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"The woods are lovely, dark and deep. 

But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep."

—Robert Frost

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The shrill sound of a blaring siren awoke many from a blissful sleep, followed by the slamming open of doors and rushing footsteps throughout the castle.

Accompanying this sudden mayhem was the frantic knocking on the Chosen Seven's bedroom doors, each waking up at the sound if not already awoken by the deafening alarm.

The time was just after midnight, the date being a mere couple of days after the group's last escapade out in the town. Not much had occurred since then, until tonight, when the castle's alarm system was suddenly set off. 

These weren't your average alarms, however, which could be simply triggered by smoke or an animal. These kept watch for only one thing—

Demons.

"What the actual hell is happening?" a dazed Koushi screeched as he burst out of his room, meeting the rest of his startled group in the hallway. 

"It's probably just a stupid fire drill." Baumé said angrily, miffed that he was woken up at this hour.

"Where's the leaders? They probably know what's going on, so we should just find them." Danjong suggested, glancing towards Siwa's bedroom down the hall. 

Their attention was suddenly grabbed by the sound of a scream from across the castle. The group gave each other nervous glances, a bit less sure that it wasn't anything important now. 

"Even if it is just a fire drill, why don't we, y'know, run? Just because." Jihyun spoke up, slowly shuffling the opposite direction from the group. Haru grabbed Jihyun's wrist in protest.

"Jihyun, we've gotta wait for the leaders! For all we know, this could be the safest place in the castle." Haru persuaded, trying to think logically. This soon sparked an argument among the boys, who eventually decided to take a vote on whether to stay or leave.

This solution was soon interrupted, however, by a nearby door slamming open. The group stared, expecting Siwa or Lucien to walk out. Instead exited Alexei, seemingly out of breath from running, not to mention clearly disoriented.

"We need to hide. Now." he said quietly, gesturing for the Seven to follow him. The group hesitated, unsure if they should heed his order or wait for their leaders. "Do you all want to die? I'm not your leader, but this is an order. Follow me." Alexei commanded, his tone startlingly serious in contrast to his usual soft speech. The boys followed him, shaken, still questioning the whole situation.

Alexei led them through hallways and down staircases they didn't know existed until then, and stopped upon reaching a secluded room in one of the farthest corners of the castle. After ushering the others in and locking the door, Alexei lit a candle to provide light in the dark space.

"Alexei, do explain. Why are we hiding?" Kyungjin asked in a scarily calm voice, the others muttering their confusion as well. Alexei sighed, sitting on the floor due to exhaustion.

"I won't sugarcoat things. There's a demon in this castle right now, and we don't know why it's here." Alexei admitted, a couple of gasps and swears showing the group's disbelief. None bothered to question the fact that demons apparently existed, though.

"Is it... going to kill us?" Haru questioned, the though obviously having weighed in on everyone's mind. Alexei seemed almost shocked at the inquiry, and smiled as to not worry the Seven.

"Of course not. It isn't here to kill you, obviously, you all will be fine." Alexei said with a suspicious amount of confidence, causing the others to stare at him.

"I thought you said we don't know why it's here. What if it actually IS here to kill us?" Baumé spoke, his voice taking an accusing edge. "Trust me. It's not." Alexei said.

"But how can we be sure?" Baumé urged. "It's not like you know why it's here, all you're doing is trying to console us so we won't feel scared." he continued ranting. "We aren't children, you can't lie to us as if–"

 "SILENCE! Dai Baumé, you just be quiet. It's not here to kill you and that's the truth. So just shut up and don't argue with me!" Alexei said quite harshly, the whole crowd becoming speechless. 

None had ever heard the usually shy Alexei speak that way, and hearing it happen was completely unsettling. Not a word was said for what seemed like ages. No one even dared to move an inch. The only noise remaining was that of the castle's muffled sirens, blaring in the distance.

A knock sounded at the door, to which Alexei hopped up and answered. 

"Is everyone in here?" a voice asked, to which Alexei nodded and let the newcomers in. A sigh of relief resounded upon identifying the people at the door as their leaders, Siwa and Lucien. Closing the door behind them, the two happily greeted each of the Seven, delighted to see them all safe.

"Where were you guys?" Jihyun asked, walking up to Lucien. "With the Leader. He called us over to help him get the nursery kids to safety." Lucien explained, leaning against the wall. Siwa stood next to him, checking Lucien over for any injuries acquired on the journey to the safe room.

"Alexei, who is it? Who is that thing going to kill?" Siwa asked him quietly, ignoring the others who were quite blatantly eavesdropping.

Alexei thought for a second, then looked at Siwa, shaking his head. "No one. I don't know why it's here, but no one within these walls will die tonight." Alexei stated, Siwa sighing in relief. 

"You see, he just keeps saying stuff like that!" Baumé whispered to Minwoo, but was immediately silenced by a deadly glare from Alexei.

Lucien glanced between Baumé and Alexei, sensing something was off. "Is everything good with you two?" he quietly asked Baumé. 

"He just doesn't get my point, I'm trying to be logical here!" Baumé huffed, not wanting to deal with Lucien at the moment.

"Baumé, if you two are arguing I'm assuming it's because you doubted something he said, not the other way around." Lucien started. "And I'd suggest you trust him. He's never wrong." he stated, walking off to go chat with Jihyun as Baumé eyed him weirdly.

The seconds ticking by turned into minutes, and soon most grew impatient. After an eternity of waiting, the sound of footsteps neared the room, and all of its occupants froze in anticipation.

"It's just the leader." Alexei said softly, just as the door swung open to reveal the man himself, the Circle's leader.

After all greeting the leader and bringing him into the room, he began to speak.

"In all my years as leader I've never quite had an experience like this." he laughed, clearly about to tell some sort of story.

"I've dealt with more than a few intruders, a couple vampires, and endless other massacres. But I've never seen anything as strange as tonight. As you all are probably aware by now, our alarms were triggered by a demon entering the castle. However, this isn't your ordinary demon," the leader smiled excitedly, "it's a fallen angel." 

"A fallen angel? Why is it here?" Koushi spoke up, mirroring the others' bewilderment. 

"Strangely enough, he isn't here to harm anyone. He came here for refuge." the leader answered, almost in as much disbelief as the Chosen Seven were about the situation. "Refuge? Why would a fallen freaking angel need any safety?" Kyungjin muttered, the leader hearing him anyway.

"That's the funny thing. We've concluded that he was a normal angel until recently, when he was banished from his realm. As for why he was banished... he won't tell us. He seems too ashamed to admit anything." the leader explained. 

"Did he tell you this? How do you know he isn't lying?" Minwoo questioned. "He's telling the truth." Alexei spoke up before the leader could reply.

"We do have him surrounded by guards, just in case." the leader assured. "Anyway, I think you should all go up and talk to him. See if you can find out anything from him, but be careful. We don't know all that he's capable of." he spoke, motioning for the group to follow him out of the room.

"Are you sure it's a good idea for us to talk to him?" Danjong asked, yet didn't receive a response. 

The troop continued walking until they came to a spacious room in the castle.

Along all sides of the room stood hooded society members, each either brandishing some sort of supernatural weapon, or armed with their own powers. The shocking part of the whole scene was, obviously, the intruder.

In the center of the room sat the angel, curled up into a ball, his tarnished white wings wrapped tightly around him like a blanket. The elegant white tunic he wore was torn and battered, destroying the garment's prestige. He made no attempt to move, the only sign of life being the quiet sobs which he desperately tried to hide.

"When they said fallen angel, I expected more 'Lord of Darkness' than 'abused child,' you know?" Minwoo whispered to Siwa, Siwa nodding in agreement. The bunch warily filed into the room, unsure of how to act.

"They're here to talk to him." the leader said to one of the assigned guards. The man gave a signal to another member, who promptly whistled to get the small angel's attention. "Hey, sit up straight. People are here to talk to you." the guard said. 

The angel peeked up to look at the newcomers in the room. As soon as he locked eyes with the youngest leader, Lucien froze. He recognized the look in that angel's eyes. It was pure fear.

"All of the guards need to leave, the weapons are too threatening and aren't necessary." Lucien stated bluntly, the confused guards hesitant to leave. The Leader, trusting Lucien, ordered them to do so anyway. 

"Kyungjin, come with me. His left wing is incredibly broken and I need you to heal it. Baumé, do me a favor and make something to eat." Lucien gave out orders, ignoring the comments of 'When did you become a mother?' and the various complaints.

Walking over to the angel, Lucien stopped a couple of feet from him and sat down. The being stared at him warily, as if waiting for something bad to happen.

"Hi there." Lucien said gently, the angel seeming to relax a bit. "I'm Lucien, and this is Kyungjin." he introduced, gesturing to the healer behind him. "Is it okay if he heals you? I don't want you to be in pain." Lucien spoke calmly, the angel giving a small nod in reply. Kyungjin quickly moved towards the broken wing, focusing his powers on it.

"Mind if I ask your name?" Lucien asked quietly. The angel stayed silent for a moment. 

"Ayenniç Q'xyryn. That's my name." he spoke with a strange accent, causing Lucien to question if he heard him correctly. 

"Um, would you mind repeating that?" Lucien grinned sheepishly. "My name is Ayenniç Q'xyryn. People call me Ayen." the angel, Ayen, said, letting a small smile slip onto his face.

"That's a cool name though, my name's too simple. It's just Bu S...well, just Lucien." he said glancing back at the others. 

"So, what happened to you? If you came here for safety we'll give it to you, but the others won't be happy if they don't know why you're here." Lucien persuaded cautiously, in an attempt to understand the situation. 

"They tortured me." Ayen whispered. "It was the other angels. All because I–" Ayen quickly stopped speaking, glancing downwards bashfully. 

"It's okay to tell me what you did. I've done some stupid stuff, I won't judge you." Lucien nudged, yet tried not to seem too pushy. Ayen blinked as his eyes welled up with tears once more. 

"I fell in love with a human. And after they punished me, they... they killed him." Ayenniç cried, leaning into Lucien for comfort. Lucien hugged the small angel, trying to comfort him. 

Lucien glanced behind him at Siwa, who gave him a thumbs up to say he was doing well. Lucien almost laughed despite the situation.

The rest of the Seven were either blatantly ignoring the scene or watching it intently. Haru ate a bag of popcorn Baumé had summoned as the event went on.

Eventually Lucien finished consoling and chatting to the fallen angel, and helped him adjust to his surroundings. The others tried to be welcoming, although most were still wary.

"So you're saying he sensed a supernatural presence here and hoped we would help? Seems kinda fishy to me." Baumé spoke to Siwa as the group walked through the castle. "Are you saying he's a liar? I'm not so sure he'd break his own wing in half just to seem convincing." Siwa responded.

Alexei was currently chatting with Ayenniç, who had cheered up a bit since the earlier events. Although he apparently wasn't the most talkative angel, he seemed harmless.

Albeit, he wasn't exactly trusted by anyone yet.

Many had taken a liking to Ayenniç's large white wings, which he kept folded neatly behind his back as he walked. Danjong, Haru, and Koushi walked next to Ayen, asking him random questions and even managing to make him laugh a couple of times.

"It's barely 2 AM yet it feels like forever since we woke up." Jihyun yawned, Koushi nodding in agreement. 

"I'm going to bed. Bye." Baumé announced, running off into the castle corridors.

 "That guy is so problematic." Alexei sighed, staring after Baumé. "Yeah, you get used to him after a while." Kyungjin stated. 

"We really should all go to bed. Ayen, I'll find you a bedroom. Everyone else go away. Get sleep." Lucien shooed away the others. "Not you, Siwa, you dunce. You're staying with us." Lucien teased as Siwa started to walk away in addition to the others. 

Finally, everyone had returned to their rooms, and Lucien and Siwa got Ayenniç settled into his own room. No one looked forward to waking up in the morning.

Let's just hope they were allowed to sleep in.

(A/n: yOoO what's good, it's me, ya boi, back at it updating @ 3 am cause that's the shit I do- anyway what do y'all think of the new chappie, it's pretty bad like w a o w but anyway like

ciao)