"DIDN'T I TELL YOU to wear your glasses? I bought that for you."  A man stated, staring at Taeil who was squinting his eyes because he couldn't see clearly.

     "But it's too goofy! Why buy me something that makes me look like Harry Potter?" Taeil asked, making the man laugh from what he heard.

     "And when the hell did you care about how you look?! You're too lazy to even fix your hair when you wake up!" He pointed out with a louder tone, making Taeil scratch the back of his head in irritation, "For fuck's sake stop screaming. It's hurting my head. I'm going back to sleep."

     "Seriously?! Come on Lee Taeil! We still have a video game to finish." The man stated, pulling Taeil's arm so he wouldn't be able to leave.

     Taeil looked at the man and honestly told him, "I'm tired."

      The man pouted from Taeil's answer and lets go of his arm, "Why do you always do this to me? But when Jackson asks you to do something, you do it with no complaints. Do you like him?!" He suddenly asked.

     Taeil was surprised at the sudden question, but he was too tired to even show it, "I like him because he doesn't talk much, so will you be a good boy and shut up?" He asked instead.

     "So you do like him?!" The man continued to ask.

     "You clearly know who I like..." Taeil mumbled to himself.

     "What?"

     Taeil pretended like he didn't say anything and just started walking away.

     "Hey! Lee Taeil! What did you say?!"

     "Seriously! Just leave me alone!"

     The alarm clock sets off, instantly making Taeil open his eyes from shock. His heart was beating fast after the dream that he just had. He sat up, massaged his temple, and lazily turned the alarm off.

     "Why the fuck am I dreaming about you again?" Taeil asked himself while holding his aching chest. Taeil's been having these dreams for a long time now. Dreams that were clearly memories that Taeil has now completely forgotten.

     "And who the fuck are you? Why can't I remember your face?" Taeil asked himself before standing up from his bed to get ready for his classes. Before leaving his room, Taeil fed his pet snail slash guardian Acedia. Afterward, he went downstairs and saw his mother brewing coffee.

     "Well, you're up early. Breakfast?" she asked when she saw Taeil approach her.

     "Nah, I'm going to meet Jackson today. We're gonna buy new glasses," Taeil replied.

     "I see. Then don't come home late again okay? You know that I worry about you sometimes even if you're a demon," Mrs. Lee casually stated.

     Taeil nodded his head and answered, "Yes mom, I will." Then he went to his mother and gave her a quick peck on the cheek before leaving the house. When he went out, he saw Jackson leaning on the side of a light post, waiting for him to come out.

     "Well that took you long enough," Jackson sarcastically stated as he and Taeil started walking.

     "Good morning to you too Jackson. So, how's Mark?" Taeil asked just so Jackson wouldn't get mad at him for making him wait too long. He learned that Jackson becomes calmer whenever they talk about his lover.

      Jackson didn't reply for a few seconds but later on, he did. "He's doing good. He moved back to his brother's house last weekend."

      "Wow, after a month of staying with you? It must've been tough on him," Taeil honestly stated.

     "Well, his father heard that he was staying with me so he and the other Archangels forced him to move back. They thought I was planning something bad again," Jackson stated while rolling his eyes, obviously annoyed.

     "Bowing in front of us like a lunatic to save him just to do something bad to him later on. Yup, that sounds about right," Taeil sarcastically said back. Then Jackson chuckled, surprising him on his brother's sudden action.

     "Wait a sec. Did Jackson the great just smile at me?!" Taeil asked with an exaggerated expression.

     Jackson's face quickly turned back to normal as he said, "Don't push it."

     Taeil smiled and nodded his head in defeat, "I guess every one of us changed because of our Fathers. To tell you the truth, I don't even know what we're doing now. Shouldn't the King of Hell be doing something right now? And we haven't even heard of our Fathers yet," Taeil honestly told his brother.

     "They might just be busy torturing some naughty souls in hell. And come on, do you want us to get killed that badly?" Jackson asked with his right eyebrow raised, making Taeil shout back, "Of course not!"

     "Then what are you worrying about? You should be thankful our Fathers didn't turn us into a human just like what the angels did to Yong Junhyung," Jackson pointed out, making Taeil realize that Jackson was right.

     Afterward, the two didn't say anything anymore. It was a good feeling to have silence, even for a few minutes. Especially since nothing normal had ever happened ever since they turned eighteen.

     "We're here," said Taeil as he and Jackson arrived at an Optical shop. The two entered the shop and went to the area of the store where the big round glasses were placed.

     "Don't tell me you're going to buy that again," Jackson stated, but Taeil grabbed the same glasses that he was wearing inside the shelves, but this time, it had a different color. His old one was black, but this time it was silver.

     "I knew it," Jackson stated as he watched Taeil walk towards the counter with a satisfied look, "Why do you always buy the same glasses?" He asked him.

      "It's because I like this design," Taeil simply answered.

     Jackson didn't argue anymore and just watched as Taeil paid for the glasses. After that, the two went out of the store and started walking again.

     "Where're our brothers now?" Taeil then asked.

     "They'll be waiting for us at Suho's house today so let's look for a cab," Jackson suggested.

     The two went to the side of the street and waited for a cab to drive pass them. While they were waiting, Taeil kept on stealing glances at Jackson. He's been having dreams about someone he couldn't remember, and he was hoping Jackson might know about it.

     "Spill it." Jackson suddenly stated, surprising Taeil.

     Taeil awkwardly laughed and scratched the back of his head, "Well, I just wanted to ask if you remember the dreams that I mentioned before. The ones I've been having before we even met our brothers?"

     Jackson didn't answer and purposely ignored Taeil's question, making Taeil look at him annoyingly, "Hey, Wang Jackson! You told me to spill it so why are you ignoring me now?!"

     Without looking back at Taeil, Jackson sighed and finally answered him, "Alright. I remember okay?"

    "Okay. Then do you really not know who I'm seeing in my dreams? Because it looked like we were pretty close to him. When I have these dreams there's always me, you and that guy. Were there three of us before?" Taeil asked his best friend with an eager expression.

     Jackson took a deep breath and looked at him, "Taeil, you've been asking me that ever since you started having those dreams. Are you even sure those are memories? Because I still have one answer. There wasn't a "that guy" before. It was only me and you."

     "But-"

     Jackson quickly cuts Taeil off when he saw a cab coming towards them. "Taxi!" He shouted. The cab stopped and Jackson opened the back door for Taeil. Taeil glared at him but entered the cab anyway. Jackson couldn't help but sigh again before closing the door for Taeil and taking a seat at the passenger's seat.

     "Where to sir?" the driver asked as soon as Jackson closed the door.

     "At Cheongdam-dong," Jackson answered.

     The Two didn't talk anymore, making the whole cab silent. Taeil looked out of the window and stared at the cars that drove past them. He yawned, his vision getting blurry as the cars started speeding up. His eyelids started feeling heavy, and after a few more seconds, the son of sloth fell asleep.

     "I need to leave Taeil. You know that this was my dream ever since I was a kid." The nameless man stated with a sad expression.

     Taeil, who was lying on the bench, didn't even bother to open his eyes as he answered, "Alright."

     "Alright? That's the only thing that you're going to say to me?" The man asked, obviously frustrated.

     Taeil finally opened his eyes. He stood up from the bench and looked back at the man in front of him, "Then what the fuck do you want me to do? Beg and tell you not to leave? This isn't a melodrama. Leave if you want. I'm going home. I'm tired."  He answered him before turning away from him.

     The man looked down on the floor in defeat. But before Taeil could completely leave him, he chased after him and grabbed him by the arm, "Taeil...at least take this." He stated, pulling something out from his pocket and placing it on Taeil's palm.

     Taeil looked at his hand, "A...guitar pick with the initial T?" He asked.

     "Yeah, I used that on my audition last month, and I believe that this was the reason why I was picked as the new guitarist of their band. I'm giving this to you because it's important...like how important you are to me" The man answered.

     Something inside Taeil burned. He wanted to say something, but he shoved the guitar pick back at the man's hand and said instead,"I'm not taking that. Bring it with you to Tokyo. Goodbye" Then he finally walked away.

     "Taeil! Wait!" The man shouted, gripping on the guitar pick on his hand, but Taeil continued walking without looking back.

     "Taeil!"

     "Taeil! Wake up! We're here!" Someone shouted close to his ear. Taeil opened his eyes and felt tears coming out of his eyes. He wiped the tears with his hand and saw blood. 

     Jackson, who only saw the blood tears when Taeil faced him, looked at him with shock, "What the...Are you alright?" He asked, taking out his handkerchief so he could wipe it for him. Taeil pushed Jackon's hand away and went out of the cab.

     "I'm fine. I'm just really tired, that's all." Taeil lied, wiping the rest of the blood-stains with the back of his hand instead.

     Jackson sighed and nodded his head, "Okay. I'll believe that for now."

     Like what Jackson said, he didn't question his brother anymore. They walked their way to their destination, which was Suho's house. Without knocking, they went inside Kim's residence where they saw the Demons hanging out in the living room.

     "Hey, guys!" Taeil greeted. When they got closer, they saw that the sons were actually watching porn.

     "Seriously guys? This early?" Taeil asked as he sat beside Minhyuk on the sofa while Jackson sat on the carpet beside Jiyong, who was engrossed with what was on the television. 

     "It was Suho's idea," Jiyong answered, his eyes still glued to the screen.

     "I thought it would be Hyunseung's idea," Jackson then stated, making the rest of the Demons laugh.

     Hyunseung, who was sitting beside Sunggyu on the other sofa, glared at Jackson and told him, "Very funny Jackson. Just because I'm the prince of lust doesn't mean I watch those things."

     "Yeah. Why would Hyunseung watch those things if he could just do it for real," Sunggyu stated, draping his arm around Hyunseung who only pushed it away as soon as Sunggyu did it. He then grabbed a pillow and slammed it on Sunggyu's face, making the sons laugh again.

     "Man, I haven't laughed like that in a while. Ever since the 'Mark and Jackson incident', we've been so serious with making a plan even greater than that one, and it's driving us all crazy," Minhyuk honestly stated, and everyone agreed.

     "If it wasn't for Jackson, we would have been progressing," Jiyong stated as he looked at the brother sitting beside him, but Jackson just shrugged his shoulder, not even guilty for what he did to his brothers' plan.

     "If it wasn't for Jackson, we would have been consumed with guilt," Hyunseung corrected.

     "I guess you've got a point there," Jiyong admitted as he placed his arm around Jackson's shoulder.

     The seven brothers started talking about normal things again, remembering the fact that they were still college students and not just princes of hell. But as the conversation was running smoothly, Sunggyu butted in and brought them back to reality.

     "My Father talked to me last night," he spitted out, making everyone stop talking.

     "You mean Father Satan?" Taeil asked curiously.

     Sunggyu nodded his head and took a deep breath, "Yeah, and he was furious. He told me that the King of Hell almost showed himself to us so we could be punished by his own hands, but our Fathers did everything to stop him," Sunggyu revealed, making everyone shiver by just the thought of it.

      "And Kharon? He's been gone for 3 weeks now right? Well, the reason was that he was giving his services to the King as punishment for not guarding us enough." Sunggyu continued, shocking them even more. But this time, Jackson started feeling guilty. The only reason why their guardian was being punished is because of what he did.

     "But that's not the worst part. Apparently, the King was so excited to feed on Mark's soul that he continuously salivated for days. That's just fucked up man," Sunggyu explained further, and Jackson's guilt subsided a little. 

     "S-So you're saying...the K-King himself...wanted to p-punish us?" Suho asked while stuttering by just the thought of it.

    Sunggyu didn't want to admit it himself, but he nodded his head as an answer.

    "So what do we need to do? There must be something that would make that fucker calm down. Do we need to kill some strangers as a replacement for Mark's soul? Or is an angel's soul just way better than any other human soul?" Jiyong asked, bravely referring to their King as fucker.

     "Hey, Kwon Jiyong. Don't talk like Mark and the rest of the Arcs are just some kind of food," Jackson angrily stated, pushing off the Jiyong's arm that was placed around his shoulders.

     "Oh for fuck's sake. You just heard what Sunggyu said. Our King wanted to kill us because of what you did. This isn't the right time to be defending your stupid lover," Jiyong answered back, quickly making Jackson pull his collar towards him, "What the fuck did you say?"

     Taeil immediately went in between them and pushed Jackson away from the prideful prince, "Guys! Are you fucking serious right now? We should be making plans, not fighting each other."

     Jackson didn't say anything while Jiyong fixed his shirt. No one wanted to say it out loud, but the rest of the demons knew that Jiyong had a point. Jackson contributed to their current problem, even though all the sons agreed to release Mark in the end. If Jackson didn't initiate it, then everything would have gone smoothly.

      "Well, enough with the drama. My Father gave us a mission. Finally, we have an idea of what we need to do. And the mission is this: Kill anyone who you see as a threat. And that includes everyone who makes us lose our focus on our real mission, which is killing the Arcs." Sunggyu finally revealed to them.

     "It simply means we kill all the third parties," Hyunseung concluded.

     "That's correct. And if we can't do that..." Sunggyu paused and seriously looked at his brothers one by one, "Our Fathers will do it for us," he continued, leaving the sons speechless. It only made them realize that they weren't in any position to disobey the King anymore.

*****

"Guys, are you all tucked in now?" Suho asked as he looked at his brothers who were occupying his bedroom.

     "Suho, you have an extra pillow?" Jiyong asked, lying on Suho's bed while playing a game on his phone. Suho took the extra pillow on the sofa outside. Then he went back to his room and threw it at Jiyong.

     "Happy now my king?"

     "Thank you, my slave," replied Jiyong with a grin, making Suho tackle Jiyong on the bed. Now the two were wrestling, forgetting the fact that their leader was also beside them.

     "I'll kick you out of my house and make you sleep on the lawn if you don't shut up," Suho stated while locking Jiyong's neck with his arms. Sunggyu looked at what his brothers are doing and glared at them. He didn't have to say anything to make the two stop.

     "It's 11 PM and we have classes tomorrow. So shut up and sleep already." Sunggyu stated, and everyone finally settled down.

     Taeil, who was on the futon beside Hyunseung, stared at the ceiling with a blank expression. He was scared that he'd have those dreams again. Jackson kept on saying that those weren't memories and just dreams, but Taeil knew deep down that it was. It just felt too real.

     "Let's just think of happy thoughts." Taeil thought to himself before closing his eyes. It didn't even take long for the dreams to take over right after.

     "Taeil! Please wake up, Taeil!" A voice shouted but Taeil wasn't responding.

     "Taeil, come on now. This isn't the time to be sleeping. Taeil please!" The voice continued, but this time, it was obvious that they were in a state of panic.

     "Your Jackson's still here. I didn't leave you like he did, so please open your eyes. Please" Jackson, the owner of the voice, begged while gripping on Taeil's shoulder.

     The dream became clearer. Taeil was lying on a hospital bed while Jackson stood beside him, tears falling on his cheeks. Taeil wasn't responding. It's already been hours and he still hasn't moved.

     "Doc! Fucking do something! Why isn't he opening his eyes!?" Jackson shouted when the doctor and nurses arrived inside the room.

     "We'll try our best sir, so please calm down. Nurse, bring this man outside." The doctor answered.

     The nurses tried to approach Jackson, but Jackson shoved them away. He wouldn't let go of Taeil's hand.

     "N-No...I'm not leaving his side. Taeil! Open your eyes!! Taeil!"

     Taeil shot his eyes open. His heart was beating fast and he was sweating like he just ran a marathon. He couldn't even breathe properly.

     What was that? Why was he in the hospital with Jackson?

     "Shit. Why can't I still fucking remember?" Taeil asked himself. He looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was already 4 AM. Taeil stood up and went out to get some water. When he went to the kitchen, he was shocked to see Jackson standing at the balcony, drinking coffee. So Taeil went to where he was and stood beside him.

     "You're up early," Jackson stated as he took a sip from his mug.

     "Why didn't you tell me I was brought to the hospital before?" Taeil asked instead, making Jackson spill the coffee that he was drinking.

     Taeil sighed and closed his eyes as he said, "Based on your reaction, it looks like it's true."

     Jackson cleaned himself up and looked back at his best friend, "That's just a dream," he answered. Jackson was about to leave, but Taeil quickly grabbed his arm and said, "For the past few years I knew that you've been lying to me but I just brushed the thought away. But now I want to know why. Why can't you just tell me the truth? Just tell me who he was so I could-"

     "Taeil...he's not real," Jackson finally answered.

     "What?"

     "You were never brought to the hospital, there was never a 'him', and those memories you keep on telling me isn't real. Open your eyes and go back to reality Taeil. This isn't an illusion anymore," Jackson answered with a cruel tone so Taeil could finally stop asking him about it.

     When Jackson pulled his arm away from Taeil, he quickly turned around and walked away. But before he could completely leave, Taeil told him, "I'm gonna find that man whether you like it or not Jackson. I don't know why you're so against it, but I will find him."

     Jackson stopped walking and clenched his fist in irritation. Taeil walked past him and went back to Suho's room as if nothing happened. When he heard the door slam, Jackson went back to the balcony and aggressively threw the mug in anger.

     "Why can't you just fucking leave us alone?"

*****

Everyone was running back to their respective rooms, but the Demons were slowly walking down the hallway like they owned the place. They decided to put a more badass aura and bring out a scary vibe just so no one would want to be friends with them anymore.

     Sunggyu also instructed them to become jerks and assholes, like what Sunggyu, Jiyong, and Suho were before. It was hard (Well maybe not for those three), but it was for the sake of everyone. If they became close with others, they might just die because of them.

      "We'll be heading out first. Bye guys," Suho stated as he and the other sons went inside their classrooms, while Minhyuk and Hyunseung went to their classroom. The five Demons sat back down on their respective seats. Taeil and Jackson were still in bad terms with each other so even though they were sitting together, they didn't talk at all.

     While the teacher was discussing, Taeil heard Jihoon say something to Junhyung who was just sitting in front of him.

     "Junhyung, I think I need to piss," Jihoon whispered to Junhyung, but it was still loud enough for Taeil to hear.

     "Jihoon you idiot, I told you to go to the restroom before we leave the house," Junhyung angrily answered back.

     "Well sorry, my piss time isn't scheduled," Jihoon sarcastically answered so Junhyung didn't say anything anymore.

     Without asking the professor if he could leave, Jihoon stood up from his seat. But as he stood up, the wallet on his back pocket fell right in front of Taeil. Taeil wanted to ignore it, but his conscience was fighting with him, so he decided to just grab it so he could place it back on Jihoon's seat.

     When he was about to reach for the wallet, he suddenly saw something that made his heart stop.

     It was the guitar pick that he was too familiar with.

     "N-no, don't tell me..."

- END -