-§

Riddle:

What occurs once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?

-§

Kyungjin peeked out of his bedroom door, glancing both ways before slipping out into the darkened hallway.

Shutting the door quietly behind him, he slowly padded down the corridor, looking behind him every so often to make sure he was alone in the hallway. Clutching a small hardcover novel in one hand, he made his way towards one of the doors lining the hall, then softly knocked on the door.

After a few short seconds, the door partially opened. "You're late." a voice said quietly from inside the room, a hint of amusement showing. "Yeah, I know. Let me in." Kyungjin almost smiled, attempting to push the door open fully.

The sound of footsteps rushing down the hallway, however, sent Kyungjin spinning around to look for the source of the noise.

Baumé could be seen rushing towards his room, suspiciously out of breath. "Baumé?" Kyungjin asked, Baumé now noticing Kyungjin's presence.

"Hey Kyungjin." Baumé replied, staring at Kyungjin. "Why are you awake?" Kyungjin asked accusingly. "Watch it, I could ask the same about you. Why are YOU awake?" Baumé narrowed his eyes at Kyungjin, almost daring him to retaliate. Kyungjin stayed silent, returning Baumé's harsh gaze.

"Listen. I didn't see you here, and you didn't see me. Deal?" Baumé offered, glancing towards his room anxiously. Kyungjin nodded. "Deal. But if you've killed someone I won't hesitate to tell." Kyungjin said quietly.

The two shared a curt nod of acknowledgement before turning and disappearing into their respective rooms.

-

The following morning, the boys found themselves gathered around a large table, an assortment of pastries and food items laid out for the taking.

"I mean, sure, free breakfast is cool, but I'm still suspicious as to why they're doing this." Haru stated to Danjong, who was currently eating some sort of fruit pastry. "Maybe they're just being nice?" Koushi suggested hopefully from the side, sitting next to the two as he ate a bowl of cereal without the milk.

Haru took a sip of tea as Danjong fiddled with the tablecloth. "They're probably trying to make us feel happy before they send us out on some deadly mission." Danjong said, knowing that doing so was quite common throughout history.

"Well, not everyone here seems that enthusiastic about this early breakfast thing." Koushi gestured as he stole a muffin from Haru's plate.

One could observe the odd few who did not, in fact, seem very enthused at all. Kyungjin stood silently in the corner, seemingly not in the mood to eat. Baumé sat in a nearby chair, rather miffed that he hadn't slept more than a couple hours. Alexei, as well, sat in a chair. Unlike Baumé, Alexei had given up on the whole 'breakfast' thing and decided to sleep with his head on the table.

At this time, Minwoo walked into the room. Rather than greet anyone 'good morning' or bother to announce he had arrived, he sluggishly walked over to the food table and plopped into a chair, grabbing whatever food item was nearest to him and proceeding to consume it.

"Hey Minwoo, where's Jihyun?" Danjong asked the newcomer, just out of curiosity. Minwoo sighed deeply. "He's out playing with that dog of his. I swear he's become its slave, the way he pampers it." Minwoo said begrudgingly, having suffered from listening to the husky's loud barks all morning.

"The dog? He still has it?" Baumé chimed in, now apparently willing to be social.

"Of course. You think he would've given it away? He even bought dog toys for it." Minwoo laid his head on the table, too tired to think straight.

As if on cue, a smiling Jihyun walked into the breakfast area. "Ooh, food." Jihyun spotted, quickly making his way to the pastry table.

"Did you have a nice time walking your furry overlord?" Minwoo asked, monotone. "Yes I did, for your information. Did you have a nice time complaining about me?" Jihyun asked, somehow knowing fully well what the conversation had been prior to his entrance.

Soon after Jihyun, Siwa and Lucien entered the room.

"Jihyun. I couldn't find Hamilton's leash, we're gonna have to buy him a new one." Siwa called over to Jihyun, ignoring Lucien, who sped over to the coffee machine upon seeing it.

"That's fine, it was a cheap one anyway." Jihyun called back, sitting down next to Koushi at the main table.

"I forgot he named the dog Hamilton." Danjong whispered to Koushi, holding back a smile. "He's gonna regret that someday." Koushi replied, the two gazing at Jihyun.

Lucien, who was pouring out two cups of coffee into mugs, glanced over at Kyungjin.

"You okay?" he asked, thinking the healer seemed a bit off. "I'm fine." Kyungjin stated simply, turning his gaze to the floor. Lucien shrugged his response off. The kid was normally gloomy anyway.

After handing a cup of coffee to Siwa, Lucien sat down next to Minwoo at the table, Siwa following suit and taking the next seat over.

"So..." Lucien started a sentence, taking a sip of coffee. Suddenly he coughed, setting down the coffee mug, dejected. "I forgot to sweeten the damn coffee. Ugghhh." Lucien lamented, standing up again and walking back over to the coffee area.

"What does he even put in his coffee? Maybe I'd like whatever it is." Jihyun commented, knowing from experience that coffee definitely had not been his thing so far.

"Everything. He puts everything in it." Siwa stated in a serious tone. Jihyun raised an eyebrow, urging Siwa to specify.

"Vanilla, milk, caramel, chocolate, sugar... I think one time he actually put maple syrup in it." Siwa listed, seemingly horrified.

"Hey, you like caramel in your coffee too." Lucien pouted, sitting back down at the table, his coffee now a much lighter shade from whatever he'd put in it. Jihyun eyed the cup suspiciously, then turned back to whatever he was eating.

A few minutes passed by, some chatter littered about here and there. The group, although generally talkative, weren't too energetic due to the early hour.

"I've never seen someone drink three whole cups of coffee so fast." Danjong commented, staring at Lucien, who was about to stand up and get a fourth cup. "Lucien, you might wanna stop." Siwa urged, a bit of worry showing in his tone.

"No, I'm tired, okay? I need the caffeine." Lucien responded, continuing on his quest.

"Why is he so exhausted? I've literally never seen him so dead." Haru questioned, eyeing Lucien, who almost spilled the coffee whilst trying to pour it into a cup.

"The leaders had him stay up all night to research into the fallen angel thing that happened recently. I offered to help instead, but they needed his powers." Siwa explained, taking a bite of toast.

"Couldn't they have used one of us instead?" Koushi questioned, looking around at the Seven, scattered across the room. "Now that you mention it, Jihyun would've been perfect. It's too late now though, Lucien's probably gonna pass out in an hour or two." Siwa smiled sympathetically, gazing at poor Lucien.

"The kid needs sleep, just let him take a nap or something." Baumé suggested from the side, giving a strangely helpful comment.

"Kid? Oh yeah... I keep forgetting that Lucien's younger than all of us. It's just weird to think about since he's a leader." Jihyun mentioned, a murmur of agreement passing through the others.

The mentioned leader returned to the table, sitting down silently.

"Luci, you really shouldn't drink that. Too much caffeine could hurt you." Siwa advised. Lucien silently glared at Siwa. "Luciii, come on. Just go take a quick nap." Siwa poked Lucien in the side. Startlingly, Lucien swatted Siwa's hand away.

"Wow, someone sure is angsty today. Come on, child, I'll take you back to your room." Siwa attempted to joke, standing up and offering Lucien a hand.

He didn't take it. Instead, he sat still, taking another sip of coffee.

"Okay, sunshine. If that's how you're gonna be I guess I'll just take this away." Siwa raised his voice, grabbing the sought after mug and holding it out of Lucien's reach. The younger glared daggers up at Siwa, gathering the nerve to stand upright and look him in the eye.

"You know what?" Lucien asked quietly. "Fine, you win. I'll just find another way to keep myself awake, like picking the flowers from the garden and burning all of the grass, how does that sound, Ducky?" Lucien questioned, his tone dangerously calm.

"You wouldn't." Siwa stated. "You know very well how much time and effort I've poured into making that," he spoke.

"What the hell is happening?" Haru whispered to Danjong, who was equally shocked. In fact, everyone in the small room had paused to watch the event go down. Even Alexei had woken up for the scene, and his worried expression didn't help anyone feel secure.

"And why not? You act like it's your life's passion and purpose, yet it's been two whole years and you haven't even finished the whole stupid garden!" Lucien retaliated, bringing the random fact into the argument. Siwa inhaled sharply at the jab.

"Yeah? And what have you been doing for two years? Sitting and waiting for Mommy and Daddy to come home, right?" Siwa yelled at him sharply, slamming the coffee mug he held down on the table.

Lucien stared at him, hurt. "Cha Siwa, you are a lying, sadistic, asshole. I hope you're happy with yourself." he stated bluntly, before flipping Siwa off and storming out of the room. The whole room stared after him, then turned their eyes to Siwa, who stood, processing what had just happened.

Siwa's anger visibly turned to regret as he looked among the other's shocked faces.

"Wow, I wonder what happened?" Baumé spoke, deadpan, staring at Siwa as he sipped a cup of tea. Everyone ignored the Vietnamese boy's comment, he wasnt going to be helpful anyway.

"Siwa, mind if we talk for a second?" Alexei stood up, not waiting for Siwa to reply as he grabbed him and dragged him out the door.

Haru, Danjong, and Koushi shared glances that said they didn't want to be involved in whatever was going on. They collectively stood up from the table, shoved as many pastries as they could into a bag, and promptly dashed off with the loot. Jihyun followed the three, trying to escape as well.

This left Minwoo, Baumé, and Kyungjin in the room, awkwardly staring at each other.

"You can't heal emotional wounds, can you?" Minwoo quietly asked Kyungjin, who gave him a glare in return that said he obviously couldn't. "It seemed pretty sudden of an argument, I wonder what the hell caused it." Minwoo muttered, standing up from his chair and stretching.

Baumé glanced over to find Kyungjin staring intently at him. Baumé raised an eyebrow at Kyungjin, staring back with equal intensity. Kyungjin, who stood near the door outside of which Alexei and Siwa were talking, signaled Baumé to leave.

Baumé was about to question what Kyungjin meant when the door slammed open, a blatantly enraged Alexei giving Baumé a sharp glare.

"You. You may bother me to no end but never did I expect something like this." Alexei spoke, his voice dangerously low. Baumé smiled nervously, ignoring Minwoo's questioning look. "Don't know what you mean?" Baumé tried, also ignoring the fact that Alexei looked like he was about to actually attack Baumé.

Instead, Alexei strode across the room, seizing Baumé's wrist and leading him out of the room to god knows where.

Minwoo looked to Kyungjin for answers, but Kyungjin simply shrugged, turning and casually exiting the space as the others had. Minwoo sighed as he quickly morphed into a sparrow, taking off and flying his way out the door.

Minwoo passed by Alexei and Baumé on his flight, but decided he didn't want to hear whatever argument they were having. Instead, he decided to do some sneaking around and see what their newcomer was up to.

After gliding his way towards the bedroom area of the building, he located the one he was looking for and swooped down, landing in front of it. Transforming into a small bug, he subtly slipped under the door and found himself inside the room, unnoticed.

This said newcomer, of course, was our little fallen angel. He'd been given a bedroom of his own, and although he was allowed out, he rarely left the small room. No one was particularly sure as to why.

Ayenniç, as of this moment, could be observed sitting in the corner of his bed, nursing a cup of hot cocoa with a pile of marshmallows on top. He wore a pair of white shorts, long socks, and a large pastel pink sweater that covered his hands. His large wings sat tucked comfortably behind him, slightly covering a random pile of blankets that he leaned against.

Minwoo took a moment to glance around the space, admiring what Ayen had done with the place.

Strings of fairy lights adorned the walls, accenting some fake clouds which had been hung from the ceiling. Bean bag chairs and blankets had been scattered about, not to mention the stuffed animals and pillows in every corner of the room. An easel and a canvas leaned against one wall, a box of watercolor paint opened nearby. An image of a sunrise had been painted on the canvas, although not yet complete.

Ayen had only been a resident for a day or two, yet his room looked more home-like than most of the Seven's. Minwoo made a mental note that he should start making his room look a lot better than it does.

A sudden sneeze came from under the large pile of blankets which rested next to Ayenniç. Ayen calmly turned and looked at the blanket pile.

"Tissue?" Ayen asked quietly, nudging the pile. "No, I'm fine." a voice came from under the pile, startling Minwoo, who was still being a stalker in the corner.

The blankets shifted, and from them emerged a dazed Lucien. He looked over at Ayen, who watched him with amusement. Lucien reached over and stole one of Ayen's marshmallows, receiving no protest from the angel.

"I could just live in here." Lucien stated, scanning over the cozy bedroom. "I do live in here." Ayenniç replied, giving a small smile when Lucien didn't appreciate the attempt at a joke.

"What a childish answer." Lucien pretended to be disappointed, shaking his head. "Well, you're the child here." Ayen softly reminded, Lucien raising an eyebrow. "How old even are you?" Lucien inquired, having never asked. Ayenniç softly laughed.

"It's not that important." Ayen dismissed, glancing away from Lucien. "Come on. Please? Tell me?" Lucien begged, wanting to know really badly. Ayen hesitated. "You won't believe me." he warned, until Lucien gave him a look which said he'd believe a lot of things.

"Fine." Ayen sighed. "I'm a little over two centuries. Two hundred and four, I believe?" he spoke, looking over to gauge Lucien's reaction. Lucien held back a laugh.

"Dang son, you old! Okay Grandpa, I see how it is." Lucien giggled, smiling way too hard for his own good. "Hey, I'm not that ancient! Lots of my friends were over seven hundred..." Ayen defended, gazing at the hysterical boy next to him.

"Still. That's pretty old, man. Two hundred?!" Lucien tried to calm down his laughter but ended up coughing instead. Ayenniç pouted at the comments, feeling his face heat up and lightly swatting at Lucien.

A knock resounded at the door, gathering the full attention of the room's occupants. Siwa's voice came through the door. "Ayen, have you seen Lucien anywhere?" he asked.

Ayenniç glanced over as Lucien rushed to get back under his blanket pile.

"No. Try outside the castle." Ayen called back, visibly relaxing as he heard Siwa walk off.

At this point, it was probably a good idea for Minwoo to exit the room. He'd witnessed more than enough in his few minutes as a bug, and things would start to seem suspicious if he were gone for a while. After slipping into the hallway through the doorframe, he morphed into a human and walked to his room, deciding he didn't have much else to do.

Meanwhile, Alexei regretted every life decision he'd ever made as he stood in the castle's main room, listening to the Leader yell at Baumé over whatever he'd done. Baumé blatantly ignored the leader, instead spending his time making weird faces at the Hotcake Hoes, who happened to be eavesdropping from across the room.

Alexei looked over and noticed the three, giving them a questioning stare. On cue the trio dashed out of the room, not subtle in the slightest. Alexei sighed mentally, wishing he could just get out of the situation as well.

Glancing between the ranting leader and Baumé, he started to realize that maybe he could just leave.

So he did.

Alexei turned and abruptly exited the room, no warnings given. He didn't hear any protests from inside, so he quickly left the area just in case they were to come looking for him. While walking through the castle's corridors he came upon the three who had been listening in earlier, but decided he wasn't in the mood to question anything they did.

"Do you guys want to go to the park or something? I need out of this place." Alexei offered, looking among the three. A murmur of agreement rose among them. "Sure, but can we stop at the store?" Koushi asked, thinking of some special item he desired.

"Even better. Come on, I'll pay for everything." Alexei beckoned for the three to follow him, then headed towards one of the castle's exits. The four chatted among themselves as they passed through the castle, inviting a couple of passing people to join them, but all declining.

Once the group left, the hallways were left shrouded in silence.

But the castle never remains quiet for long.

(Y'all what'd Baumé do 👀 huehuehue

Also that was a long ass chapter, I didn't know how to end the damn thing, it got to over 3000 words real quick I don't even know what happened

The writing went from "kinda understandable" to "what is this trash" at the end like it was a steep decline I just gave up

Anyway bYE)