A/N: Just a little note for this chapter! As some of you have noted, the Ace of Angels and Hyde Club in this story are the IRL K-pop groups AOA and VIXX. Since they'll be coming into play, I just wanted to assure readers that I find neither of these groups evil in spite of what I may make them do in this story. I'm using them because their respective concepts suit angels and demons, not to paint them as IRL villians. In fact, VIXX is my other favorite group, and my hubby Hakyeon would not hurt a fly <3 Just wanted to make that clear to readers who are fans of either group. I do not hate them! End of message! Enjoy!

8. Mark: Taboo

The tension in Limbo was thick enough to cut with a knife. Youngjae had pulled the majority of the Limboites off of record keeping in order to prepare to receive his guests, explaining that if they were planning on emptying out Heaven, Hell, and Limbo anyways, creating new records was verging on pointless. The information had been useful in planning the rebellion, but now they actually had to execute it.

They had most of their pieces in place. A Limboite who'd recently served off his sentence, Yugyeom, had ascended to Heaven with promises to organize the Seraphim there to open the gates of Heaven and storm the Pool of Rebirth. Another Limboite, Jackson, had agreed to be damned to Hell in order to lead the Demonkin to the surface. If the rest of them could survive their encounter with the two ruling bodies, their plan would likely be a success.

Unfortunately, none of them knew how the enemy would be preparing. Mark did have the benefit of having been subservient to the actual leader of the Hyde Club, Hakyeon, but he'd never seemed particularly sinister. If anything, he'd been a fairly lighthearted boss who treated all the demons under him as dumb yet adorable children. Still, he'd had plenty of grievances against Heaven. He'd been damned for the 'sin' of taking a life in order to protect another life, and he'd always resented it and insisted that the Demonkin deserved to rain retribution upon Heaven for their unfair sentences. The other Hyde Club members were similar to him; outwardly, they were kind, but underneath the surface, they boiled with anger.

Mark had agreed with them on a lot of things, even before he'd figured out the truth behind many of the things that happened in Heaven and Hell, which was probably why they were planning on getting him to join them. What he'd never agreed with was their plans for Heaven once they got there. For the most part, the Hyde members had kept their secrets to themselves, but once Hakyeon had hinted that he hoped the Seraphim's wings weren't too flammable once they got a taste of their own medicine. It had been pretty easy to infer from that that Hyde was planning on banishing the Seraphim to the flames of Hell once they were in charge of Heaven. They'd probably consider it divine justice for the citizens of Heaven to suffer what they all had suffered in Hell.

Mark wouldn't stand for that. The Seraphim were just former humans who lacked any damnable sins and earned pretty wings from it; he'd thought that even before meeting Jinyoung. And now that he had met Jinyoung, there was no way he was going to let the blameless angels suffer on his watch for doing nothing more than living sinless lives. Maybe Mark didn't deserve to be in Hell, but Jinyoung deserved it even less.

Jinyoung had even less to add about the Ace of Angels. He only knew Yunaria personally, but they didn't have a relationship beyond being master and servant. “The Ace has paradise syndrome, I think,” he said. “Everything around them is so orderly and boring that they feel like they have to make trouble for there to be purpose to their power.”

Youngjae agreed. “I've met the other six, and they're the same. I think they just really hate Heaven and should have passed on years ago. The only fun they get to have is playing power games and controlling everything around them.”

Mark had a feeling that the Ace would have a lot of fun with them, if they messed this up.

That morning, Mark was helping to neaten up the record room in case either of the ruling bodies wanted to take a tour. As the Limboites scrubbed up ink stains and straightened up pieces of parchment, he flew up to the ceiling to make sure he and Jinyoung hadn't left any paints or palettes behind. They'd just managed to finish the picture of Limbo in time, and looking at it now, Mark thought it was the best of the three. He'd spent more time in Hell, but Limbo felt much more like home. He wondered if Jinyoung felt the same.

He smiled fondly at the thought of Jinyoung. He wasn't sure if he'd actually wound up staining his soul since no dramatic transformation had happened following their joining, but whether he had or not, he was still happy they'd done it. Jinyoung had been beautiful—no, that was insufficient, he'd been sublime. He'd completely destroyed the myth that Seraphim had zero ual interest; in a way, his angelic appearance had only made it more sinful. Mark had barely been able to tear his eyes away from the reaction of Jinyoung's wings when they'd been together, the way they'd trembled and clenched and unclenched along with him. If his face and the accompanying voice leaking from his mouth hadn't been equally alluring, they'd have captured his complete attention.

As it was, he had a happy memory to take with him wherever he went next. He liked to think Jinyoung would be with him wherever that was, but he really didn't know. If he couldn't guarantee it, he just wanted him to be safe and somewhere he could be happy.

He ran his fingers over the paintings one more time. Even if they emptied the afterworlds now, souls would surely return to these places and try to make sense of how things were supposed to be managed and ruled. He hoped they would look at these pictures and find all the warnings he and Jinyoung had woven into them—the rebellious statements on the records of the Limboites, the empty palace in Heaven, the bitter words tangled into the smoke in Hell. He and Jinyoung hadn't served the purpose they'd wanted in the afterworlds and hadn't properly atoned for their perceived wrongs, but they could at least pass on what they learned to whoever came after them.

Mark flew back to the ground floor. Jinyoung was at one of the writing tables, wiping it down for dust. There was a strangely dazed look in his eyes.

“Everything okay?” Mark asked, running a hand through his hair.

Jinyoung shrugged. “I'm feeling a little dizzy, actually.”

“Dizzy.”

“Dizzy and hot. Did someone change the temperature in here?”

Mark shook his head, then reached down to touch Jinyoung's face. It was burning up. “Jinyoung...are you sick?”

Jinyoung laughed. “Afterworlders don't get sick, silly.”

“I know that. But you're dizzy and hot and your temperature's rising. What am I supposed to think?” He bit his lips. “Actually, I don't know what happens when one has their soul stained. Maybe this is part of transforming?”

“Maybe. I'd hoped it would all be done at once, honestly.” Jinyoung tugged at his collar. “So, do you think we're ready?”

“As ready as we'll ever be.”

“I hope it's enough. I really do.”

“We'll have to make it enough.” Mark leaned his cold forehead against Jinyoung's warm one. “Jinyoung. If things go wrong and there's an opening for you to flee to the Pool of Rebirth, please don't hesitate to do it. Even if I'm not there with you. I'll follow after you, even if it takes a little longer.”

Jinyoung smiled weakly. “So you're saying you're okay with there being a gap in our ages in our next life, me being a forty year old when you're twenty? That'll be interesting for our love life.”

“Jinyoung. Please promise me.”

He nodded slowly. “But we're going together. There's no other way this is going to end. I promise you that.”

On the morning of the council, Youngjae, Jaebum, Jinyoung, and Mark waited for their guests in the open air reception hall. They were all dressed in their best clothes and attempting to look calm and professional, though were probably failing. Jinyoung's temperature had risen further, and he was barely able to stand on his own without Mark helping him. Youngjae had suggested that he rest in their room until it was necessary to summon him, but Jinyoung had insisted he needed to be there to help them in case of an emergency. Mark wished his demon transformation would move along faster for the sake of his health, but he wasn't really sure if it was wise for a black-winged Jinyoung to appear in front of the Ace. If they were putting him on trial, him already being a demon would be an instant guilty verdict.

“Is everything in place?” Jaebum asked quietly.

Youngjae nodded. “Jackson and Yugyeom aren't going to make their move until the ruling bodies leave their domains, but they know what must be done. The Limboites will send a signal down to Hell when it's all right for Jackson to bring the Demonkin through.”

“I hope there won't be resistance in Heaven,” Jinyoung said fervently.

“I don't think the Seraphim are by nature as ruthless as the Ace. All of them were good people in life, and the ones who have grown dangerously bored with Heaven were among the first to move on when we started sowing the seeds of rebellion.”

The Hyde Club were the first to arrive. Mark almost rolled his eyes at their latest gothic prince outfits. Taekwoon was wearing a high-collared ruffled coat with an eye patch, and Wonshik's entire body seemed to be inked with every satanic symbol in existence. That was just the way they were—even if they were furious at ending up in Hell, they embraced their darkness and made a full show of being demons, even to the point of being ridiculous sometimes.

The six of them descended, stretching out their towering wings. “Ahh, Median Youngjae,” Hakyeon began, flashing a friendly smile. “It's been awhile. You've sure picked up a habit of causing trouble since we've seen you last.”

Youngjae shrugged. “You've sure picked up a habit of stealing my souls.”

“Fair enough. It was for a noble purpose, though. I'm sorry that you decided on your own to convince them otherwise.”

“They'll obey soon enough,” Taekwoon whispered grimly.

“It's better to endure the trials of wise men than to live in contentment with fools,” Wonshik said sagely. “By joining with us, they'll be spared the punishments we'll deliver to our tormentors in Heaven.”

Sanghyuk poked him in the back. “Oh, come on. This isn't philosophy hour, we're here for a meeting.” His eyes turned to Mark. “Hey, look who it is.”

Hakyeon smiled at him, a little too widely. “Now, now, Mark, there was no need for you to go running off like that after your failed mission. We would have taken you back. In fact, we've always thought you were a quality demon—one of our kind, almost.”

“Your fashion could use a little polish,” Hongbin said, lifting up his arm.

“And you absolutely reek of flowers,” Jaehwan added. “Probably because you're letting that gross Seraph lean on you.”

Mark glanced over at Jinyoung. His eyes barely seemed focused, and he didn't appear to be registering anything the Hyde Club was saying. No, Mark thought desperately. Not now.

“Nevermind that for now,” Hakyeon said. “Have the Ace arrived as of yet?”

As if summoned by his words, the sky above them suddenly grew dark with winged bodies. A cluster of seven female Seraphim in some variation of long white dress or another one by one dropped to the ground beside them, elegantly fluttering their wings and swinging their lustrous hair. They were beautiful, but Mark immediately felt on his guard. These were the people who would take away his Jinyoung if given the opportunity.

One of the shorter angels stepped forward, looking directly as Youngjae. “The traitorous Median,” she said sweetly. She had the voice of a little girl, which made Mark's hair stand on end. “Do I have you to thank for all my servants deciding to take a little dip in the Pool?”

“Maybe you should reflect on the standard of living in Heaven and the fact that you consider your people 'servants' before you go around casting blame, Jiminel,” Youngjae said calmly. Mark could feel Jaebum tensing beside him.

“We'll see if you feel the same way once you're out of a job and at our mercy.” She twirled the odd staff she had in her hands innocently. It was white and about the length of a scepter, and was topped off with a glass ball and a small white spear protruding from it. The contents of the ball seemed to be puffs of white and black smoke curled up against each other like a ying-yang. All seven members of the Ace were holding one.

“I'm prepared to be terminated from my position,” Youngjae said in the same calm voice. “But you agreed to a civil discussion of all the rule breaking your respective realms have been doing first, so I hope you'll keep your word.”

The seven angels shrugged. They probably realized that any negotiating they did would be rendered pointless without a Median to actually enforce it.

“Goodness, is that Jinyoung?” a feminine voice came from beside Mark. He lept back, having not noticed her approach. The Seraph was small with shoulder length black hair, the way Jinyoung had described his boss Yunaria. “What in Heaven's name did you do to him?”

Sure enough, Jinyoung was truly sweating now, just barely keeping himself leveraged up on Mark. “Yunaria,” he whispered, before his eyes slipped shut again.

“That's strange, he looks just like...” Yunaria's eyes traveled to Mark, and suddenly they widened in horror. “You committed the Taboo, didn't you? How dare you defile my servant?” She lifted her scepter, brandishing it threateningly toward Mark.

Hakyeon looked at Mark in alarm. “Why would you do something like that? Don't you know he'll-”

A statuesque angel with long brown hair clapped a hand over his mouth. “Nuh-uh-uh. No spilling censured secrets. Your old master got in a lot of trouble over that one, don't you remember?”

Hakyeon quickly fell silent.

Yunaria still snarled at Mark. “Jiminel, forget the trial. Let me dispose of this demon right here for what he did to Jinyoung. His soul is twice stained with murder. There's no purpose in keeping one such as him in any afterworld.”

Mark felt his skin growing cold. He was used to having one murder acknowledged by Heaven—the so called “murder” of his self—but had this angel finally acknowledged the stain of his sister's death on his soul? If the sin of that death was staining him, his soul really was irredeemable.

Jinyoung clutched onto him in his increasing haze. No, Mark reminded himself. You're giving yourself a second chance. You're going to do that by saving all the innocents here. And to do that, you can't let yourself be taken down now.

Youngjae stepped between him and Yunaria. “The fate of demons isn't in your jurisdiction, Seraph. And it isn't in mine. I'm sure Hakyeon will handle Mark if he needs handling. If you release him, that is.” He glanced at the angel still holding on tightly to Hakyeon.

The angel glanced to Jiminel, who gave a sharp nod. “We did promise a peaceful delegation, didn't we? Better release Mr. Demon Leader before the big bad Median gets mad at us, Seolhyunari.”

Seolhyunari released him, smiling brightly. “Now, shall we get down to business, then?”

Hakyeon, Youngjae, and Jiminel sat at the head of the council table, with Jaebum, Mark, and a slumped over Jinyoung across from them. The remaining members of the ruling bodies were divided on opposite sides of the table.

“So,” Youngjae said, adjusting a stack of papers. “We clearly need to firm up our rules about the division of souls and have a little refresher course since everyone here has evidently forgotten.”

“Why should we?” one of the Seraphim who Jiminel referred to as Choaya asked, raising her hand. “Both Heaven and Hell are planning to vote to dismiss you from power. Why should we work with a Median who is traitorous and on his way out?”

“Fine,” Youngjae said, dropping his papers back down. “Then how about we all get our little conflicts off our chests before I go down? Heaven and Hell are clearly trying to make armies, there's no point in hiding it. Both sides should air their grievances while everyone's all in the same room. I'll stay out of it.”

“Great. We have a number of complaints.” Hakyeon rose to his feet. “Our people have been oppressed by you Seraphim far too long. You have baseless rules to keep Heaven 'pure' and damn those with forgivable sins to eternal pain based on arbitrary prejudices. Do you know how many people you've locked away from grace for taking lives out of self-defense, or taking their own lives in despair? Do you know how many people have suffered over crimes they committed in folly, served justice for on Earth, and redeemed with good works and yet still earn your displeasure? The Demonkin have no intention of staying subservient in the underworld. We will take Heaven and receive justice.”

“Funny how you should hate us for damning souls when you've been damning souls meant for Limbo and Heaven to build your army,” an angel named Minaring said coldly.

“In that case, the ends will justify the means.”

“Listen to them,” Chanmi Titi spat out. “And we're at fault for trying to build a counter-army to protect ourselves?”

“Perhaps some of the damnable sins on the books are worth reflecting over?” Youngjae suggested to the angels.

“Yeah, they'll reflect on damning so many people now so they can get more souls to fight for them up in Heaven,” Hongbin protested.

“In that case, the means will justify the end.” Seolhyunari quipped sarcastically. “You'll get your precious forgivable sinners out of Hell. We'll regain the souls who were so cruelly convinced to depart from us by the Median. All will be happy but you pitiful damnable sinners who can't face up to a life of eternal torment that you earned.”

“I did nothing damnable in saving the life of my friend from a murderer,” Hakyeon yelled, slamming his hands down on the table.

“You damned yourself all over again by killing your boss,” Jiminel snapped back, leaping to her feet. “Don't pretend honor that you don't have!”

The room fell silent. The Corrupted One?, Mark thought to himself. How do you kill someone who's already dead? Is it really possible?

Hakyeon sank back into his chair. “It shouldn't be damnable to kill a source of pure evil,” he muttered. “He didn't care about the demons and their fate, he only cared about being lord of Heaven. A ruler of Hell shouldn't have white wings and consider the Demonkin beneath him. He was never one of us.”

“Do you really care about the demons and their fate?” Hyejeong Linus hissed. “Truly, though, we're grateful. Not only did you rid us of that fiend Lucifer, but you proved that death could come a second time to afterworlders.”

“Lucifer already proved that ages ago,” Jaehwan said dismissively. “It was why he was cast down to Hell by the angels in the first place.”

“He was long before our time, and when we came into power, there were only rumors of his fate,” Choaya said. “People have such wild imaginations, how were we supposed to believe the story that he'd fallen in love with a demon girl?”

“That was why he fell from grace?” Mark asked, before he could stop himself.

Yunaria scowled at him, her eyes narrowing into slits. The air around her shifted, and she seemed a little less like the flawlessly beautiful Seraphim Mark was used to seeing. In a way, her anger almost seemed to give her a slightly demonic color. “Indeed. She was part of a delegation, a lovely girl, or so the stories tell. She caught the eye of a handsome Seraph named Lucifer, and the two of them fell in love. It has all the makings of a good love story. Secret rendezvous, whispered promises, . It was the that killed her. Funny isn't it? What's that saying, we always hurt the ones we love the most?”

Mark flushed, thinking of his sister. “What, he got too violent with her?”

“Hardly,” she spat out. “I could be as violent as I wanted with you right now, and unfortunately you'd recover with that demon body of yours sooner or later. Beings that aren't truly alive are hard to kill. But as it turns out, the bodies of Seraphim and Demonkin are so greatly altered by their physical transformations that it wears on the strength of their soul. It weakens it to the point where the invasion of the essence of the opposite species of afterworlder poisons it and causes it to fade away entirely. And a spiritual being without a soul?” She hissed at Mark. “It's nothing. It doesn't exist anymore. Lucifer gave his essence to his lover, and destroyed her soul. The moment she was dead, he'd taken a life, which is a damnable sin. He was cast straight down to Hell, never to emerge again.”

“Yes,” Jiminel said, looking at Hakyeon with a cold smile. “The Hyde Club saw to that when they similarly killed him with demon essence, now didn't they, Mr. Demon Leader? Median, I'm sure you've heard about the Median we imprisoned for releasing censured secrets? Well, that poor little fool was the only one who knew the truth behind how Lucifer had murdered his lover. It was right there in his file on Lucifer, which the Medians kept hidden for fear of what the knowledge that demons and angels could kill each other after death would do. But that naive little one, new to his post and not aware of the weapon he carried with him, showed it right to these demons. They injected miserable Lucifer, who could only survive in his angelic form, with demon blood and left his body a soulless vessel for the rest of eternity. How tragic! By time the Median realized what he'd done, it was already too late! The Hyde Club had learned to commit murder on his watch, and he had to confess his sins to us, and in doing so, we also learned the truth.” Her eyes turned to Youngjae. “He was the perfect subject for our own tests with demon and angel essence, that foolish Median.”

Mark barely registered her last few sentences. His eyes had turned to Jinyoung, looking at him in horror.

“That's right,” Jiminel said, noticing the direction of his gaze. “He's dying. You killed him on your own, thinking you would just stain his soul. You weren't so lucky. You're on the verge of erasing it and his entire existence completely. He doesn't have much longer now. Less than a day, I think?”

It was indescribable, what Mark felt at that moment. It was as if every light of hope he'd clung to desperately had been snuffed out, leaving him alone in the dark. He'd thought the world had given him a second chance, but in the end, he'd just squandered this life in the exact same way he'd squandered his first. He'd loved someone, and failed to protect them. Worse than that, he'd contributed to both of their deaths himself, one with negligence and the second with the love he felt itself. And that was what tortured him most of all. That by loving someone, he was only capable of destroying, not saving. His love was a death sentence, his heart so stained he could not safely give it without poisoning the people around him.

But this time, his feelings were different than when it had been his sister he'd lost. That time, it had been only guilt and despair eating him. This time, it was pure, burning anger. Not just at himself, whom he couldn't help holding accountable for what was happening to Jinyoung. It was anger at everyone and everything, at the very world itself that crushed happiness and made a mockery of love and devotion as if these things were less important than the corruption and greed and twistedness of all the people around him. What right did the world have to keep taking these things from him? If it wanted to teach him a lesson, what was it supposed to be teaching him? That he wasn't supposed to love anyone? That he wasn't allowed to connect with people? That all his efforts and attempts to be good were worthless, and that he should just embrace the evil he was cursed to and completely cut himself off from the grace he wanted?

That wasn't the world Jinyoung had believed in. That wasn't the world they'd wanted together. This wasn't hope or a second chance or the result of good faith. This was pure and senseless cruelty.

Releasing a keening wail, Mark shoved the table hard into the row of angels diagonal to him, putting all of his strength into it. “Is this your heavenly justice?” he screamed as the angels lept back, pointing to Jinyoung's ashen body. “Is this the kind of afterlife your fake Divine One wanted? I can't even be redeemed by the best angel your Heaven has ever had without killing him? He has to die because he had the decency to give a about me when you ing angels decided I was a lost cause?”

There was a blur of white, and suddenly his face was being slammed into the table in front of him with incredible force. He felt his nose crack and blood start streaming from it onto the surface below him. Whoever had attacked him ground his face into the table, scraping his skin so more blood poured.

“You killed my servant, and you dare to put the blame on us?” Yunaria's voice hissed into his ear. “You brought this on him and yourself, daring to touch a being whose heart is purer than yours will ever be in your wildest dreams. Don't worry, I'll be more than happy to put you out your misery. But first, I'm going to make you suffer. You're not going anywhere until you watch the soul seep out of Jinyoung and see yourself for the murderer you are.”

She yanked Mark's head up by his hair so he could see the scene surrounding him. The angels were missing from their side of the table. Jiminel had Youngjae in a chokehold, her white scepter pointed at his chest, and Choaya was doing the same to Hakyeon. Beside him, Jaebum was being grabbed by Seolhyunari. Hyejeong Linus, Minaring, and Chanmi Titi were gathered around the remaining members of the Hyde Club, their scepters pointed at their backs. Jinyoung was left alone; he'd already been most likely given up for dead.

“The thing is,” Jiminel said, smiling sweetly, “we rather liked Lucifer's ideas. Heaven on its own is a total yawn, but Heaven, Hell, and Limbo altogether? To have dominion over every soul that crosses over to the afterworld, to make every rule they follow, to even control the Earthlings' perception of God? Now that sounds fun. If we control the realms, we control the afterworld, and if we control God, we control the Earth. Don't they all just love to die and fight for that being we already dethroned?” She giggled musically.

“And how exactly are you going to defeat us with those pointy sticks of yours?” Hakyeon choked out.

“See those crystal balls? We've got the essence of both a demon and an angel inside. Whichever one your body doesn't like will make you go bye-bye!” She smiled triumphantly. “But it would be so sad to kill you when you'd make us nice slaves. It's already heartbreaking that we're going to lose Jinyoung because somebody couldn't control their urges! Oh well! You'll all enjoy a nice, long imprisonment until your minds can be reeducated to the edicts of Heaven. I'm sure it won't be too difficult. After all, a servant doesn't need to worry about the silly sins of their first life, just making their master happy. You won't have a reason to be furious over the world anymore. Isn't that nice?”

Across the table, Youngjae squirmed in Jiminel's arms. He seemed to be mouthing something to Jaebum, though Jinyoung couldn't tell what.

Jiminel noticed his movement right away. “Unfortunately, one of you is absolutely no good, even as a slave. I know 'God' teaches us forgiveness, but how am I supposed to forgive the one who hoarded my precious servants and then tricked them into choosing rebirth when they would have been so much happier choosing me? Rebirth is only a silly little tool to make more humans to give birth to more of my servants. Not everyone needs to go there, got it? Heaven should be full of pretty little angels, and now it isn't. It's all your fault! Luckily, you're still good for one thing, little Median.”

Youngjae slowly shut his eyes.

“Oh good, you're ready for it already? I'm sure this won't hurt a bit, but it's important for me to test it in case I need to use it on someone else. Don't worry, it's faster acting than the one Jinyoungie is suffering from, although maybe the fact that you haven't transformed into a Serpah or Demonkin yet will slow down the competing essences. Still, I'm sure it'll all be over soon. Bye-bye!”

With a twisted smile, she lifted up her scepter and pierced it straight into Youngjae's chest.