It was the same. Everything. The place, the surroundings, the same gentle but eerie wind.

This time, her father wasn't there. She took a shaky step forward, afraid another hand was going to pull her down. But there was none. She was able to walk freely.

Lia ran. The place was somewhere unknown, overgrown grass and thick trees, it was a maze. Lia knew wherever she ran, there was no end to it.

It wasn't reality.

Way out or not, she still ran. What if there was something that could lead her to the truth. There was something missing. A puzzle piece. That piece was all she needed to understand. She had to find it to uncover the mystery that's been haunting her, the clues she's collected.

She stops when something descends from above, a black feather. A familiar face appeared in her mind, and she takes a closer look at the feather.

Slowly, the feather changes into a white colour, the tip of it slowly turning into snow white. 

It was like a symbol ; a sign about something that she wasn't so sure what it was, but it took her long enough to think. The feather got blown away by a sudden gust of strong wind, the light object slipping away from her fingers and away into the sky.

She turned around to walk back when dark clouds started to taint the sky, and she could feel something was wrong when-

+++

She was on the floor. If her body parts could talk, her elbow was screaming in pain and her back was yelling for her to get off the damn floor, Lia quickly reacting to it (even though there was no voice, of course).

Lia found herself sitting down on the sofa, pillows and blankets surrounding her. As confused as she was, she was even more confused when she couldn't find her father's journal Jeonghan handed her earlier anywhere. Was that all a dream?

'Can't be,' Lia mumbles under her breath, frantically looking for it under the bunch of pillows, blankets, the coffee table, under the sofa, when her head actually bumps into something ; or someone, to be specific.

"Rise and shine!" Jisoo greets her, and Lia jumps in surprise, even though it was nothing but a greeting.

"You sure damn scared me," Lia laughs it off, "it's 2 in the morning, waaaay too early to do something like rise and shine."

"Well you woke up so," Jisoo left his sentence hanging and plopped himself onto the warm sofa. Lia sits down next to him, pulling a blanket for the both of them to share.

"Why are you still awake?" Lia asks him. This definitely wasn't an hour where Jisoo would be awake. Usually she'd find him snoring at this hour, unless if they had some last minute homework to do together.

Jisoo shrugged, "No reason, really. Something was just bothering me and I can't sleep." Lia nods, inching closer to the boy.

"What were you doing the whole day?" She asks him.

"Sleep?"

"Really?"

"Really."

Lia shrugs. He couldn't be doing that all day. Well, there was nothing much Jisoo could do without Lia around anyway. He doesn't know anything about the streets or the shops, so he pretty much couldn't take a stroll by himself.

"Wait. One question, why was I on the sofa?" Lia asks. The last thing she remembered was having an argument with Jeonghan and the journal that she couldn't find anywhere, and that was it.

"Maybe you slipped and fell too hard," Jisoo looks at her, patting the back of her head, "Jeonghan carried you home, saying you fainted all of a sudden. Surprisingly you didn't have a fever, so that's that. I wonder what made you that surprised that you fainted."

"Hey, fainting doesn't always mean that you're surprised," Lia nags, her mind wondering why she fainted. If she was with Jeonghan, to the point where he took her home, then that means that it couldn't be a dream. She had that journal.

"Lia," Jisoo breaks the silence by calling her name, "why were you with him earlier?"

Lia chokes on her own damn saliva at the question. Why was she so nervous to answer?

"We went to the same cafe, and he insisted on going home with me," Lia tells him, trying to be as honest as possible, "even though I told him I didn't want to walk with him."

Jisoo nods at her answer, and Lia wasn't sure if he was satisfied or not. Something about Jisoo's question told Lia that even Jisoo doesn't trust that damn fake man, and that he's being cautios of Jeonghan too.

"A-anyway, Jisoo, have you seen a black journal somewhere around here?" Lia asks, her eyes still wandering for answers, finding the journal.

"I didn't see you come home with it, neither did Jeonghan." Jisoo replies instantly, pulling the blanket closer to himself.

"Listen, I don't trust that Jeonghan guy." Jisoo says to her, taking her hand under the blanket, "I don't understand why Seungcheol hyung still lets him live there when he hurt you, and I don't understand why he would come back here either."

"What I'm saying is..just be careful of Jeonghan. I don't know what kind of person he is, a relative, a killer, who knows. I don't want to trust him. So if anything happens, tell me. We've been friends for years, and now, I'm yours and you're mine. If anything worries you, it'll be my worry too. Okay?"

Lia places her head onto Jisoo's shoulder. She sighs. Calm. Jisoo has always made her feel calm, safe and secured. She loved that so much about him.

"Okay," Lia mumbles, and a smile forms onto Jisoo's lips.

Both of them were getting drowsy. The warmness of the blanket and the rain outside was making them calm, good for putting someone to sleep.

"Jisoo?"

"Hmm?"

"You won't leave right?"

"You mean, for America?" Jisoo raises his head to look at her.

Lia hits him on the head, "No, stupid. I meant, you're never leaving all of us, are you?"

Jisoo laughs sheepishly, "Of course not. Why would I leave you?"

"That's great."

"Why do you ask?"

"I don't want to lose another person in my life."

Jisoo gives her hand a soft and reassuring squeeze, whispering, "It's okay. I'll always be here for you. Night."

"Yeah, goodnight."

+++

"Well would you look at that," Seungcheol says, giving a look of disapproval at the two people drooling on the sofa right after entering the living room.

"I wouldn't look at that," Hansol chirps from behind.

Jeonghan crosses his arms and eyes the two. He knew Jisoo hated him. He hated Jisoo too. It was good. He liked their current relationship. If Jisoo's anger was that easy to boil, he could destroy Jisoo in no time.

It was easy. Just a snap of a finger, a blink of an eye, and the boy could be dead in Jeonghan's hands.

But of course Jeonghan didn't have the courage to actually kill Jisoo. Why?

Why? Jeonghan asks himself, taking a sip of his coffee. There was a secret that couldn't be revealed between those two. A secret about his dark past. Their dark past. Something that Jisoo doesn't know.

But Jeonghan knows. He knows everything, and how everything's gonna work out.

He's just waiting for the right moment. That's right, Lia better enjoy her time with Jisoo as much as she can while Jeonghan can still control himself. Who knows what might happen if he loses it. 

Will he kill Jisoo?

Would he get Lia?

Will the world even exist anymore?

Jeonghan shrugs the thought off when a hand pats his shoulder.

"Didn't make much progress, I see." Minki casually takes Jeonghan's mug of coffee and drinks from it, cringing at the bitter taste, muttering something about human food under his breath.

"Of all fucking times you gotta appear now." Jeonghan rolls his eyes.

"Can't help it. You're too slow, so I thought I'd ask you how you were doing." Minki pops a creampuff into his mouth. Does he think this place is his own house?

"It's not the time yet." Jeonghan answers "I can't do it."

"Hmm, I see. Well we'll wait for that moment and just see your blood boil at those two. Probably at that time, you'd think of nothing but to kill either one." Minki laughs, and Jeonghan wishes for nothing but for this damn demon to disappear.

"I can't kill them," Jeonghan says.

"Oh? But you will. It's your fate. You swore to the Underworld that you would. It's your choice to choose who's life that will be taken away first."

Jeonghan grits his teeth, "Get out already."

"That's what you get for messing with the human world," Minki smirks. Jeonghan attempts to grab the collar of the demon's shirt but he disappears out of sight.

"Time's ticking, Hannie," Minki's voice echoes from somewhere, "you better choose between one to sacrifice, or you'll die."

Jeonghan lets out a deep sigh as he sits down.

"I wish I could die."

+++

Part III : An Angel's Greed

The Underworld and the human world are seperated by something that we call as death.

It is not exactly necessary for you to have to die just to go to the Underworld. There are a few ways which you could use, but I should explain that after doing more research.

The Underworld is a place where demons and angels live peacefully together, or they used to, since now some have exited the Underworld to live in the human world for fun, or just for certain reasons.

Both parties made a vow that they would not, ever, break the rules that are assigned as their job. Angels would stay as angels, and demons would stay as demons.

However, everything started when an angel broke that vow, swearing to everyone that he would no longer be on the side of the Angels, nor be on the side of the Demons, and leave for the Human World.

It was shocking, of course. He went to side with the humans, creatures that Angels and Demons despised.

There, it is depicted that even Angels, the purest beings have their own greed too. 

An Angel's greed is far more dangerous than any other thing in either worlds. It could cause destruction, and has caused destruction several times in the Underworld. It could be anything. Angels are willing to do anything for their own greed. Whether it was taking the life of a human away, or breaking the rules that they were limited to, they were willing to do anything.

To this day, such tragedies still happen, in which angels murder humans as sacrifice for getting what they want.

Once they murder humans for their own greed and sake, they are banned from entering the Underworld, forever.

Therefore, people should be aware of the Angels that are roaming in the corners of this human world are Angels that exist mainly because of their own greed.

--------------------------------------------------------

phew

maybe Lia's dad's journal's entry wasn't that much but I put my fucking soul into it it hurts ugh

for some reason i feel like the current condition of crestfallen is emotionless

like, i write based on my emotions, so right now i dont exactly know what im feeling?? like im so confused wtf should i write

i deadass want to finish this book because im so hyped but i find it hard to elaborate the main poins of each chapter

uGh

im starvin

i better study for the fucking finals

see y'all later

- Cee