Haneul awoke to what she had left behind- the soothing melody of gently crashing waves and the soft embrace of sun-warmed sand. Her clothes were dampened with seawater and encrusted with the fine grains down her front, and her skin was dusted with a thin layer of salt crystals. As the waves nipped playfully at the toes of her sneakers, the brisk sea breeze rolled over her, ruffling the limp, tangled strands of her half-dried hair. With a small groan, she lifted her head and looked around wearily, the sand particles falling from the side of her face that had been nestled in the shore. The beach was empty aside from herself. 

"Baro?" She called weakly. She pushed herself up into a sitting position with trembling arms; it felt like her entire body was burdened with iron weights, dragged down by her drenched clothing. The liquid rolled off her in many rivers, flowing into the sand and staining it a buttery brown, gradually lightening her load. Like a confused mermaid who had just been borne from the sea, she sat perched upon the shore, her gaze traveling the barren stretch. Why had she awoken upon the beachfront alone? 

Was it possible that she had somehow ended up back upon the shores of Heaven? No, that couldn't be so. The sand dunes were abruptly broken by a well-constructed boardwalk, and beyond that, rolling hills where a beachfront city was nestled; to her right, less than a hundred yards away, the sand was suddenly broken by a towering wall of craggy, water-splashed grey stone. Undoubtedly, Haneul was indeed home, on the beach of the sleepy town of Daeyang. Her home, and Baro's home. 

Am I still dead? she then thought with a frightened glance down. Unlike before in the ephemeral realm of the afterlife, where her skin and clothes had been unblemished, her shirt was ripped where the sword had torn through it and dyed red with her blood. There was no wound, however, just a thin, linear scar in the center of her chest. I really am back in the real world... Where, then, was Baro? She stood up, wrapping her arms around herself to stave off the chill seeping into her bones, and screamed into the wind, "Baro! Where are you?" The only answer she received was the whistling of the air whirling around her. 

I thought I saved him... Why isn't he here? she thought, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. She reasoned that she had cried enough, and hurriedly rubbed her eyes to force them to stop. It was not the time to cry, but find her beloved, her "something good." Curled into herself as the cold continued to encroach upon her body, she marched stiffly up the beach. She once more opened to call out for him. 

"He isn't here." Haneul whipped around with a strangled gasp to find Dong-woo waded out of the surf, hunched over as he tenderly held his wounded side. It was no longer bleeding heavily, only a small trickle seeping from his fingers. The stumpy remnants of his wings were crusted with the thick liquid and a few downy feathers. As the angel limped through the frothy water and onto the dense sand, Haneul instinctively took a few steps back. "Don't fear. I no longer have any intention to harm you," he sighed wearily with a dismissive wave of his hand. Haneul thought there was a fat chance of that, considering all he had done to heckle her thus far; still, when she looked at his harried frame and wearied expression, she wondered if there may be truth to the statement after all. That doesn't really matter, does it? He knows something about Baro, and I'm going to find out what! 

"What do you mean?" she demanded. 

"Exactly what I say," he snorted and stomped forward to stand right in front of her. Perhaps since it was the first time that she was viewing him in a nonthreatening manner, she was amazed at how tall and imposing he was; even in his defeated, hunched state he still stood a head taller than her and commanded enormous presence. "Baro has been given his second chance at life." Her expression must have turned perplexed, because he chuckled wryly and continued, "Yes, Haneul, I knew the entire time. I know about the entire system." 

"Then why-?" 

"You said it yourself, didn't you?" he laughed dryly, looking at her with a bemused expression. "I hate humans. I wanted to see you suffer." Though one would expect her to feel gratified, Haneul only felt sad. What kind of heartbreak had he experienced to make him so impossibly bitter and hateful of her kind? He then lowered his head slightly, eyes closed with a wry smirk. "You really do have the uncanny power of seeing right through people, Haneul." 

"I don't know what happened to you, but humans aren't all bad. You can't let one bad experience ruin your outlook on life." Haneul had learned that lesson the hard way, and it had taken someone else to pull her from that darkness. "I'm sure you'll find someone who makes you realize that, Dong-woo," she smiled warmly at him. It was strange; she wanted that for him, even after all he had done. The angel glanced up at her, startled, then looked away bashfully. 

"... You truly are an amazing individual, to be able to smile at me like that after the hell I've put you through." He pushed the sand around with the toe of his scuffed white shoe. "... As I was saying, Baro has been given his second chance. Time has changed for him."

"Time has... changed?" She echoed in befuddlement. 

"Yes. He showed you, didn't he? His memory." Haneul had no idea how he knew something like that, but asking him wasn't really relevant to the main picture. "He was brought back to that point in time, to live life anew. What happened, I cannot say; however, to him, it is like the two of you never met." That hit Haneul like a bag of bricks, forcing all of the breath from her body, and she sank down on her knees into the sand. Baro... Doesn't know me? What was she supposed to even think about that? On the one hand, she was glad that Baro had obtained the salvation they had so desperately sought, but on the other, she had lost the most precious thing in the world to her. When the tears began silently rolling down her cheeks, her mind was finally able to process the overwhelming emotion she was feeling. 

"I'm so glad." The words escaped her quite naturally. She clasped her hands together and bowed her head like she was in prayer, crying with a smile. She was happy- no, she was overjoyed. How could she be sad? Her beloved had attained a likely wonderful life and no longer had to suffer with the weight of his sin and the memory of his mother's murder. Regardless of her own feelings, it would be a waste of their efforts and a blemish upon their love for her to selfishly wish for him back. "Knowing that he can be happy and loved... That's enough for me," she sighed and looked up at him joyfully, immensely grateful to him for informing her. He was looking down at her with a complicated expression, as if her reaction could not compute with him. He was silent for a long time, and then he smiled, genuinely. 

"You truly are... remarkable." He turned to the side, the white of his wing stumps stark against the blue of the sea and sky. "To tell you the truth, you shouldn't be here, Haneul, and you shouldn't remember him. It should be like you two never met, yet here you are with your memories... As am I, and likely your friends as well." It was her turn to wear the complicated expression. 

"What does that mean?"

"Who knows?" He shrugged. "Perhaps your love for him was so strong that it overpowered the time effect... Or maybe it is God's grace, allowing your pure love to exist," he theorized with a smirk at the cloudy blue sky above. "I cannot say for certain. It is up to you to discover." Haneul, recovered from her emotional spell, rose to her feet again as he exhaled deeply and turned to begin walking away. 

"What will you do?" she asked to his retreating back. He paused, and she could see the muscles in his shoulders tense. Those bloody stumps glared at her, a symbol of his uncertain future. 

"... I don't know. Perhaps my 'something good' is out there waiting for me, too, and I have to find it," he murmured softly. He then smirked at her over his shoulder. "That's something you would say, anyway." Mildly stunned, she just watched him dumbly as he turned back and marched up the beach, eventually fading from her sight. She blinked a few times, staring at the spot where he had melted into the cityline, until she heard her name being called.

"Haneul!" She turned back to the rolling waves again in time to see Jinyoung and Gongchan swooping down from the cliffs, skimming the water's surface before landing in the sand before her. They both ran up to her and grabbed her by the arms, their faces flushed with breathlessness. "You really are alive! How did this happen?" Gongchan grinned with relief. 

"Baro! What about Baro?" Jinyoung demanded hotly and shouldered Gongchan aside slightly, overwhelmed with concern for his friend. Once she was able to calm them down, she related the entire tale, from the encounter with her mother on the shores of Heaven to that with Dong-woo on this very beach. They both listened in mute shock, and when she was finished, neither of them could speak for a moment. 

"Amazing," Gongchan finally murmured and looked down at his hands, as if they belonged to another. "This entire time, we have been living a lie... Even more, Dong-woo knew all this, yet manipulated me like a puppet on a string," he whispered and let his arms fall limply to his side. Haneul knew it must be hard for him, being told that his identity was essentially a falsehood. "I... Don't know what to do anymore," he murmured sadly as his shoulders sagged. Haneul didn't have an answer for him. 

"... Everyone is here for a purpose, Gongchan. I'm sure you'll find something," she offered weakly, and to her relief, he give her a tiny smile in return. That was probably more for her benefit, though. 

"Who cares about that? We remember Baro, and everything that's happened, even though we shouldn't," Jinyoung growled with his arms crossed. He's taking it rather well... Or maybe he just doesn't care right now, and is just more concerned about Baro. "Isn't it possible that Baro retains some sort of memories himself?" Haneul hadn't considered that, and hope fluttered in her chest like a fledgling bird. Dong-woo's words rung again in her mind. 

"Or maybe it's God's grace, allowing your pure love to exist." 

"Do you think we should try to find him?" Gongchan asked, but Haneul shook her head, surprising them both. 

"If it's meant to be, it will," she said simply. Haneul was going to believe in the love they shared. If Baro truly remembered her, even subconsciously, then that memory would guide him back to her. If not, she still had the knowledge that Baro was living a full, happy life, and that was enough for her. She would always treasure those memories, even if now they only existed in her mind. Baro had brought her out of the darkness, and she had done the same for him; she could not allow sadness to tarnish that. Even if we can't be together, I will love him always... And for that love, I'll live my life well. For Baro, for my mother, and for myself. 

Though reluctant, Jinyoung and Gongchan honored her request. They took her home (though they first stopped into a store to get her a shirt that was not evidence that she had been stabbed) where she reunited with Sandeul. After Dong-woo had left him to the demons, Baro and the others had rescued him. Unfortunately, Haneul had essentially gone missing and the police had to be notified, but somehow they were able to smooth that over with some well-thought-up lies. After that mayhem, she was able to relate the rest of the tale to her best friend. 

Over the next few days, Haneul fell back into the routine of high school life. She was astonished to discover that no one else had kept their memories of the demon boy, neither Sandeul's parents or the school body. They five alone existed in that separate timeline where the boy had been. 

Despite having no reason to linger, Gongchan and Jinyoung remained disguised as humans and attended school with her. Perhaps it was mere boredom, perhaps it was constancy after their worlds and identities had come under question, or perhaps they still felt some lingering obligation to Baro to watch over her. Regardless of the reason, she was still grateful for their friendship. 

Despite her best intention to not squander the opportunity he had been given, deep in the night, when she would lie in bed gazing at the black feather, she missed him. She missed him so terribly that her heart ached and her lungs constricted, like she was deprived of the very thing that gave her life. Alone, she would weep softly into her pillow clutching that feather to her breaking heart, and allow herself to face the truth: she wanted him, more than anything. She would allow herself to wish, and pray her voice would reach him, wherever he may be. 

Come back to me, Baro. 

The days passed idly like that, then months. As always, Haneul's grades excelled, and soon she was in her final semester anticipating to be the graduating valedictorian. Her attitude, despite the lack of her beloved, had improved considerably, and she had actually become quite popular among the girls of her school as a kind and capable person. Many of them sought her out for tutoring. When she wasn't with one of the boys, she was with one of them. She had also reconnected with her aunt and Nari, and paid frequent visits to Seoul to see them. She also dropped in to the counselor's office just to have an idle chat and report on the events of her life, like when she was accepted to one of South Korea's most prestigious universities on full scholarship. Sandeul's parents had thrown her a party on the beach, and many people came to revel in her accomplisment. 

Haneul's life was a happy one, but it was not complete without Baro. 

It had been a few days before she was set to graduate that she had decided to visit her mother's grave. She had fallen out of habit of it, doing so about once a month, but always came to report on important happenings. She had intended to conduct her visit on the day of graduation, but for some reason, she had been compelled to go that morning. The walk there was quite lovely; it was spring, bordering on summertime, and the air was warm and fresh with the scents of flowers and freshly cut grass. There was not a cloud in the sky but the sun was not overbearing, comfortably warming her skin. Haneul stopped at a local flower shop to purchase a handful of flowers for the small vase next to her grave, as it was time to change them. Humming a tune softly to herself as she came upok the cemetery, she proceeded through the wrought-iron gate and up the path without paying much attention. She knew the way by muscle memory now. When she got close enough, she lifted her head. 

"Hello, Mo-" She choked on the words, halting dead center in the path while she stared wide-eyed at the boy with black hair standing in front of her mother's grave. Hearing her strangled speech, he looked up with a perplexed expression, his hands resting in the pockets of his ironed slacks. It was clear he had money, but his shirt was untucked, though, and the top buttoned loosened with the collar rumpled, matching his fluffy, unruly hair. 

The hair that Haneul's fingers had caressed time and time again. His dark, angular rested on her, and she gripped the flowers tightly in her hands, unable to speak. 

"Are you coming to see this woman?" He inquired. His voice was just like she remembered, but with a tone of refinement, not that smug purr with that matching smirk. She could not manage an answer, but forced her muscles to contract into nodding her head. He knitted his eyebrows back together and looked back at the headstone in bewilderment. 

"It's strange... I don't know this woman, yet I distinctly remember this headstone. I'm positive that I've been here before." He stared at it thoughtfully for a moment, trying to process the strange memory he should not have; then, he looked at her with the same puzzled look. "... I feel like I know you, too. Have we met?" 

Should she say yes? Should she say no? She was so conflicted. She had been so desperately waiting for this moment, yet now that it had arrived, she knew not what to do. Her mind was short-circuiting, and so she just walked forward to do what she had come to do- place the fresh flowers into the vase and kneel down in front of the headstone. The boy watched her warily, confused by both her reaction and the strange familiarity. 

How could she explain all that had happened to him reasonably? He would think her insane. He stood beside her, staring down at her as she stared at the stone engraved with her mother's name, and then laughed bashfully while running his fingers through his hair. He always did that when he was embarrassed. 

"This is going to sound strange, but you look like a girl I've seen in my dreams," he admitted with a slight blush. "That's what brought me here... I was here, at this headstone, in the dream. You- or the girl that looked like you- she was here, but she was crying. I've had lots of other dreams, too- weird ones. Lots of angels and demons. I've been trying to figure out what they mean. I've had them for years now." He then went dark red. "Ah, I'm sorry, that sounds dumb. We've never met, have we? I'm going to, um, go now," he stammered and move to walk away, but her hand suddenly snapped up to grab the hem of his collared shirt. He gawked at her, not sure what to think of it, but obediently remained at her side. 

"... We knew each other, in another life," she murmured finally, turning her head to gaze up at him. She was shocked that she wasn't crying. She was surprisingly devoid of emotion, too. Maybe it was the fear inside her, the fear that this moment would not end as she wanted. It felt like she was standing at the threshold of a great storm, holding her breath awaiting the first flash of lightning and crash of thunder, not knowing if the storm would bring catastrophe or catharsis. Wearing that strange concerned, confused face, he just gazed uncertainly at her, searching the recesses of his mind for something that should not exist. "You loved me once. I love you still," she added with a warm but strained smile. At the very least, if he did not remember that, she wanted him to know. 

"Love...?" He echoed, as if the word was foreign. He kept whispering it to himself like a mantra, his expression rapidly dissolving further into befuddlement, while his hand crept up to his heart like it pained him. All of a sudden, he grabbed his head and fell to his knees in front of her with a pained cry, hunched over while groaning. Concerned, she scooted a little closer to him, and out of habit, reached up to run her fingers through that thick black hair of his. How she had missed the feeling of those strands curling about her fingertips. After a moment, she realized it was inappropriate and moved to retreat; before she could, his hand snapped up to enclose her wrist. "Don't... It feels nice... Haneul," he murmured, lifting his head slightly to peer at her, wearing that smug smirk ingrained forever in her memory. 

"Baro!" She gasped and threw herself at him, enveloping him in a tight embrace. He hugged her back with equal intensity, burying his face into her hair as she did hers into his neck. She breathed in the scent of him, and though he was different he was still the same, her Baro. It was then that the tears began to flow. The emotions she had suppressed burst forth, pouring out like the water from her eyes. "I missed you so much!" She gasped between sobs, clinging tightly to him. She never wanted to let him go, not ever, not ever again. 

"I know. Thank you for waiting for me, Haneul," Baro answered softly. He her hair, just like he used to, and it was so soothing. Haneul was content to remain forever in his arms. "Haneul... You saved me after all."

"Of course I did. I promised." He snorted slightly in laughter, and pulled away from her. She probably looked a hot mess, but he just smiled and wiped her tears away with the palms of his hands, gently, like he used to. 

"God, you're beautiful," he sighed. There was so much love in his eyes, and that warm smile made her melt into putty. Her trembling fingers were still clinging to the fabric of his shirt, spotted with her tears. "You don't have to cry anymore, Haneul. I'm here now, and I'm here to stay. Thanks to you," he said and cupped her cheek with his hand. She leaned into his touch, the touch she had been starving for. 

"Promise?" 

"Promise," he agreed solemnly. She reached up, gently running her fingers through his hair again, until his hand caught it mid-. He brought it to his mouth, gently kissing her fingertips, then her knuckles, then flipping it over to kiss her palm. "I can't let a pure soul like yours slip away, after all," he breathed against her skin, his eyes flickering upward to meet hers once more. Haneul smiled weakly as he chuckled. He really hasn't changed. He wrapped his fingers around her wrist, pulling her by the arm toward him, and she did not resist. She fell against his chest, their faces centimeters apart, and he swept a strand of her hair away. Yes, she did love his eyes the most, because they were full of the richest love she had ever known; undoubtedly, hers were the same. 

"My soul, and my heart, will always belong to you, Baro."

"Finally," he joked, and then swept her into the deepest, most passionate, most breathtaking kiss she had ever known. Held in the arms by the man she loved most in the world, the hole in her heart was finally filled. 

Mother... Are you watching? I'll live, Mother...

We both will. 

~End~