“Ah, it just looks like a stone bruise,” Kyuhyun stated as he examined the bottom Yesung’s foot up close. He’d forgotten to check it out last night with his flashlight, but since it was daylight now, he could see better and didn’t have to strain his eyes. Yesung was still limping but not as much as he was the day before, and Kyuhyun could see why the angel would be limping, and his mind totally did not go back to the actions of his dream. He had stone bruises on both his feet, right on the heels, so each time he stepped down, it would be adding pressure and causing it to hurt that much more.

“A stone bruise?” The angel questioned, he’d never heard of that before.

“Yeah, you can get them by walking on rocks barefooted, which we really need to get you some shoes when we get to the village. But this is nothing serious, the bruises will hurt but if you don’t put too much pressure on your heels, then they’ll heal up just like any other bruise,” Kyuhyun explained, letting go of Yesung’s foot.

He glanced over to see Donghae and Eunhyuk already packed up and ready to head out, so he squatted down in front of Yesung again, and offered his back. He wasn’t going to waste anytime with seeing if Yesung could keep up on his own. He wanted to get back to the village and out of the woods, he was seriously starting to miss the comfort of resting on a bed right now, and he definitely needed a shower.

With the help of Donghae studying the map to find out exactly where they were and where to go, they made it back on the path that they followed the two men from before up to the temple, and it wasn’t long before the sight of the village became visible. They made it out of the woods close to the evening hours, but they finally arrived at the village. On their way to one of the hotels, Kyuhyun noticed the several people throughout the village staring at the angel that he was still carrying. He wondered if they were just staring because of Yesung’s beauty or if they were staring because they knew what he was.

He tried to pay no mind to it, instead, keeping a firmer grip on Yesung’s thighs. They were back in civilization now, and any one of the people throughout the village could be another hunter looking for the angel. He wasn’t going to let anyone take Yesung without a fight.

When they found a nearby hotel and after they checked in, Kyuhyun didn’t even care if he had to share a room or bed with Yesung, as soon as he opened the door to the room, closing it and locking it behind him, he sat Yesung down in one of the chairs before he fell down on the bed, his face snuggling into the softness of the pillows and the blanket. He sighed in contentment and was close to just drifting off to sleep, until Yesung spoke up. The first time since he uttered something since they arrived in town, Kyuhyun figured the angel wouldn’t have shut up for a second once he saw all the buildings, shops, and people throughout the village, but the angel stayed quiet.

“Are you going to sleep? I thought you were going to get shoes for me…” he heard the pout in the angel’s voice, but he brushed it off with as much of a shrug as he could care to manage while still lying on the bed.

“We’ll do it later, rest is needed right now,” Kyuhyun replied.

Yesung was quiet for a moment then asked, “If you’re just going back to sleep, then can I go and stay with Donghae and Eunhyuk?”

“No,” Kyuhyun hummed, before mumbling, his mind slipping away to dreamland, “Too many dangers might be in the hallways. Safe here. Not out there.”

“No fun at all,” Yesung muttered then sighed, but he decided to join the man on the bed, even if Kyuhyun was taking up most of the double bed.

He lied down and listened to the snoring coming from Kyuhyun as he wondered where he would be taken to. Would he be forced back to sleep once he arrived at that destination? Would one of the council members come down and cast the spell back on him and set another shadow as his guard? He wasn’t going to argue against it, he was just curious. He also wondered what his three protectors would be doing next after they completed their task.

The questions that Donghae and Eunhyuk were asking last night didn’t make sense to him; they weren’t supposed to question the orders of the council or the council’s judgment. It wasn’t anyone’s place to question it, it was just given and that was the end of the story. There was no room for pleading or trying to defend yourself. The council thought of the good of everyone, and if your sentence was for the good of the rest of the multitude then so be it.

Then his thoughts drifted back to the memories of his past and the torture that he went through. He wondered if the man was still alive, he couldn’t exactly remember the man’s name, but he could still see that face, those eyes that bore into his, that cruel smile that seemed to mock his misery, and that look on his face every time he took Yesung, almost like a wild beast.

It’d been ten years since he was put to sleep for his punishment and in that time, he never once dreamt about the man, he never once thought of the man, and for that he was grateful. He didn’t want to be tortured for all eternity with the man in his memory. He assumed that the council took pity on him to keep that from resurfacing.

His mind slowly gave way to sleep, his thoughts finally calming down.

When he woke up several hours later, the room was completely dark. Yesung glanced over at the side of the bed where Kyuhyun was lying earlier to find it empty. He looked around the room and saw a light coming from the crack of one of the doors in the room. He assumed that Kyuhyun must’ve been in there.

Getting up from the bed, he rubbed at his face then limped over towards the door. He wasn’t sore anymore from the actions he and the hunter did, instead the bruises on his heels hurt. Kyuhyun was right about them being painful, so he tried to keep as much pressure off his heels as he could when he took a step.

He reached the door and pushed it open. Inside was Kyuhyun bent over the sink, his back was bare but he still had his jeans on. The man’s hands were splashing some of the running water onto his face. Yesung looked around the room and realized that it was the bathroom; he quickly closed the door, and retreated back to the bed, he didn’t know if the man was finished in the room or not.

He decided to wait until Kyuhyun came out to ask him again about getting him some shoes. He heard the water shut off, then footsteps against the tile floor, the light shut off and the door opened. Kyuhyun was still shirtless, which Yesung tried to pay no attention to, but he couldn’t stop his eyes from taking peeks at the man’s chest.

“Oh, you’re awake,” Kyuhyun’s voice caused Yesung to jump, his eyes snapping up to meet Kyuhyun’s instead of continuing to trail down his chest.

“Y-Yeah, I just woke up a few minutes ago. Are we going to get my shoes now?” Yesung asked, excitedly.

He heard the man sigh, “Not tonight, the shops are probably all closed, it’s already after midnight. Are your feet still hurting?”

Yesung nodded, “Yes, that’s why I want the shoes so that they’ll make them better.”

Kyuhyun chuckled, “The shoes won’t make your feet better, they’ll only prevent you from getting any more stone bruises.”

“Oh… well what would make them feel better?”

“Not walking on them, and I’ve heard this hotel has a bathhouse on the first floor, if you’d like, we could go down there and soak in some hot water. That usually soothes any aches or pains.” Kyuhyun stated, walking back into the bathroom to grab his shirt. “I could definitely use a hot bath for my back and shoulders since I slept against all those trees in the woods.”

“Alright, will there be other people there though?” Yesung quietly asked.

Kyuhyun’s eyebrow rose in confusion at the question, then he thought of the time, “I don’t think there would be other people around, it’s already late. Most would be asleep in bed right now.”

The angel nodded, “Okay.”

With the help of leaning against Kyuhyun, the two walked down to the first floor of the hotel and found the bathhouse. When they entered, the room was completely vacant, a relief for Yesung, while Kyuhyun really didn’t care if there was other people there or not. It turned out that the hotel must’ve been built around a natural spring because the bath was actually a big pool of water surrounded by medium-sized rocks; steam rose up from the hot water.

“Wow, that’s a big bathtub,” Yesung stared at it in amazement. “Are all bathtubs usually that big?”

Kyuhyun shook his head, “It’s not really a bathtub, it’s a spring. I’m guessing the hotel must’ve built around it. If that’s the case, the water should have a lot of minerals that are good for your skin.”

“But would it heal my bruise?” Yesung asked, hesitantly stripping down when he saw Kyuhyun taking off his shirt.

“No, not in the quick sense you’re hoping for,” Kyuhyun replied, slipping his pants and underwear off then quickly got into the water. He sighed in contentment as the hot water covered his body, he moved around until he found a shallow spot where he could sit down at.

Yesung hesitated at removing his pants but when he saw Kyuhyun’s eyes closed and his head lied back against one of the rocks, he quickly took them off and made his way to get into the water. He stuck his foot in and gasped at the hotness of the water.

“Kyuhyun, it’s really hot. How can you stand it?”

“Actually I’m sitting down, Yesung, I’m not really standing it,” he chuckled at his own joke, before hearing Yesung whine. “Just get—” he was about to say ‘in’ when he opened his eyes and caught the sight of the angel. He froze, tongue-tied and just stared at the angel’s skin, staring at those legs as Yesung moved one to dip his other foot into the water before jerking it back out, whining again. He didn’t hear the angel’s voice anymore, too caught up in all that skin showing.

“It’s too hot for me,” Yesung crossed his arms and plopped down on one of the rocks, Kyuhyun’s view getting cut off.

He shook his head, trying to think straight as he opened his mouth to reply, “I-I, uh… j-just barely stick your f-feet into the water, let them get used to the temperature and just work your way up until you’re all the way in.”

Yesung did as he was told, moving to the edge of the rock and dipping the bottom of his feet into the water, squeezing his eyes shut as he tried to deal with the hot water.

Kyuhyun decided to take pity on him and try to get his mind off the water so he could subconsciously adjust to it. “So why were you worried about there being people down here earlier?”

Yesung’s eyes opened in surprise at the question, “Huh? Oh, um, I… I’m a bit scared of people. I haven’t had the best history with humans that I interact with.”

“But you’re here with me, and you’re okay with Donghae and Eunhyuk.”

“Well, you’re my protectors; I don’t fear you because I know you wouldn’t harm me,” Yesung replied, to which Kyuhyun shrugged in understanding. Although he felt guilty about his lie now, Yesung would be devastated when he realized that Kyuhyun had lied to him this whole time, but he shook it off, he tried not thinking about that.

“And I’ve had some bad encounters with people, those four men that were in my chambers when I awoke, I knew their intentions. I knew that they wanted to hurt me, even though I was more powerful than them, I was still scared of them. And from what you told me after that, I had reason to be since those men had a weapon strong enough to defeat the shadow,” Yesung continued, and it didn’t look like he’d noticed the progress that he was making, but Kyuhyun watched as the angel’s feet slowly submerged into the water, his legs following after until they stopped at his knees.

Kyuhyun nodded, adding, “Yeah, that wouldn’t have been a pretty sight. They probably would’ve killed you with that weapon too.”

“Yeah, so I’m grateful for you three for saving me from them and keeping me safe so far. But they weren’t the only ones that made me scared of people. The only other human that I had ever interacted with, aside from leading other people’s souls to the afterlife, he hurt me in one of the worst ways.”

The hunter knew who he was talking about; it was the same man that the angel talked about last night to Donghae and Eunhyuk. The man that Kyuhyun really hoped was not their employer but very well could be Mr. Choi. It was evident from the look on Yesung’s face that he still feared the man.

He didn’t know what to say to Yesung, he didn’t want to ask for the angel to elaborate because he didn’t want to lose his lunch again when Yesung told him, but he didn’t want to say that he knew what the angel was talking about because Yesung didn’t know that he was awake last night and heard him talking about it. So instead he shrugged it off and decided to change the subject. Standing up from where he was, he waded over to the angel, extending a hand to him, catching Yesung off guard.

“Try to come out further into the water now. It shouldn’t be so hard now that your legs have adjusted to the temperature,” he instructed, surprising Yesung.

He looked down at his legs and sure enough, they were covered by the water and the water was starting to feel good. He placed his hand in Kyuhyun’s and moved to get into the water. A blush claimed his cheeks as he tried to shield himself with the other hand but Kyuhyun quickly turned his head away, allowing the angel some privacy, his cheeks slightly tinted red.

“Ah, ahhh!” Yesung squeaked as soon as the water came up to his chest. His skin tingled; it felt like he was burning, the steam coming up from the water and hitting his face was causing him to start sweating. “It’s still too hot!”

But just as he moved to get back out, Kyuhyun’s hand tightened around his, keeping him there. “You’ll get used to it, Yesung, just chill.”

“I can’t chill if I’m standing in a pool of hot lava!” He exclaimed, but Kyuhyun just dragged him further out into the spring.

“Seriously, it’s not that hot. Just relax,” the hunter said, leading them to the area he was sitting down in. He pushed Yesung to sit down as he did the same, finally letting go of the angel’s hand. “Try sitting down and just relaxing. Close your eyes and take deep breaths. You’ll feel a lot better.”

Yesung did as he was told, but not before mumbling, “I’ll feel a lot better being outside of this pool of lava.” He closed his eyes, and took a deep breath, and maybe it was because of the steam that he just inhaled messing with his brain, but he did feel a little better, the water didn’t seem as hot now.

His head rested back against the rock behind him, much like how he saw Kyuhyun earlier and as his body started adjusting to the temperature, he could feel himself start to relax. 

“See? It’s not all that bad, is it?” Kyuhyun asked, watching the angel’s face for any sign of discomfort for a few minutes, but saw none anymore.

“Well… it is rather nice,” Yesung replied, his eyes opening to look up at Kyuhyun, a drowsy smile claiming his lips. “I think I could fall asleep again though.”

“Well don’t; I don’t want to have to carry you to the room. I’ve been carrying you all day and yesterday.”

Yesung nodded, his eyes closing for a moment before they opened back up, “Thank you for that, Kyuhyun. I, uh, I just wish I didn’t slow you down. I’m surprised my own healing hadn’t kicked in yet and gotten rid of these bruises and everything.”

Kyuhyun’s eyes widened, and he was speechless for a moment. The reason why Yesung’s healing wasn’t taking affect was because of the necklace, he couldn’t have the angel take it off just to heal or else he’d know something was up about the device and the fact that Kyuhyun needed him to wear it. Not only that, Kyuhyun actually had a chance of surviving if Yesung got pissed off at him and tried to kill him like those other four men, the necklace would serve as the hunter’s advantage then.

“Maybe since you were asleep for so long, it’s taking awhile for all your powers to wake up too?” Kyuhyun suggested.

“Maybe so…” the angel mumbled, his eyes closed again and his face completely relaxed. “You were right, Kyuhyun, this is relaxing.”

“Told you so,” the hunter leaned his head back against the rock, his eyes closing as well. He knew that they would have to get out of the water soon; his fingers were already starting to get wrinkly and his back and shoulders weren’t hurting anymore. “We’ll go get your shoes tomorrow morning before we leave for the next city, alright?”

Kyuhyun didn’t get a response from the angel, and after a moment, he opened his eyes to look over at the angel only to find that Yesung had fallen asleep.  “Yesung?” When the angel didn’t stir, he cursed, “Aish, I told you not to fall asleep and yet you did anyway.” He shook Yesung’s shoulder, “Wake up or I’m going to leave you here.”

All he got was a whiny protest before he stopped shaking the angel and then snoring filled the air. He sighed to himself and finally decided that it was time to drag himself out of the water now, along with trying to pull a sleeping Yesung behind him. Once he got both of themselves out of the water, he walked over to the cabinets across the room to find some towels to dry himself off, he wasn’t too sure about doing the same to the angel, but when he found some bath robes hanging up with the towels, he decided he’d just throw one of those on the angel and be on his way.

He quickly dried off and got dressed then wrapped the bath robe around Yesung; he tried not to let his eyes wander while he did so but every few seconds they’d move back over that skin until he covered it all up and tied the robe at the front. When he tried picking the angel up, he heard Yesung mumbling something then it was quiet again as he settled him on his back, except for him snoring. Trudging back up to the room with the angel in tow, he plopped Yesung down on the bed, still wrapped in the robe, and covered him with the blanket then took off his shirt and settled down on the bed as well.

Feeling relaxed from being in the hot spring and the softness of the bed that he’d missed, Kyuhyun was slowly lulled to sleep listening to Yesung’s snoring.