ryujin wastes no time in grabbing them by the waist and making a run for it — ing hell, she should be making drinks in the underworld, not running from the seraphim. why did she let the angel drag her to guard lilith's soul?

"what the is happening?" sooyoung manages to ask while joohyun is still reeling from the shock.

"sahaquiel wants to kill you both since you know about her true identity!" ryujin informs while turning her head back to check on the angel. sahaquiel is close in pursuit and she's aimed her spear right at them again. a bright glare warns her of the imminent destruction and ryujin jumps into an alley as the spear of light leaves her hand, it barely misses the trio and ryujin knows it's too close for comfort.

their skin scraps against the rough ground and they land with pained groans. maybe they should've stayed home, brunch was a bad idea.

the mortals scramble to regain their senses while the demon jumps to her feet instantly. it's pointless to run since sahaquiel will catch up eventually, but neither is she strong enough to face a seraph on her own. her brain runs in overdrive as she tries to come up with a solution — she can't bring the mortals down to hell because of the barrier, even if she's unharmed by it, they'll burn up before they even reach the first circle.

a distinct pang of fear strikes her heart when the angel appears at the entrance of the alley, her looming presence is more terrifying than ethereal. it's ed up that they ever convinced humanity that demons are scarier than angels. ryujin thinks this is when her soul gets destroyed, but she has been raised by the kings of hell, giving up without a fight is never an option.

two white wings sprout from her back and she readies herself in a defensive stance in front of the mortals, her hands lighting up with a fire that differs vastly from a usual demon's. arcane fire glows purple, and it's what angels without god's grace are capable of creating.

"using an angel's magic against me?" sahaquiel mutters scornfully as her spear flies back into her hand, "seems like we made a mistake to spare you, it is a shame that you would waste your life protecting them. either leave now or die with them."

the ultimatum frightens her a little but given everything that seungwan has done for her, ryujin can't bring herself to leave these humans defenseless against the wrath of a seraph. especially one with the soul of lilith. 

"if you kill me, or either of them, you should be prepared for another war. baal and lucifer will never let you get away with this."

"let them come."

with a mere shift of her hand, sahaquiel sends her spear barrelling towards ryujin who braces herself for the impact, she can only pray that her wings shield the mortals from the aftershock. the light threatens to blind her but somehow, grabbing onto the burning shaft, she manages to stop it from impaling her with her hands. a small sigh of relief slips and ryujin pushes it aside, causing it to strike part of a building instead of her body. if she makes it out of here alive, she's going to make sure she's properly compensated, this is definitely not in the job description of being a bartender.

the seraph pulls her spear back and lands on her feet silently, taking slow, threatening steps towards the trio. ryujin doesn't back down despite the vigorous thrumming in her chest, she prays that someone will come soon, be it leliel or seungwan — anyone. she has to hold on, even if they come or not. lunging at sahaquiel, ryujin lands a solid hit to the side of her jaw which sends her stumbling backwards. it's satisfying for a split second but the seraph retaliates by splitting her spear into five smaller pieces, all edged with the intention to kill.

she's had a good life, ryujin turns to the mortals with a grim expression plastered across her face.

"seungwan will be devastated if you died. run as far as you can, i'll hold her off."

behind the half-demon, joohyun is too shaken up to even move but sooyoung is yanking her to her feet frantically. they run and stagger down the alley while the sound of a cosmic fight starts behind them and the deafening blasts make sooyoung jump. hiding around a corner, the younger girl fumbles with her phone desperately. seulgi's number is saved in her phone but the impact from the fall cracked her screen so it's practically unusable at this point. still, she tries over and over again to get to her contacts but the device refuses to cooperate.

peering around the bend, sooyoung sees that a spear has embedded itself in the right wing of the demon. ryujin winces in pain before pouncing onto yongsun, landing hits and kicks on the angel. multiple bright flashes erupt from the two and it's surreal to see a fight between an angel and a demon, it would've been cool if she didn’t have death looming over her.

unable to do anything, despair washes over her and sooyoung can't stop the sudden surge of tears.

"unnie..." she cries while her fingers dig into joohyun's arm painfully, "are we going to die?"

finally, for the first time since yongsun appeared, joohyun looks at her. it's as if she's snapped out of her daze upon hearing her sister's panicked cries.

"i..."

"i'm so sorry i summoned demons in the first place! i'm sorry i ruined your salt barrier! i'm sorry for everything!" her sister weeps into her shirt and joohyun instinctively wraps her arms around her.

joohyun is terrified, but so is sooyoung. while her ritual did start this chain of events, the angel wanting to eradicate them isn't her fault. joohyun forces herself to think — yongsun only wants her dead, maybe if she willingly gives herself up, sooyoung will be spared.

"it's not your fault." she exhales slowly, "i won't let her hurt you."

she gathers up all the courage she can muster, which doesn't feel like much, but it's better than sitting around and waiting for death. joohyun gives sooyoung a tight hug before rising to her feet shakily. 

"w-what are you going to do?" sooyoung sniffles.

the older girl reaches into her shirt and shows off seungwan's ring which hangs comfortably around her neck. despite going through a rollercoaster of emotions the previous night, it didn't feel right to joohyun if she acted rashly before she got her head sorted, so she decided to keep seungwan's ring close.

though, it doesn't provide much reassurance. joohyun doesn't know if it'll work or if seungwan will come, but it's a gamble she has to make, even if the bet is her life.

"i'm still married to the devil, remember?" 

joohyun steps out from the corner as ryujin is sent sprawling to the ground, the half-demon is bleeding and battered from sahaquiel's endless assault. the angel doesn't look unharmed though, she has a couple of bruises but compared to ryujin, her injuries are nothing. it doesn't end there, yongsun picks her up by the throat and slams her against a wall with so much strength that the earth tremors.

the mortal winces and she wants yongsun to stop but her words are trapped in . it's terrifying to witness such violence up close, especially from someone who joohyun always thought was nothing but easygoing and jovial. 

using her spears, the seraph crucifies ryujin to the wall, pinning her arms and wings down. the half-demon groans in pain but bites back a scream, she won't let sahaquiel have the satisfaction of hearing her cry out. catching the mortal in her peripheral vision, the demon shakes her head adamantly. 

"don't! don't come!" ryujin cries as she tries to free herself but yongsun drives the spears further into her flesh and all she can feel is white-hot pain. her head lulls to the side before sahaquiel deems that she's done enough for now, she can finish her off later.

clutching seungwan's ring tightly in her hand, joohyun feels a burst of courage run through her and she thinks she can confront the divine being that used to be her friend. yongsun has just tried to kill her — is still trying to kill her, but a part of her still finds it hard to let go of their friendship.

"why, yong?" her voice escapes as a raspy whisper, "why did you get close?"

why did you lie to me?

tensing, the angel turns to face her with a stoic expression. with one swift move, the spear in her hand could pierce through joohyun's heart and send her to the next life, but maybe the time they spent together has softened her, sahaquiel holds back.

she owes joohyun some answers.

"the accident that happened when you were a child, it was no accident." the seraph starts in a quiet voice, "the fates requested for me to save you and i obeyed.”

joohyun quivers as she takes in her words, so she should've died all those years ago? her surviving the accident was dubbed a miracle by many. years later, she finally understands that it was actually a divine intervention.

"i did my job, but for some reason, i decided to linger. i wanted to make sure you were fine after everything." yongsun's voice softens and she can't bring herself to look joohyun in the eyes, "but you weren't. and i wanted to take you on as my charge but no angel is allowed to watch over you officially because of your connection to lucifer. so i settled on the next best thing, to descend as a mortal and befriend you."

"you... did you pity me? is that it?" joohyun's voice threatens to crack as she murmurs through gritted teeth.

a thick silence envelopes the two as the mortal stares at the seraph accusingly. yongsun hesitates before nodding, it is the truth after all. "in some ways, i wanted to make up for all the times i killed you in your past lives. if you didn’t cross paths with lucifer again, i'm certain we would've been friends for a long time." she adds with a small smile as if it will help lighten the air between them. it doesn't, because joohyun's gaze hardens instead.

"why? what did i ever do?" the question rips from joohyun's mouth in a strangled whisper — so much for not wanting to know the truth, "what did seungwan ever do?"

a wry scoff slips from yongsun's throat and she sighs, "when she's with you, she brings nothing but destruction to the world. heaven has faced her wrath once, and so has humanity, multiple times. you bring out the worst in each other, and she has never known how to stay away. the only way angels can intervene is if we killed you because killing lucifer would start another war."

so this is what byulyi meant when she said her soul is entwined in the matters of heaven and hell, but there's just one thing she doesn't understand. joohyun takes a step forward and demands firmly, "look at me, yong."

surprisingly, the angel listens and lifts her gaze. joohyun's hands are balled into fists at this point and the ring is digging into her palms, but the pain helps to distract her from her fear which is slowly bleeding into anger.

"what did we do this time?"

yongsun opens to speak but no words come out, she has no answer. all she wants is for lucifer to stay away from joohyun, even if the most they were doing is pretending to be a couple.

"i'm sure i haven't made any wishes that would destroy the world," joohyun continues with a snarl, her voice rising as her rage seeps into her words, "and the worst thing seungwan has done is to beat you up, which i'm starting to think that you lied to me about what actually happened!"

seeing that the seraph is speechless, the mortal feels bold enough to storm right up to her face and jab a finger into her chest.

"what actually happened? huh, yong?" she shouts, "did seungwan actually take things the wrong way? or did you decide that no matter what she does, she's always going to be that destructive demon that you've come to know? your perception of her has never changed even if she has!”

yongsun swallows and grits her teeth, she can't bring herself to answer joohyun. instead, she withdraws her spears from ryujin and reconnects them into one. brandishing her weapon, it forces joohyun to back away fearfully, her bravery waning with every step backwards.

"i'm sorry," yongsun whispers, "it was my mistake to get close in the first place. forgive me. joohyun."

the ring in her palm begins to burn, almost as if it's desperately trying to get her attention. still locking her gaze onto the angel, joohyun declares with determination.

"seungwan won't let you kill me."

i’m still married to the devil, remember?

joohyun’s voice cuts through the forlorn music and seungwan sits up immediately — is she hallucinating? it’s hard to say. she remains on edge as she tries to catch another instance of her voice again.

“what’s wrong?” seulgi hurries towards her with yerim following closely behind.

“i heard joohyun.” she mutters in a breathy whisper. wiping her tears away with the back of her hands, seungwan turns to her friends, "where's leliel?"

the two demons shrug and yerim replies, "we haven't seen her since you crashed into hell, she said she was going to talk to joohyun."

seungwan can't ignore the sinking feeling in her gut, her instincts are screaming that something is wrong. she knows joohyun threw the ring out, leliel found it and tried to return it but she told the angel to hold onto it. if joohyun has the ring now, that would mean leliel told her the truth about her identity which could put her in a lot of danger.

why, yong? why did you get close?

joohyun's voice interrupts her thoughts once again. , she's not hallucinating. joohyun is holding onto her ring, and she's with sahaquiel. pushing her anguish aside, she has more important things to be concerned about.

"i need you guys to find leliel," seungwan orders as she breaks out of her blanket burrito, "if they fought, she could be in the far shore."

"wait, why? what's going on?" seulgi stops her quickly, demanding an explanation.

her friends can't hear the conversation but the voices of joohyun and sahaquiel fill her head. they're talking and seungwan falls silent to listen — joohyun's path was altered because of the fates, she should thank the crones the next time she sees them.

"yah, what's going on?" a foot meets her shin and the devil snaps out of her reverie with a wince.

"joohyun is confronting sahaquiel about her past," seungwan informs, "now go and get leliel before sahaquiel does anything!"

neither demon budges, they look skeptical of the devil's demands, what if this is just an excuse for her to hurt herself again? 

seulgi folds her arms across her chest, "if you're going to fight an angel, yerim should stay with you."

"i'll be fine, go get the other angel."

"seulgi's right, what if she kills you?"

"i will bring burger—"

joohyun's voice interrupts her midway again — what did seungwan ever do? she can't help but grin, things are turning in her favour. oh, sahaquiel would've never expected this, huh?

yerim sighs loudly and yanks seulgi by the arm, "let's go, she's clearly having a good time eavesdropping."

the two teleport away while she summons burger with a shrill whistle, she continues listening while tapping a foot anxiously against the carpeted ground. sahaquiel talks about their destruction, fair enough, she isn't entirely wrong but perhaps a little misinformed. burger appears as joohyun demands an answer from the angel.

what did we do this time?

the grin on her cheeks could not be any bigger, jumping up on her feet, she punches the air with delight and hoots loudly. burger doesn't understand the situation, but he joins her by howling and seungwan wraps her hound in a big hug.

"she's defending me! us! hell, i wanna kiss her so bad!" seungwan squeals before casting her eyes skyward and pointing a finger at the ceiling, "that's my girl!"

she waits through a beat of silence and mounts her hound when sahaquiel begins to speak. she threatens joohyun and seungwan begins to feel the anxiety seeping in, she's cutting it real close by waiting in hell but a grand entrance is the first step to winning a fight. murmuring a silent apology to joohyun, she begins her ascent when she hears the words of her charge.

seungwan won't let you kill me.

that's everything she needs to hear to know that joohyun needs her.

"wahooooooo!"

the entirety of hell notices lucifer and her howling hound ascending to the mortal realm and despite not understanding why, they cheer and hoot as she passes by each circle. 

it's a good day to be reunited with her lover's soul.

"you have too much faith in her," the seraph clamps her lips into a thin line, "you have no idea how many times i've killed you even with her around."

"you won't succeed again."

just as yongsun begins to raise her spear, the ground beneath them begins to split and joohyun recognizes what that means almost immediately. she jumps back to give the devil and her blazing hound some space and a mix of satisfaction and relief wash over her. seungwan slides off her dog and shoots joohyun a reassuring smile.

"i heard everything and it was kinda hot with how you defended me." she beams widely as she pushes joohyun behind her, "now let me defend you too."

yongsun interrupts their reunion by ing her spear with the intention to wound the devil, but with burger around, he does a good job of protecting the two. biting down, he stops the spear and sends it flying into some debris, causing the angel to click her teeth sharply.

sahaquiel doesn't stop there, she retracts her weapon and splits it into five once again. a staccato of spears laced with the murderous intent of a jilted angel threatens to take her out, but seungwan won't let her win so easily. using her hellfire, the devil deflects every single one with ease, causing them to clatter to the ground noisily. 

"not so strong without a horde of cherubims, huh?" seungwan taunts, "or have you forgotten what i become when i'm with her?"

the seraph grunts in annoyance and begins to pull her hood off, to which, seungwan reacts promptly by throwing joohyun over her shoulder. the world spins as they teleport back to where sooyoung had been watching everything unfold a dropped jaw.

"whatever you do, don't look unless you want to be blinded by an angel's halo." seungwan warns before she cranes her neck and whistles loudly, "burger will keep you guys safe."

the hound appears moments later with an unconscious ryujin and stands over the trio protectively. feeling satisfied, seungwan turns to leave but not before locking eyes with joohyun.

"i'm sorry i came back, but i can't let her kill you."

it's a surprisingly tender moment, and joohyun shakes her head after a beat of silence. "i should be the one apologizing, seungwan. i'm sorry, and i'm glad you came back."

"you owe me balloons now."

a soft chuckle slips from joohyun and she nods, "sure, in every shape and color you could possibly want."

a loud explosion interrupts their conversation and burger shields them from the shockwaves, keeping them out of harm's way. the angel shedding her human form draws the devil's attention back to the matter at hand — sahaquiel, who has now transformed into the colossal celestial that seungwan is familiar with. never a pleasure to fight a fellow seraph and seungwan isn't sure if they are even on par anymore, but losing now will make her look bad in front of joohyun, and that is more than enough motivation for her.

"don't look even if you're curious, i can't cure blindness caused by divinity." seungwan reminds them though she says it whilst eyeing sooyoung, her horns begin to appear and she turns to look at her charge with her signature smirk, "and joohyun? don't miss me, i'll be back soon."

end notes:

y'know, every time i mention anything about my writing speed, i end up churning a chapter out faster than expected. i wrote this entire chapter to yeppi yeppi, from the fighting scenes to the confrontation, yeppi yeppi happy virus!!!
i've only ever written fight scenes for my OCs and that hasn't been seen by anyone at all, so i have no clue how this chapter sounds to u guys. might be cringe, i think it's cringe, it sounds like one of my own personal stories and i'm just like... ew...
also, joohyun's confrontation with sahaquiel, i hope it makes sense LOL... my brain is kinda all over the place with what i've written in vs what i haven't.
mildly iffy chapter but i think seeing joohyun side with seungwan really satisfying.