Chapter 10. You Can Keep Them

“So this is the angel?” a female strained voiced asked, Seungri jerked his head up from where he was preparing what few he knew about comestible wild herbs.

There were three demons standing at the edge of the clearing. The female had short blonde hair and had a limp that she tried hard to conceal with fake arrogance in her posture. Behind her there was a smaller demon, staring at the female’s right leg with concern. He approached at times to help her only to be refused by her with a scorn.

“You are pretty,” the female demon continued, “And your wings too,” she sneered, which got cut off by a treacherous moan when she stepped wrong with her hurt leg, “Damn it,” she whispered and let herself fall to the ground. She looked at her leg and slumped her shoulders down.

“Aigiel,” the third demon said suddenly by his side and Seungri tried not to blush at the way his wings squirmed and jumped in complete surprise. When or how had the demon got so close to him without him noticing, was a mystery. Aigiel, as the demon had said was his name, stood still waiting with his hand stretched and an unnatural smile on his face. He even seemed curious by the way his eyes were flickering and his wings kept moving up and down, Seungri thought, while extending back his hand.

“S-Seungri.”

Jiyong appeared then from behind the trees. There was a different feeling about him. Seungri studied his steps, his gestures. He should be embarrassed by how shamelessly he was staring at the demon. But Seungri wanted to know more, so much more about Jiyong. Jiyong though, walked straight were the female demon was now unwrapping a dirty piece of cloth from her leg and kneeled in front of her, next to the demon with the strange Mohawk whose name Seungri still didn’t know.

“How’s your leg?” Jiyong’s hand moved expertly, unwrapping and touching with a gentleness he usually didn’t show.

SooJoo gasped at times, and yet she was able to maintain the rude façade around her, spitting bad words and blaspheming when the demon next to Jiyong started rubbing something over her damaged skin. Seungri stood up cautiously and approached, trying to get unnoticed. But as if the female demon had the fifth sense, she opened her eyes and focused on him. Seungri stopped, expecting some harsh words, but SooJoo simply looked at him, in silence, as if seeing through him.

“There is too many damaged skin,” the demon with the Mohawk said, shaking his head and looking utterly scared, “I’m not sure I can’t save this. It’s too damaged.”

“Was it white smoke?” Jiyong asked, never faltering in his movements. SooJoo gasped once more and closed her eyes, letting out a deep painful whine.

“They saw us flying away,” the demon nodded, “They threw it at us.”

Jiyong nodded and finished rubbing the rest of the strange ointment over SooJoo’s skin, “I have to wrap it back. It can get infected,” he asked, more than said, to his friend. SooJoo muttered something and let his head fall backward. There were tears running down her face.

“Just do it.”

The next painful whine pulled Seungri into action. He ran and kneeled next to SooJoo and grabbed her from her shoulders. The female demon did nothing to stop him. She was sweating and gasping for air every time Jiyong pressed over the singeing skin. Seungri pulled her down and rested her head on his lap, and in a strange need to ease her pain; he wrapped her with his wings.

It wasn’t until he noticed there was no longer movement down SooJoo’s leg when he raised his head. Jiyong and the other demon were looking at him with their mouths slightly open. Seungri blushed and looked down, comforting the other demon and caressing her face and sides with his wings until she fell in deep slumber.

They finished wrapping her leg and Youngbae, as the demon introduced himself, helped him move an unconscious SooJoo to an improvised mat. Jiyong flew away as soon as they had finished, wings and shoulders tense and a face contorted in sadness. Seungri had stared at the moving away figure until it had disappeared behind the treetops.

“Thank you,” Youngbae said by his side, sitting next to SooJoo and running a hand through her hair, “She has been hiding her pain for a long while. It’s the first time I’ve seen her this relaxed.”

Seungri nodded his head and sat down, further away from both demons. At the closest treetop, Aigiel was looking at the sky.

“He is a tracker. He listens for sounds,” Youngbae explained to him following the direction of his eyes, “If there are enemies closer, he will notice them before they can reach us.”

“What happened to her?” Seungri asked, returning his attention to SooJoo’s deep breathing.

Youngbae sighed and looked at the place where Jiyong had disappeared moments before, “We betrayed our group, they threw us white smoke while we were trying to flee from the battle. SooJoo distracted them so we could escape but one of the spheres hit her leg.”

“White smoke?”

Youngbae hummed. “It’s an illegal weapon. It is made to burn the wings of any creature. SooJoo is lucky it only hit her leg.”

SooJoo moved under the blankets and let out a soft whimper. Youngbae moved closer and placed a hand over her shoulder.

“Why did you betray your people?” Seungri asked once again. Someone moved above them, and suddenly Aigiel was on the ground. He kneeled in front of the fire and moved some of the burnt branches with a stick.

“They were not our people anymore. We do not belong anywhere, Seungri. Hasn’t Jiyong told you that?” Aigiel said without turning to face him. He kept moving the stick, making the fire crack and hiss at every movement.

Seungri lowered his head and stared at his hands and then absently at the fire. “He hasn’t talked much with me. He blames me for this.”

Aigiel grunted. Youngbae only snorted and shook his head.

“Jiyong hasn’t understood yet and won’t do unless we try harder,” Youngbae said, moving his finger through SooJoo’s hair, “We are as victims as we want to be. There is no purpose on blaming people. If this is happening is for a reason and we got to find the reason, not weep around.” Youngbae scowled and focused his eyes on the place Jiyong had disappeared.

“You forget he has lived this life since he was a kid, Youngbae. Is not easy to make him forget 25 years of his life in an instant,” Aigiel said, finally standing away from the fire and approaching them, “Not even a pair of pretty white wings can change ideas that are as rooted as Jiyong’s ideas are.”

Seungri knew the look Aigiel was giving him. It was a pitying look and it bothered him. He wasn’t someone to be pitied. Seungri kept his head up.

“Are you? Are you the friends he left behind because of me?”

Aigiel and Youngbae rolled his eyes at that.

“He tends to exaggerate his importance and feel responsible for every damn thing,” Youngbae sighed and leaned back.

A sudden touch made Seungri whimper and turn back. Aigiel was kneeling behind him and staring at his wings.

“How long has been since you last flew with them?” he asked, eyebrows pulled together, his eyes roaming and examining his wings.

Seungri frowned and pulled his wings closer and tighter, “Maybe two weeks?”

Aigiel looked at him surprised and shook his head, “They won’t heal completely if you don’t move them. Jiyong knows better. I bet he prohibited you from moving around, huh?”

Seungri didn’t have to answer. The red blush on his face betrayed him.

Aigiel stretched his hand and beckoned him to stand up. “Come on. There is no trace of closer angels or demons in miles. You need to move those wings,” when Seungri didn’t stand up and only looked at him bewildered, Aigiel sighed and pulled him up, “I’ll fly with you. Come on.”

Seungri followed him not before looking back at Youngbae, who only smiled at him and whispered him to go. Aigiel was kind. A bit overwhelming too because he kept staring at his wings with curiosity and sometimes he laughed at the strange way Seungri’s wings moved in comparison with his.

“Stay behind me, clear?” Aigiel said, before taking off the ground.

His movements were natural and agile. And he stood close when it was Seungri’s turn to take off.

The pain was sickening. It felt like multiple needles burying into his flesh when he tried to flap his wings to fly. Seungri crouched down and gasped for air, trembling in pain.

“Try again, Seungri. Your wings are weak because you haven’t moved them in weeks. It will stop hurting!” Aigiel shouted from above.

Seungri inhaled deeply and stood up again. He flapped his wings again and tried to take off. He managed to take his feet off the ground before a deep painful cramp pulled him down and make him crash onto the ground with a loud impact.

His hands were scratched as well as his knees. But he stood up once determined and flapped his wings again. This time he achieved it. His feet took off the ground and he saw the floor below getting further and further away. It didn’t hurt anymore. He turned to look at Aigiel excited, but the demon wasn’t smiling but looking at him and at something behind him with eyes wide open. Seungri turned back and almost lost it.

Jiyong was grabbing him from the waist. His face was turned to the side and he refused to meet his eyes but he didn’t let go.

“Keep moving your wings,” Jiyong said with a hoarse voice, “They won’t get strong enough if you don’t move them against the wind.”

They flew together. All Seungri’s waist supported by Jiyong’s stronger and bigger wings, while Seungri got accustomed to moving his wings against the wind, finding a good rhythm that didn’t put much strain on the weak muscles.

After what seemed like four or five minutes, Jiyong plummeted down. Aigiel was waiting for them at the ground, arms crossed and a soft sneer on his face.

“How are your wings feeling?” Jiyong’s voice whispered behind him. He was looking at him with the same concern he had when he was fixing SooJoo’s leg and it made Seungri shiver.

“They-they feel better. Thank you,” and to prove his words he moved his wings up and down with strength. And they felt better indeed. Jiyong though avoided looking directly at his wings and… blushed?

“That’s… that’s good,” he stammered and nodded, before walking back to the camp.

“Well. Just do this two or three times per day and in a week you will feel your wings back to normal!” Aigiel smiled and ran a hand through Seungri’s hair. Jiyong looked back and frowned. If he noticed the soft growl he threw at Aigiel, he didn’t show it. Aigiel stepped further away and rolled his eyes.

When they reached the camp Jiyong was preparing dinner next to Youngbae. Both of them immersed in a low conversation in which Youngbae told him things and Jiyong would shake his head furiously or just hum in agreement. Both raised their head when Aigiel and Seungri got close enough. Youngbae smiled at them. Jiyong turned his head and ignored their arrival. Seungri’s eyes stayed rooted on the back of Jiyong head until Aigiel pulled him back.

“Come here,” Aigiel beckoned him to sit down next to him and passed him a bowl of steamy broth. It smelled of herbs and meat and Seungri’s stomach growled in delight.

“We caught some rabbits,” Youngbae said from behind and sat down next to them with a bowl on his hands. He was friendly but there was an edge of caution in the way Youngbae’s eyes used to linger on Seungri, as if studying how dangerous or trustworthy he was.

“Thank you, we haven’t had such a dinner in days. It gets hard for Jiyong as I can’t help him hunt with my wings like this,” Seungri said, pinching his lips together and staring at Jiyong who now had sat down at the other side of the camp by his own.

They had dinner in less silence than usual. Well, Aigiel and Youngbae brought noise to their usual silence. They bickered together and sometimes asked Seungri things about his quadrant or the city. But Jiyong remained as silent as usual. Staring at the liquid inside his bowl without even giving a glance to him. Seungri lowered his chin to his chest and placed the bowl down. He sighed.

“Hey, Jiyong!” Youngbae suddenly shouted by his side. Jiyong taken away from his thoughts jumped and raised his head scowling, “We think Esh or at least the majority of its group is moving south. Aigiel detected their scent coming from the south.”

Jiyong nodded and for a brief moment turned to look at Seungri, it was fast and Jiyong never looked back at him for the night. But it was enough to make Seungri feel less glum.

Once it was time to sleep Aigiel forced Jiyong to go to bed. He had been staying awake keeping watch the last days and now that they weren’t two anymore, Aigiel replaced him and almost forced him to bed. Youngbae and Jiyong lied down at one side of the camp, next to SooJoo. Seungri made his own place at the other side, next to a pair of tre