An indescribable overflow of fear exploded within me, and for a second, I felt like collapsing right then and there when I glanced up at the demon, nonchalantly running her fingers through her hair. 

Wait. Why should I believe her? Just seconds ago, she was trying to take over my body. Wasn't she just trying to make my emotions spiral out of control again?

I clenched my teeth and took a deep breath. If she tried that one more time, I knew I wouldn't be able to survive another round of that.

Trying to disregard the uneasiness swirling around in my stomach, I glanced up at her wearily. "So...you're my demon, correct?"

She stared at me with an unfathomable expression and sighed. "Having to inhabit a non-pure Royal who can't even control her emotions...this is disappointing."

I frowned. "You can leave if you want. I'm not exactly happy that I have to worry about a demon trying to take over my body everyday."

She smirked and waved her hand dismissively in the air. "No hard feelings. Every demon is the same. After all, if you put yourself in my shoes, you wouldn't want to be stuck in a human either, would you?"

The longer I stared at her, the less she seemed like a demon. Besides the dilated red eyes and sharp teeth, she looked any other human girl. The misty reverie was also surprisingly empty for a demon. I suppose demons also had distinct personalities, just like humans.

"So umm..." I hesitated. Back then, when I still had not met her, there were so many burdensome questions that constantly circled in the back of my head, but now that there was an actual demon standing in front of me, everything just evaporated into thin air. "How does this work?"

She rose an eyebrow. "What?"

"You know...like..." I fumbled around with my words. "Now that I've met you, what's going to change? Will I have to eat double the food to satisfy the both of us? Oh and what about my eyes? Do you know why—"

"Ah jeez," she put a hand over her ears. "I'd forgotten how annoying all you humans are."

I blinked. "You've met a human before? You've inhabited someone besides me?"

She suddenly stopped and dropped her arms to her side. For a second, her pupils contracted and a muddled light filled her eyes. But when she blinked again, her blank mask was back, and she gave me an indifferent shrug. "As far as you're concerned, there's nothing that's going to change. Just keep going on about your day as you always have."

I guess even demons had their fair share of secrets they didn't want to share with anyone. "Alright. With that out of the way, just exactly where am I?"

"Your subconscious," she answered. "I can tap into your mind and open up this space so we can talk freely."

"Right," I nodded slowly. Eyeing her nervously, I said, "About that test of yours...how frequent will you pull that sort of thing?"

A smirk stretched across her lips as she stared at my anxious face. She danced over to me and cupped my face in her cold hands. As she leaned up towards me, I found myself mesmerized by her charming eyes that held different shades of red. I was still transfixed by her when I felt a pair of freezing lips press against mines.

"You!" I pushed her off me and stumbled a couple of steps away. "What are you doing?"

I felt goosebumps rise along my arm as she licked her lips. With a satisfied expression, she said, "Although you're not even a pure Royal, you still taste so good with all those emotions within you. I'm excited to see you get out of control again, Sakura."

Chills ran down my spine when I heard my name come out of her mouth; it sounded foreign to my ears when she said my name.

"Oh," the demon suddenly looked up. I looked up at the misty ceiling as well but didn't see anything. "They're calling."

"Who?"

"Who do you think? Well, I guess I have to give myself up now," she sighed.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Nan," she said, glancing back at me. "That's my name. Call my name when you need to activate your Guang. "

"Nan," I repeated slowly. " I—"

She suddenly appeared in front of me and leaned up to me. Nan was so close to me, I could see my reflection in her bright, red eyes. I flinched when she placed a finger to my chest and covered my mouth with my hand. Tapping my chest, she muttered, "Don't take life too seriously, Sakura. It's not like you're going to make it out alive."

Then with a flick of her wrist, she sent a dark mist that surrounded me in a second. The ground below me disappeared for a second, and I had to close my eyes to stop them from watering before I felt myself stop falling and heard another voice call my name.

"Sakura!"

Gasping, my eyes fluttered open, and I shot up. Looking around, I saw Catherine and the others standing around me with worried expressions.

"I—wait—" I gasped. I looked over to my side and felt my heart thump faster when I spotted Justin's still body on the bed. "Justin—"

"Justin is fine," Catherine reassured me.

"No—Nan—" I quickly stopped myself. "I didn't finish doing—"

"He's alive," Catherine said firmly, staring at me straight in the eyes. Seeing how confident she sounded, I felt all the tension and worry welling up in me disappear. 

"What about you?" she demanded, placing a hand on my shoulder. "When we came in, you were unconscious besides him."

"I fainted from the shock," I fibbed. "I'm fine now."

Catherine frowned and stared at me suspiciously for a few seconds before nodding and stepping back. I picked myself up and sat on the edge of Justin's bed.

I was glad I was sitting down because I could feel the energy in my legs vanish when I saw Justin's chest moving. Everything had happened so quickly...

I felt an angry pit of fire stir in my stomach when I thought back to Nan's words. So she did lie to me. I couldn't believe that demon.

Before I could curse her any longer, Tristan asked me, "What exactly happened? When we arrived, Justin was breathing, but he had blood all over him."

I gulped as I felt the memories from the traumatizing experience rush back to me. "J—Justin started coughing up blood and stopped breathing. B—but I did first aid on him...and he started breathing again—"

I cleared my throat and shook my head. Catherine wrapped her arms around me and gently patted my back. "It's okay, now. He's fine."

I dug my face into the crook of her shoulder and folded my arms around her neck. Tears began to prick the corner of my eyes as I choked out, "I—I thought h—he was going to d—die!"

Catherine patted the back of my head comfortingly. "Don't worry, Sakura. You did well. You saved him."

                                                                              ~

"Sakura," Catherine sighed for the upteenth time. "He's going to be fine."

"I know, I know," I answered. "I just...want to be close to him."

"Well tell him that when he wakes up," Catherine muttered underneath her breath as she stirred the broth in a pot for dinner . "He'll be on cloud nine."

"What?" I said, leaning in. "I couldn't hear you. Say that again?"

"Nothing," Catherine sighed. "You wouldn't get it even if I told you. By the way, how did you cut your lip?"

I placed a hand over my wound and felt the ointment that Catherine had placed on my lips.

"Rezin," I responded. "It was actually Rezin who warned me that Justin had stopped breathing. In the process, he accidentally cut my lip."

"Speaking of Rezin," Catherine frowned, glancing around. "Where's Yuri?"

"Didn't he go out to the front?" Tristan said.

"I don't remember him being with us when Rezin warned us to hurry back to the hideout," Catherine mused. "Or maybe it's just me...anyways, Sakura go wash up...go."

I pouted and picked myself up, knowing I wouldn't be able to argue against her in that tone. "Call me if anything—"

"Just go!" Catherine waved me away.

Sighing, I went out the back door and began taking off my clothes. Lowering the bucket into the well, I let it drop until I felt it touch the water before pulling it back up. As I hauled the bucket up, I realized how easy it was for me to pull the bucket up. Compared to when I had to draw the bucket up when I was back in Cardea to bring water back to the house, it now was like picking up a feather.

Shaking my head, I quickly grabbed the bucket of water and wet my towel before scrubbing my body. With a little bit of difficulty reaching my back, I finished washing and drying myself. Throwing on my clothes, I continued to dry my hair with a towel as I headed towards the door.

"Aww geez," I sighed to myself, closing my eyes. "I'm so tired..."

I took a step forward and suddenly slipped. As I fell towards the ground, time slowed down and suddenly, my body acted on its own. My hands shot out below my head, and I pushed off, backflipping on to my feet.

I stood there on my heels, still with shock by my sudden agility. How in the world—

Nan.

An uneasy feeling stirred in my stomach as I stood back up. Shaking my hair, I carefully walked back to the door and stepped into the room where I was met with the delicious aroma of Catherine's broth.

"You were taking so long, I was going to go check up on you," she said. "You alright?"

"I'm fine," I nodded. I looked over Catherine's shoulder and spotted Justin's figure still in bed.

"He's fine," Catherine said. "I actually just went to go check up on his wound, and it's weird."

"What?" I asked, alarmed.

"Not in a bad way!" Catherine quickly said. "It's just...his wound suddenly looks so much better than it ever did before as if today's event had actually helped him heal faster."

I let out a sigh of relief. Catherine handed me a bowl of broth and watched me eat all of it before she pointed towards my bed. I looked at her in disbelief, but Catherine was adamant. "You've been through a lot today. You're resting."

"But—"

"Nope."

"Can I at least sleep closer to him this time?" I sighed in defeat.

Catherine nodded. "Since he's finally showing some good progress, I don't think I'll have to be that close to him anymore."

I walked over to the bed next to Justin's and collapsed, fast first into the pillow. It was an exhausting day for sure, but I still needed my questions to be answered.

Steadying my mind, I closed my eyes.

Nan?

Clink.

"Why'd you call?"

I realized I was back in the misty reverie and looked up to see Nan standing in front of me. She had her hands behind her back and was staring curiously at me. Although my eyes looked exactly like hers when my emotions were triggered, it felt strange that I had the same pair of eyes as a demon.

" I just have some question to be answered," I said.

Nan stared at me silently for a few seconds before looking away with a sigh. Glancing up at the sky, she said, "What are you feeling so uncomfortable for?"

"How would I not be uncomfortable?" I scowled. "All of a sudden, I'm doing backflips and having a sudden boost of agility."

Nan turned her eyes towards me. "Is that really your reason? Because your body is more agile now?"

My throat went dry as she continued staring at me. It was like her eyes could see right through my soul and dig down to find my deepest, darkest secrets. I avoided her eyes and clenched my hands into fists.

Nan moved to say something when she suddenly froze and stood up. Her eyes darted to a side as if there were something hiding in the mist. She stood still for a very long time with an incredulous look in her scarlet eyes. Slowly, her mouth opened and stretched into a smile. I rose an eyebrow. "What?"

"Oh my," Nan cackled. "This is quite interesting...no it makes sense...yes..."

She looked at me. "It does, doesn't it?"

I tilted my head. "What are you talking about?"

Instead of answering me, she started humming to herself. Amusement gleamed in her eyes, and her grin widened, sending chills down my spine.

"Oh also," Nan stopped smiling and turned to look at me. "That yellow-haired boy. The one that follows you around."

"Yuri?" I tilted my head. "What about him?"

"Yuri?" Nan narrowed her eyes at me. A flash of emotion suddenly glinted in her eyes, but when she blinked again, it was gone.

"What about him?" I pressed.

Nan glanced over at me and opened her mouth as if she was going to tell me something when she slowly pressed her lips back together and shook her head. "Nothing."

Then, as if she had entered her own world, she stopped paying any attention to me and continued smirking to herself while muttering underneath her breath. Even when I shouted at her, she profusely ignored me. I sighed, giving up on the stubborn demon and attempted to slip myself out of the reverie when Nan suddenly spoke up.

"I'll tell you this," she turned towards me. "Be careful around him."

If there was one thing I'd learned while on this journey, it was that the worries never stopped coming. They just kept piling on. Sighing, I eyed Nan wearily, knowing that my concern wouldn't benefit me at all because she probably wouldn't even answer any of my questions.

I stared at Nan who then turned around and walked away from me. Her footsteps echoed in the empty space with every step she took, and soon, she disappeared into the mist. Staring at her disappearing shadow, I suddenly wondered if Guren had this much difficulty communicating with his demon.

I waited blankly for a moment before closing my eyes and willing myself to slip out of the demon's home.

~~~~~

A pretty short chapter compared to my other ones soooo yeah. Um anywayssss, I don't really have any interesting updates in my life because I'm still in quarantine, but if you guys have any stories to share, feel free to ヽ(ヅ)ノ

If you guys enjoyed, please comment below and hit that star!!!

See you guys next Sunday <3