What are you?

"Mihk..."

Raphael did not know what to do or say. He can only watch his friend hold his daughter in such a heart wrenching manner. This was the second time he has seen his friend let loose like this and that first time was when Aurora fell in her coma.

"Papa..."

Sakura could not think of anything else to say, she was still in confusion about this whole interaction and just decided to lightly pat him.

Hectic knocking on the door broke the awkward situation and gave Azrael an excuse to leave the situation. Sakura watches him open the door and then he opens it wide enough to let a puff of grayish hair and golden locks enter the room one by one.

She watches how disheveled and messy he appeared, something she rarely saw. He was always meticulous and steady.

"Mihk..!!"

He made hesitant steps toward the bed and midway collapsed to his knees. Everyone there was startled and worried something happened to him now until he spoke.

"Ah. Thank the gods."

The relief that washed over him made his legs weaken. They watched the corners of his eyes redden from unshed tears. Raising a trembling hand to cover them. Sakura can see his limbs trembling and his unsteady yet relieved words to see her father awake.

"Thank the gods you woke up... I-I would not know what I would have done if you remained in that state..."

It was visible when he clenched his teeth after he spoke. Sakura didn't know if she saw right or not, but saw a tear slide through his covered eyes.

"I wouldn't know what to do... I don't think I would be able to keep my sanity if another of my family members ended up in that state..."

Sakura's eyes widened in realization. Her mother was his adopted sister, a sister who grew up with him and who he cherished as family, yet while he believed she finally had her happy ending, she fell terribly sick and didn't die, yet lived as a comatose state, no better than dead.

'The fear of watching a man who grew up like a brother end up in such a state as his sister... not even knowing what can be done to save either of them when all the healers around, all those royal doctors could not find anything... I bet he was reaching a traumatizing state of mind at this point.'

Sakura noticed her father calming his own personal state of mind and looking at his brother in law with a sad knowing smile. He as well pieced together the reason for his old friends reaction.

"Seraph... I'm sorry for worrying you."

His voice finally being heard after a few days of silence. Albit raspy and groggy from his days of slumber and the nonstop crying. But nonetheless it was his voice. His words, his tone.

Raphael quickly grabbed a glass of water and helped him drink it by bringing it to his mouth and personally held it there until he finished it. Uriel held unshed tears when he entered the room behind Seraph. Yet wept with a smile when he finally saw Mihkael awake again.

He walked forward and checked him. He saw that there was no harm to the body, only a bit malnourished and dehydrated but other than that, he was perfectly healthy. He was looking at Uriel with a smile filled with apologies but held reassurance that he was fine. His eyes opened and he spoke.

All which indicated he was truly awake, he was fine. When that thought entered everyone's heart, the redness of unshed tears and those who did shed tears all did so in relief, and joy. That at least they haven't lost him either, that their youngest brother in arms hadn't left them as well.

Sakura now saw the traumatic scar of her mother's state in full view. That it didn't just leave them in sadness, but in fear. A deep rooted trauma that displays their hopelessness, sadness and grief and that small fear of what if? What if all they do is find no result and she dies? What if she would not be the last one? What if someone else they hold dear end up in that state for the same thing? Or for a different thing? Yet they still couldn't save them.

Those what ifs or negative thoughts held itself in their minds and the days that kept passing made those thoughts grow stronger. Just when they were told there was actually hope of waking Aurora; Mikael fell into a deep slumber and there was no answer to why. It was a burden to the mind that must have broken them in a way she didn't notice before.

'How selfish and heartless my thought were... if I had just told them the truth of her cure, then this deep fear in their hearts would have gone away long ago. What have I done.'

Thinking of that she clenched her fists and wondered if she should get a purification mage to cure her mother right this instance, however then what excuse can she use to why she kept in contact with Caspian and made deals with him.

"Sakura?"

Looking to her father who called her in worry and care. She clenched her teeth and opened her mouth to say something, yet she kept hesitating until Mihkael spoke again.

"I saw you. Or rather, someone who took your appearance. I may have even been in the presence of one of the Gods."

"What!?"

They panicked when they heard him say he met a god or goddess, however he quickly cleared their worries.

"I did not see their appearance nor know which one they were. However, I heard their voices... a voice that held pity and regret..."

He remembered the tone the god had used to ask for forgiveness. It truly felt pain from what is happening yet he always believed gods would not have cared about the pain or resentment of humans, that they just let life move without interfering unless it affects them. Yet he felt this god had more compassion on humans. That he truly cared for the creatures of this earth by just hearing their voice.

"But that is not the main issue. The thing that was most important that I had seen was you."

He looked at his daughter again and everyone else wondered what he meant. They all knew he held dreams that witnessed his daughters untimely death. They already held a hypothesis that this comatose state he entered must have revealed those instances again in a more drastic for.

"I've seen... your death."

He grimaced when he let out those words. He clenched his fists and teeth for a moment but continued speaking.

"However, they were different from the other dreams I've seen. In those older dreams I was made to watch everything without being able to move on my own will, it was like everything was done by another person while sharing the same body.... yet this one... I was able to move, to speak... yet... I've never been able to reach you in time. And each time I held you in my arms while..."

He couldn't continue but everyone understood what he was going to say. They all remained silent to his words until they all heard another knock on the door.

Azrael went to the door and when he saw who it was he opened it a bit wider. Now Ariel entered hurriedly with Gabriel just behind him.

"Aren't you supposed to be in the throne room?"

Seraph turned to look at Gabriel. Today Gabriel took the appearance to be Mihkael. It was done so no one became too suspicious if Seraph was gone for too many days. He was still the head minister of the court and his presence was second to the emperor so he shouldn't be gone for too long.

So they decided to have Gabriel help and used the excuse he was out researching for why he hasn't appeared for the days to come. After all, that was normal for him when he was researching a cure for Aurora.

"How can I be calm in the throne room when I was just informed Mihk woke up! One of his hidden guards told me."

He saw how Seraph seemed to want to ask who told him so he quickly answered before he was asked. Turning to the bed he saw Mihkael sitting up and smiling at him. Gabriel sighed in relief and his eyes held tears of relief.

"We were worried... how can you allow yourself to get sick like that huh!?"

Ariel held an accusing tone when he said that with a grimace. However it was obvious he was relieved and was holding himself back from letting tears out.

"Yeah... sorry about that."

His expression filled with melancholy and guilt when seeing all of them like this. But he knew it wasn't the time to distract themselves with these emotions. Rather, he knew he had to say something now about his dream, for some reason he felt right now is the best time to tell them what he saw.

"How about we let him relax for a moment and collect his composure. He must be overwhelmed as well."

Raphael spoke up while having his hand on his shoulder, looking down at his friend with reassurance. However Mihkael quickly shook his head.

"No, right now I have to tell you guys what I have seen. What I have been told."

"Told?"

Seraph composed himself and they all focused on his words. Only Sakura focused from the beginning when he spoke of seeing her in dreams. She felt he will tell her something she wasn't gonna expect.

"Yes... she was dying in my arms multiple times. To the point I thought I was going mad if I had to experience another one... then the last dream before I woke up..."

He looked as if he was looking at Sakura, yet his eyes appear to be looking at something beyond her.

"You laid in my arms, I was distraught already from seeing it happen so many times yet I still hoped... I still reassure the Sakura I was holding in my arms that help will arrive."

Sakura quietly listened to him and she felt compassion for him because she relates to him. She understood the pain he was feeling because she had to witness the exact same thing as him each night for around four years. The understanding that what he experienced would break anyone, especially if you experienced it multiple times in just days with no break.

She felt he had it worse because at least for her she had time to compose herself from the experience and the whole day to compose her thoughts. However he had to experience multiple lives nonstop and no time to take on that moment without being thrust into another moment where he had to watch his child die again.

"But it was different."

"Different?"

Seraph creased his brow and waited to hear the rest of what Mihkael was going to say. Mihkael nods and continues, still feeling the experience to be a bit surreal.

"Like all the rest, she told me it was too late. But then she told me... she told me 'The future... it will remain the same even if you know what will happen.' Those were her exact words."

The bombshell he revealed to them was something they had never thought they would hear. Even Sakura, who didn't think the revelation would be much, was astonished by what she heard.

'A Sakura who was aware!? Not just a memory!!'

She felt a chill when that thought entered her mind, because only one such Sakura came to mind, but she thought it shouldn't be possible.

'There is no way! That Sakura should just be a part of this body and shouldn't be able to appear to others!... right?'

While thinking of it some more not once did "that" Sakura she was bound to her or anything of the sort. It was just something she assumed from reading novels and of the sort... after being here for so many years now, how can she still forget something simple as this not being make-believe anymore. Novel knowledge won't always work here.

And unknown to Sakura. This was not the first time such an incident occurred. The time with Gabriel was the first time she appeared to be someone; or something. Different from a soul who lost and was chained down to the body like the current Sakura deduced.

"That Sakura... could it be-!?"

Gabriel quickly thought of that time he fell sick and was confronted by the image of a corrupted Sakura chained up to a throne of some type.

"I don't know if they are the exact same, however the way she spoke and what happened after makes me believe it was the exact same Sakura you had witnessed when ill."

"Wait. What do you mean the 'same one' he witnessed?! You-! You had this strange experience too?"

She changed her words so he wouldn't notice that she knew of this entity, maybe even more than they do.

"Yes. It was that time after the kidnapping incident and I fell ill. Do you recall that time?"

Sakura knew which moment he was talking about. It was at that time her guess of them receiving memories was proven true, however she didn't know there was more to it than that.

"However the Sakura or entity took your appearance and tried to make me disregard the dream and treat it as just that; a dream. However I knew she was not a fragment of my imagination or my dream conscious with the way she spoke to me. We all believe she may be a messenger from the gods, especially when she told me to not inform you of her existence. Yet not once have you spoken of them so we really couldn't pinpoint who they were."

Sakura looked at the floor in stupor the more she heard his words.

'So she isn't a soul bound just to this body and the inner mind of it, but she can even go to other people's dreams too... and to tell father that even if they knew it will "remain the same."! What the hell does she mean by that!! She never informed me of this when she appeared in my dreams! Why did she give me cryptic bullshit while she gives more information to them!! Seriously! What the fuck!? Seriously!!... what the hell are you...?'

Her eyes looked straight to the ground yet didn't pay attention to the moving darkness returning to shape and stilled to a regular shadow.