"I told you, you should’ve devoured him when he was here!" Yuta echoed from the far side of the room.

In fact, a second after Haechan spit out everything with the addition of some sighs here and there to his brother, Haechan already regretted his decision. He should have understood better than anyone that this brother of him who in fact was the supervisor of Greed's room might not give him a useful solution to his problem. But there was no other choice, he wanted to immediately issue the anxiety that piled up in his head and Yuta was close by then.

"now you're dumped!" Haechan didn’t hate Yuta's laughter before, but his laughter then made Haechan's emotion swell.

Devil has never experienced; dumped, thrown, abandoned or whatever. They are strong enough to maintain an emotional bond, too cunning to experience such loss. His siblings have dragged billions of human beings to hell with their ability to make this bond. Haechan regrets not being a proper devil to Mark at the time. Not because he was not so sure he had made a bond or not with the angel.

But Haechan was really annoyed.

It's been almost two weeks in human time. And Haechan hadn’t felt Mark's presence at all since the last event.

All right, Haechan was startled and Mark also widened his eyes at that moment. They both did not expect the incident. But is it something that worthed to disappear for over a week?.

What makes Haechan's greed hurt is that his experiments have certainly failed. He still holds Mark's wing feather. Previously he was convinced that by holding tightly the feathers he got (he stole) while whispering the name of the angel, then he will meet again with the said name. It works for all their previous meetings. So Haechan thought it worked. But not now.

It ain’t work anymore. Haechan repeatedly clung to the silvery white feather in his hands, whispering Mark's name, but he still didn’t find Mark after that.

It turns out that angels aren’t the same as him and his brothers who are easy to be tied to other creatures.

Yuta was still raving from his place when Haechan decided that being in Greed's room is not going to make things better. Haechan wasn’t in the mood to be in hell to enjoy the suffering of human’s dirty soul around.

The wind was mixed with frozen flakes at the end of the shore. This was not the first place they meet, but this is where they meet most often. The air hasn’t been this cold when he first tried to 'called' Mark and to his surprise Mark actually came to greet him.

"well, one last time! the last one!"

Sometimes Haechan disturbed by his stubbornness, but still he doesn’t like it if he couldn’t understand a thing or just simply give up. This time he took the silver-plated feather from his pocket, hugged it in his hands, twined his fingers and began to close his eyes. He has seen human do it, praying, many angels come because of it. No, Haechan ain’t imitate mankind or anything. Yup! Devil never prayed! He's just tried because it's maybe possible-

Only a breezy autumn wind waved at that time. The angel in a clumsy beret didn’t come. Haechan felt his cheeks slightly frozen.

Unfair!

Why all this bothersome feelings could only affected him?. Bet the said angel is somewhere above the rainbow doing some sacred things without feel anything at all.

Angels can’t feel anything.

His own thought made Haechan angrier.

"little devil mate~"

Haechan’s long sigh was cut off, his neck almost broken because Haechan turned his head as soon as he heard the ethereal sound.

His chest again dropped upon seeing the owner's voice. Not that he wished for anything, he knew that it was not Mark's voice even though it sounded like a heavenly echo.

Maybe Haechan was too busy with the little disappointment that stuck on his chest, he was missed when the angel (yup, it was an angel; all white, the evident halo, nice smell etc) took the sitting spot next to his.

"By the way I'm Onew"

"... angel of the moon?"

"O? Do you know me?"

"yeah, M- a friend once told me about you" honestly Haechan is not at all in a state for conversation or some angel's companion, except maybe if a certain angel then it can be accepted.

"Mark?"

It was undeniable that one name did change Haechan's statement before, he is ready for a conversation now.

"somehow I know Mark always meets an unique friend of his in the human world during his break" The angel smiled.

It's strange when a name can create a stream of conversation between two strangers. Haechan doesn’t know if Mark ever made the moon look bloated on his first day as Onew's assistant or Mark who screamed in disgust when he has to touch the deep water for the first time. Apparantely he is not the mister capable who is able to do everything well as it seems.

Haechan also  exposed Mark's awkwardness when he took him around the human world. Mark's rigidity respond to various worldly lives and Mark's admiration for all the little things he never seen in heaven. He was even struck with hell and its inhabitants.

"So he's been to hell?"

"Yes, I took him there, he was very upset when-" Haechan's excitement stopped when he realized that his interlocutor had changed his tension.

"so that's because he breathed Hell’s air" The angel of the moon chewed his lower lip.

"what?, have I made a mistake by taking him to hell?"

"the air in every realms is different, I just assumed Mark might be a bit unsuited to Hell’s air that made him sometimes coughed and often looked sleepy these past few days"

At first Haechan threw out his defense that it was probably because of the strict rules and tight job schedules imposed on Mark that made him that way. Before then Onew reminded him of the fact that  angels don’t feel anything. Not feeling pain nor feeling sleepy, nothing.

"has he touched you or vice versa?"

Haechan flushtered on the question. His hands reflex clumsily touched his own neck.

"so he did"

Never once in his entire existence, Haechan felt this awkward. Onew took a deep breath before nodding and starred at him "let's just conclude that Mark is ill and will not be able to see you anymore"

Although the Angel in front of him smiled as he spoke, but Haechan simply can not accept the statement well.

"why? You angels with your unreasonable rules only-"

"why?” the angel stood “Because Mark started feeling pain and you wouldn’t possibly be the cure" a pair of deep brown pupils looking down at Haechan as Onew started flapped his wings "but you could be the cause".

It gave Haechan a lil shudder. The fact that not all angels are gentle and all things kindness. Or because he is a devil so the angels don’t behave like an angel to him?. So far he has met three angels in total; one yelled at him and screamed into his face calling him a despicable creature, another one randomly came chatting intimately and suddenly looking at him with a coldly contemptuous look and the last one came to him with kind smile, played with him, made him believe if there is a good thing from heaven that he hates, made him forget that devils like him are creatures that are symbolized for ugliness, touched him arbitrarily and then disappeared.

And they said that angels are nothing but good things.

Shortly after he was dumbfounded abandoned by an ethereal creature who came and went off on his own, Haechan spent a moment exploring the flashback from last week when the world wasn’t too boring.

What happened to Mark? Sick? How come? Maybe that's just an excuse.

Haechan's brain starts spinning not on its axis. A little wrath spice up his thought. Maybe Mark really don’t want to see him again. Why?.

"!" Haechan mumbled.

Is it because he has touched him and finally realized that Haechan (a devil) is dirty and too imperfect to coincide with him?. Or because of hell and his brothers? or-

Haechan's brain tingled.

Haechan should not feel hurt if all the reasons his mind made may be true, because Haechan already a veteran to know very well with the heavens and their self-respecting oddities. Usually Haechan ain’t even care about those residents of the sky. But strange enough even for Haechan himself he felt a little hurt and betrayed.

"Of course it's you!"

Haechan hung his long breath upon hearing a familiar voice from above his head.

No need to look up to see the source of the sound. Haechan already knows who owns it; a descendant of the great Lucifer, the most boring devil he ever met, his best friend, none other than Jeno.

If he could choose a friend, of course Haechan would choose anyone who has a higher percentage of success to raising his current mood which is certainly not Jeno. Even Haechan believes listening to seagulls has a higher percentage to make him feel better than listening to Jeno's ancient joke. But of course Haechan had no choice. The descendant of Lucifer sat himself right where the absurd angel had sat chatting with him earlier.

"I thought, this was your smell"

"What do you want?"

Of the many possibilities and who came to him at this time is the angel-devil mixed blood. It .

"I heard you've just been abandoned, of course as a good friend I came to comfort you ~" Jeno hummed discordantly.

Haechan just glared at him in response and Jeno must have understood that any joke he would issue would not be accepted here.

"okay I'll be quiet" Jeno decided.

"You are the descendant of the fallen angel" Haechan dreamily stated.

"well ... technically, yes, why all of a sudden?"

"Have you ever wondered what heaven looks like? Have you ever been there?"

"erm, it is no for both questions"

"why? There’s angel’s blood in your body! why don’t you thirst the heavenly existence like those angels? how great is heaven? why are angels so attached to them? what is so special about heaven?” it's more like a bunch of rants than a sequence of questions.

Thanks to Jeno's wisdom that kept him quiet and listen to Haechan's chatter that continued until the sun disappeared completely on the western horizon.

"I don’t know what your problem is, but if it's about heaven, it's not a place for sinners" Jeno made a sound in the long pause of Haechan's monologue conversation. Which of course Haechan replied with offense and pursed lips for the obvious statement.

"I mean, Jaehyun hyung has been there for a meeting and he passed the purgatory. He's describing it as a tool of the annihilation of our kind" Jeno added a gesture of fear to his last word.

Of course Haechan didn’t believe it. What kind of meeting requires a devil to ascend to heaven? Moreover, if the devil can not pass through purgatory because devil is a source of evil itself, why Jaehyun (another Lucifer descendant) still wandering around ain’t got annihilated?. It sounded like Jeno's bad fiction writing.

"he was escorted by an angel from heaven so he was not affected by heaven air which doesn’t tolerate any slight of evils! Just like you brought the angel to hell the other day that the angel did not suffer under the influence of hell because you were there with him"

Hearing a brief explanation of his friend who was, perhaps, perfectly acceptable, Haechan straightened out his seat asking Jeno to tell him anything he might not know about this ‘air’ that mentioned here and there.

"why are you so worried about the angel?"

Jeno frowned. Confused, when Haechan interrupted his explanation of their kind and angels that are very contradictory and tended to harm each other. Haechan gasped and told him about the news from the angel of the moon about the sick Mark.

"was it because I keep bringing him to hell? he becomes sick and blighted!" horror meets Haechan's eyes, staring blankly into the horizon.

"what are you talking about? Ain’t that mean it's a big success?"

"What?"

"isn’t that your goal to stick to the angel? to get him thrown out of heaven?"

"what, why should I?"

"because that is the fastest route to level up? Forget about the saints, dragging an angel to sin will get you up to the level above the guards of the seven deadly sins! you're clever!"

Haechan's eyes widened to hear his image in his friend’s thought.

"You think I met Mark for that?"

"then what else? A devil with an angel together? Being friends? pffft-"

Haechan slightly taken aback when Jeno scoffed at the end of his sarcastic remark.

"wait, you ain’t really think to be friends-" Jeno closed his mouth dramatically.

"I can’t believe my best friend thinks I'm that bad"

"not only me, all the hell’s creatures are thinking the same! You think why they and I didn’t make moves despite the tempting smell the angel has?" Jeno made some weird moves to bolster his statement “because we hold fast to brotherhood. We do not interfere with our own individual targets-“

"we're so screwed!"

"what do you expect? we literally live in hell!" Jeno’s indifferent "so you really meant to - you know, up grade or something?"

"we are having fun together! after all my greed rate has not reached that stage yet"

"so you approached the angel just for fun?"

"Yes!"

"so not like you?"

"what am I in your mind?"

"devil model.You are an expert on all requirements as a devil. You  can even pull out a really nice pheromone, even if it's not as good as Johnny, you're pretty famous for the intoxicating pheromone. But as me bing nice, please cover whatever that makes you even more smell like delirious prey"

Haechan puffed up his chest with a smug face. He was among the prodigies, it’s true. He granted an access to Pride room because of that. If it’s about the smell Jeno talking about, Haechan has no clue though. Haechan don’t really care.

For the first time Haechan felt grateful to his friend. unexpectedly among the wonders of the world, Jeno managed to cheer him up, a little. A small smile manages to form at the tip of his lips. He knows he really likes to be praised.

"what ~ you make me embarrassed ~" Haechan played a spoiled tone.

"Stop that! It's disgusting!" Jeno brushed off Haechan who began to cling to his shoulders with spoiled. Haechan is cuddly to the people he loves.

It’s a little bit okay now.

BOOSH-

It was like a loud flash. He wounded his elbow that was absurdly forced to clashed with the rock, forced out of Jeno's spoiled splendor.

Haechan had no time to complain for his wounds or his sudden headaches. His eyes widened. What he saw was absurd, even for Haechan's crazy imagination.

Five feet from where he fell, a pair of large white wings puffed angrily against the broad, stretched shoulders, busily supporting the arm that grabbed the black collar of the creature beneath it.

Haechan realized that the one lying on the ground parallel to him, groaned in pain was Jeno and who angrily grips him was -

"Mark?" Haechan hissed.

His headache was trying to process all the blur that happened in front of him.

"MARK!" Haechan was hysterical.

It's not like Mark. It is not Mark. Haechan tried to brainstormed himself that it was not Mark as he hurried toward the two.

"STOP!"

Haechan tried hard to throw his body between the two, pushed Mark from Jeno.

The closer he look, the less he looked like Mark, the one who glared at them with unmatched pair of eyes. The glistening obsidian on the pure white one was so contrast with the burning fire opal on the pitch black. Not Angel-like at all. As if those eyes not odd enough, the fists which a second ago bashing Jeno, they were dark purplish-black, like those of the living dead on the border of hell. His breath was painfully ragged. Some fallen white feathers scattered over the wet black rock beneath. No shooting obsidian pupils, no silly bright smiles. This creature was filled with anger.

"M-Mark?" Haechan shuddered on the sight.

No matter how hard Haechan hoped that the weary creature who looked at Jeno with merciless wrath was not Mark, but the wistful face turned when he heard his name.

"are you always like this?" it's still the same, Mark's ethereal voice, but with a little deep hoarse.

Too bad, Haechan was too shocked to understand what he was asking.

"are all devils like this?" Mark glared.

Haechan's body shivered under the blind eye. Haechan tried to put anything into his lungs, whatever to help him wake up and process everything, but Mark who staggered up to him did not help at all.

"I-"

BOOM-

It was Jeno's hand, Haechan knows, that covered his eyes as they burned upon a tinge of greater light hitting them. This is similar to when Taeyeong came to their first meeting but on a scale that goes beyond reason. The blasting, the light, the sounds.

He could hear Mark groaned, Jeno’s Grunts and his own ragged breaths.

Haechan don’t even know when he started to hope. But really, that time Haechan hoped the blasting, whatever it was, would knocked him out immedietly so he wouldn’t heard anything when black swallowed him.

Hence he heard Mark's screams mingle with the winter wind. A sad cry that brought tears in Haechan's eyes before they were drowned in the dark.

"WHY ?! WHY ONLY ME WHO IS DIRTIED?!"

Haechan couldn’t imagine what would happened to Mark after the painful scream. Haechan will not know. Haechan doesn’t want to know. Haechan hope he doesn't need to know.