Arthur was just returning to Yao's room after getting some fresh air, when he saw a doctor exit the room, closing the door behind him and a grim look on his face.

Arthur walked up to the doctor. "What's wrong, doctor?"

The doctor looked at Arthur. "Are you the next of kin of the patient inside?"

"Yes," replied Arthur.

The doctor placed a hand comfortingly on Arthur's shoulder. "I'm sorry," he told Arthur. "He… he didn't make it."

Arthur's eyes widened, and he took a step back. He shook his head as he stared at the doctor in disbelief. "What?!" he gasped. "But I was told after the surgery that he would be alright…"

The doctor cast a sympathetic gaze at Arthur. "Some complications have come up, and we tried our best…"

"No." Arthur's hand flew to his mouth, and he pushed past the doctor to enter the ward. "No…"

A white sheet covered the occupant of the bed completely. Arthur collapsed to his knees at the foot of the bed, realising that he would never see Yao's eyes open ever again, or see Yao's eyes light up in mirth... He would never get to kiss Yao and tell him that he loved him… Arthur let out a sob as he clutched Yao's now cold leg.

Arthur's eyes shot open, and he sat up with a start. He realised that he was in Yao's room, and was snoozing with his head resting on Yao's bed. Arthur stole a quick glance at Yao to make sure Yao was alive and well. The gentle rise and fall of Yao's chest indicated that Yao was still among the living, and Arthur breathed a sigh of relief.

It was just a dream… just a dream, thought Arthur as he took Yao's hand in his. The warmth emanating from Yao's hand comforted Arthur.

It was more than 24 hours before Yao showed any sign of life – he spent the whole of the following day unconscious, and when he woke, it was the morning of the day after already. Yao made a quiet moan as he shifted slightly in bed. He wondered if he was coming back to the world of the living, or if he was dead and was back in heaven? Did fallen angels have a place in heaven when they died anyway? His head hurt thinking about it.

Immediately, Arthur was by his side. "You awake, love?"

Yao opened an eye and squinted in the brightness of the hospital room. As soon as his eyes had adjusted to the light and he caught sight of Arthur, he smiled at Arthur weakly. "Hello," he greeted. So he was still alive.

"Hey," Arthur grinned back at Yao and Eskimo kissed him on the nose. "Do you want anything to drink?"

"Some water would be good, aru," replied Yao hoarsely.

"I'll get some for you. Don't move," Arthur ordered. He moved to the side table and poured a glass of water for Yao. Since Arthur didn't want Yao sitting up and agitating his wound, he had prepared a bendy straw for Yao to drink from. He placed the straw into the glass and brought it to Yao.

Yao drank the water thirstily. He hadn't felt this thirsty in all his life.

Arthur chuckled. "Drink slowly, love," he told Yao. "You just had surgery two days ago."

When Yao was done, some water dribbled down the side of his mouth. Arthur laughed and reached over for a tissue to wipe the water off.

"Sorry," Yao apologised meekly.

Wordlessly, Arthur placed the empty glass back on the side table.

"So… how bad is my injury?"

"Well," Arthur began. "The doctors managed to save your internal organs. Apparently, they were quite badly damaged, especially your intestines. Don't ask me about the technical details, though, I am no doctor," Arthur finished.

"It's okay," Yao sighed. "I just wanted to know how bad the damage was, aru. Ivan is quite a high-ranking devil and is quite powerful," he explained. "I didn't expect to live, especially since I'm not an angel anymore."

"You'll be pleased to know that he's dead," Arthur informed Yao.

Yao blinked and stared at Arthur incredulously. There was a moment of silence before Yao opened his mouth to speak. "What?"

"Ivan," Arthur said. "He's dead. I saw it with my own eyes."

Yao was shocked into silence once again. "How?" he finally managed.

"Your brothers," Arthur replied. "They killed him together."

Yao gave a huge sob as tears gathered in the corner of his eyes. He was always telling his brothers to work together, but they were so set in their ways, each of them wanting to do things their own way. It finally took their oldest brother getting gravely injured for them to join hands and fight together. Yao brought his hands up to cover his face as he wept in relief – at the fact that his brothers had finally learnt the value of cooperation and at the fact that he was still alive.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Arthur asked. He was alarmed at seeing his lover weep so openly. He had never seen Yao cry like that before.

"Nothing," Yao gave a watery laugh as he wiped the tears from his eyes. "I'm just relieved, I guess, aru," he replied.

"Don't cry like that ever again!" scolded Arthur good-naturedly. "You gave me a fright!"

Yao laughed and sniffed. "Sorry, sorry."

Arthur stood up. "Don't move," he commanded Yao. "I'm going to call a doctor here to make sure you're alright."

Yao nodded and closed his eyes. He was sure God had blessed him somehow by sparing his life even if he had been thrown out of heaven. He still had God's favour.

Not long after, a doctor entered the ward with Arthur tailing behind him. "Good morning, Yao!" he greeted cheerfully. "Did you have a good rest? You gave us quite the scare!"

Yao giggled nervously. "Sorry," he apologised.

"Hey, don't apologise – I became a doctor to help people, not to have them apologise to me! Because I'm awesome like that!" joked the doctor loudly. "I'm Dr. Beilschmidt, by the way. Gilbert Beilschmidt," he introduced himself and extended his hand towards Yao.

Yao shook his hand from his position on the bed.

Dr. Beilschmidt proceeded to perform a full-body check on Yao, who was somewhat comforted by his cheerful but loud demeanour. When he was done, he winked at Yao. "Everything seems to check out," he told Yao. "Later in the afternoon, a nurse will come in and help you change the dressing on the sutures we made during the surgery." When he saw Yao wince, Dr. Beilschmidt chuckled. "Don't worry," he said cheerfully. "It won't hurt. Well, maybe a bit, when she removes the gauze, but it'll be alright! Because nurses in this hospital are awesome!"

Yao had to suppress the urge to snicker everytime the doctor said "awesome".

"You'll be fine!" said Dr. Beilschmidt merrily. "I've prescribed some painkillers for you if the wound gets too painful – just ask a nurse to give you some. Call me if you need anything! Or get a nurse to call me – whichever you prefer!"

Arthur nodded and showed the doctor out. "Thanks so much."

When Arthur re-entered the ward, Yao was smiling broadly. "I like him, aru," he said.

Arthur grinned at Yao. "I like him too – apparently, he's the best surgeon in this hospital. Do you need any painkillers, by the way?" he asked Yao worriedly.

Yao smiled and reached out to take Arthur's hand in his. "Not right now," he replied. "Thanks," he said softly.

Arthur was still grinning at Yao. He leaned forward and the couple shared a chaste kiss.

There was a soft cough from behind Arthur. Arthur immediately pulled himself away from Yao and looked behind him. Yao's siblings were standing in the hospital room with smirks on their faces. It looked like they had sneakily come in through the open window.

"Are we interrupting something?" Mei asked, grinning from ear to ear.

"No!" Yao quickly replied loudly from the bed. His face was pink.

"We like, just wanted to see if you were okay," shrugged Hong Kong.

"Are you?" Kiku raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, aru," Yao replied. "I heard what you did to Ivan."

The three brothers fidgeted nervously. At the last minute during their fight with Ivan, they remembered their oldest brother's advice for them to work together, and only by doing so could they defeat Ivan. Before that, they just thought he was being bothersome.

"Sorry," Kiku said finally as the siblings approached their brother. "Sorry we never took your words seriously."

"I'm proud of you, aru," Yao smiled at his brothers.

As the siblings drew nearer to Yao's bed, Arthur began to retreat. He thought he'd give them some time to bond – ever since Yao had been exiled from heaven, he hadn't been in contact with them much. And Arthur knew how much Yao missed them.

Arthur quietly exited the ward in search for something to eat.