she couldn't breathe. It only took her a second to find out the reason, Daichi's arms wrapped around her head as he pressed her to his chest. She disentangled herself from him, before turning around and finding Gio on her right, though he was taking up as little space as possible with his legs pressed to his chest, a stark contrast to Daichi. He was frowning and pale, his lips parting, and right on cue blue music notes started to play in the air. Jasmina glanced up at the magic, the turquoise notes bumping against each other in the wind and whistling something akin to a nursery song.

She remembered what Priyanka had said then and so she stroked his head, although she was unsure if it would help. His hair was silky smooth under her fingers, like a dream slipping away at morning light, the fatigue that usually overwhelmed her in his presence haven gotten less now. Them becoming humans had it's benefits after all.

As she looked around the room she quickly spotted the other sins, Ira sprawled out on her carpet, fast asleep, and Lucy lying in the corner on a pink beanbag that hadn't been there before. Ari was visible on the balcony behind her see-through curtains, lying face down, her hair a tangled mess of copper and her jewelry glittering in the beginning sunlight. Countless watches were scattered across the tiles around her and upon a closer look Jasmina noticed all of them were from her father's Rolex collection.

She counted them and frowned, before glancing at her window and finding Victor, who was sleeping peacefully against the big willow tree in her backyard. Ever since he had arrived he seemed to find some peace in the nature in her garden and sometimes, when he closed his eyes, it seemed like the leaves spoke to him. She shrugged the thought off and slid off bed, making her way to the door. A breath of fresh air may be just the thing she needed right now, because her head was beginning to throb and she wasn't sure what kind of hangover a demon drink would give her.

Before she could even step out of the room though someone grabbed her leg. When she looked down, her eyebrow raised, Ira was smiling sleepily at her, the sparks around him flashing like blinking fairy lights now. He yawned and tugged at her ankle, almost causing her to fall in his arms.

"If you let me trip I will kick you out of my room, Ira," she smiled sweetly at him.

"As long as you come with I don't mind," he yawned, eyes colored with fatigue and amusement.

He got to his feet then, stretching out lazily as his shirt raked up, revealing scarred skin. It was a stark contrast against the blemish free skin the others had and she glanced at it, before looking back in his eyes.

"Did you keep the scars?" she said.

His eyes darkened with memories as a hand grazed across his stomach, like the wounds were bleeding even now. "A reminder."

Though she was curious, she didn't ask anything else. She had an eternity with these people now and she didn't have to ask to know their past had been horrible. People who spoke money and arrogance, those were the ones she was taught to kick off their pedestal, but this wasn't something she was meant to intrude on, that she knew.

Something akin to gratefulness flashed across his face at her lack of questions, quickly being replaced by the fire he always carried, blazing so hard it seemed to burn even him at times. He grabbed her wrist and tugged at it, but she refused to move.

"Don't pull on me," she said, no room for objections in her voice.

"Why not?" he said," I want you to come with."

She leaned forward, grabbing one of the sparks around him and clenching her hand around it until it sizzled out.

"Then ask," she said.

Though the sparks had dimmed earlier, they burst like fireworks now, a wide smile beginning to play on his face. When he didn't seem intent on pulling at her again she walked to the door and he followed closely behind, all the way down. Only when they set a foot outside did he speak, squinting at the sun as he walked barefoot on the grass.

"Why are we in your backyard?" he said.

"Why did you follow?" she said.

"Because no one is awake yet," he said, putting his hands in his pockets," and sleeping people remind me of the dead in the trenches."

"A soldier," she said.

"A soldier indeed," he said, no discernible emotion visible on his face," or a sacrifice, as the general liked to call it."

"Wars are fool's games," Jasmina said with a shake of her head.

"The devil has quite some going on," Ira said, glancing at her as they walked towards the willow tree.

"And I will end them," she said simply.

Ira stared at her a moment longer, before quickly looking away. It was only then he noticed Victor sleeping against the tree, his expression more peaceful than anything else she had seen on him. He woke up with a start at the sound of their footsteps coming closer though, eyes widening with vividly green fright as his breathing rushed. Only when he recognized them did it settle back to normal again, even though she could see he did so with difficulty.

Victor rubbed the fatigue out of his eyes, shrugging off his jacket and placing it down beside him as he gestured at Jasmina. Her lips tugged up in a smile then, one more bewitching than their magic, and she sat down elegantly, pecking Victor on the cheek.

"You're a doll," she said.

His face flamed up and he quickly murmured something, before just looking away. The sparks around Ira however immediately died down, the grass around him withering. He seemed like he was about to say something when Daichi jumped on his back, causing him to fall down.

"You guys went out without me," he sulked, his midnight eyes flicking to Jasmina," do you know how lonely I was when I woke up and couldn't find you?"

"Terribly lonely, I imagine," she said.

"And you'd be right," he smiled, all sadness quickly forgotten as he walked to her side and sat down cross-legged beside her. He noticed Victor then. "Did you sleep outside, Vic?"

"It's peaceful here," Victor shrugged, before adding," and I could barely walk anymore. Besides, Ari was climbing up the side of the house with all those watches she stole and you and Ira were busy stealing that tree - I wasn't about to be involved."

"A tree?" Jasmina said.

"Huh," Daichi said to himself, before his eyes lit up," ah yeah, I remember. Where did we place it?"

"I recall water," Ira said as he closed his eyes to think," or perhaps grass?"

"I have no idea," Victor said," nor do I want to know. Now I'm temporarily out of hell I'm distancing myself from all crimes."

"You always were this uptight," Daichi grinned," I didn't think the next sin of envy to be like you, especially not after he went insane and wreaked havoc in his part of hell."

"What were your parts of hell like?" Jasmina said," I've always been curious to your job descriptions."

"The devil always sentenced the death with their sins and sent them to their respective realm," Victor said," we just had to keep them in check, deal out the punishments and lay down the law."

"If you get sentenced to gluttony you get starved," Daichi said," lust gets isolation from human contact, pride has to be a slave, greed gets no possessions in the freezing cold, wrath gets beaten, sloth can't sleep until the end of time despite their fatigue and envy poisons themselves every time they get jealous while being forced to watch the people they hate do well."

He listed it all very casually, before yawning and resting his head on her shoulder. While she was thinking about the punishments he glanced up at her through his eyelashes, a type of innocence in his eyes which sometimes shined through his heartless smile.

"Did I do well?" he said.

"Yes," she said as she absent-mindedly stroked his hair," that actually explains a lot. I mainly just imagined you all whipping people or something."

"We do in my side of hell," Ira said," though that's the least creative form of torture I've seen in all my years."

She glanced around her then, at the people who actually seemed a lot less evil than she did, and shook her head.

"I just don't understand why he picked you specifically," she said.

"Because we all have the key characteristic of being a sin," Daichi smiled at her.

"And what's that?" she said.

He smiled at her, that smile of his which reminded her of liquid sunshine and death all at once.

"Self-hatred."