The Breather (Flashback to 1 May 2017)...

The sea of red roses stood tall in the garden, dancing as the gentle wind blew past. I sat in the middle of the rose field, hugging my knees as I tried to shake away the thoughts brewing up in my head.

"Oh?!" A familiar female voice came ringing from afar, disrupting the silence within the secret hideout. "1779~! It's been a long time since I last saw you!"

"Oh hey, 1918..." Looking up, I raised my hand to give a lazy wave.

Within seconds, she appeared before me just like how a death angel would. "What are you doing here? No work today?"

"You look like you have none too." I replied, feeling my energy deplete with each and every word.

"Yah~! Why are you acting so cold towards me? I'm not a soul you are picking up." After taking her seat beside me, she gave me a slight push on the shoulder, just like how Wheein did that morning. Making a funny face towards me, she tried to get me laughing. "We made a pact to be normal towards each other and not poker faced! So stop with that emotionless tone."

"I..." Sighing, I tried to force a smile but realised that I could not even do that for my lovely friend over here. "There's just a lot up in my head these days. I feel really weird... And tired..."

"Why?" She asked, seemingly surprised at my words. "Heard you've got yourself some company, shouldn't you be having fun? I was kinda jealous about you having some new 'friends'. Remember those days? We had lots of fun together when I was just a junior death angel with you as my mentor..."

"That company you're talking about is exactly the source of my problems." This time round, my sigh was even louder than before.

"Are you serious?!" Wide eyed, she exclaimed. I could see her excitement from her eyes. After hanging out with her for 99 years, she's probably the only one I've shown my real feelings towards. In fact, we're probably the only two death angels who would have a conversation with each other outside work.

Seeing that I did not reply, she continued to ramble on. "What did that traveller do? Oh! And what exactly is the travelling thing about? I mean the whole death angel community are so curious about the traveller stuff eversince you mentioned it! We even started a forum on our intra-network to discuss about it!"

"It's not exactly what she did... She just..." I paused, trying to think of a proper way to phrase it. "Makes me think a lot."

"About?" She asked, one hand supporting her head.

"About life and death." Looking afar, the red roses continued to dance with the inviting wind.

"What?!" She burst out in laughter. "Don't we think about that everyday since we're in this field? Like who is gonna live and who is gonna die... Who are we picking up today... What are the sins they committed and where they should go..."

"That's not it. It's different." I paused, trying to put my thoughts into words. "She makes me think about my own... Like... What am I doing here... Why am I doing here... My past lives... What were they? Who I was... What was my name? What sins did I commit for me to take on this path... Or even, why am I 1779 and not 1918?"

Numbers have been the only identification to death angels. No name. No past. No memories. No history.

All we had are numbers. The number of the rules we broke. The number of people we have to bring today. The number of days or hours that person have left. The number that tells us it's time to pick up the soul. And... The number which is our only identification.

"You're curious?" Her voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

"For the first time in my 238 years of service... I think I am." I nodded, even though I was still doubtful of my answer to that question.

"Now that I think of it... I've never been curious at all in my 99 years of service either..." She brought herself to lie down on the field. Putting her hands behind her head, she continued. "I guess we all kinda accepted that the sin committed is too painful to be remembered and forgetting it is actually a bliss. And maybe that's why no death angel was ever curious about it. But... Does that traveller have magic or something? She made you curious... And now I'm actually curious about mine too..."

"Don't be." Another familiar but emotionless voice came from the back of my head. The old angel walked though the rose field at his usual slow pace, carrying his usual thick old book of rules in his arms. "1004-1779 and 1004-1918, don't be curious about your past. Just serve your time and leave after that. That's all the death angels need to do."

"Why though? It's okay to know about our own past!" Unknowingly, she had blurted out her questions. Upon realising that she is breaking a rule by doubting her senior-- Rule 54, 1918 quickly explained herself. "I mean... It's not like we're breaching confidentiality..."

"Heed my warning. You don't want to live in regrets for the rest of your service." Even though he is an angel, who should be filled with warmth and kindness, the old angel's words were emotionless. Somehow, he always speaks this way when conversing. It was times like this when I would wonder what exactly made him an angel and made us death angels.

"But..." Before 1918 could speak, I forcefully covered in order to prevent her from breaking anymore rules.

"Now go." The old angel had his eyes closed, signalling that he wants us out of his sight. "I need some peace at my garden."

"Yes..." We stood up to leave as we did not want to break Rule 30: Follow instructions given from higher authorities. 

Not wanting to end the conversation with her, 1918 and I took a stroll through the tunnel that leads us back to the human world.

"Who does he think he is to stop us from finding out about our past? He's better than us just because he is an angel and not a death angel... Plus the garden is not even his, it belongs to everyone in the realm!" Her rants started the moment we were out of his sight.

"I guess we'll just have to heed his 'advice' or we'll be seeing each other at the Life and Death Library..." I shrugged my shoulders, knowing that death angels have to resign to their fate of being one of the lowest rank in the realm.

Suddenly, 1918 stopped in her tracks. "Hey, if we find out about our names... That means we'll be able to find out about our past right?"

"You don't mean... You're gonna defy him?" Looking at her, I know that my surprise was written all over my face.

"I'm just left with two months of service anyways!" Her victory smirk spread across her face as she resumed her steps forward. "At most I'll spend that two months in the library..."

"You're really going to find out?" I quickened my pace to catch up with her.

"Once the fire has ignited within me, even an old angel can't stop me!" Her voice echoed in the dark tunnel. At that, she started to speed up. "I'm leaving!"

"1918! Yah!" I shouted at the puff of black smoke she left behind. "What if something bad happens?!"

The Necklace (Present day, 15 May 2017)...

The large wooden brown door creaked open and a familiar face was at the door, peeking towards my direction.

"What." That was not a question. That was an expression of my unhappiness of having my thoughts interrupted by a traveller, even though what was heard may be an emotionless voice. Closing my eyes, I continued to lay on my bed for my rest day. "What are you doing here and not organising the library? What exactly do you want again?"

"Can I ever go out under the sun? I mean... You mentioned that there's a way. Though you didn't elaborate furthe