripping at Aurora with my bare hands.

She screamed when I knocked her flat on her back, laying my forearm across , cutting off her air. She gasped for air, wide, frightened eyes looking up into mine. I felt my fang teeth snap out, running my tongue over them. I leaned in close, whispering in her ear.

"Do you know why angels have fangs?" I asked, hissing in her ear and making Aurora tense. She shook her head mutely, and I smiled softly, a cruel slash of my mouth.

"To protect what belongs to them. Do you know what happens when you hurt something that is mine?" I growled, moving my head so I looked directly into her eyes. Aurora shook her head again, and I showed my fangs.

"I take your life!" I yelled, catching her chin under my hand and ripping up, sending her head flying across the clearing. I felt a small prick of satisfaction at her death but it wasn’t enough. More needed to pay for Jaeshin’s death, and I knew exactly where to find the faeries to satisfy my need.

I leapt up, beating my still-silver wings and looking down Jaeshin’s body. I would avenge him, I was sure of it. I wasn’t a regular angel, I was a warrior, and I would make the faeries pay for what they did to the one I...loved?

I shook off the thought, turning and flying headlong into the fight. I grasped a tall faerie knight and growled, ripping him apart. I cut a steady path through the faerie knights, flinging them all aside like rag dolls. I leapt into the air when I was done, tackling countless harpies and ripping off their wings or heads.

I finally paused, flapping my wings to keep myself in the same spot, and looked down at my hands. They were shaking and drenched in red, but it still wasn’t enough. My heart was still pounding and aching, begging to take more lives to replace the one I had lost.

I tucked my wings, seeing another target, and crashed into it headlong. We skidded through the snow, the scent of the werewolf’s blood heavy in the air, but I felt restraining arms on my chest instead of claws.

"Baekhyun!" the werewolf was calling me, but I didn’t recognize his face. I ignored him, raising my hands to rip into him, but he shook me gently.

"Baekhyun, stop!" I paused, looking down at the wolf below me. I blinked slowly, taking in his face, then let my wings sag behind me. They dropped to the ground like white flags, colored red with blood just like my hands. I leaned forward across his chest, wrapping my arms around his shoulders, and cried.

"Baekhyun, you killed them all. The fight’s over." he murmured, rubbing my back soothingly. I clung to him, sobbing into his chest.

"Chanyeol. He’s dead. Aurora killed him." I ground out, all my anger replaced with sorrow that shredded my heart. I laid one hand over my heart, wondering at how much this could hurt, and let Chanyeol wrap his arms around me, holding me together.

"Who?" Chanyeol asked softly. I buried my face in his chest, feeling the familiar warmth of the boy I had known since childhood. I swallowed, meeting his eyes briefly, then looked back down.

"Jaeshin. She killed Jaeshin."

CHANYEOL’S POV

I looked down into Baekhyun’s red, swollen eyes. He clung to my chest, crushing me slightly, but I wrapped my arms around him. I looked over at the rest of the wolf pack watching Baekhyun with sad eyes. We could feel his pain as our own, but a few of the wolves were still slightly scared of Baekhyun.

We had seen the bolt of the light that had gone up into the sky when his wings changed silver; we had heard his yell. We had seen his rage and his grief as he single-handedly took out all of Aurora’s forces. And now we saw his sorrow as he clung to me and wept like a child.

I slowly stood, still holding him tightly to me, and carried him over to Peniel’s truck. I went inside with him, holding him and rocking him back and forth. Skye appeared next to me, taking Baekhyun’s head in her lap and his hair softly, mumbling comforting words to him. Baekhyun didn’t respond, too deeply in his own world to care about anything else.

Finally, he fell asleep, moving restlessly in his dreams. Skye sighed, grabbing a small cloth and getting it wet, sponging the blood off his arms and face. She then moved to his wings, cleaning them, and I looked at all the rips in his shirt near the sides.

Pulling it up slightly, I saw about three new scars on his sides, deep and puckered, like a knife had been driven into him. They were completely healed, and I saw a similar scar from a former slice on his wrist that hadn’t been there before.

I shrugged, realizing that when he went full-scale avenging angel, his healing had probably gotten stronger too. I sighed, curling up next to him and feeling Skye on the other side of me. I wrapped my arms around her, hoping we could find a way to help Baekhyun heal emotionally as easily as Yixing could heal physically.

*screams* *throws computer out the window* *wails* *sobs* WHAT HAVE I DONE???!!!!!!! JAESHIN!!! NOOOOOOO! I’m a terrible person! *curls up in a ball*

Okay, so yeah. Baekhyun had a crush for like two days and then he died. Because apparently the world hates Baekhyun. And I hate myself. Why. Why did I have to kill Jaeshin? Ahhhhhhhh.

On another note, I kinda liked the avenging angel Baekhyun. Too soon? Oh, sorry.

Well. That was a majorly depressing update. I’m gonna go cry a river and eat ice cream. Bai bai.

Saranghamnida, kamsamnida, MIANHAMNIDA!

-Sujin

<3