( "Remember the Fallen" --put on repeat )

SangJung’s mother passed away when he was eight. A Ritro had bitten into her on a scouting and her group hadn’t made it back in time to extract it or have aid. Before they could make it back, she died a quarter mile away from the prison borders.

It made SangJung see less of his parents, altogether. His mother was the one who cared for him while his father was busy running the prison. It wasn’t rare to see him, but it wasn’t frequent either. SangJung was left to grow up with kids who had no parents—who were forced in. He sympathized with them, but he always fought on how he loved it here while they hated it. He couldn’t understand them; this was for the good of mankind. They were just selfish.

When SangJung was twenty-three, his father passed away by illness. That left him to run the prison, along with the help of his mentor, Kapsoo. The two weren’t technically friends, but they were close enough to have good chats and friendly drinks together as they ruled over everyone else.

SangJung had still kept his secret from everyone about Trinity. He hadn’t even told Kapsoo, afraid the elder could rip his title away. He couldn’t let that happen; he already shamed his ancestors by falling in love with a creature. They already wanted his title ripped away, but he wouldn’t allow it. This was his right. He grew up to be this. No one was taking this away from him and whoever tried would be killed.

And he really didn’t want to murder his closest companion.

SangJung had Trinity transferred into the reconstructed wing of the prison; it was much more comfy than the dingy gross ones she’d lived in for years.

Day by day, Trinity’s coldness towards SangJung crumbled. The creatures around her clearly scolded her for letting him in to her life and began ignoring her because she was a disgrace to her ancestors.

SangJung had overheard the creatures telling tales of ancient times of Trinity’s past; where Trinity came from and why she was important.

SangJung would watch as she’d recoil from the word ‘Royalty’ even though she was not to be a Queen. Trinity expressed her dismay and hatred for herself just by attempting to rip her wings away or prevent her marks from appearing. He’d find her crying and curing at herself about who she was and who she wanted to be.

And SangJung wanted to make her stop crying.

It was the middle of the night and SangJung expressed to the peers around him he needed to go to the other side of the building to take care of more business regarding reconstruction of another wing.

Sneakily, he went on his way to Trinity’s room with a water bottle in his hand, discarding the cameras; workers in the security room had a midnight break because statistics showed break outs or issues rarely occurred in the night. So this was his only chance to see Trinity without being caught.

He unlocked her door and stepped inside, finding her awake like always. She was leaning by the barred window, staring at the glowing sign on her wrist, almost clawing it away.

  “Don’t do that,” SangJung said to her, walking up and carefully pulled her wrist away from he arm, “Don’t hurt yourself.”

She sighed, looking out the barred window without a gleam of the moon in her eyes, “I want it gone.”

SangJung put the water bottle in her hand to prevent her to try again and took the blanket off her bed, trying to wrap it around her shoulders, “It’s cold. Why don’t you have your winter uniform on?”

  “They not replace,” Trinity looked at him, “Do not matter. I am not cold.”

SangJung sighed, “Will you at least sit?”

Trinity understood what he asked and sat on the mattress, SangJung following next to her.

  “Look,” SangJung rubbed his hands together, “It will hurt, but I can make them all go away,” he promised her, “I can make that thing on your wrist go. I can make your wings never grow. You won’t ever turn into a monster again. Give me time,” he spoke slowly so she understood.

Trinity opened the water bottle and took small sips from it before looking at SangJung, “They kill you before you do me kindness.”

  “They can try, but they won’t win,” he assured, “I will give you happiness, Trinity.”

Trinity put the bottle down and hesitantly took his hands, “I . . . do not doubt.”

SangJung didn’t control himself and kissed Trinity on the spot, not letting her take it in slowly. She jumped from his sudden gesture, but she never pulled back; if anything, she returned the gesture. It gave SangJung the motivation he needed to keep trying to make sure she’s safe and got what she wanted. She was the only one he cared about, monster or not. No one else mattered; they could all die, for all he cared. As long as she was alive, he would be able to function.

Trinity let SangJung into her life slowly. She was so jumbled up between his kindness and figuring herself out.

He treated her like she was equal and found it that he never changed. He couldn’t be joking with her, he had to have some sort of interest in her socially; or so she wanted to think.

Years would pass and Trinity would spend her time waiting for SangJung to come and talk with her, even sometimes holding her hand or brushing her hair away. She began craving his attention to the point she would return the same gestures and actually like it. SangJung was the only true kind being in this prison and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

There was one woman, though. A Warrant that spoke to her about how it wasn’t wrong of her to fall in love with a human, but fall out of love with who she was. She warned her many times that if she wouldn’t accept being a Daegrent, the rest of her life would remain lifeless. She would pity herself, hate herself much more, and beg for it all to end no matter how much she loved SangJung.

Trinity ignored the woman blatantly. She would never love being a Daegrent as long as she lived. She wouldn’t even love the long-life benefits and staying young because SangJung was going to pass someday. She wanted to pass on with him, too. Sealing up the Daegrent would give her the life span of a human, thankfully.

She couldn’t live without SangJung, and she was set on it.

  “I know, SangJung,” Kapsoo said, arms crossed, “I know about your infatuation with her.”

SangJung looked up from a paper he was reading, nonchalantly asking, “What?”

  “The Daegrent,” Kapsoo raised his brows, pulling up a chair and sitting on it, “You really think you could hide it from me? From all of us?”

SangJung put down the paper and leaned back in his chair defiantly, “And so what, Kapsoo?”

  “You know no one likes this.”

SangJung scoffed, “They’re not running a ing prison, so I don’t give a damn about what they like. It’s about what I like and that’s only how it goes. You going to do something?”

  “No,” Kapsoo shook his head, amused with SangJung’s anger, “I want to see how your plans work out. You know, your little plan to make her human? Seal her up? I’m very interested in the results.”

SangJung raised an eyebrow, “Is that the only reason you like anything? See the psychological effects of things?”

  “You should know me.”

SangJung sighed and rubbed his face, “Alright, then. As long as you don’t object, I don’t care about what you do.”

Kapsoo stared at SangJung in thought, rubbing his chin after examining the younger, “You’ve been stressed out, lately.”

  “Nothing I can’t handle,” He picked up the stack of papers and took swift looks at them, “I was raised for this. Just pacing myself.”

It was a month after Trinity had the Daegrent burned away from her and it took that whole month to recover. The sealing of her wings was much more painful than burning the skin over her sign. It was like being branded all over again, but instead, the heat traveled through her body to the tissues that her wings used to transform into. It felt like the feathers were being burned by the stem and she couldn’t move for weeks after it.

When the recovery was finally over, Trinity felt as happy as she could ever be. She was human now; no longer one of those things.

The look of smeared skin on her wrist slightly sickened her to look at, but she was learning she had to live with it. It was worth it as long she lost the title of being a monster.

Her wings may have been burned, but the six-inch marks remained as dark burned lines that would soon turn to scar lines one day. They were still tender to touch but they were also rough. She would have to live with knowing there would always be a reminder on her back.

But she was still happy.

SangJung seemed even happier, too. They were both finally on the same level and it made everything better for the growing relationship they had. SangJung even let her work instead of sitting around all day. She didn’t have to deal with those creatures, but sit behind a desk in the front of the prison and file papers and make plans for each creature. It may have been painful to write the official document to sentence creatures to death, but she was still glad it wasn’t her in that line.

Most nights SangJung would force himself out of work and take Trinity to his room where they spent quality time without having to be watched by the various eyes. Trinity couldn’t be more happy and felt like she was treated like a queen. The relief of having her new life reminded her every day how much it was worth it to be in this place, now. SangJung was the best to her and she knew she’d remaind happy in here.

A decade passed and Trinity’s thoughts from her younger years haunted her. As time when on, slowly, SangJung was becoming more and more busy and gave more devotion to his work than to her.

She felt left out most times, even after the night was spent with him.

He changed; he grew more mature than she thought he ever would and became strict. Of course, he softened up around her, but he had a cold and tired look to him that Trinity didn’t like.

  “You not same!” Trinity yelled at him, throwing a glass at the wall, “You not who I met!”

SangJung grabbed Trinity’s wrist roughly, “You have no idea what I put up with every day. Grow up, Trinity. The world won’t stop for us to stay young. You gave into that. You expected this!”

  “I not expect you to stop caring,” she screamed at him, thrashing her wrist away and pushing him back, “Who are you?!”

SangJung backed her up to the wall and spoke in her face, “Quit screaming at me! The world isn’t flowers and sunshine, get the hell used to it! You knew this from the day you let me burn that thing out of you! You want to take it back? You want to be a ing disgrace? You ing lost that privilege. Why don’t you go back to who you were and be flexible!”

Trinity shrank at each swear within the insult, clenching her jaw as she refused to back down, “I am exactly the same. Why do you not go back to who you were?!”

SangJung hit the wall by her head before moving himself from her, “I swear to God, Trinity, you’re asking for it.”

  “Go ahead,” Trinity spat at him, “I dare you to prove you like them. Relentless and monstrous! Go ahead. Why do I not burn off your humanity and show you what it like!”

SangJung glared at her, his fist shaking as he strode up to her, but stopped, shaking his head and turning away and out of the room, slamming the door shut, the sounds of locking following.

Trinity finally cried and slid to the floor, covering her face with her hands. She asked herself why she did this to herself. Why did she let her petty infatuation sidetrack her from reality? He was nothing that she used to love. It was too hard to even think she could even try to accept who this person was.

She would rather writhe in pain of knowing she was a monster than know she gave it up for a man that was awful.

By night, Trinity crawled up into a corner, not able to fit in it like she used to. She wanted to be back in the dingy cell rather than sleep on a cushiony bed he shared with her. Her eyes were red all day and her face felt so swollen up. She felt like a mess and wish she didn’t.

The door unlocked and SanJung walked in, breathing out heavily as he saw the room was dark. Confused, he flipped on the light, “Trinity?”

He saw her in the corner, huddled to herself in sleep. His heart dropped and walked over to her, confirming she was actually sleeping the way she used to.

He picked her up carefully, placing her on their bed and she snuggled up to the soft blanket with a sigh.

Instead of joining her, he pulled up a chair and watched her. He thought about the way he’s been acting and how it affects her, and surely, if he went to Kapsoo, the elder would give him much more detail about it.

SangJung rubbed his face, revisiting how their fight almost turned him violent enough to hit her. To really turn him into one of those things. He knew Trinity may be distressed about sealing something she was born with, but he wouldn’t expect her to almost sound like she wanted to go back. He even almost encouraged her.

He slapped himself in the face to wake up. To realize if he was so bad that she wanted to go back, he had to change that. No, she couldn’t go back. Not after everything they’ve been through together. He’s just been doing wrong. He had to fix it.

Years proceeded and SangJung managed to lighten up more to Trinity. Of course, they’d fight about everything every so often, but SangJung seemed less of the monster she was seeing.

And yet, she still wasn’t happy. She didn’t know if it was even possible, but something inside her screamed to be let out. Plead to be released behind the bars.

Trinity would find herself crying in their room every night because SangJung never had time to sleep during night. During the time, she spent it feeling awful for cutting something away from herself; from her own family. She was a disgrace to her family, she realized. Her happiness meant nothing now; with her happiness wearing away, she could see what she really wanted and really regretted what she had done to herself—done to the past generations.

She should’ve listened to the Warrant and refrained from selfishness of her ignorance.

Whenever she ran her hand over the burnt wrist, she’d cry all over again, feeling so torn apart an disconnected with herself. When she felt the six-inch scars pressed against the wall, she felt herself wanting to rip away the skin to let the wings free. To flap and tear the room apart.

SangJung had seen the difference in Trinity’s behavior and grew cautious. She wavered sometimes with humanity and he felt like he trusted her less. She could do something. Anything.

That’s why he put the tracker on her ankle.

  “Safety purposes,” he told her gently, making it lock in place, “We have that new species you’ve been seeing in the papers. I want to make sure wherever you go, they won’t be there. When they realize who you were, they’d kill you in an instant.”

Trinity wasn’t fooled by it. She knew exactly what he was doing and she hated him for it. He was in too much control—he was leveling himself back down with the disgraces of the earth. She lost respect for him, but she learned she had to cover it up.

She had to pretend she was alright. Then he would keep less of an eye on her.

Trinity had felt hope strike her hard when a Daegrent entered the building years after. It could’ve been anyone, but this boy specifically, had the ambition to get out. He had what it takes to defy SangJung and his horrid ways.

She wished she could come in contact with him some way, but she was far too limited to access. She had to wait. She had to wait until this boy would step up to it and do her a favor.

SangJung was sweet to Trinity, and she reciprocated. She couldn’t deny she still had love in her heart for him, but it was still too hard to say she felt just as much love as he did for her. Or did he even love her much after all this time?

  “I love you,” SangJung held her hands, “And I’m sorry I’m an . I’m just. . .”

  “Stressed,” Trinity repeated what he said thousands of times, “I know you are stressed.”

SangJung nodded, “I really am sorry,” he kissed her momentarily, “But I need to go—”

  “Take care of thing, yes, I know,” she retracted from his touch and opened the door, “I have things to care of too.”

She left him behind as she went to the front of the building to her desk. She didn’t want to touch SangJung, but at the same time, she still wanted to, SangJung had too much blood on his hands—the blood of Minho on his hands—and it bothered her as much as it did about being human.

She focused on how that day after purposely replacing Kibum’s flowers and headstone to see Minho, she told him what he needed most. She knew he’d be clueless, but she couldn’t give away much. Kapsoo could get her to tell the truth in a snap. . . and then SangJung would snap her.

It hurt to fear the one she loved.

But she hoped at least they’d burn together.

----Note~----

Explain a lot?

They were so good to each other too. ;o;

Why do I do this. I'm like... walking-angst here. NOTHING CAN BE HAPPY.

Yes but here we are. The point Trinity is done with lifeeee.

Hope you enjoyed!

~FlaMinhoe