Hyunsun's POV

I could hear her talking to someone as I rolled over onto my hands and knees. I looked up at her as she fell and caught her before she hit the ground. There was a girl in white with white wings smiling at me. I regarded the angel warily.

“She cares a lot for you,” she said after a moment. I looked down at Yuri, who was out like a light in my arms, then back up at her. “She had pushed herself past her physical limits, and still she used her powers to protect you, even though it was tearing her apart inside.”

“She... Would she have died?” I asked slowly.

“If she had continued on the way she was, yes,” she answered. I looked back down at the girl in my arms, whose injuries were gone, aside from the scars left by the claw marks on her chest.

“Idiot...” I muttered.

“Don't let her use her powers for a few days. The effects of that device they had put on her in addition to her pushing herself so hard today... Don't let her use them,” she said, avoiding telling me the consequences. I nodded at her. She walked gracefully over and crouched in front of us, smiling at me. “I'm going to help you protect her, in the future. I'll give you the ability to teleport two instead of just one,” she said as she put her hand to my forehead. Nothing happened, but I could tell that I could do what she said she would allow me to do. Once I got my energy back. “I can't restore your energy, I'm sorry.”

“You've done more than enough, thank you,” I said, bowing my head respectfully at her. She looked down at Yuri and pulled the two sides of her torn shirt back together.

“Close your eyes,” she said softly. Without question, I did as she asked. I could see a flash of white through my closed eyes before she tapped my shoulder. “It's okay to open them now.” I looked down at Yuri. Her white tank top and naval pants were gone, in exchange for a high-collared, sleeveless white dress that went down to her knees. The naval issue boots were also gone, and instead she had simple white shoes on. “She barely had any shirt left, so I figured she would rather be covered better.” Then, the angel disappeared. “Good luck, you two,” her voice echoed. I whispered another thank you as I stood up, holding the small girl bridal style. I thought back to how I had protested having her with me at first, and I felt terrible about what I had initially thought of her.

“Thank you, Yuri, for being with me through this,” I murmured as I walked towards the barely setting sun, in the direction of the submarine base.

Yuri POV

When I came to, I noticed that I was being carried. At first, I was really confused, but then I remembered what had happened. I didn't open my eyes, instead just trying to get my bearings.

“Little girls shouldn't push themselves so hard,” he said, letting me know that he knew I was awake.

“Old men shouldn't pick fights where they are outnumbered,” I replied with a smile. He sighed, and I could tell he wasn't really in a joking mood. My smile slowly faded.

“You almost died because of me,” he muttered softly.

“You almost died, too,” I murmured.

“If you had died because of me-”

“We're both alive, so don't think like that,” I said, interrupting him.

“She said you were tearing yourself apart trying to protect me,” he persisted.

“That was my choice. Besides, I'm fine now, so don't worry anymore,” I said softly. He sighed again. “Why am I wearing a dress?” That got a light chuckle out of him.

“You're just now noticing?”

“Well...yeah,” I responded with a slight pout. He grew serious again.

“Your shirt...She changed your clothes for you because your shirt was all torn up,” he said. All the time we had been talking, he hadn't looked at me until then. “You got hurt protecting me.”

“It's okay, I didn't feel it at the time,” I said.

“That's not necessarily a good thing, either,” he said, an eyebrow raised.

My eyes shifted past his face as I noticed movement in the sky coming in fast. A Minor Demon was barreling down towards us and was a few feet away when I sent up a wall of flame in panic. Hyunsun jumped and turned to see what happened behind him as I clutched at my chest, my face twisted in pain. I took my hand away from my chest and clenched it, hiding my face with my hair and forcing my breathing to sound normal. He looked back down at me.

“Are you okay? She said not to let you use your powers for a few days,” he asked, his eyes full of concern. I nodded, not trusting my voice to answer at first. I took a deep breath and smiled up at him.

“I'm fine,” I lied. “The sun is going down fast, we should find a place to camp for the night.” He nodded and I sighed in relief, glad for the distraction.

He found the same building we had used before and headed towards it. I had told him I could walk just fine, but he insisted on carrying me still. I then resigned to pouting with my arms crossed, leaning against his chest. He kicked a bit of debris back out of the way as he set me down carefully. I grabbed hold of him quickly and he caught me just as my knees decided not to work for a moment.

“Okay to walk, huh?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at me again.

“I-I thought I was...!” I said, clearly dumbfounded at what had just happened. I managed to get my knees to hold me up and slowly let go of him. He held onto me for a moment more before he slowly let go as well.

“You good now?” he asked, watching me carefully. I stood there for a few seconds before I nodded.

“Y-yeah, I think so,” I said. I honestly didn't trust myself enough to light the fire again, because I didn't want him to see how much pain it put me in to use my powers and I was sure I wouldn't be able to hide it right away. Instead, he lit it the old fashioned way, with flint and steel (which he kept in his pocket). I sat down before my knees had a chance to buckle again and watched as he failed the first couple of times. He finally got it going and sat down next to me. Again, we were silent for a few moments.

“I'm sorry,” he said softly, breaking the silence. I looked over at him, my head tilted in confusion.

“For what?” I asked.

“Everything. For getting mad at you at first, for protesting having you come with me, for thinking you were useless, for letting you get hurt, for-”

“Hyunsun, it's okay. I admit I did want to smack you when you said I'd just get in the way, but I don't think I was ever really mad about any of that. I think most of the time, I was worried rather than mad,” I said, smiling softly.

“Why were you worried?”

“Because you were mad at me. And because I kept doing things to piss you off,” I said with a shrug.

“Well, throwing that rock didn't help your case much,” he said, chuckling.

“Hey, in my defense, I don't even know why I did that.” Another moment of complete silence lapsed between us.

“I still let you get hurt,” he muttered.

“There wasn't really much you could do about it,” I said softly.

“Even so, I-”

“Don't be sorry, okay? You should only be sorry if something is your fault, but since it's not your fault, you shouldn't feel sorry,” I said, smiling again at him. I could tell he still felt guilty and reached out, taking his hand in mine. “We're both okay, so don't worry anymore, alright?” He sighed and nodded, looking back into the fire. I rested my head on my knees and stared into the fire as well.

“Hey, Hyunsun?”

“Yeah?”

“I'm glad you aren't mad at me anymore.”

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Kind of a slow chapter, but meh. I do have some ideas, but connecting them is harder than I thought XD