Chapter Text
Humans aren’t able to see them, but angels exist. Every so often, someone might catch a glimpse of one, but it would never be a long enough sight for anyone to be certain. But they do exist. They exist in the heavens, but many of them also have duties in the human world.
Kwon Soonyoung loved being an angel and preferred it over being human, even though he had never set foot in the human world. He was one of the many who only had duties in the heavens so there was no reason for him to have gone. His duty as an angel was to water the flowers that grew around the perimeter of the palace that housed the archangel and other higher ranking angels. Soonyoung was mid-ranked, but being around the palace so often, he befriended some of the higher ups, which included the Archangel Seokmin, leader of the angels.
Their interactions mostly consisted of greetings, and occasionally praises for each other’s work. Soonyoung would be watering the flowers early in the mornings, and Seokmin would leave the palace momentarily to observe that everything is in it’s place. Seokmin was a beautiful and graceful angel, admired by all, but the habitual greetings resulted in Soonyoung feeling something more than admiration for the great leader. With every passing day, watching the elegant angel pass by, Soonyoung noticed more and more details about him. The first detail anyone would notice would be his wings. They were the largest of all the angels, pure white in color so that it was almost translucent. Even though they were held high, the tips still dragged on the ground, but that didn’t tarnish the wings. Soonyoung’s wings were barely more than half the size of Seokmin’s, colored a light, pastel blue. Soonyoung wondered if his wing color would complement Seokmin’s.
The next detail he noticed was Seokmin’s soothing voice. As if there was a spell entwined in it, Seokmin’s voice had the ability to calm anyone down. He often settled disputes with both his reasonability, and his voice. The third detail he noticed, was Seokmin’s beautiful fingers. He noticed one day when the leader waved to him. As Soonyoung waved back, he saw his own fingers, not elegant in the slightest, and then Seokmin’s The great angel has long and delicate fingers. After that day, Soonyoung stuck to smiling and bowing as a greeting.
Before he knew it, Soonyoung was taking note of every new thing he noticed about Seokmin as he passed by. Before he knew it, he anticipated the angel coming out of the palace gates to greet him with his soothing voice. Before he knew it, he fell into an impossible love that could never be fulfilled.
Soonyoung loved being an angel, and one reason why was Lee Seokmin.
“Good morning, Soonyoung.”
Soonyoung snapped his head up from the flowers a bit too eagerly upon hearing his leader’s voice.
“Good morning, Archangel Seokmin!”
The chuckle that Seokmin released made Soonyoung’s heart accelerate.
“I’m glad you’re lively, as usual.”
“It’s a beautiful day, your highness.” Who wouldn’t be lively after being blessed with your presence? “The flowers are blooming nicely today.”
“Oh?”
The archangel walked closer to where the flowers were, and became closer to Soonyoung than ever before.
“You’re right. They’re so beautiful and vibrant. It must be from all of the love you put into them.”
“N-no, you praise me too much.”
Seokmin reached over and patted the gardener lightly on the head. Soonyoung thought that his heart would burst right then and there.
“You’ve done well, Soonyoung.”
Soonyoung couldn’t reply immediately, and in the moment he paused, Seokmin plucked a feather from his wings. He offered the feather to the still frozen angel.
“Here. I think we’ve known each other long enough to exchange feathers.”
Exchanging feathers was something angels did with friends they were close with, or angels that they worked with, and was essentially a mode of communication. After placing a spell on the feathers they exchange, angels attach the new feather to their wings, typically in one corner. As wing colors vary, this results in a corner of an angel’s wings to be very colorful, and is a visual of how many angels they connect with. If Soonyoung accepts the feather, it would mean he had a connection to the archangel.
Soonyoung hesitated, but when the archangel flashed a smile, he graciously accepted the feather with both hands, and immediately offered his own. Seokmin attached Soonyoung’s feather to his wing, where there was a colorful array of feathers of all sizes. Soonyoung’s feather was a bit smaller, but he was pleased to see that the color complimented Seokmin’s feather color well.
“I’ll see you around.”
The archangel waved at the gardener with his beautiful fingers, and Soonyoung could do nothing but bow in response.
Soonyoung held the feather tightly in his hands and whispered, “I’ll be anticipating the next time you visit.”
By then, the archangel was gone, but Soonyoung’s feelings for him remained. He lifted the feather and stroked it delicately. Who knew that one day, he would be able to hold onto one of Seokmin’s feathers? Such a precious treasure, Soonyoung was sure to take care of it. He would give it even more love that he gave the flowers.
Soonyoung couldn’t bring himself to attach the feather to his wing, and opted to carry it with him wherever he went. When he finished watering the flowers, he walked to a nearby lake as routine. Since watering plants was his only duty, he had a lot of free time and often went to the lake after finishing his task. It was relaxing to sleep under the tree, where there was usually a nice breeze, so he usually took a short nap. Like any other day, that’s what he decided to do.
When he reached the shade provided by the large tree, he laid down on the grass. It was slightly damp, but not uncomfortably. He shifted to his side and brought his hands in front of him, still holding onto the beautiful white feather that the archangel gave him.
“I’ve gotten one step closer to you. Can I hope that maybe one day we can be close enough to call each other friends? Or that maybe one day we can be more?”
The angel’s face flushed immediately and he covered his face from embarrassment. There were no other angels around, but he couldn’t expose his face to the world at the moment. When he calmed down, he spoke out loud again.
“Of course not, who am I kidding? You’re the great leader of the heavens. You’re admired by all angels. You’re so beautiful and bright that your presence alone can make the flowers grow. I’m just a gardener. A lowly gardener. The flowers don’t need me like the angels need you. Even though we both live in the heavens, we don’t really live in the same world. There’s no way we could ever be closer than we are now.”
Soonyoung sighed. He turned to lie on his back and spanned his arms out. The wind tickled his face, but was starting to lull him into sleep. He drifted from consciousness, his last thoughts being about how he didn’t regret developing feelings for such an angel.
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What woke him up was a sudden chilly breeze that swept across his skin. When he opened his eyes, the skies were slightly darker than when he remembered, and the air cooler. He wondered if he should head to his dorm. Standing up and stretching his arms up in the air, he let out a yawn. Something seemed off. There was a feeling that was nagging him. A feeling of forgetfulness.Was there something that slipped his mind?
He ignored the feeling. He couldn’t remember what it was anyways, so he figured the thought would come to him when it was more necessary. He lazily opened his wings and flapped them to lift himself up in the air. He flew near the palace, but took a turn just before reaching it to head to his dorm. Upon laying his eyes on the palace, however, the angel stopped his motion of flight. Whatever he had forgotten before was related to the palace… but what was it?
The archangel’s feather!
Soonyoung felt a looming feeling of dread when he remembered that he was given a precious feather from the archangel. But, did he attach it to his wing? He landed on the ground below to take a peak. When he found that the feather wasn’t there, he looked around his clothes to see if maybe it had stuck onto it. It hadn’t.
Panic filled his chest, as he rapidly flew to the spot he rested at earlier. He stumbled with his landing, but managed to stay on his feet. He briskly walked along the perimeter of the lake, inspected the branches of the tree, and flew over the lake to see if he could spot the feather, but all was for naught. There was no sign of it anywhere.
It must have been carried away by the wind somewhere.
Soonyoung decided to expand the area of his search. He wouldn’t quit searching until he found it. It was something the archangel gave to him, after all. If he missed his duties for a day, it would be worth it if he found the feather. He wouldn’t have been able to face the leader without it, anyways. The gardener tried to pick up his pace. If it got too dark, it would limit his field of vision, so he had to cover as much ground as he could before then. The skies were already quite dark, and he had yet to explore much area. But there was no way he would give up.
The lights got dimmer by the second, but Soonyoung trudged on. He looked in every corner and crevice, searching and searching past when lights were gone. He produced a small light mote to be able to see throughout the night. He didn’t notice the time pass, as he only had one goal in mind. Only when the skies started to brighten up did he realize how much time he took to search, but with no avail. He felt his lips tremble from disappointment, but he couldn’t stop yet.
“Kwon Soonyoung, are you there?”
He heard the message coming from his wing. A message being transferred by the power of feather exchange. It was from his direct boss.
“Yes, sir. I’m sorry, but I don’t think I’ll be able to do my duties today.”
His boss cleared his throat.
“I’m not calling about that. Actually… it seems you’ve been summoned to the palace.”
Soonyoun’s heart dropped at the sentence. That meant that he would likely see Seokmin before he had a chance to find the feather.
“The palace? Why?”
“I don’t know. But… it seems it’s a matter of urgency.”
“Alright. I’ll be there soon.”
His search for Seokmin’s feather would have to be postponed by the unexpected beckoning, but he had no intention to give up. For now, he had to fly to the palace.
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Soonyoung glanced around as he was led by a guard through the palace. He had always seen the palace from the outside, but this was only the second time he had been inside. The first time was when he was assigned his duty as an angel. Both times, he felt nervous from being inside such an important place. This time, he didn’t know why he was here. The unknown reasons only added to his anxiety, and he began to unconsciously pluck his feathers.
The guard led Soonyoung to a room with double doors, one of which he opened. He didn’t say a word, but Soonyoung knew he was supposed to enter. When he did, he was met with a large audience of angels. He recognized the individual faces of the important angels. He was in the presence of the Council of Angels, all of the angels of high rank who collectively made important decisions. Of course, this included Seokmin. But why was he called here?
“Um,” the gardener spoke timidly. “I was told to come here.”
One of the elder angels stood up from his seat. His expression was stern.
“Kwon Soonyoung. Before we make our final decision, I have to ask you a question.”
“Final decision? For what?”
The elder ignored his question.
“Kwon Soonyoung, do you recognize this feather?”
He held out a beautiful white feather. The very one Soonyoung had been searching for. However, there was something extremely wrong with it. It was half stained in a splattering of blood.
Soonyoung took a quick glance at Seokmin, who only stared back with an expression of worry, fear, and disbelief. He then looked back at the council elder.
“It is the feather that I was given during a feather exchange with Archangel Seokmin.”
“So you acknowledge that this feather is yours?”
Soonyoung swallowed. He knew that he couldn’t lie, but he had a feeling that the truth would harm him. It was clear that the council already knew the answer.
“Yes, sir.”
“Then we, the Council of Angels, will strip you of your angel status. You are hereby banned from the heavens.”
Two guards started to approach the gardener, but he avoided their grasp in panic.
“But why? What happened that I should be banished? I didn’t do anything!”
The guards managed to grab onto each of the angel’s arms, but he continued to struggle. The elder spoke once again.
“All the evidence points to you, and you just now admitted that this piece of evidence belongs to you.”
“I don’t even know what happened! Please…”
“You, Kwon Soonyoung, gardener of the palace, are guilty of the murder of an angel.”
Soonyoung felt his heart drop. He lost the strength to struggle in the grasp of the guards.
“Murder? Of… an angel? Me? No, that’s… that’s wrong!”
Seokmin slowly approached the gardener with pitiful eyes.
“Archangel Seokmin? Won’t you believe me? It wasn’t me! I didn’t do it!”
“I’m sorry Soonyoung. All of the evidence points to you.”
“What other evidence is there?”
“You were the only angel who didn’t check in your dorm last night, other than the angel who is no longer in this world.”
“But that’s…”
Soonyoung felt his knees grow weak.
Because I was careless and lost the precious feather you gave to me.
Seokmin let a tear drop as he motioned for the guards to turn the gardener around.
“Archangel Seokmin?”
“I’m sorry Soonyoung. As the archangel, I will now remove your angel status.”
Soonyoung felt a hand at the base of his wings, holding the two of them jointly. Another hand was placed on his back. He heard the archangel whisper a spell. He felt a warm, tingling sensation at the connection between his back and his wings. The heat started to increase in intensity, and before he knew it, it became a burning sensation. Soonyoung started screaming, and tears streamed down his face. He couldn’t form words. He could only scream from the painful burn as the archangel was tearing his wings from his back. He squirmed in pain, trying to escape from the torture, but the guards held him tightly. He was trapped and helpless as the archangel was taking away the wings that were such a big part of him. He could only cry out while the Council of Angels watched apathetically. No one would help him. In their eyes, he was a murderer. In his eyes, they were murderers as well, because on that day, they had killed the angel Kwon Soonyoung.