“Erlin.”

Erlin awoke with a start. He instantly recoiled with an animalistic yelp, throwing back his hand before it was caught.

“Geez, it’s just me.”

Erlin picked up his glasses from his desk and wiped drool away from his face. He sighed and groggily murmured, “What do you need, Artemis?”

She set a letter on his desk. “Happy birthday. Your father meant to give this to you earlier, but you left before he could say anything about it.”

Erlin raised his head and stared at the letter. “How long was I asleep for?” He asked.

Without looking at Artemis, he grabbed the letter and tore it open. He skimmed over words such as ‘sorry’ and ‘lies’, and, the familiar question — ‘How are you faring?’

The letter, as usual, was unsigned.

He disregarded his earlier question toward his cousin and replaced it with a new one.

“Did my father say who gave this to him?”

When he turned around, he found his cousin going through the closet. She poked her head out and brushed away braids, that of which had fallen before her face an irritated her.

“I dunno,” she said as she turned to rifle through the closet again. “Your father just told me to give it to you. I didn’t ask if whoever gave it to him was cute or not.”

“But you do know that there was a messenger, Artemis.”

“Alright, fine. They were named Ash. They were with your father with the letter. They’ve done this for the past ten years.”

“Letter after letter…” Erlin lowered his voice as he stared at the letter again. “Ever since they dumped the first eighteen before my door on my birthday. In a bag. They just dumped it there, discarded it like trash.”

“Are you going to become a poet, Erlin?” Artemis laughed, but there was no feeling behind her laugh. She pulled out a red dress as Erlin turned around in his chair to face her.

“Going to see your boyfriend again?” He smirked.

Artemis stuck out her tongue.

Erlin rolled his eyes. “You’re such a child.” He muttered.

“Says the younger one.”

“Maturity isn’t always measured in age, Artemis.” Erlin turned back around in his chair and skimmed the letter again. He set it down as Artemis spoke again.

“Is that one of grandfather’s quotes, Erlin?” Artemis sneered the words teasingly; Erlin frowned.

He opened his mouth to reply but heard the closet door slam. Artemis was muttering loud, incomprensible curses from what sounded like within the closet.

Erlin turned, grabbing his brown frock coat from the back of the desk chair. He shot an uneasy glance toward the letter on the desk. As he straightened the collar of his coat, he turned away from the letter and called Artemis’ name.

She replied nearly a moment later; Erlin found that she was having trouble putting on her dress and that she would be out within a few moments.

When he opened his mouth to protest, there was a knock on the door.

“Who is it?”

“Um,” There came a moment of hesitation, but Erlin recognized the voice before they introduced themselves. “It’s Kai. Is Hera here?”

“I’ll be out in a moment.” Hera’s voice called, clearly from the bathroom. Erlin had nearly forgotten that Hera, his cousin, lived there too. She was down the hall, tidying herself as she usually did every afternoon. She didn’t stay in the bathroom long, nor did she stay the nights here anymore, as most nights were spent at her partner, Kai’s place.

Erlin pulled at his collar, laughing nervously. “Do you want to come in?”

“Yeah, sure…” Kai muttered.

Erlin pushed his chair in and turned to head down the hall.

When he went to let Kai in, what hit him was how tall ze was. Ze was over six feet tall, barely an inch over Rilon, but ze dwarfed Erlin, who barely rose over hir chin.

Erlin lowered his gaze to the floor as Kai entered. “Good… good afternoon.”

Ze brushed past Erlin to head to the bathroom door, and quietly knocked upon it. “Are you nearly done, Hera?”

“Yes, Kai.” Hera’s voice was sickeningly sweet, teasing; Erlin stuck out his tongue when Kai wasn’t looking. “Are you fretting over me again, sweetheart?”

Kai shot a glance back at Erlin; hir usually pale face was flushed a bright red. “N-no. I’m ready, though.”

Erlin laughed, but was quickly silenced by Kai’s glare. He cleared his throat and muttered, “I’ll go get Artemis.”

He quickly honored his promise and headed back into the main bedroom, where he found his cousin sitting on his chair. She was wearing a bright dress that contrasted drastically with her dark complexion. Erlin froze when he saw that she was holding the letter in her hands; however, she didn’t seem to keep interest for long, and set it back down upon the desk.

“What are you doing?”

“I was reading,” She sneered teasingly back. “Can’t a girl read?”

“Not my personal letter.” Erlin pinched the bridge of his nose and adjusted his glasses. “Could you just stop being nosy… or just… or just stop acting like a child for one day?”

“We’re leaving now.” Hera called from the hall. “Artemis, don’t read Erlin’s letters.”

Artemis snorted, nor did she seem to be paying attention as both Hera and Kai departed. She turned in the chair and crossed her arms; her expression was smug. “You have a secret admirer, Erlin.”

“I’ve had one for the last decade — it’s not that much of a surprise.” Erlin laughed humorlessly. “They must —”

“No, not the letter-writer, the messenger.”

“Messenger?” Erlin only stared at her; he felt a creeping blush climb onto his face, but he dashed it away before his cousin could notice.

“Your height, dark hair. I swear they were Far Eastern but I couldn’t see any wings.” Artemis got up from the chair and strode casually to her bed. “I would say nonbinary but I wouldn’t really like to assume because, y’know, being — anyway...” She leaped upon her bed and lay down. “They have a crush on you…”

“Crush…” Erlin muttered. “Sounds stalkerish, innit?”

“I see them blush, I see them ask about you, I see them watching you when they can. I think they like you.”

Erlin’s face flushed again. He shook his head, as though that alone would clear it. He secretly knew that it wouldn’t, but at least he had tried anyway.”

“It’s fine. Not all love is requited, Erlin. I have learned such a thing personally — too many childhood crushes.”

“Many boys. Many, many boys.” Erlin went back to his desk but didn’t sit down. “Perhaps too many…”

“You should have been jealous of me — I was handsome as hell back then.”

“Yep,” Erlin wasn’t listening. “Pretty much.”

“I won’t give it to you if you end up like Grandfather. He never married, though I did see some affection between him and the previous Vice President before she died…”

Erlin did not reply, though his thoughts whirled. He knew the previous Vice President. Alice Aviet had been her name, and she and Rilon had been quite close, though Erlin had always dismissed it as a close friendship.

However, when she died, Rilon had fallen into such a deep depression that he became mute to everyone but Luca, his current Vice President.

London had gone quiet then, and even after that two year mourning period had passed, it was clear that it would never be the same again without her.

“... Though now it is clear that he and Luca are in some relationship.”

“Luca’s his partner and has always been, even before I was born.”

“He’s aged pretty well for being over sixty years old.” Artemis said. “Seems a bit strange. I’d expect him to be old and gray by now, but y’know… he hasn’t aged since I was a child.”

“Like grandfather has. Trust me… it’s not strange at all.”

“Ha, you still call Rilon grandfather. I thought I was —”

A crash came from the living room.

“I was the child…”

“Artemis, shut up.”

The woman shut her mouth reluctantly and shot Erlin a glare.

Erlin stood from his desk and told Artemis to stay there. He ran into the hallway and burst into the main room.

When he entered the living room, he was almost blown over by a cold breeze — he was suddenly lucky he had put on his coat.

There was a large, gaping hole in his window and glass upon his floor which crunched under his feet when he stepped on it. The shatter patterns from such a hole showed that they had come from outside, yet the height of the penthouse — which was two miles high — made it nearly unlikely unless the cause of the crash had been bolting through the air.

Cautiously, Erlin made his way deeper into the living room, clutching at a chair as his gaze followed the shatter pattern.

He stifled a small gasp.

A small, cloaked figure lay spread-eagled on the floor, ominously still. For a moment, Erlin thought they were dead, until they groaned and shifted in the small pile of glass.

“Artemis?” Erlin called, but kept his voice low. “Fetch Grandfather.”

“Ha!” She called back. “Baby!”

“It’s not a fucking joke, Artemis. Fetch Grandfather.”

“Fine…” Her footsteps ran into the living room as Erlin went over to pick up the figure. “Oh, Lord almighty.”

Artemis couldn’t reach the elevator fast enough. The doors flew open, at which she frantically pushed the button. When the doors closed, Erlin sat on the floor and cradled the figure in his arms.

They groaned at his response, and slowly opened their eyes. A smile crossed their face. “I knew… I shouldn’t have…” They said, and their smile faded. Two wings fell out of their cloak and dangled from their nearly-lifeless body.

Erlin dismissed this at first, but upon a second glance, he saw that they were uneven. One was shorter than the other by a little less than a meter. He surmised that the person’s flight patterns must have been unusual, if not painful.

Yet he dismissed that within an instant. “Shouldn’t have what?” He asked.

“I shouldn’t have… tried that stunt.”

“You won’t have to do that again, I promise.”

They smiled again. “You’re quite handsome in real life…”

Erlin tried to look away as his face flushed. Otherwise, he ignored the statement.

“Right,” he muttered. “My cousin is going to fetch some help, alright? My grandfather’s a doctor.”

The figure laughed and hiccuped. “They’ll fix me.” They chuckled. “Yeah, he will. He will. He always does.”

Erlin ignored them. “What’s your name?”

“Ash… Ash… Shida.”

“Ash. Alright. Just wait. My cousin will be back.”

Ash did not reply, and sighed. They fell limp in Erlin’s arms, the only sign that they weren’t dead was their steady breathing.

Now… all they had to do was wait.