The smell from apartment thirteen has gotten worse. To the point that, when Freya returns home to her apartment complex, she contemplates knocking on the door and asking its inhabitants to please clean their place up. 

But the scent that wafts through the gap above and below the door has her eyes watering, and her throat gagging just trying to pass it. She determines that maybe it'd be better to call the rental company and let them deal with it.

The elevator is still out of order, she notes. It's exasperating really. She can't be the only tenant who's called to complain about it, so why hasn't anyone shown up to fix it? Hell, if they had, they probably would have noticed thirteen's stench too.

Even by the time she makes it up the stairs, and steps quietly into her apartment, Hoseok is still fast asleep. She feels relieved, and despite herself, happy that he is still here.

"How long do you think it'll be before he comes back?"

Brianna lays enshrined within Yoongi's warm embrace. It had surprised her, at first, just how much of a cuddler he is. Not that she's complaining, mind you, but it's certainly not what she would have expected from someone with such a gruff demeanor.

"The Nephilim?" He rumbles lazily, popping one eye open as she turns around to face him.

She tucks her head into his chest and listens to his steady, soothing heartbeat.

"Yeah, " she replies. "It's nerve-racking, just waiting for him to make his move."

Yoongi shuffles, "are you afraid?"

Nodding meekly against the solid expanse of his chest, Brianna murmurs her reply.

"I am."

This tender, almost painful feeling constricts within Yoongi's heart as he holds her tightly to his chest.

"Don't be, " he replies softly, "I won't let anything happen to you."

Somehow, Brianna finds that she believes him.

It's odd, she thinks. She's only known Yoongi for such a short period of time, and given the fact that he's a reaper, she feels as if she should be afraid of him. Yet somehow, wrapped in his embrace like this, she feels so safe. Warm, even. Like nothing in the world could touch her. His heartbeat pounds a steady staccato against her ear, and the sound is so soothing, that she can't help but relax. 

It's frightening, just how much she trusts him. How much she wants him. And in more than just the physical sense. But there is a connection between them that defies all logic. 

There's this inescapable draw, something about Yoongi that she simply can't resist.

"You said you've been hunting this guy for five years?"

Yoongi hums softly, "Yeah."

"Do you have any idea why he's targeting me like this?"

The reaper frowns.

"Honestly, I was hoping you could tell me." He replies. "I've tracked him all over the country, and yet, everything that he did seems to have led to this, to you. It's like he'd planned this all along. And I really have no idea why."

Brianna shivers, and falls silent.

She doesn't know why either. She struggles to think of anyone that she's given cause to obsess over her, anyone that she might have offended, or misled. But no matter how deeply she thinks about it, no one comes to mind. Brianna is also certain that she'd remember someone like him. He'd had a very unique blend of features. And then, there's that distinct feeling of unease he'd instilled within her the first time he'd stepped into her shop.

"Why are you hunting this particular Nephilim anyway?"

Yoongi stiffens beneath her, and she swears that his heart even stutters within his chest.

This isn't really a pleasant topic for him, for many reasons. He'd figured, of course, that she would eventually ask questions. But he still hoped that she wouldn't. He doesn't want to lie to her, and he doesn't want to dance around the issue.

But he also doesn't want her to know just who Cole is to him. It's instinctive, at this point, to keep that information to himself. Besides, just what would she think of him if she knew that the monster who is out to make her life hell is none other than his own flesh and blood? His son.

Gods, it still hurts just thinking about the cruelty of it all.

So he doesn't. He shoves all thoughts of Cole, and Ophelia away. He forces that particular festering ball of anguish back into its box and slams the lid shut.

Brianna notices the change of mood, recognizes his withdrawal for what it is. Clearly, this is something that he doesn't want to talk about. She can only guess at the reason why, and her heart aches. She knows enough about reapers to know why they are the way they are.

Other Immortals are free to live their lives as they please, provided they cause no issues for the rest of their kind. The Gods don't take kindly to exposure, after all.

Reapers, however, are held to an entirely different standard.

As servants of the Gods themselves, they are not allowed free will, even if the spark of individual awareness does actually exist within them. No one is certain quite how far that lack of free-will extends, though most assume that it is not absolute.

Everyone loves to talk about how merciless and cruel, how very heartless reapers are. And as far as she's aware, it's plausibly true. She's never really met a reaper face to face until Yoongi, so she can't really say that she knows for a fact that it's the truth. But she's heard plenty of stories.

However, the more she really thinks about it, the more she begins to doubt.

Someone who is incapable of emotion doesn't fuck the way Min Yoongi does, doesn't embrace the way he does, or grow angry and possessive the way he does either. 

In fact, though aloof and detached, Yoongi doesn't strike her as emotionless at all. A little hard to read? Yes. He clearly keeps his emotions under tight control. He doesn't like talking about himself, and as such, is prone to avoiding it. But she notices the way he looks at her, and the little things that he does for her throughout the day. He's quiet, and unobtrusive about it. Not prone to seeking attention for his deeds.

But she notices them nonetheless.

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to, " she speaks finally.

She can feel the tension leaving his frame as he sighs, and softens beneath her.

Again, she gets the sinking feeling that she knows exactly why he's been hunting this particular Nephilim. And she isn't really sure what to think. To be forced to kill one's own child...

The Gods truly are cruel.

She can't even imagine such a thing, or how she would feel, regardless of the circumstances. 

And further more, if she is correct, she doesn't understand how Yoongi can stand to look at her…

Let alone hold and caress her the way he does.

Cole is beginning to grow restless.

It's been days since he caught sight of his seer's tantalizing flesh. He's certain that her habit of undressing near the window hasn't changed because she is aware of his presence, and even the damned reaper couldn't possibly know where he is.

So why the sudden change?

He's frustrated, so very frustrated. And angry. Why does everyone keep getting in his way?

His mind recalls that day, so many years ago, and his heart grows heavy with longing. The day that Agathe saved his life, and that of his mother's.

~FLASHBACK~

"Shh, little one. It'll be okay. I won't let anything happen to you."

Amidst the wreckage of his mother's modest cottage, the pale woman holds him tightly. He whimpers against her chest, fear holding him hostage as the reapers fly about, searching for him. He knows why they're here. Mother had always warned him this day might come.

The rest of the village is probably dead. He'd heard the screams, knew that they might be their last. It is all because of him, he thinks bitterly. Because of his selfish father and his too kind-hearted mother. Because he'd been born.

They are looking for him.

His mother lies comatose, slumped against the crumbling remains of the nearby wall. When the house had collapsed, she'd done her best to shield him from the resulting debris. He'd cried, and screamed. He'd begged her to get up.

Cole loves his mother. And now, he thinks, his mother is dead.

His anguished cries are what had brought the seer to him, and she now clings to him desperately, legs battered and bloody. Her palms, sticky with her own blood, smear that blood unwittingly across his back. And through his hair.

She had to have crawled through the wreckage, through the debris and shattered pieces of his home. He knows that she must be in pain, but she ignores that, and focuses instead on keeping him quiet, and hidden.

Why? He wonders. The little Nephilim doesn't understand why a perfect stranger would risk her life this way for someone that she doesn't even know. Had she seen his death? Why try to stop it?

She should have just let him die.

From her spot against the wall, his mother begins to groan. The seer who's lap he is currently occupying stiffens, before scooting against the wall in order to check upon the dazed woman.

Her eyes flutter open, and take in the remains of the place she'd called home. There is an immediate look of knowing that passes across her elegant features, and she immediately begins to grow frantic. Her son!

Where is her son?

But the seer is already placing the young Cole into his mother's lap, eyes kind and solemn.

"Remain quiet for just a little while longer, " she tells his mother. "In a few hours, the reapers will leave. Wait until nightfall, then make your way south. There's a village there that will be safe for you. At least for some time, though I cannot guarantee how long."

The boy wonders briefly if she knows what he is.

"You've found another."

Yoongi looks frantically about, he'd recognize that sweet voice even if he'd become deaf.

"Ophelia?" He cries. "Where are you?"

"I am here, my love."

The reaper whips his head around, and finally lays eyes upon the form of his dead wife.

She shines with an ethereal light, and is every bit as stunning as she was in life. He knows that this has to be a dream, an illusion, because of his Ophelia…

His beautiful, radiant Ophelia…

Was a mortal.

And mortals don't have souls. At least, not in the traditionally accepted sense. They have a sort of...thumbprint. An echo of a soul. When they die, that echo is claimed by one of the Gods, and that person ceases to exist in any real capacity.

His Ophelia is gone. Forever. And she's never coming back.

But it doesn't stop him from gathering this dream phantom into his arms, and holding her closely.

"I'm happy for you, " she tells him softly.

He can feel her smile against his chest. She would be happy for him, that's just the kind of woman Ophelia was. And maybe that's part of the reason it hadn't pained him to get involved with Brianna, even if a part of him doesn't know whether he'll ever be able to truly love her. Ophelia wouldn't have wanted him to remain alone, clutching to the memory of her ghost.

And she wouldn't have blamed him for abandoning her, even if it made her incredibly sad. No. She would have understood. She had always understood, even when he didn't understand himself.

"Our son has become something terrible, hasn't he?"

The pain in her voice brings tears to his eyes. He tries desperately to hold them back, to keep them at bay. But they slide freely down his cheeks, and bleed into his voice as he speaks.

"I'm so sorry, " he croaks, "I'm so, so sorry. It's all my fault. I couldn't- I didn't want to-"

"Shh, " she coos softly, voice gentle, even while stained with her own tears. "It's not your fault. You did what you thought was best. You did it for him, and for me. And you've suffered so very much for it."

He thinks to himself that he hasn't suffered nearly as much as she had, but he doesn't say it aloud.

When Yoongi wakes up, there are tears streaming down his cheeks. Brianna is fast asleep, thankfully.

It isn't that he doesn't want her to know because he doesn't trust her, but that it's simply too painful to bring up. And he doesn't want his little seer comparing herself to a woman that is long gone, or cause her any grief.

In desperate need of some fresh air, he slides out of the bed and makes his way down the stairs to the shop.

Brianna stirs slightly in her sleep, twisting and reaching for him. But when her fingers find only empty space, she cuddles into his pillow and returns to her peaceful slumber.