Jisoo’s face is concrete as he glares at his Board.

“This is what you did,” he spits, slamming his hand down. “Look at it.”

Soonyoung closes his eyes in resignation.

“After the War is over, I will be replacing all of you.”

This King… so blinded by love…

“Especially you, Soonyoung.”

Jihoon’s eyebrows draw together, but Soonyoung silences him with a look.

“Yes, Your Majesty. I understand.”

“Minghao, stay behind. The rest of you, get out of my face.”

Chan glances back at Minghao in worry.

Minghao forces a smile, trying to reassure him that nothing will happen, that he will be fine.

But they both know that is a lie.

When they are alone, Jisoo beckons Minghao close.

Minghao obeys warily, taking each step carefully.

Jisoo leans forward in his golden throne, and Minghao sees an eerie calmness on his face.

Only when Jisoo grabs his wrist does Minghao discover, with a jolt, the wild madness in his eyes.

“J-Jisoo-”

“I am going to win this war,” Jisoo whispers frenziedly. “And I will have Hansol back.”

“And Jeonghan,” Minghao replies coldly, dryly.

But Junhui will fall…

“Yes, yes,” Jisoo murmurs, eyes light with anticipation. “Minghao, won’t you help me?”

“Help you kill my own brother?” Minghao sneers, shaking off Jisoo’s hand. “Never.”

“No!” Jisoo cries, latching his arms around Minghao’s waist. “Not that, not that!”

“Then what?”

“Jun doesn’t have to die, if you could convince him to just hand over my brother-”

“He would never do that,” Minghao states simply. “He is already coming.”

“What?? Minghao, how would you know?? Have you been spying for him??”

“I can feel it. Also,” Minghao looks down at Jisoo. “He has no intention of giving him up.”

“Jeonghan? Hansol? But-”

“I’m sorry, Jisoo.”

Minghao walks away, but pauses and turns, hand on the door.

“You know why, don’t you?”

And then he’s gone, and of course Jisoo knows why.

Unbidden, his tears fall and slip into the Mortal World.

It falls upon an innocent Mingyu, who looks up to see an ominous sky.

Thunder rumbles in the distance, but from the ground, and Mingyu is hit with a sense of panic.

“Earthquake?” he murmurs to himself. “Or maybe, a war from within the Earth itself.”

Mingyu turns and heads inside, never knowing how close he really was to the truth.

---

“Sir?”

Jun snaps back to attention at the sound of a childish voice.

“Hansol! What are you doing here??” he hisses, gesturing for someone else to take his place.

“Sir,” Hansol says urgently, dragging him towards the end of the line. “Jeonghan, he-”

“I know he collapsed, Seungcheol told me.”

Hansol’s face expresses all his wonder and amazement.

Seungcheol chooses to hardly ever use his telepathy, and Jun has always wondered why.

Powers are not very rare occurrences in Hell.

For instance, Hansol himself has the ability to teleport, and Wonwoo can turn himself invisible.

“Hansol, listen to me,” Jun says quietly, leaning down to look Hansol in the eye.

“Yessir.”

“Go back and tell Jeonghan that I know. He will know what I mean.”

“Nothing else?”

“To you and the rest, take care of yourselves.”

And then he’s gone, tearing back to the battlefront, and Hansol stares after him in worry.

But he goes back and delivers the information.

Jeonghan is still unconscious, but Jun’s advisers are all there, and Hansol tells them.

“He tries so hard…” Seokmin sniffs, not bothering to hide his tears.

“He’s been so good to us,” Wonwoo adds, wiping his eyes.

“And I am sure he would not approve of your crying,” Seungcheol snaps to hide his own grief.

So when Jeonghan wakes up, all he is met with are red eyes and tear streaks.

“What happened?” he mutters groggily, aware that it has nothing to do with himself.

“Um, Jun said, he said that he knew, and that you would know what that means,” Hansol hiccups.

Jeonghan feels like fainting again.

He knew.

He had known.

Since when?

Minghao.

Didn’t he say they were brothers?

What if they had kept in contact…

No.

He remembers the pain on his face when he’d asked of him.

No, they could not have kept in contact.

“I told him,” Seungcheol says quietly. “It is my duty to know everything that goes on here.”

“So of course you knew.”

“Naturally.”

“When did you tell him?”

“When you refused his help getting up, before he called Seokmin to take you to your room.”

And you told him something else, something that prevented him from talking to me for a week.

“He was devastated, you know,” Seungcheol says, and Jeonghan notices that they are alone.

“Why? Because of me?”

“Because of you. Falling stars into Hell are rare, and when they have wings, it can only mean…”

“Fallen angels.”

“Correct.”

“What about when they don’t have wings?”

“Souls who were not meant to be here, and that is what happened to him.”

“Jun?”

Seungcheol raises his head.

“It’s a long story. Would you like to hear it?”

Jeonghan meets his gaze steadily.

“I would.”