Chapter 18. Welcome home, brother

“Where is Seunghyun?” Jiyong squinted his eyes, searching for the figure of the Alpha among the few angels and demons already awake and packing their sachets. Maeum looked up with sleepy glazed eyes from where he was trying to help Maur and Tamir tie with rope a bunch of rough fabric being used as futons.

“Emmm…” Maeum frowned and looked around, “I think he was with Aigiel doing rounds the last time I saw him. Is everything ok?” he asked as a second thought when he noticed the way the demon was standing with his back tensed and with a displeased scowl.

“Yes,” Jiyong answered and crossed his arms in front of his chest, his scowl getting deeper.

“Ok?” Maeum looked to his right at the other two Alphas that kept tying the fabrics, either too engaged in the task or too good at pretending obliviousness. He called to them and moved his head, gesturing them to leave. Maur and Tamir subtly looked at each other and without a sound stood up and walked away, “What is the problem?” Maeum asked once the Alphas were a safe distance away, dusting off his linen pants.

“When were you planning to tell me?”

Maeum’s hands stopped and he tilted his head with a confused frown, “Tell you what?”

“About your mark!” Jiyong spat, gesturing at the visible mark on Youngbae’s right wrist. The Alpha followed his gaze and pursed his lips together, nodding absently.

“Ah, that,” he mumbled and scratched the back of his head, “We didn’t want to worry you further, Jiyong,” he winced at his own words and let out a heavy sigh, “Look, I know we should have told you but…”

“Of course, you should have told me!” Jiyong snapped.

Maeum posture sagged, “I’m sorry, ok? It was my idea. I just… I didn’t have answers,” he rubbed his eyes and shook his head, “I don’t have answers for you and we are very confused already.”

Jiyong’s tension abandoned his body at the dejected tone of Maeum’s voice and he sighed dejectedly. He let his arms hang at his sides and with a short nod he kneeled to help Maeum finish his task. The Alpha looked at him gratefully and joined him. A silent agreement had been made between both soldiers. They could worry about it later. That was true. Jiyong’s eyes landed on his mark, still dark and prominent over his arm. It did not bother him as it had before, to be linked to Seungri. He spread his fingers and a fluttery feeling rose in his chest at the concept. Linked. He was linked to the white-winged angel. He could feel his liveness through the mark. His peacefulness too as he was still sleeping under Youngbae’s watch. Maeum coughed and that brought him back from his thoughts. The Alpha was staring at him knowingly and Jiyong’s muttered “Shut up” which made the angel snigger and the demon to blush furiously.

“Oh dear, please save me!” Minzy came rushing, running from something, a grimace on her face. She kept turning to look behind her, searching hysterically for whichever was that had her so scared.

“What’s wrong?” Maeum asked, standing up with a worried frown, his hands abandoned the ropes and reached for the distraught demon Alpha.

“Oh! I will tell you what’s wrong!” she barked, her eyes furiously looked back at the point where she had come, “I have a demon Alpha following me everywhere I go like a lap dog!”

Both Maeum and Jiyong raised their eyebrows at that and focused on the place Minzy was still looking. At the distance, Joa was walking around, eyes looking furtively around him as if he was trying to locate someone. When his eyes tracked over them, Minzy crunched down behind Jiyong, muttering obscenities and trying to use Jiyong’s wings as coverage.

“He won’t let me alone!” Minzy grumbled and stood up once Joa turned and walked behind some tents, his wings fading among the rest of the survivors.

“Well, he always had a crush on you,” Maeum explained with a grin, crunching down to keep tying the rope around the fabrics.

“Seems like you have an admirer,” Jiyong’s laughed which brought a snarl from Minzy.

“Sooo funny…” Minzy looked at the demon with murderous eyes, “Maybe he can join your club? You can tell him about your fascination with white wings and give him advice on how to be a good angel stalker, perhaps?” she said, with a toothy smile that showed her fangs.

Maeum gasped amused, looking back and forth between them. Jiyong for his part, looked shocked for a second until his face morphed into a naughty grin.

“You asked for it,” he murmured, stood up and shouted at the top of his lungs, “Joa!”

Minzy’s hands flailed around, trying to make Jiyong stop, but the demon kept shouting Joa’s name earning the attention of some confused survivors nearby. Soon the distraught face of Joa appeared from behind one tent.

“Yes?” the Alpha asked once he got closer, his eyes unable to stop looking at Minzy who looked nothing but about to burst in fury.

“I was wondering if you can help Minzy and Maeum with this?” Jiyong said, dusting off his hands, “They need me somewhere else and there is still a lot of fabric that needs to be tied up.”

“Oh!” Joa gasped, his eyes shining brightly, “Of course! Yes!” he almost stumbled in his rush to kneel next to Minzy, “Hey!” he murmured softly to the female Alpha with a loving smile.

“Consider yourself dead, Jiyong,” Minzy snarled, her eyes focused on the ground. Maeum burst into laughter, shaking his head.

With a roll of his eyes, Jiyong turned and walked to where Seungri most probably had already awakened, judging by the sudden burst of confusion that appeared in Jiyong’s head. He shook his head, a soft smile playing on his lips. The campground was lush green, with small rivulets of bushes decorating the grass. The morning sun was starting to heat up the land, so a few drops of sweat ran down Jiyong’s neck and back.

“Hi,” a soft voice whispered from behind, Jiyong smiled immediately and turned around when he recognized the voice. Seungri was standing with his white wings hanging delicately behind him. Layl, SooJoo, and Adra were standing next to him, carrying heavily smelly bowls and pieces of torn clothing.

“What are you up to?” Jiyong asked, gaze focused on the faulty smelling liquid.

“Adra invited me to come with them to the health round. SooJoo told her about…how I helped her,” Seungri said, a shy look on his face, “Maybe I can be of help.”

Jiyong nodded curtly and his smile wavered for a second. He didn’t feel comfortable with Seungri been used as a healer of some kind. His ability to reduce pain was still so unexplored that Jiyong couldn’t help but feel scared every time the angel was asked to perform. He side-eyed SooJoo looking for explanations, but the female demon simply shrugged and pushed Seungri to keep walking. However, Seungri grabbed him softly by the wrist and asked him in a voice not louder than a murmur, “Do you want to come with us?”

Jiyong hovered for an instant but ended up taking hold of Seungri’s hand with a small smile, “Sure.”

The health round was necessary, as Jiyong was able to judge the longer they visited the camp tents. Many of the demon and angel refugees hadn’t been able to leave their quadrants and houses unscarred. Some of them had terribly painful looking burns and wounds in their legs and backs. The Alpha demons and angels worked as an efficient team. SooJoo held the bowl close to Adra’s and Layl’s hands, who in turn would smear the ointment over the patient’s wounds. Seungri kneeled next to the patients, placing their heads on his lap. Immediately, the angels and demons would close their eyes and let out a relieved suspire.

“When did you find out you could do that?” Adra asked while her hands worked over the nasty burns over one small demon girl. The girl had fallen asleep with Seungri’s fingers caressing her hair.

“When I first met SooJoo,” Seungri murmured and looked at the female demon with a loving smile, “She was very angry and in a lot of pain.”

SooJoo chuckled and placed her hand on Seungri’s one, “You saved me.”

Seungri shook his head at that, “I did nothing of the kind. I simply hated looking at you in so much pain.”

SooJoo's eyes softened with gratitude and she squeezed Seungri’s hand.

“I think we are finished with her,” Adra whispered, trying not to wake the sleeping girl. The mother of the demon girl walked forward and took the baby in her arms. She whispered a thank you to Adra and then, to the surprise of the angel, to Seungri before walking away.

The next patient was an old angel. He approached with a hiss of pain, revealing one wing completely blackened.

“Hello Adra,” the old angel chocked, clearly in pain.

“Hello Jakub, how is the wing doing?” Adra smiled worriedly, her hands delicately taking the wing between her fingers.

“As good as it can be,” the old demon gasped and closed his eyes when Adra’s fingers ran over the most injured parts of the wing. But his eyes snapped open when he felt hands caress one of his arms tenderly. The old demons whipped around to look at Seungri.

“Who are you?”

“Seungri, from the house of Victory,” Seungri answered shyly.

“The house of Victory?” the old demon frowned, and one of his hands covered Seungri’s one over his arm, “Isn’t that a house from the 12th quadrant?”

Seungri gasped and jerked his head back, “Yes” he answered with a shaky voice.

“Oh boy,” the angel whispered with an empty stare, looking down at their joined hands.

“What… what happened?” Seungri gasped with a trembling chin. His eyes shined with terror.

“They destroyed it. All of it. Many angels couldn’t leave… I…” the angel choked in distressed tears and looked away, “I lost my own daughter in the chaos”, he cried.

Seungri dropped his hands in agony. His eyes looked at the angel imploringly, a rush of murmured “no’s” escaped away from his lips. Jiyong rushed next to the smaller angel and blanketed his shivering figure with his wings.

“It’s ok, my angel”, he whispered, while his arms brought Seungri’s face close to his chest.

“My family,” the angel cried.

“They are fine. I promise you, they are fine,” he whispered back. Jiyong knew he could not promise such a thing. He knew how extremist worked, he knew they didn’t spare lives. He once didn’t spare the lives he attacked. But this time, he prayed, to Gabriel, to Dumoh, to whoever was listening for the family of Seungri to be alive.

“Someone is coming!” Seunghyun’s voice echoed through the camp. Aigiel’s whistle sounded next. Adra stood up and ran away, barking orders to Kayoi, Tamir, and Joa who appeared immediately next to her, swords in hand. The Alphas ran to the east side of the camp, were a commotion was increasing.

Jiyong looked up to SooJoo with urgency, “Go with them, look for Youngbae and Xin.”

SooJoo hesitated, his eyes focused on the small angel between Jiyong’s arms and to the running Alphas in front of them.

“Be careful”, she said and nodded curtly, standing up and running away barking Youngbae’s and Xin’s names.

At the east side of the camp, a few meters away from the outer perimeter of the camp, Seunghyun held the arms of a strange demon; answering with a snarl all attempts of talking of the stranger. Adra appeared at the distance, followed by her soldiers. While Aigiel landed at his right, a small knife in hand.

“Let me explain,” the demon chocked when Seeunghyun pushed him down with a growl.

“I told you to shut up, demon.”

“Young…bae,” the demon pleaded still, his hands clenched into fists, gasping for air.

“What?” Seunghyun barked

“Yo…Young…bae,” the demon gasped between breaths, “Bro…ther.”

The sound of Aigiel’s knife hitting the floor was followed by the hesitant voice of the tracker.

“Hyunbae?”

Seunghyun looked up, unwilling to release the stranger under him, “You know him?”

“I do”, said Youngbae, walking urgently from where Adra an