WARNING: This chapter contains content that may (definitely will) be disturbing to some readers. Please keep in mind what anime this is a fanfiction of, and be prepared for some things to go down. It's not pleasant. You have been warned.

It was another three days before Uriel decided she needed to venture out again, again to take out the trash. When she had at last dropped in the final trash bag, though, she paused. How many days now had she been holed up in her house with barely anything to do? Sure, there were her animals, but even those couldn't fill all of her hours. She had tried reading, but it was too quiet, and her thoughts were too loud. She was being suffocated by her own mind. It was bad enough that, despite how dangerous she knew it was, she needed to get out.

Her knuckle went up to her teeth as she made the decision, her eyes flickering left and right in search of anyone that may be around. She was alone, though. So, with slow, hesitant steps, she inched her way towards the main street. When she got there, as it was last time, the street was empty. She got moving before she could change her mind. As she went, she stuck close to the buildings and walked with haste in her step. She didn't go far: just to the church around the corner.

It was comforting, the church. It was a small steeple, with a single peak and only a few stained glass windows to speak of, but among the street's desolation the presence of a well-maintained church was a sight for sore eyes. And considering how exhausted she was, it was like a glass of cold water after a day in the desert sun.

Inside, the roof was high and painted with delicate roses and stars. On either side of the pews stood statues of the blessed mother and Joseph, hands folded in prayer, and eyes gazing lovingly down at the rows of seats. At the front, on the white cloth of the stone altar, candles wavered in the colored light that shone in from two of the four stain glass windows. The room was silent.

It wasn't empty, though. In the front pew, a tall man with buzzed black hair knelt, head hung and hands folded. As Uriel closed the door behind her, he lifted his gaze to look back at her.

"Good afternoon, Father Gabriel." He was a man she knew well, and had grown quite close to in her year in Japan. He, too, was from America, although his father was a Japanese immigrant. He was assigned here because of his ability to speak Japanese fluently. Uriel would have been friends with any priest that had been at the church she went to, but she was particularly fond of him due to his name. It was the name of a dear friend of hers, after all.

The father quickly signed himself before standing, smiling widely as he greeted, "Uriel! It's good to see you! Your beautiful voice is just the thing this church needs in these trying times!"

"Ah," she smiled wryly. "I'm not here to sing today, I'm afraid."

"Whether it's the reason you came or not, I would still love to hear it."

She walked up to the front so they weren't talking across the entire sanctuary. Then she admitted, "Actually, well, I've been having trouble singing, lately."

"Oh? Do you want to talk about it?" She confirmed this by sitting in the pew, and he took a seat next to her. "So, what is it that's troubling you, child?"

She slumped back in her seat, letting out a long breath. "I just...I haven't been able to sing for God lately. The words just won't come out. I tried singing for my parents instead, but...that didn't exactly go too well."

"Why do you think you can't sing to Him?"

"Well," she curled a lock of tawny hair around her finger, "It's probably because I've been doubting Him. I've never had any trouble in believing Him before, but recently…"

Father Gabriel nodded understandingly. "Do not worry so much. Everyone has times when they doubt God, even the most devout. It's times like these when our faith is particularly tried, and we many experience fall outs with our faith. I assure you, though, He does exist, and He is looking out for us."

She shook her head. "It's not that I doubt His existence. I know He's there, that's a fact. It's…"

"You aren't so sure he's looking out for us." She nodded, and Father Gabriel crossed his arms. "I can see why you're wondering, with the way the world is right now. Demons are overrunning the Earth. But God works in mysterious ways. It's not something us humans can understand."

Under her breath, she murmured, "What about the angels?"

"The angels?"

She winced. She hadn't meant for him to hear that.

"I can't really speak for the angels, since I am not one. I imagine they probably understand better than us, since they are closer to God than us while we're on Earth, but who can really say? You could always ask your guardian angel."

That would be nice, if she wasn't her own guardian.

"We must believe that God has a plan. Evil may be running rampant, and for all we know, it could be the end of time, but God can bring light even to the darkest of places. No matter what it is that you have experienced over the past few weeks, He can make good of it. He has done it before countless times. He will not fail you."

Sighing, Uriel folded her hands and dropped her head, but not to pray. She was simply out of energy. "Father, I have heard that since my early years, and it has always been true. God has always looked out for me, and I have always sought to do His will. He has done a many great things through me. But this darkness...what is the reason for it? What good will He bring out of it?"

"We can only wait and see, Uriel."

That was how it was for humans, ordinary humans, but she knew. "Father...this darkness won't end."

"It will. It always does."

"But it won't, not this time!" Her nails dug into her knuckles her teeth clenching. "The end is nigh, and the world will only degrade until time is up! What good comes of that, Father? I don't understand! Why must all of this happen, and just for…."

"For what?"

For pain. All of this was to cause one sinner pain. She just couldn't...she couldn't accept that! It was unfair! All these people were suffering for someone else's wrongdoing! "Father, I don't….I don't think God is just anymore."

He was silent for a moment. Then, leaning back, he told her, "It is mankind and the devil that bring evil and injustice. Whether it seems like t or not, God will always act in the name of justice."

"Then what is justice?"

"It is giving what is owed."

"And this," she waved her hands, "is owed?"

"This is not God's doing. He is simply letting it happen to bring even greater good from it."

"You're saying this is Satan's doing, then."

"Along with the sin within humanity, yes."

It was true, he had incited all of this. He had set the ball rolling. But it was God who had put him in that position knowing what he would do. It was God who let him do this knowing what pain it would cause him. It was God that planned all of this to happen, for the purpose of his punishment. And what an unnecessary punishment it was.

She shook her head, unable to meet Father Gabriel's eyes. "I'm sorry, Father, but I just...I still don't understand."

"That is what faith is for, child."

With those words, a chilling question surfaced in her mind. Jaw creaking, she hesitated a moment, then slowly asked, "What do you do when you can't have faith?"

"You search for it again." Smiling sadly, the priest laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder. She found she couldn't return the smile, despite wanting to. Instead, she bowed her head in appreciation.

"Thank you for talking with me, Father."

He returned his hand to his lap. "Of course, it's my pleasure. Come and talk at anytime. And there may not be many people coming anymore, but please, come during our mass times. I still try to hold them if anyone shows up. It would be a good place for you to confide your doubts to Him."

Saying their goodbyes, Uriel lingered a little longer than necessary in the safe haven of the chapel before heading back out onto the streets. Honestly, she didn't know how she felt after that conversation. She couldn't tell if her feelings had settled, or if she was in even more of a turmoil than she was before. The only thing she was really sure of was that she really, really was struggling. Father Gabriel had said she needed to search for her faith again, but to be honest, she didn't really think she wanted to. The idea that all of this was right, that it was just, she didn't want to believe that. But what was she supposed to do now that she didn't want to believe in God? Since…ever…before existence itself, she had served God. He had been her all, her world, her master and father and leader and everything. She had had nothing but love for him, and now…it felt empty for her not to have it.

A hand suddenly clapped over her mouth and she was yanked roughly off the streets, dragged into an alley. She widened her eyes as the unknown figure continued to drag her away, then began to kick. She kicked with all she had and jerked to get away, and, when that didn't work, she sunk her teeth into the hand over her mouth.

This finally got the man to release at least her head and she began to scream. Then she was thrown against the wall of a building and her scream cut, replaced by a gasp of pain as she slid down to the ground.

"Scream all you want. Nobody'll come to help. Everyone only cares about themselves right now."

That..that voice…

The shadows were tilted, her head was spinning from being hit, but she focused her eyes on the person before her as best she could. The voice was familiar, and when she saw his face, she found she knew it, too. Still, it took her a second to put a location, and a name, to him.

"You're," she groaned, "Tadashi? From...the track?

"And you're Eunice, the demon chick." Before she could collect her bearing and rise to her feet, the boy was straddling her, pinning her to the wall with both arms. Alarm finally began to return to her, but her still spinning head prevented her from struggling. Instead, she sputtered,

"W-What are you d-doing?"

The boy looked…off. His hair was unkempt, his clothes were ragged, and the smell was awful. He didn't look anything like the presentable high schooler she had met back at Akira's school.

"Well you see," he licked his lips and she shivered, "people have been dying pretty quickly lately, you know? Ichirou? You remember him? He was shot by a lunatic the other day. The poor guy died a virgin, and you know, I decided I really couldn't go out that way. You'll help me, yeah?"

Blood running cold, she breathed, "You can't do this."

"You're a demon, aren't you? Demon's like this sort of thing, yeah? So why don't you just take it?"

Suddenly, her dizziness didn't matter anymore. Uriel was struggling with everything she had, but Tadashi wasn't budging.

"W-What makes you think I'm a demon?" she gasped, heart pounding against her ribcage.

"They're everywhere, you know? I was suspecting you were after that track meet, but then that guy confirmed it."

She stopped.

"What guy?"

"Uh, you know, the one that exposed all the demons. I thought he would've taken care of you when he pulled you off the stage that one time, but I'm glad he didn't. Now I get you."

The one who exposed the demons? He meant...Ryo? Ryo had told him she was a demon? "T-Then, you were the one-" Suddenly she knew why she had recognized the voice that had accused her back on the day of the concert. It had been Tadashi.

Even as the boy looming over her began to undo the buttons on her cardigan, Uriel was still in shock. Ryo...really did hate her. He hated her enough to do this to her.

She began to cry.

I guess I just want to quote an author I heard speak once. It was the author of Gone Girl, and she said to never censor yourself. If you feel the story going one way, write it that way. Don't veer off coarse 'cause you're worried about the reactions. Obviously these weren't her exact words, but I think they're pretty close. I just wanted to justify the graphic nature of what happened at the end of this chapter. I want to be clear, though: I will not go into the details. Even I have my limits of what I can handle content-wise. I'm also going to skip the usual outro I write at the end of every chapter this time. It feels too inappropriate with how cheery it is. So, with that said, I'll see you all in the next update.

(Sorry if I seriously freaked anyone out)