Nothing last forever. That is the unwritten rule everyone are bound to see.

Everyone you love will die eventually.

Everything you achieve, create or did will disappear.

Every single thing is bound to this momentary world.

It's an unmoving rule that has stayed in place for Eternity. Yet, no one could ever run away from it.

But... Sometimes... Things goes away too soon.

And some just cannot accept that.

'Whoosh', the wind blurs the waves of the sea. Their ripples and splashes, drowned in the blackness of the night as purple glows of fireflies twirl and dance in the midsts of maroon grasses, replacing the stars of the fogged, distant sky.

On a bench at the tip of a beachside cliff, A man smiles. The howling wind tickles his pointy ears as he keeps his arms wrapped around a woman beside him, holding her tight, "Isn't this place beautiful?" His gentle voice coaxes as he turns to meets the woman's bright, purple eyes, "Happy birthday, Kazami."

"..." The woman stays silent as the purple fireflies begins to flock around them. The man let one lands onto his finger. He moves it close to his eyes, seeing it grooming its forelimbs before flying off.

"Even the fireflies are trying to cheer you up," He playfully coaxes, keeping his smile.

"..." Even with his charming words, the woman keeps her lips shut. She stares at her fumbled fingers. Till eventually, she sighs, "Yuzuki, we need to talk."

The man raises an eyebrow, his purple eyes dart at the woman's oceanic gaze, "About what, hon?"

She presses her lips together for a moment before answering, "Your job."

"Tch," He immediately pulls his arm away, "What about it?" His sweet tone turns bitter.

"You can't keep pretending like everything is fine," She retorts, clutching her own palms, "I can't keep living like this..."

"Like what? Huh?" The man stands up before turning around to face her, "So you want to keep living among those people? You want to keep being abused like that!? Don't you want to fight back!?"

"I-I..." The woman sighs, her gaze looming down.

"I'm just trying to protect you... And our little daughter too..." His tone softens as he kneels before her, "I took you here so that we don't have to worry about that... Atleast, just for a moment..." He takes her hands and clutch it to his chest, "It's your birthday, Kazami. Please try to cheer up."

"I... I just wanted us to live like those other families..." A single bead of tear trails down her cheek, "Why... Why can't that just... Happen?"

"I'm trying to make that happen, Kazami," He smiles as he gently wipes her tear away, "Please don't forget that."

"Yuzuki..." After him, she smiles as she moves forward to hug him, "Thank you-"

A whistle of a wind shoots through the air, cutting her words. A small patch of blood shoots out from her chest. Before she suddenly falls onto the ground, her eyes wide open as her face impacts the sandy dirt.

Eyes agape, the man immediately rushes to her side. He lifts her onto his arms, seeing a dot of blood on her chest, spreading across her clothes akin to a gunshot wound.

He grits his teeth as he looks around, seeing nothing but glows of the purple fireflies amidst the tall grass.

"Consider this the price of your unresolved payment to Lady Irukandji," From the darkness, an otherwordly voice echoes, containing the voice of both a man and a woman. Though, just like that, an echo could be heard, the voice fading away.

"Tch!" The man then goes back to the woman, he presses his palm onto her wound, trying to give it pressure, "It's okay, honey, I got you. I got you..."

Without any light within them, her eyes blink a few times as her breath hitches and stagnates, "Yuzuki..?" She flail her head to her right, finding his distressed face, "What happened..? I feel... Cold..."

"I-I know, sweetie. Please, don't move. Y-You'll be okay."

"I know... I know I'll be okay..." Despite her croaky voice, she still puts on a smile, "Ever since we met... You've always found a way."

"I trust you, Yuzuki."

"Kazami, please... Just, please, don't leave me... Don't leave me... Don't leave me..."

"Don't leave me."

"Don't leave me."

"Don't leave me."

"Don't leave me."

Quiet as he whispers those timeless words, the Manticore is holding his wife close. His scorpion tail lies beside him as he gently strokes her hair, silky smooth despite the lack of maintenance.

The sun shines through the window, giving light to a fancy bedroom, its furniture littered with gold as a giant clock ticks on the corner of the room. The Manticore, Yuzuki sits on his wife's bed. He keeps her unmoving and cold hands in his as he stares at her damp, light-less, purple eyes.

"I love you," He whispers to her pointy, elven-like ears, before kissing her cheek. Though she doesn't respond in any way.

The room's door then opens. Loud clacks of footsteps soon make their approach.

"Still fawning over that woman, I see," A gentleman's voice, a little bit deep yet gently elegant.

Yuzuki looks behind to see a pale and tall, blonde man. He wears a suit with gracious patterns of golden roses embedded in its seams. With his hands in his pocket, his sunset-pink eyes bore themselves onto the Manticore's purples.

"You're still quite young. You'll understand when you find the one for you," Smiling, Yuzuki stands up and approaches the blonde man.

"Sure, sure... What are you? A grandpa?"

"Actually, I might be one soon," Yuzuki turns to his wife with a smile.

Eyes widening for a moment, the blonde man stays silent as he sighs, "Speaking of... That Fox is ready. Just like you requested."

"Ah yes, I was just looking forward to speak with my potential son-in-law," Giving his wife one last kiss, he approaches the door and pull it open.

"What are you gonna do with him?" Before he could exit, the blondie asks.

Yuzuki parts his lips for a moment, but soon enough, he forms a smirk, "Something that I should've done a long time ago."

"Something that would finally... Bring my family back together."

-----

Wrapped with the warmth of a red satin blanket on top of the fluffiness of a king sized bed. Ren wakes in comfort— opening his eyes slowly as his tail starts to sway. His vision first meet the rays of sun, penetrating through the golden window stuck onto the black marbled walls. With a line of drool oozing down from the corner of his lips, he inspects his surrounding— fancy bedside tables and lamps, a sofa and a mirror table, also a giant dresser more akin to a closet. This seems like... A hotel room?

On top of that, he feels coldness around his ankles. As he moves them a bit, he could hear metallic rustling coming from under the sheet. So he takes a peek, just to see a pair of silver chains bounding him to the bed.

Huh...

Ren wipes his eyes for a second before looking around again.

Where the fuck am I?

"About time you wake up," A familiar deep voice emerges from one of the dark corner. Ren glances to it to see the Archangel leaning beside the dresser, "Look at you. Comfortable? Feel like sleeping again? God, I hope so," With a bitter voice, he sneers.

"Huh?" Despite the Archangel's remark, Ren slowly and lazily blinks thrice, prompting the former to bite his tongue.

"Pathetic fox. You really have some serious laziness issues, don't you?"

"Haah..." Falling onto the fluffy pillow again, he yawns, before pulling the sheet over himself, "Yep."

"I don't mean what I said as literal, jackass," The Archangel stomps the floor as he approaches, "Get your ass out of bed!" He pulls the sheet open and throws it away, though the fox still lies unmoving, only yawning once more.

Seeing how his tail keeps on wiggling and wiggling, the Archangel could only frown as he pinches his nose bridge, "What an idiot..." He then kicks the bed, causing it to squeak, "Fox, do you even notice that you've been kidnapped?"

Furrowing his brow, Ren punches the bed as he rises up, "Well, sorry. Being kidnapped usually doesn't come with a fancy-ass hotel room," Ren rolls his eyes as he glances back towards the Archangel, "What about you? Do you even notice that I saved your life back at the Knight HQ? A little 'thank you' wouldn't hurt you know..."

The Archangel huffs, crossing his arms, "I never needed your help. And you should've known better than to help an enemy."

In response, Ren leans his head back as he groans, "Well, I'm sorry if someone being nice hurts you so much. Because clearly that's an impossible feat in your amnesia-filled birdbrain."

"Tch... You got some lame-ass tongue for a fox."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"Grr... You..."

A round of staredown commence between the two. Blues meet greens. Both's irises sharpens to resemble their wild animal counterparts.

Though it all ends in an untimely sigh from the black feathered hawk, "You're so fucking annoying."

"Two for two," Ren responds as he glances away.

The song of the autumn wind passes through the closed window. Ren sees through it to see the skyscraping buildings— small and condensed into tiny dots faraway in the horizon. Surrounding the sight are dense mountains and hills, submerged in lush purple and red by its forest.

"So... Where is this place?" Ren eyes the room around again, seeing nothing but the same fancy attributes of a hotel room.

"You expect me to answer that?" Leaning against the wall, the Archangel sneers.

"Um, yes?" Ren's questioning glance causes the bird to roll his eyes away, "okay, fine. Whatever. Not like I can trust your birdbrain anywa-"

"You're in Couffinnia Hotel. At Mahayama Hills, just right at the outside border of Central City," Still keeping his eyes away, the birdman cuts Ren's words, "Now, you owe me one question," He then turns to the fox and approaches, "What's going to happen to... Her?" He stops by his bed.

Ren's ears jolt back for a moment as he lowers his gaze. He clutches his fists together as he mumbles, "The Knights will keep her save," A bit of uncertainty taint his eyes, "I'm sure of it."

Huffing, the Archangel facepalms himself as his wings sharpen, "You know you are a terrible liar... Right?"

Ren's furs shiver as he furrows his brow at those words.

"That's one of the things she told me about you," He sighs as he nonchalantly leans on the window in front of the fox, his wings softening back, "Guess she's not wrong about that."

Seeing how he keeps his cool, Ren raises an eyebrow at him, "Well, you seem like you believe in me," He tilts his head, "why?"

"Another thing she told me is that... Your instinct always turns out to be true," He glances outside the window for a second, before staring back at him, "Right now, you have no reason to lie, right?"

At that, Ren lifts his lips into a small smirk, "Huh... Just a second ago I thought you was going to try to kill me again," He lets out a little chuckle, "Good to know that you've chilled down a bit..."

"Don't get the wrong idea, fox. I just don't want to owe you anything."

"You're still getting my thanks anyways. So, there you go."

"You're fucking exhausting... You know that?"

"Heh."

After that little snicker, a brief silence commence.

"So... What's going to happen to me now?" Ren questions, his feet rustling his chains around.

"..." Looking at the ticking clock, Yuu sighs an empty one before approaching the door, "You'll find out... Soon enough."

Click.

Just before the Archangel could grab the doorknob, it turns and opens itself forward.

"Ah, it seems like I interrupted a conversation," With a simple smirk and with hands elegantly put behind his waist, the Manticore enters the room. His eyes flicker onto the fox's and the bird's before he sighs, "Excuse me, my dear son, but can you take the conversation for later?" Once his purple eyes fixate at the Archangel, the latter flinches. With worry, he glances towards the fox for a moment before hurrying out of the room.

And so his gaze meets Ren's. Those pair of purple eyes, elegant and vivid, though their colors are undeniably identical to Azayaka's, Ren sees them not as beautiful or mesmerizing, only sinister and threatening. Ren could only folds his ears back as his irises sharpens once again. An undeniable sign from his primeval instinct that this man... Her father... Is not someone he should mess around with.

"An honor to finally meet you, dear Mister Kitsuko," His deep voice echoes, causing a slight shudder.

His leather shoes prompts some ear-piercing clacks to round the room as he approaches. Even then, that is still not a distraction for Ren. He still keeps his sight locked onto the man's eyes. Up until he sits next to him, keeping his smile.

"Now, let's talk some bargain, shall we?"

AN: I wrote this during the flight home back to Indonesia. There was so many turbulences I had to sleep my motion sickness off on an empty row. So, let me know if there's glaring grammar issues :P