So. You're speaking to me now? Because you know... I am the only one who really cares about you. You know that. I'm the only one you've got. I know I screwed up, Tiny. But you know me. I would never do anything to hurt you. I would never do anything like... Like that. You know that, right? You know me. The first and the last, yeah?

I am going to kill you, Eri. You know that, right? There is absolutely nothing you can say, that will ever make me forget, what you did to me.

I turned off the connection and rolled over, snuggling up to Seth. He mumbled something in his half sleep and put his arm around me.

I squeezed my eyes shut and tried not to think about it. I thought about it a little. I would allow myself that, like I would allow Eri to talk to me for less than a minute a week. To remind me how I needed to take one more life.

Seth turned and pulled me closer. He loudly exhaled still sound asleep. Now that he didn't have his wings anymore, his body actually needed the sleep. I let him pull me close, in my tiny little form. I let him protect me while he was asleep. The moment he woke up, I'd be back to being strong and big. He needed protection. He was so fragile right now and he needed me.

I shifted and wrapped my arms around him, slowly removing some black strands of hair from his face. He looked so much younger when he was asleep. So vulnerable. As creepy as it sounded, I treasured these moments where I could just lie there and look at him sleep. Then he would open his eyes, look around for two seconds and then his eyes would settle on me. He would smile and mumble 'hey'. And I would kiss him slowly push him onto him his back, and forget Eri's hands on my body. Replacing them with Seth's. Forgetting everything for a moment.

I didn't know if he noticed. He probably noticed how I was never female anymore. How I, who actually really enjoyed sleeping, never actually slept.

We talked a lot. Especially about souls. Seth had gotten a small taste of how my entire life had been, and he had a new understanding for it. I could try and convince myself my hunger was coming from Eri. It might have originated from him, and I would maybe never have eaten any if it wasn't because of him, but... The hunger was coming from me now.

Seth tried really hard to get me to talk to people. And I guess I kind of tried. But seriously, making new friends was not one of my strong suits. I knew that, and I couldn't understand why Seth couldn't just accept that. I didn't need people to like me. I just needed them to hate Eri.

"Saga, come on," Seth said and tried to haul me out of bed.

"Leave it, Seth," I groaned.

"No. You've been in here for three days. You need a change of scenery otherwise you're going to go crazy."

"Oh no, I only go crazy when I eat souls, and since there's no souls in here, I won't go crazy." I smiled a very unhappy smile.

"Am I not a soul to you?" he asked and smirked, getting a firmer grip on my arms.

"Yeah, but I am not going to eat you, asshole," I growled and finally let him pull me out of the bed. He pulled me close to him and smiled.

"I love when you say nice things to me."

"Fuck off."

"Come on." He opened the door and almost dragged me down to the cafeteria. My jaw started aching the minute we entered the corridor, and I was sure it was going to snap, when we sat down at a table in the cafeteria. I scratched my wrist under the table and tried not to stare back at a half, who was openly staring at me.

"Why do they always stare?" I asked quietly. Seth grabbed my hand and stopped me from scratching.

"Nobody's staring at you, remember? They're all staring at me. Because I am the pretty one," he said and pushed me with his shoulder.

"They're fucking staring, and I swear I am going to-"

"Saga," he cut me off and shot me this serious look.

"Sorry," I muttered almost without thinking about it.

"Are me eyes betraying me or is that a god outside of its room?" Sam said theatrically and sat down, pushing a cup of something towards Saga. Saga only sent him a blank stare and took a sip. "So lads, what's yer plans for today?"

"I don't know, Sam, but murder is slowly making its way up on my list," Saga growled.

"I just shared some of me whiskey with you. I am not dying any time soon." He tipped his head at Saga, and sent me a look.

"That is very true," Saga muttered and took another big sip.

"So, less angry half of the dynamic duo, what are yer plans for today?" Sam asked and turned to me.

"Not a lot. Probably some training with Tobies. I gotta get used to the whole no wings deal again," I replied, and snatched the cup out of Saga's hand before he downed the entire thing in one go. I smelled it, wrinkled my nose and handed it back to him. He wrapped his fingers around it, but put it down on the table.

Amazing how we didn't even really had to talk anymore in order to communicate. He knew I wanted him to slow down a little, so he did.

"Sounds... Interesting," Sam said and tried to smile. He seemed drunk already, something he and Saga would be together. Often. Not that there was a lot to do in an underground bunker. I spent a lot of time reading, talking to the metal god Silva. She was funny and was really into math and physics.

And I spent a lot of time with Saga, since it was very limited who he actually wanted to talk to. Sam was funnily enough one of them. He liked Tobies, but I was thinking it was because Tobies really didn't like talking. I would sometimes find them sitting next to each other, both staring out in the distance, not talking. And that was about it for him. Me, Tobies and Sam. Which were all kinds of sad, really. There were a lot of great people around.

Even Myrina could be alright in small doses. Then she would talk about ways of torturing people with water, and those were the times I would leave her to frighten some poor halfs who had joined the conversation, when it wasn't about torture.

I spent some time with my dad too, of course. Always without Saga. He said nothing had happened between them, but things were incredibly awkward every time they were in the same room.

"Sam, wanna share more of that whiskey? Like right now? Anywhere but here?" Saga asked and got on his feet. Sam got the message and left me wondering, why Saga really didn't want to talk to my dad. I turned around on the bench and faced my dad.

"Hey," I said, when my dad sat down next to me.

"How are you feeling?" he asked with a low voice.

"Alright. Tara is still working on it." I was doing all right. The pain was manageable. What wasn't manageable was everybody who kept asking me that same questions.

"Good." He studied my face with a concerned look.

"You don't need to be concerned, Dad."

"Of course I do. I am your father," he said and smiled at me. "I am obligated to be in a constant state of concern for you."

I shrugged a little and looked back at him. "Dad...?"

"Yes?"

"Am-Am I still..." I took a deep breath. "Am I still an angel?"

He kept looking at me for half a minute before he answered. "Of course, you are."

"I feel different, though."

"You will until you get your wings back. They have an influence on our bodies and without them it just doesn't feel right. I've seen it before. I've tried it." He rubbed his neck and looked away. "I know what you're going through right now isn't easy. Everything feels..."

"Wrong," I said, completing his sentence. "Who took them?"

"The God of Gods."

"Why?"

"Seth," my dad said and turned his brown eyes back to me. "There are... There is a lot, you don't know about me. Some things I'd rather tell when the time is right."

"So how did you get them back?" I asked to get the awkwardness out of the way.

"He gave them back to me after a while."

"So I can get mine back?" Hope rekindled in my chest, and I almost felt like I could take off only with the shear amount of happiness I was feeling.

"If he still has them, then yes. I imagine he's going to use them as leverage." He sighed and got on his feet.

"Dad. One more thing."

He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked expectantly at me. This was going to happen. I was pretty sick of the awkwardness by now.

"Please, talk to Saga."

He looked away and slumped his shoulders, kicked a small rock on the floor, but didn't say anything.

"Dad."

"Yes, I heard you."

"So you're going to talk to him?" I got on my feet too and ran a hand through my hair.

"Sometimes it's better not to push."

"Don't give me that bullshit. Something happened and now both of you act really weird, and it's making me very uncomfortable because two very important people in my life can't be in the same room together." I stopped myself before I said something I was going to regret. "I am asking my father to please talk to my girl/boyfriend. Please."

He clenched his jaw until he let out a deep sigh. "Fine."

A big smile formed on my face and my dad just looked less and less pleased. I said my thanks and went on the lookout for Tobies to do some training.

I woke up to the best feeling in the world. Saga's lips pressed against my back, but not just my back. He was tracing the marks with his mouth, and I tried so hard to not make a sound, but that was pretty impossible. He rounded a corner and I couldn't help but lift my back a little, getting my skin closer to his tongue.

"You're awake," he murmured softly.

"Yeah," I whispered back. I had a feeling he'd be in this really great mood today and I loved that.

When he woke me up with kisses he was usually not as murder-y and angry.

He kept kissing my marks, chuckling every time he got a groan out of me. It was like he took it as a challenge. His newest mission, and I enjoyed it.

I made a sound before he even touched me and that made him laugh.

"I didn't touch you there."

I snorted and looked back at him over my shoulder.

"You're a little cheat, aren't you," he murmured and moved up to my face, his fingers sliding into my hair, curling around the locks.

"I didn't cheat."

"You did." He pulled on my hair, while his other hand slid down my back. And I didn't actually cheat this time. I groaned loudly.

"That was interesting," he whispered and pressed his hips to my butt. "Very interesting. Do you like me pulling your hair, Seth?"

I had no idea where this person came from since Saga and I rarely said anything like this... Uhm, yeah. We were just not very chatty.

But I figured Saga was in a different kind of mood that morning. He was in a certain kind of mood. One that definitely made certain parts of his body a lot more interesting.

I turned around and circled my arms around him, running my fingers over his back. He rolled his shoulders, making a very content sound, smiling as he clenched his eyes shut.

"Gods, Seth," he breathed and opened his eyes. "Say the thing."

I smiled back and lifted up on my elbow, stopping right before my lips hit his. "I... Want... You," I whispered very slowly.

He groaned and moved down, kissing me hard. His hand moved down again too, and his fingers circled around me. He knew exactly how to get me to make those noises. I enjoyed making them for him too, but he had to work a little for it.

"I love you," he murmured and placed a soft kiss on my lips.

"I love you," I groaned back as he moved his hand a little faster. I lifted my hand and slid it down his briefs.

His forehead dropped down on my shoulder and we stayed liked that for a while. His hot breath hit my skin in short pants, and his voice was slipping in with every exhale.

"Gods," he groaned and clenched his hand around me. And I... Blew it. I had been holding back for what felt like ages anyways.

He grabbed my wrist and got me to move my hand over him, despite me being entirely boneless. He was kissing my throat as he did it all. And it was so nice.

I put my hand to his cheek and got him to kiss me on the mouth instead. He whimpered against my lips and then he was done too. I grabbed a discarded t-shirt from the floor and cleaned us up before getting Saga to cuddle with me.

"That was nice," he murmured.

"Yeah. Could definitely do with waking up like that again."

He chuckled and looked up at me, threading his fingers through my hair. "Your marks just looked pretty, and I know how sensitive they are. So I wanted to see how long it took to wake you up." He grinned as if he had done something naughty. Maybe it was a little naughty? I didn't think so. It felt nice when he ran his fingers over my back and that was about it.

"Wanna stay here all day?" I asked, surprising myself. Usually it was Saga who wanted to not leave the room and become a hermit, but maybe he was influencing me.

"If I ever say no to spending the entire day in bed with you, literally just shoot me in the head." He raised himself up, looking down at me. "Literally find a gun and shoot me."

I laughed and grabbed him, pulling him down to me. Maybe I was in a weird mood today too. I was getting a lot more tired and lazy, ever since losing my wings. I needed a lot of rest and I preferred to do it with my cute girl/boyfriend. If someone wanted to blame me for that, then so be it. I'd take their judgement and maybe ask them to shove it up their ass.

"Are you hungry?" he asked and softly ran the tips of his fingers over my back. I got the shivers and Saga chuckled.

"Hmm, a bit. I should have something at some point. But I don't wanna leave."

He moved up and kissed me, his hand lying flat against my lower back, pushing me closer to him.

"I was thinking I'd go get some food real quick, and you could just lay there and be hot. And wait."

"Be hot?" I laughed and arched a brow for him.

"Yeah," he breathed and pressed me to him again, his hand running down to my butt, giving it a good ol' squeeze. "Just lay there and look hot until I return."

I chuckled and felt heat rise in my cheeks. He rose from the bed and shifted into a fully clothed version of himself.

"Oh, look, you're already doing it." He winked at me and left the room.

I hurried to sit up and run my fingers through my hair. I rose from the bed and went to the small bathroom. It had a mirror and I didn't want Saga to return to my bed-face. I quickly washed my face and got my hair a little more under control before making sure I didn't have gunk in my eyes.

I stopped and looked at the scar on my cheek. It was still ugly. Ugly and lumpy and I never regained feeling in all of it. Parts of it was numb.

The scar on my lips didn't do me any favours either. The one in my eyebrow was maybe the least bad one. It kind of just made me look like a boxer or something. Kind of cool maybe. If I was being generous. The other two just made me look like a walking car crash.

I had planned on putting my hair up because Saga liked that, but now I didn't feel like it. I needed to avoid the mirror more. I was so self-conscious about those damn scars even now and I had so many more important things to think about.

But I was still standing in front of the mirror, looking at myself like some self-conscious teen. I needed to get a grip.

I went back into the room, grabbed a hair-tie and gathered my hair on top of my head. I sat back down on the bed and waited for Saga to return.

He had probably run into someone on the way. It was taking too long, and I was growing impatient. And cold. I slid under the covers and got comfortable.

Saga finally returned with a tray and smiled at me as he kicked the door closed behind him.

"Hey babe, they had some oatmeal and I've heard that's crazy healthy, so I got that for you. And also coffee. Because even though it's shit down here, it's still coffee." He sat down on the bed with the tray on his legs.

"You're amazing," I murmured and kissed his arm.

"Here," he said and handed me one of the two mugs. "Coffee time."

I sat up and took it from him. He put the tray down on the floor and brought his own mug with him into the corner of the room. The bed was pushed up against the wall, narrowly fitting between the walls. It made the corners very snug to sit in though, so I couldn't complain.

We sat in our own respected corner and watched each other drink the coffee. It was shit, but it was still nice.

"Remember the coffee in Venice?" I asked.

"Oh gods, don't remind me. I'd actually kill for that right now. A nice tall black americano." He closed his eyes and took a sip of his coffee. And then he wrinkled his nose and opened his eyes again. "We need proper coffee. This is torture."

I leaned over, grabbing his mug and putting both his and mine on the bedside table.

"Remember the cakes?"

"Now you're just being a dick," he said very seriously.

I leaned in and kissed him, spreading his legs apart so I could get closer. "You wore summer dresses and those short shorts the entire time we were there."

His cheeks kept getting darker and his eyes more and more glassy. His breath was getting heavy too.

"And all I could think about was how beautiful you were," I whispered and kissed him again.

He repositioned down on his back, so I could lie comfortably on top of him.

"You had shorter hair back then," he said then. "And you were skinnier. Honestly though, I kept thinking I wanted to touch your hair because it's so soft."