Arthur had just come back from a meeting with a client when Mei appeared. "Arthur!" she cried.
"Mei!" Arthur's eyes widened. He had met Yao's siblings once, so he could recognise her.
"You need to come home quick! Brother Yao… brother Yao is seriously injured!"
"What?! How?" Arthur immediately ran out of his office, leaving all his paperwork a mess on his desk. He muttered a quick goodbye to his colleague, who happened to be with him when he returned from his meeting.
Mei proceeded to tell Arthur about Ivan and he quest for revenge for his sister because she had been killed in a battle.
"Bloody hell," Arthur swore quietly. "But… but Yao was an angel!" Arthur exclaimed as he started his car. He then sped home. "Angels and devils are always against each other – it's the law of nature, right? He was just doing his duty!"
"That's true," Mei nodded sadly from the passenger seat. She fidgeted nervously – she was not used to sitting in a car, but she had no choice – she could simply transport herself from one place to another but Arthur could not. "And I think Ivan is just using Natalia as an excuse to get rid of Yao."
"That's absurd!" Arthur cried. "Yao is not an angel anymore!"
Mei smiled bitterly. "Devils see all angels as something they have to get rid of. I don't think it matters if you are or were an angel."
Arthur reached home in record time. Mei thought she had never seen another human drive as fast as he did down the highway.
Arthur rushed out of his car. He didn't even bother locking the car as he made his way into his home. He didn't know what to expect to see when he entered his house.
However, nothing could prepare Arthur for what he saw.
As the door swung open, Yong Soo had just plunged his sword into Ivan's back. Kiku was facing Ivan in a defensive position and Hong Kong seemed to have been thrown back for he was on the ground. All three brothers were bruised and battered, but it looked like they had won. Yong Soo's sword had completely gone through Ivan's body, and had seemed to pierce his heart. Ivan's face was contorted into an expression of shock before he exploded into dust.
For a moment, Arthur stood at the doorway, just staring at the three brothers. He had never seen a fight between angels and devils, and was rather amazed at what he saw.
The three brothers, seemingly pleased with their work, cheered and high-fived each other.
Then, Arthur remembered the reason he had come home in a hurry. He quickly turned to Mei who was grabbing his arm, leading him to where Yao lay.
"Yao!" cried Arthur when he saw the state his partner was in. He knelt down beside Yao. Arthur didn't know where to start to stop the bleeding – there was just so much blood gushing out of the wound in Yao's stomach.
"Ar… thur…" Yao wheezed, reaching out towards Arthur. He was on the verge of unconsciousness. "Love… you…" Yao wanted to tell Arthur that he loved him before he died.
Tears were gathering in Arthur's eyes. "I love you too," Arthur practically sobbed. "Hang in there, okay?"
But Yao's eyeballs rolled back in his head and he was out cold.
"Yao!" Arthur shook the ex-angel. Tears were now streaming down his face. "Yao!"
"He's still alive," Yong Soo said as he held Yao's wrist. "There's still a pulse."
"We'll help get him into your car," Kiku told Arthur. "Angels have extraordinary strength, so we can do it in no time."
Arthur stood up and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "Thanks," he said.
As soon as Yao was bundled up in Arthur's car, he was rushed to the hospital.
Later that night, Yao was officially admitted into the hospital after a gruelling 6-hour surgery to replenish his blood supply and to save his internal organs. Nevertheless, he was alive and Arthur felt a sense of relief surge through him.
Arthur was seated by Yao's bedside as he stared at Yao's pale sleeping face. He finally could relax now that Yao was safe. The doctor said that it was unlikely that Yao would wake in the night, but Arthur wanted to be there when Yao woke up so he was remaining put.
Shortly after, there was a light tap in the window. Arthur looked up to see the worried faces of Yao's siblings. He waved at them and made his way to open the window so that they could enter.
"How's he?" asked Hong Kong once all of them were in Yao's ward.
"They managed to patch him up and save his organs," Arthur told Yao's siblings. "He should be fine once he wakes."
"Oh, and by the way, we cleaned up the mess we made in your house while fighting the devil," Kiku informed Arthur. "We didn't think you should be troubled with cleaning our mess," he added sheepishly.
"Yeah, your house is squeaky-clean now, da-ze!" chirped Yong Soo. "The ants can now go ice-skating on the floor!"
"Oh," said Arthur. Mentally, he tried to picture ants literally ice-skating on his floor and let out a slight snort at that image. Arthur had actually totally forgotten about his house when he left for the hospital. He couldn't even remember if he had locked the door. But that wasn't important right now. "Thanks."
Mei laid a hand gently on Yao's head. "He looks so peaceful," she commented.
Arthur laughed lightly. "I know, right? With the way he looks, you couldn't tell that he had just gone through surgery."
"We should get going," Kiku told his siblings after a moment of silence with the occupants of the ward just looking at Yao. "We still have to report to God that we got rid of a devil," he said.
"Oh yeah," Hong Kong said. "We'll, like, be back when he wakes properly," he told Arthur.
All of them slipped out of the window. They waved at Arthur, who waved back, before disappearing into the night.
Arthur closed the window, so that the warm air from the hospital room would not escape and the cold air from outside would not come in. He walked quietly towards Yao, bent down and planted a kiss on his forehead. "I love you," Arthur murmured.