He looks like a devil burning with rage, all of a sudden swallowed with this darkness that Chaerin has never seen anyone embody before, especially not her father. She scoots back on the couch until her back hits the armrest, and her father towers over her with glowing green eyes of anger. She swears that his white wings become a little darker, more grey than white now. They shake with furiosity.

       "What did you say?" he says, dangerously low. She gulps in fear but she has to do this, she has to do this for herself and she must do it for Dara, the most broken Dark Angel in the world. She straightens up and locks her father with a strong gaze.

       "Take off the Barrier, now."

       "How do you know about that?" he growls, but his eyes betray shock and fear. When Chaerin sees how threatened he is, somehow he feels more indignant and more fiercely loyal to Dara than she has before. She can't believe she let her father, this selfish and paranoid man, twist her mind like that. She can't believe she let her father tell her that Dark Angels were evil, that they were disgusting and morbid, that they were vile and repulsive. Rebellious disagreement wells up in her chest so quickly she feels like she's about to explode, so she does.

       "Does it matter?! I'm sick of you trying to control my life! I'm sick of you trying to manipulate my mindset and I'm sick of you leading me to believe that Dark Angels are the worst in the world, because you were wrong and I was wrong to believe you. Because she told me that I gave her a new life but she can't even ing touch me, Dad! She can't even touch me and for the past few days she's been looking at me with this broken look of pain and helplessness and it kills me more than you know but I can't even comfort her with a hug or a kiss because of you! Because of you I can't help her like I should and I ing hate myself for it!"

       She watches, breathing hard, as his eyes shake and his lips tremble because he can't figure out what made his daughter turn on him like this. We're equals now, you can't control me, Chaerin tries to say with her eyes. He doesn't reciprocate because he's too busy with his own selfish questions and his own vain wonders of why does she know and who is this 'she' and what happened to my little, obedient, naïve Chaerin.

       In the end, Chaerin can tell that her father has settled on something, because he takes a breath and his shoulders slump, and his eyebrows relax, and his head tilts a little. She can also tell that he isn't the person she thought he was, and the only word that she can use to describe her heart at this moment is devastated.

       "I won't take it off, Chaerin. I don't know who this person is that is changing your views, but 'she' is only waiting to hurt you, and you'll thank me soon for the Barrier. I can't have you going through some rebellious phase and wanting to be free and unrestricted, only to let you get hurt. I'm still your father, Chaerin." He sighs like he's fifty years older than he is and Chaerin looks on in disbelief.

       "Do you think I'm doing this for myself?" she whispers. His expression doesn't change as he waits for her to continue. "Do you think I'm doing this because I want to be free? Because I want to break away from you? Dad, I came here for her. I came here because she's more broken than you and I ever were after Mom died. I came here because you've been wrong, we've been wrong, and Dark Angels go through some unbelievable  because of people like us, do you know that?"

       "Chae–"

       "Stop. I can't believe you're doing this. After so many years of living in some horrible illusion, I've finally seen reality for what it is, what you are, and you're still trying to, what? Push me back into this manufactured world that you've created for yourself, where Dark Angels don't exist and Mom is still alive and I listen to your every word like a goddamn robot?! I can't do it anymore. You're not who I thought you were." Chaerin grabs her bags and storms to the door with powerful strides and unregretful movements, as she shoves her feet into her shoes and leaves without another word.

       Her father tries to call out her name but she doesn't turn around, and when she's around the corner and out of sight she lets her tears spill over her eyes and waterfall down her cheeks, and she sprints all the way downtown, cries her way into the train station and chokes down sobs for three hours on the train ride back to Dara's house.

       Dara is still in bed when Chaerin returns. She's reading a book but her eyes are only glazing over the words while her mind drifts over to Chaerin. She can't stop thinking about how Chaerin his, so far away, talking to undoubtedly the most important figure in her life about something as sensitive as...this whole thing.

       Chaerin bursts through the door with dried but still puffy eyes and tear tracks on her cheeks and disheveled hair and heart. Dara immediately closes her book and sits up, watching with worry.

       "Chae, what's wrong? What happened?" she asks with uncontainable concern. Chaerin almost furiously sits down on the empty side of Dara's bed, breathing like a dragon trying to control the fire in its chest from bursting out.

       "He's lost it, Dara. I can't believe this," she says, barely opening , shaking her head in disbelief.

       "What are you saying?"

       "He's lost it for so many years already and I never noticed until now." Chaerin doesn't say any more before letting her body fall to the side until she's lying face-up on the bed, her hand barely touching Dara's pant-covered leg. Dara carefully brings her hand up to rub Chaerin's sleeve-covered arm, but she knows that real skin-to-skin contact would've been different, wouldn't been more comfort and more reassurance.

       "Take your time, CL-roo. He'll come around," she murmurs, rubbing Chaerin's arm up and down but yearning to touch that hand, that hair, that face. Her wings twitch, wanting to wrap around Chaerin's body and protect her. But they know they can't.

       "I'll fix this. I promise." Chaerin's eyes are closed now but her voice and heart are nothing close to sleepy.

       "I know you will."

       It's an understatement to say that Dara feels guilty. Really, it's an understatement to say that she's felt guilty for that past ten years. Sometimes Dara likes to believe in fate, in destiny. There used to be some days where the pain was numbed so she let herself think about the fact that fate made her as a Dark Angel for a reason, and on those days her heart didn't really feel like it was bleeding like it normally did.

       She understands that to a certain extent, she has the right to feel guilty in place of the countless Dark Angels out there that are too cynical and malevolent to feel guilt for the things they've done to other people. By now there have been enough of those numb, thinking days that she's fully come to accept the pain and it's become a part of her; no tarnish on her heart, just simply a part of her that can be ignored but never fully vanquished. She can enjoy herself and the pain generally doesn't come to visit her.

       Even so, sometimes she feels guilt for that family in Hawaii even though the incident brought upon her the most painful events in her life, she feels guilt for Chaerin's mother, she feels guilt for Chaerin's family and friends, and the most unbearable of all is her direct, undeniable guilt for Chaerin.

       Her guilt for Chaerin isn't something she's felt before because Dara herself has never caused anyone much pain before Chaerin. Chaerin is losing sleep, losing sanity, losing hope, losing happiness because Dara just had to be a Dark Angel (fate made it that way, she reminds herself) and Chaerin's father, admittedly like most of the planet, hates Dark Angels. Because Chaerin had to fall in love with Dara even though Dara isn't worthy, and now Dara can't even do anything except watch as Chaerin travels too far to confront her father, and as she words too hard to just have her relationship with her father scarred like this.

       That night Chaerin, Dara, and Bom decide to watch a movie together but halfway through, Bom finds herself alone with two sleeping Angels on either side of her on the couch. Bom chuckles a little, turning down the volume of the TV until you can barely hear it but still keeping it on to her more of an illumination than a glaring, sharp light that she would get if she the ceiling light.

       Bom quietly cleans up the couch and the table, picking up all the dropped popcorn kernels and half-finished bottles of cola and unopened candy bars. Then she settles back on the couch between Dara and Chaerin, turning off the TV and allowing her eyes to adjust to the darkness. She notices a twitching coming from her right, where Dara is. It's her wings, wrapped around Dara like a blanket. They're still awake.

       Dara's wings always had an oddly detectable personality to them. Bom has gotten to know them over the years, and somehow she's broken down the walls that they've erected separately from Dara, who of course has her own walls. They were destroyed in too many ways when Dara was in the Philippines. Vandalized, broken, pulled, hit. But they survived because they're strong, and anyone can see that.

       But now Bom can see that they're scared and anxious and guilty. Somehow Chaerin has captured them almost as much as Chaerin has captured Dara, and they're scared now because will this Barrier really rip them apart, tear them away from Chaerin? The black beauties are twitching and shaking, while still faithfully keeping Dara warm and protecting her as she sleeps.

       Bom doesn't hesitate as she puts her hand on the branch of one of the wings, firmly but gently, ignoring when they flinch defensively. She brings her hand downward, petting it in the direction that the feathers point, repeatedly until she feels the wings relax a little and stop trembling.

       "It's okay," she whispers. "Everything will be okay." After a few seconds, they seem to understand her as they flare open slightly in a gesture of appreciation before wrapping even tighter around Dara, to warm but of course not to suffocate. We believe you, and we'll protect her until then, they seem to say as they settle into the stillness of sleep.

       Chaerin's wings, on the other hand, seem to be completely still, only moving because Chaerin's chest rises up and down with her breathing and the white feathers naturally move with her. Bom smiles sadly. Chaerin's entire being is so exhausted and so desperate that in her sleep, she's almost dormant in order to avoid the pain. Bom touches Chaerin's soft feathers too, rubbing them slightly but not saying a word.

       Despite the subconscious avoidance, I'll fix it resonates and infects Chaerin's dreams that night.

       The next day, Dara and Chaerin are sitting in Dara's room in silence (as they've been doing a bit too much lately), when Dara consults her guilt and decides that she can and will help Chaerin.

       "I'll come with you," Dara says, turning to Chaerin. Chaerin just blinks a little bit, waking up from her train of thought.

       "What?" she asks, even though she knows "what".

       "I'll come with you. We'll visit your dad together. I don't know how it'll help but we don't have many other choices, do we?"

       "You can't do that." Chaerin adjusts herself on the bed so she's facing Dara. "Dara, he'll kill you."

       "I'll convince him that I'm not dangerous before he does that. I'll take the chance." Dara won't back out now. Chaerin looks frightened all of a sudden, distressed.

       "Dara, no. You can't. Didn't you hear Minzy? My dad is powerful. He'll–"

       "Chaerin I'm coming whether you like it or not," Dara says firmly, gulping to try and hide her discomfort at Chaerin's desperate begging. Chaerin watches her, waits desperately for her to falter or change her mind, but Dara is a fighter and Dara is strong and Dara is determined. Those golden eyes are locked on Chaerin and they'll find their target. Chaerin's lips tremble like she's holding in tears but she knows too that there's not much they can do.

       "...Fine. What will you tell him?" She sounds and feels and is completely defeated. Dara pushes down the rising guilt because she doesn't like it (in fact she hates it) when Chaerin sounds weak and sad. Dara knows Chaerin is so much more than that.

       "I...I don't know. I'll tell him that I've suffered loss and pain because of other Dark Angels. I'll tell him that I vowed to myself many years ago that I'd never hurt a soul, at least not on purpose. And he'll believe me because it's true. I trust that your dad is intelligent enough to believe people that deserve to be believed," she explains. Chaerin shakes her head, just once.

       "Wow."

       "Hmm?"

       "You believe in my dad more than I do, now," Chaerin notices quietly, her eyes shifting down to her hands in her lap. Dara's eyes don't blink as she watches Chaerin with some sort of melancholy.

       "I believe in a lot of things. Fate, destiny, whatever you call it. But I also believe in a lot of people. It's unusual, I suppose. Considering that I have all the reason to have no hope in humanity." Dara shrugs nonchalantly. Chaerin looks at Dara with teary eyes.

       "You're beautiful. You're amazing. I love you," she says, hoping with her life that Dara can understand through her voice and her eyes that she means it, she loves Dara so ing much and that will never change. Dara smiles, nods, and blinks away tears.

       "I love you too. I mean it. And I know you mean it too. Thank you." Chaerin smiles with all the gratefulness in the world and more. Dara understands her.

       "So I'm coming with you, yeah?" Dara asks after a couple of minutes of her staring at Chaerin's beautiful green eyes and Chaerin staring at Dara's beautiful golden ones. Chaerin pouts a little and Dara giggles despite herself.

       "Yeah, I guess so," she allows reluctantly. Dara smiles softly. Her heart feels a little lighter now.

       "You guys are crazy. Dara, you're crazy!" Bom scolds loudly, like a mother who just found her two children playing outside in a thunderstorm. She looks so worried and so angry at the same time, Dara would laugh at her alien friend if the situation wasn't so dire.

       "Bom, we have to do it," Chaerin persuades. She glances at Dara before turning back to look at Bom, who is so angry that all three of them can feel her powers trying so hard not to affect the mood of the entire room. To salvage the tense atmosphere, Dara flips her hair jokingly.

       "Come on, Bommie, admit it. Even Chaerin's dad would fall for me if he got to know me a bit more," she giggles before turning her head around and flipping it back again, shooting Bom a "y" gaze, eliciting a laugh from both Bom and Chaerin. As their laughter dies down, Bom shakes her head in disapproval.

       "You guys are crazy but I'm guessing Chaerin has already learned that once Dara decides something, she's got that iron grip on it, huh?" Chaerin nods vigorously, humorously searching for sympathy. Dara sticks out her tongue at Bom even though she's not looking. Bom throws her arms up. "Well go on then! I'm not prolonging any of our worrying by trying to stop you. But I better get a ing update or something!" Bom says, shaking her finger at them before pushing them out of the door. Chaerin and Dara nod, shooing her away playfully before they start the walk to the train station.

       Dara doesn't realize that it might be the last time she's still in one piece to see Bom.

       When Chaerin knocks on the door this time, it opens almost immediately to reveal a very distressed, sleepless father. He whips the door all the way open and takes her into a hug, too relieved and happy at Chaerin's return to notice the Dark Angel a couple of feet away, timidly waiting far enough that he can't feel her Aura.

       "Chaerin, I'm so glad you're back. I'm so sorry for hurting you all these years but I wanted to give you the complete explanation that you deserve. I want you to know that I did it and am still doing it all for you, to protect you and keep you safe, because I can't lose you like I lost your mother, Chaerin, you know I can't," he says with machine-gun speed, closing his eyes and hugging her close to him. Chaerin reluctantly brings her arms up to hug him back because she still loves her dad, even if she doesn't really want to admit it in front of the Dark Angel she is protecting from him.

       Finally they break apart and Chaerin's dad motions Chaerin into the house, but all three Creatures barely walk in before he notices Dara's presence. His relieved face instantly morphs into one of contempt.

       "You are...?" he asks, obviously unwelcoming.

       "Dad, this is Dara," Chaerin cuts Dara off to explain, grimacing awkwardly. "She's...she's the 'she' that I was talking about last time." Dara stands virtually petrified, but she takes a deep breath and calms herself, glancing at Chaerin briefly before turning back and bowing slowly. Chaerin bites her lip as she watches her father's face switch on with recognition.

       He takes a step closer to Dara before instantly recoiling back almost five feet, his mouth wide open with shock and his entire face stretched in fear. Dara steps back a bit, the blood pounding in her ears so hard she can barely hear what he says next.

       "Her...her Aura. Chaerin, she...she's a..." he stutters, falling to the floor and crawling back, still gaping at Dara with horrified eyes.

       "She's a Dark Angel, I know, Dad! Dad, please, please, it's okay, she's not dangerous in any way," Chaerin says frantically, shooting Dara a glance begging for patience before rushing over to her father on the ground. Her dad doesn't respond to her words or actions and instead stands up and turns to Chaerin with green fire burning in his eyes, with fearful and angry trembling hands.

       "You, my own daughter, brought a Dark Angel to me?!" Veins are starting to bulge in his neck and Dara shifts to the front of her feet. She can sense it, something's wrong, and her wings burst out of her back defensively in an instant but neither Chaerin nor her father notices.

       Chaerin stutters but she can't get any words out so she just shakes her head. She falls to the floor as her father looms over her. To her horror and surprise, a white and gold mist of magic begins to form around his hands, swirling through the air and visually heating up.

       Light magic, Dara recognizes in an instant. She almost shudders as she remembers the extensive pain Light Angels have caused her because of their magic, their magic that affects the naturally opposite Darks more than any other Creature. runs drier than ever as she watches with legs of stone Chaerin's father, standing above his daughter like a wolf about to devour a rabbit. No, no no no.

       "I raised you, taught you, helped you, supported you, protected you, and this is how you repay me?! Bringing the most disgusting Creature in existence into my house?!" His voice is booming through the entire house and the magic is growing and growing until it forms a hot white orb in his hand.

       He looks so angry, so betrayed, so viciously hurt and so savagely furious that Chaerin doesn't blink, doesn't move, doesn't make a sound but can only watch in frozen panic as her own father raises the orb above his head. He's ready to force it toward her, let it hit her, watch as it destroys her. He's so lost in his betrayal that his daughter isn't his daughter anymore; she is merely an animal that deserves punishment.

       For my wife, he thinks blindly as he brings his hand down and lets the Light magic go.