Chapter 7: Me
A Devil That Looks Like an AngelSeveral days passed after their first few magical nights together and Miyeon has taken Minnie to a number of other places since.
They went to her cottage again to bake a cake just a few days ago and they made quite the mess in the kitchen. Lucky for them, as mages they could use a single charm or mutter a spell, depending on preference, and all would be clean again. On that day, Minnie felt her flutter a bit more for Miyeon as they started to grow more comfortable around each other.
They have also visited the river and talked while looking at the reflection of the blue sky. Although it seemed like they weren’t doing much, a lot felt during that day as Minnie felt her feelings clearer. Like she could clearly see the pebbles under the flowing water, Minnie was not completely aware of the feelings she was starting to develop for her.
They shared an umbrella when it started raining after one of their latest rendezvouses at a cafe. Miyeon had insisted on walking her home and Minnie insisted at least holding the umbrella for the two of them on their walk. Miyeon noticed that Minnie was having trouble in concealing her feelings then and wondered how long she could keep this up before it became too much for them.
It may not have been quite the same as before, but Miyeon wants this to last a little longer. She wants to make as many memories as possible before she can’t anymore. When it is time, she knows what she has to do so she’ll savor and cherish the moments while they last. Though, she knows that not everyone will agree with actions she is taking now.
“You have to stop recreating memories that you had before with her, Miyeon,” Soojin warns her, “You’re only going to get more hurt in the end.”
“I know that Soojin,” Miyeon laughs almost hysterically, “I know it all too well, but tell me that you wouldn’t do the same? Tell me that if it were Shuhua, that child that you’ve grown fond of protecting, you wouldn’t be doing exactly what I am?”
Soojin doesn’t reply at first, after all, she has really enjoyed these last few days where she’s been distracting the little angel in order for her to not interfere with Miyeon’s plans. She still doesn’t think that it’s right though, but she can’t honestly say that she wouldn’t be doing the same. There were just too many hypotheticals that she could think of, but right now it is not her job to dwell on such matters. Her job as a devil, and as a friend, is to remind Miyeon that she does have a mission to complete.
“Miyeon, whether I were to be in your position or not doesn’t matter,” Soojin lectures, “it’s that when the time comes, will you be able to take her life away? It’s only a matter of time before the heart of all divine will ask you for her soul and this little illusion she’s living will fall apart.”
Miyeon’s eyes turned red and her grip on the goblet she was drinking out of tightened. With her blood boiling and adrenaline coursing through her veins, she slams the cup down to the floor and lets the liquid paint the ground red. Standing up, not looking at the devil, Miyeon walks over to her with her fists balled.
“Leave!” she harshly yells at her, almost like she’s warning her that things might not be so pretty if she doesn’t.
Not wanting to deal with such a mess, Soojin merely replies, “Fine, have it your way.”
And then, she snaps her fingers, disappearing in thin air to wherever else she’d rather be. The accursed archangel grits her teeth and feels the urge to break something completely. Yet she cannot deny that everything Soojin said was nothing but the absolute truth. She had made a promise to the glowing blue cube embedded deep in each of the realms of the deities that she would do as they said.
Miyeon remembers that moment very vividly.
She was standing in the depths of hell that day, with black wings, red eyes, and clear tears running down her face. Collapsed onto her knees she had begged them not to punish her and to let the fault all lie on her. They told her that they could not change the rules for her of the cycle life and to give up. But they had made a proposal to her, to give Minnie a few more years to live with blissful ignorance in the mortal world in exchange for several things. Among those negotiations there was one that Miyeon had trouble accepting, it was that she would be the one to take away Minnie’s mortality forever when those years were over and that she could not be with her.
Of course she had accepted at the end because what other choice did she have? She wasn’t letting Minnie go that easily even if it would be hard for her.
Miyeon sighs and picks the goblet up back from the floor, she takes a few deep breaths to calm down. Her eyes fade into a soft chocolate brown again and sits down, she looks at the sun still high up in the sky with all its glowing brilliance. She decides that maybe she’ll change it up to and see her beloved earlier. She hesitates though as Soojin’s words echo in her head, but today she will go. Tomorrow may be different, so she’ll cherish today.
Snapping her fingers, Miyeon apparates herself a few feet away from the bridge to the town so as to not cause any mortals to be suspicious of her true identity. Calmly, she slowly starts making her way to the familiar music shop, wondering what memories might be made later on in the day. With a shadow of nervousness following her behind, her steps feel rather heavy as she gets closer to the familiar shop where various magical music tinkers dispel a chorus of melodies. When Miyeon is able to see the girl through the glass windows of the shop, she isn’t so sure if she should be here anymore. The ‘mortal’ girl doesn’t seem to notice the archangel as she continues to watch from afar.
Miyeon wonders what’ll happen when she remembers everything and if she’ll hate her for the decisions that she has made. But, in the end Miyeon thinks it’ll be okay in the end because she has a plan and they'll be together in it. Letting her worries wither away, the accursed angel takes a step closer to the shop and puts on a brave smile. When Minnie’s eyes fall onto hers, she can see her face light up and the prettiest smile Miyeon has ever seen once more.
Opening the door, the accursed archangel greets the shop assistant, “Hello my dear, how are you doing today?”
“Lovely now that you’re here,” Minnie joyously informs her, “Today, I’m actually taking off early so I was worried going to catch you today.”
“Is that so, is there something that you have to do later?” Miyeon asks her.
“No, actually,” Minnie hesitates to tell her, clearly concerned about information she was holding back.
“Really?” Miyeon contemplates before offering, “Would like to join me again today?”
Minnie doesn’t reply to her invitation at first and it concerns Miyeon. The ‘mortal’ had some sort of anxious aura surrounding her and her eyes seemed to waver upon contact. Miyeon isn’t sure what exactly is wrong, but there is something different about the girl.
“Well,” Miyeon decides to put a bit of pressure on her to answer.
“I’m feeling a bit under the weather today, so I’m not sure if I should go,” Minnie finally professes to her.
“That’s okay, don’t worry about it. If you would like, I could walk you home today,” the archangel assures her, slightly relieved that Minnie had not uncovered any memories that would make her doubt the current reality she is living in right now.
Without much resistance, Minnie gladly accepts her offer and even links arms with her as she passes the register off to the next worker. Her coworker seems to slightly but the two of them pay no attention as they’re already too absorbed with one another. The beginning of their walk doesn’t seem to be any different from the other times they have started to meet each other just several days ago.
But as the walk goes on, Miyeon starts noticing how Minnie is having trouble keeping and has started coughing a little. Silently, the accursed archangel gives her a look of worry and the ‘mortal’ returns the look with a weak smile. Not saying anything, Miyeon reaches for her hand and squeezes it as if she was telling her that everything was going to be okay.
“Are you okay?” Miyeon questions her without looking too much in her direction, afraid that if she makes eye contact that she won’t be able to keep up her facade.
The ‘mortal’ stumbles upon her feet and answers, “Yeah, I’ll be fine.”
The accursed archangel slows down her walking pace and the two wordlessly continue on the paved path of the cobble-stoned road. There’s this unsaid rule of silence that seems to reign over them for whatever reason. Perhaps it was due to Miyeon’s trouble with Soojin’s words or may it was because of Minnie’s unwillingness to speak of her deteriorating health. Alternatively, it could be both of those reasons, but whatever it was, it had seemed to cause an awkward rift between the two. When they reached the front of Minnie’s house who she shared with Yuqi and Soyeon, there was an uncomfortable pause before any of the two said anything.
“So I’ll see tomorrow then?” Minnie asks her as she has her hand already on the door knob.
Miyeon looks at her solemnly and answers, “Sure, sure you will.”
“Goodbye,” Minnie tells her.
As the girl slips behind the door, Miyeon uses her last bit courage to take one good look at her before she leaves. Miyeon’s eyes widened in horror as the door shut against the entrance frame of the house and started to back away. In a few moments, the accursed archangel is sprinting, she has to tell Soojin.
Meanwhile, Minnie sighs as she enters the house, back against the door and letting out a breath of relief. She felt this uneasiness with the other girl she was just walking with today and wondered why she had attacked so strangely today. Believe it or not though, this obscurity was the least of her worries today. Minnie was having trouble standing up straight as vertigo started to hit her again and images started to superimpose across her vision. The goblet, the burning town, and the women that had both the features of an angel and devil flickered in scattered images across her eyes.
Throwing her robe to the magical wardrobe, Minnie tries to at least do the bare minimum to get settled at the empty house. She staggers to the kitchen and is barely able to sit herself without almost falling over. Shakily, her fingers reach for her empty cup and the mix of herbs that Soojin had given to her. Placing a few dried up forget-me-not petals at the bottom of the cup, Minnie then holds onto whatever ledge she can to get to the kettle that Yuqi had enchanted to stay hot with her pyromagic. Holding the cup in her two hands, Minnie watches the petals slowly dissolve. She notices her own reflection in the clear water and it alarms her ever so slightly, her eyes look like they’re red.
However, as the petals dissolve, a whirl red takes over the cup and Minnie figures that whatever she had seen was just the wisps of the herbal drink starting to form as always. Carefully, she brings the cup up to her lips and takes a sip of the rich red liquid. The images she saw flickering over her vision seems to tone down a little and she starts to feel some strength return to her legs.
“Thank the deities,” Minnie exhales as if she’s been holding a breath in this whole time.
Without waiting much longer she chugs the rest of the cup and feels some sense of normalcy return to her. Minnie hears the clock ticking in the background and wonders how much time she has left as her symptoms seemed like they were getting worse over the days. Somehow she feels like she has felt like this before, to be helpless while she watches impending dread slowly come over her. Setting the cup down, Minnie’s is a bit startled because it looks gold goblet all of the sudden. But when she blinks again it’s gone and her cup is back to normal.
Minnie doesn’t know what’s happening but she doesn’t like it.
She gets up from her slumped stance and takes a few steps towards her room. There, she allows herself to collapse on her bed and finds her staring at the white ceiling above. She sees faint visions of her dreams starting to appear again and she feels frustrated. In an effort to get rid of the images, she closes her eyes and lets her vision turn black. Instead of vision though, she is now faced with whispers in her ear telling her things she can’t seem to make any sense of.
There was one soft voice as faint as the wind repeating the words “ab imo pectore” to her. Meanwhile, there was another that sounded like her voice that was screaming that she couldn’t believe that it was “you”. The third distinct sound was the cacophony of screams in the burning village that she would always hear in her dreams. Minnie brings her hands up to her ears to try to stop the voices even though she knew that they were coming from her own head. She begs them to stop, but it is to no avail as they remain and even grow louder. The poor girl wonders if she can get anyone to help her, she opens her eyes and searches for the bell that Shuhua had left her.
Frantically her eyes shift from one side of the room to the other, but it seems that she had misplaced the golden bell somewhere she had forgotten. She curses at herself and can only hope that either Soyeon or Yuqi gets home sooner than usual. Minnie feels absolutely hopeless as her hallucinations start to cloud her vision and distort her hearing. She feels herself being engulfed in some sort of darkness and wonders if she’ll still be okay by the end of this day. Minnie starts to feel tears run down her face as she feels her heart start to slowly ache at her own fate. She hates the self-pity she has for herself because it makes her feel so selfish like she couldn’t do anything better than feel bad for herself.
Bringing her hands to wipe away her tears, Minnie notices something rather out of place and even more unordinary than the influx of hallucinatory images and voices that she’s currently experiencing. She closes and opens her eyes several times to check if what she is actually real. As it doesn’t seem to disappear, in fact, it even seems to cover more space than she had first noticed she feels even more fear flow through her veins. She jumps up out of her bed, holding on to the slim sliver of hope that she was just seeing things again.
Running to the bathroom, Minnie takes a good look at herself in the mirror. She is again met with shock as she finds the eyes staring back at her are indeed red just like the reflection of herself that she saw in her herbal medicinal tea before. The tips of her fingers also appear black on the other side of the mirror, affirming that this visual change was not something that her mind had simply made up. She watches as the blackness slowly starts to crawl to her palms bit by bit, consuming more and more of her until her hands are completely immersed.
“Why?” she says to herself, alone in the bathroom staring at the mirror.
At that moment, she had thought nothing else could surprise her nor frighten her, but what happened next was something that did exactly that. She felt it first before she saw it, but wide ebony feathered wings sprouted from her back and stretched out wide. Minnie had seen a wing like this before, the woman who was both an angel and a devil had a wing exactly like this. It shouldn’t be possible that she had such appendages, the girl tries to convince herself that she was still mortal and this was all merely an illusion or another one of her weird dreams. Though it hadn’t worked before, Minnie again closes her eyes and opens them to see if all of this would disappear.
When she sees that all remained the same, her heart drops and she falls to the floor. She curls up with her wings enveloping around her tiny figure. Minnie doesn’t know what to do anymore and she’s even more confused in who she is. When the poor girl dares to open her eyes again she is faced with an image of herself from that very first day she barely remembers.
With dead dull eyes and dirt smeared all over her, the then ‘Minnie’ asks the current Minnie one simple thing, “Remember me?”
Before she can answer, she feels the familiar feeling of everything from consciousness and this time, she doesn’t fight it.
A/N: kinda bored now that uni is over, so i'm updating
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