Well, this was certainly a longer wait than I anticipated. This is also a much longer chapter than I originally intended. For the wait, I sincerly apologize. It should not have taken me four months to update this.

However, before I get to the story, I would once again like to thank OtherCat, Banditsama, and Snooosh for helping me with a paper for one of my college papers. Really guys, I can't thank you enough for taking the time to answer those questions for me.

Edit: There were some changes made to this chapter (spelling, a missing word, etc., etc) but nothing too drastic.

Chapter 11

Jonathon was leaving.

Minister Grishdun noticed my general melancholy as I went to sit with him at his little table.

"He'll be back soon."

I nodded as I drank a little water from my water bottle. "I know. I also know that I won't leave with bruises after every training session now, and that will be nice. That has no bearing on the fact that I'm going to miss him and his strange habits."

Grishdun chuckled and sipped at his own drink. "I know what you mean. Jon's all about tough love and digging it into your brain what to do and what not to do. I'll try and make up for it on the days I work with the militia."

"That's not your full time job?" I asked.

"I work with Fred mostly. This morning I'm on patrol for a few hours, but I'll be back at her cottage at four or so if you want to join us. We're really far behind on our Christmas presentation," he said before looking at the clock.

"Time for me to be going," I muttered standing up.

"Have fun out there. I'll cheer you on when I go by you two."

"Thanks. I have no idea what he's got planned for today," I said as I stretched a little.

"Oh! Sister Anna wanted me to tell you that her package will be here today. She's going to pick it up around noon or so. She wants you to go with her," the other minister called as I walked towards the door.

"Why doesn't she ask you to go?" I asked, pausing briefly.

"I've got too much to do. Besides, I think she'd feel safer with you with all this snow."

"Thanks for letting me know. Hopefully I'll be cleaned up by then. See you later."

He waved me away, and I walked towards the green.

X X X

As I made my way to Jonathon and our bench I saw three stamped out cigarettes on the ground, and he was grinning like a school boy.

"I need to get it out of my system before I go back home," he said before standing up and walking out onto the snow covered grass. He moved his arms side to side and jumped around a little to get his blood moving again.

"What techniques are we working on today?" I called before stepping back to avoid a kick to my head.

"We're sparring! Now, give me your all or you can forget about me coming back here. If you can hit me before I knock you out, then we'll call it a day," he smiled as he bounced back and dropped into the stance that I was so familiar with. I grinned back and bent my knees as well.

This wasn't going to be like the first night we met. Sure, he might still kick my ass, but at least I'd put up a fight. Letting the smile drop off his face, he rushed at me, and I met his assault with a block and an elbow to the head.

X X X

I don't know how long we'd been at it. At some point during our exchange a crowd gathered, and ministers started calling out bets and the trio shouted out cheers for me. I paid no attention to our audience though; all my focus was centered on the man before me.

Jonathon was hard to break; he was incredibly in shape, even for a guy that had just smoked three cigarettes before entering long fist fight. As far as I could tell, he offered few to no openings, and seemed to catch even the smallest mistakes I made. If I miss-stepped even a centimeter, he would try sweeping my legs out from under me, or—as happened more often than not—he'd get into my guard and give my stomach a rather painful jab. He was trying to incapacitate me, and he was doing a marvelous job of it.

Putting some distance between us, I wiped some blood from my face onto my sleeve. More blood started to drip from a cut above my eye, but I ignored it in favor of watching Jon. I refused to believe that he was still fine and dandy after how many hours of fighting. True, I may not have given him a direct hit yet, but he had blocked more than enough of my punches and kicks. If nothing else, his forearms should have been burning like hell. After all, he was still just a human. I had an advantage over him both in regards to speed and strength.

"Come on, Remy! You'll never beat me just standing around over there!" he called as he twisted his head from side to side.

Then I saw it; the smallest of drops in his guard. Likely he hadn't even noticed or he would have caught me as I moved.

I expected him to stop me. I figured that my seeing this slip was his intention, and that going for it would could me the match. I went for it though, and running faster than he could see, I knocked his arms out of the way and hit his stomach with my palm. Jonathon looked shocked for all of a second before he went flying backward into the grass. I brought my hands back up to my face as I watched him slowly pull himself up, but he just held up a hand and waved me down before letting his body react to my hit in the best way it knew how.

"Shit," he gasped as he spit out the last of the vomit in his mouth. "In the ten years I've been with the Order, I've never once been hit …shit," he said again for good measure as I walked over to him.

"Are you going to be alright?" I asked as I kneeled beside him. He looked up at me and nodded.

"I'll be fine. Just bring me over to the medical building."

I carefully helped him onto his feet and led him over to the indicated structure, but I couldn't help but hear the whispered conversations going on behind us now that my mind was no longer on my own self preservation.

"How'd he do that?"

"I didn't know that anyone could hit someone that hard."

"Are we sure Minister Remington hasn't had prior training?"

So, they were curious now. Fair enough, but I just hoped that none of them would ask me how I did it. It was bad enough that all of them had gathered around to watch us. I didn't want to have to lie to anyone. So, I hurried my friend off as quickly as I could, hoping that no one would stop us.

"Minister Remington?" I groaned as I halted and both Jon and I glanced behind us to see Sam, Linda and Julia standing there. They tried to sound curious and interested, but their faces betrayed their fear.

"Yeah? What's the matter?" Jonathon asked before grimacing in pain.

"What…what just happened out there?" Julia inquired.

"We were sparring," I replied, hoping they'd drop it there.

"That didn't look like sparring. You're both covered in blood, and you guys were out there for hours. That's not just sparring," Linda said as she folded her arms.

"We'll explain it later. Right now I've got to get Minister…," I paused when I realized I had never been told Jon's last name, "I've got to get Minister Jonathon to the clinic to get his chest looked at. If you want to follow us there, be our guests. We won't tell you anything more until then," I stated before I readjusted my grip on my friend and resumed walking.

They did follow us. I give them credit; they wanted answers, and they were willing to follow the wolves despite watching them bite and claw at each other not a minute before. Jon didn't say anything to me during our trip, and as we made our way inside the small building he made me tell the nun at the desk why we were there.

"Are you sure you don't need any stitches either?" she questioned as she looked at the blood on my face. Some nurses took Jonathon away on a stretcher, but before he went he tossed me his gauntlets. "X-rays," he muttered as they wheeled him away.

"It's already healed. I just haven't had the time to clean it up yet," I explained.

She handed me some alcohol wipes and told me to prove that the cut was okay before I sat down. She pointed me in the direction of the bathroom and I went without complaint. Sam wanted to come with me to make certain I cleaned out the apparent wound well, but I managed to appease her by saying she'd be the first to see that the cut was already healed.

Once in the bathroom, I looked at myself and frowned. My face did look horrible and I could understand why everyone was so concerned about me. Blood had dried on my face from the cut, but as I predicted, the original gash was gone. My jaw on the other hand, wouldn't be so quick to fix itself. I could count at least two separate instances where Jonathon had managed to upper cut it, and that wasn't counting the times his gauntleted fist connected with other parts of my skull. Well, at least I was able to take hits better…

And speaking of those gauntlets, I thought as I looked down at the heavy silver colored items. They were still in my left hand, and I took a moment to examine them closer.

At a glance they weren't anything special, but after I looked at them again, I could see different patterns engraved on the surface. They were so fine that in the wrong light, they couldn't be seen at all.

Jon said they were given to him by his mentor and she got them from a demon blacksmith. He must have etched them in, I thought as I carefully inspected the workmanship. I gently rubbed my thumb over an engraving only to pull back with a hiss to see blood leaking from the digit.

"What?" I whispered, bringing them back up to the light. Not even my keen eyes could detect any abnormalities on the surface, and so I put the gauntlets down next to the sink. I'd ask Jonathon what the deal was.

I rubbed some water on my face, and wiped the blood away with a paper towel. The only evidence to suggest that I had been wounded was a small pink line above my eye. I knew that even that would fade given enough time, but it would prove my point that I was fine.

As I left the bathroom, I saw Sam standing nearby, waiting patiently to see me. I waved over to her, and after making a fuss by looking at my face from every conceivable angle, she finally decided that I hadn't been lying and, yes, my face was fine. She did try and insist that I should have my jaw looked at, but even that got shot down.

"In two hours you won't even know that I had been in a match. I promise," I told her gently as I steered her back towards the others.

"Are you planning on telling us what happened now?" Julia asked as I took a seat next to her and Linda.

"I don't know how much I'm allowed to say," I replied.

"Okay…were you sparing and it got out of hand or were you fighting to see who was better?" Linda inquired. That I could answer.

"We were sparring like we usually do. Minister Jonathon is training me for a specific task, and unfortunately, the best way for me to learn is through quick and violent means. I'm certain that none of you have forgotten the incident with the rubber bullets."

"And that entails you two beating the crap out of each other and getting others to help with that occasionally?" Julia asked again.

"I know that it looks horrible to anyone else watching, but it's what I need to do. My enemy is very competent fighter. I need to be one as well."

Sam remained quiet throughout the exchange before finally speaking up. "It seems that there's a lot that you can't tell us, Minister Remington."

"Yeah," I said quietly, "there is."

The waiting room silent again. The only things making noise were the nun at the desk and the constant ticking of a clock on the wall.

X X X

"Minister Remington?"

It had been two hours since anyone had said anything, and the nun's voice snapped all four of us out of our silent musings.

"Yes?"

"Minister Jonathon would like to see you. He's finished with his tests. His room is just down this hall."

I thanked her and walked the short distance to the indicated room.

Sticking my head inside, I looked at him and asked, "What's the news?"

"I think they said I cracked a rib, but as long as I take it easy for the next month or two or five I'll be fine," he muttered as he waved me inside.

I nodded as I entered and tossed gauntlets on the bed next to him. "What are the engravings on those?" I asked.

"The engravings? Crucifixes, pentagrams, things like that. It's to add to the already contradictory nature of the composition. Pentagrams hurt angels, crosses harm devils."

"And the reason I cut my thumb up when I ran it along the back?" I asked, ignoring his comment on the pentagrams for the moment.

"Oh, sorry I didn't tell you about those. There are micro-spikes along the back, and well, they're ridiculously sharp. There aren't any on the knuckles or the fingers, and I've never really understood why he only put the spikes on the arm guard part of it. Must be a reason for it."

"Micro-spikes? That certainly sounds like something a demon would put on something," I laughed.

"Yeah, but don't you angels make swords and spears that can hurt anything? It doesn't seem that farfetched for a demon to put spikes on what amount to arm guards." he said before settling into his bed. "Hey, sorry to cut this so short, but I think that I'm going to take a nap for a little while. Can you come pick me up around dinner or so? I figure that they'll let me go by then. Also, if my girlfriend calls looking for me, please don't tell her what happened. She worries about me enough as it is."

"Sure, but I can't make any guarantees that I'll be the one to answer should she call," I smiled before I left.

The girls stood up when I returned to the lobby and I waved them down.

"He's fine. He just needs to take it easy for a while is all. I'm heading back to the dorms to see Sister Anna."

The girls got up and followed me, but they remained at a distance until we got back to the dormitory. It was Sam that asked me the question that was likely on all their minds.

"Minister Remington…are you a devil?"

I stopped and looked at all three of them: Linda had a hand on her gun, Sam appeared nervous, and Julia stood stock still.

"I'm not a devil," I replied. "But I'm not what you think I am either. Talk to Sister Florence, and ask her if you're allowed to know."

"And then?" Linda asked, her voice cold.

"If she says yes, find me and we'll talk. I refuse to put your lives on the line before that. Now, I've got to go because I am late for a meeting. I'll see you later." Without another word, I entered the building and made my way to my old friend's room.

Well, attempted would be a better word. Several ministers and nuns stopped and congratulated me on, "kicking Jonathon's pretentious ass," and a few stopped me so that I could show them what I had done to win. One or two tried to look at my still recovering jaw, and it was all I could do to tell them that I was fine, Jonathon was fine, and it had just been practice.

"You sure you guys are okaysaw you two out there and…" the minister in question let out a low whistle and made a few light jabs in the air.

"As you can see, Minister Remington is perfectly alright, and I've been told that Minister Jonathon is resting. Now, if you'll please go back to your jobs," Minister Grishdun said as he walked into the lounge and towards me. A low grumbling bubbled up from the group, but they eventually went about their day.

"I see you made it back from your patrol alright," I said once we were mostly alone.

"Yeah, though I was almost late to leave because I stayed and watch you and Jon for so long. It was like watching two animals out there. Oh, you know that you're…"

"I know, and I'm sorry. I was waiting to hear about Jon and I didn't realize it would take so long."

"You don't have to apologize to me. Just go up and see her. Hopefully the package will still be there. I don't remember if there was a time limit as to how long he would wait around for her," Grishdun said

"Alright. I'll see you later then," I said before I started for my friend's room.

He returned the comment and went to take the TV from some younger ministers.

The last time I went with Anna to the little grocer, the clerk had shaken her head and said that the delivery wasn't there yet, and probably wouldn't be in for another week or two. This news hadn't bothered the old nun at all, and instead, she bought some small items to take back with her. I thought that it was strange that the place couldn't deliver the item to her given that she was so old, but I didn't say anything at the time.

I turned down the hall to Anna's room, when I almost collided with the elderly woman. She had been moving down the corridor at a brisk pace, apparently deciding that she was going with or without me.

"There you are, Minister Remington! I waited a while for you!" she scolded before taking my arm and leading me towards the exit.

"I roughed up Jonathon during our sparing session and I needed to make certain that he was okay first," I explained quickly. I was taken aback by her reprimand and her swift pace, and it was all I could do to mentally catch up.

"Well, I suppose I can forgive that. We have to hurry though. He won't wait around forever. In fact, he's already called twice looking for me."

"Why don't you have these packages delivered here?" I asked once we were outside in the cold air.

"I just can't," she muttered before casting a glance at the .41 magnum at my hip. "Oh, promise me that you won't pull that out."

"Why would I do that?" I asked.

"Just promise me, Ewan."

Anna didn't call me by my first name unless she meant it. I quickly promised her that, no, I wouldn't draw my gun. Besides, the gun wasn't even loaded. The weight was perfect to practice with, but there was no way I would risk anyone's safely by sparing with it loaded with highly explosive Gospels and Sacreds.

Besides, why would I want to pull out my gun to pick up a parcel from a grocer?

X X X

We arrived at the store within short order, and the clerk looked up from her magazine.

"Hello, Sister Anna! It's waiting in the back for you," she said cheerfully before letting her eyes dart over to me.

"Do you…?"

"Minister Remington is coming too. When I got the call I was asked to bring him along."

The clerk just nodded, but I was on edge now. The call I understood, but why would anyone want to see me? More specifically, besides the Order and Aion, who else knew that I was back? My hand almost went to sit on the handle of the gun, but a sharp look from Anna kept me from doing so. I had promised.

The woman got up from behind the counter and led us to a door marked "Employees Only." She quickly undid the lock and held the door open for us, but she didn't come in.

"It's in the usual spot, Sister Anna," was all she said before letting the door shut with a thud, leaving us in near darkness.

"You know where to go?"

"Of course I do. I come here all the time," the nun said as she weaved through stacks of food towards what appeared to be the only source of light in the whole area.

My guard was up as we walked through the store, and with good reason. The air was thick and my senses felt dulled. This place…something wasn't right with it.

"I see you finally managed to arrive, Sister Anna. I was about ready to call my backup if you didn't show up soon," a man's voice called out through the gloom.

"Minister Remington had some business to take care of that took longer than expected. We would have been on time otherwise."

"You brought him? Good…good," the voice said, and the hair on my neck stood on end. The voice sounded familiar, but I had no idea who it was. The accent sounded Old World, but then again, someone might have been putting on an air of sophistication. You could never tell anymore.

As we rounded a crate of cereal, I stopped dead in my tracks. There, sitting rather comfortably at a cheap metal desk, was a demon; a very high ranking demon judging by the human quality of his appearance. Even in the cheap light his hair was a dead giveaway. Few would believe that a man wearing an expensive suit would dye his hair navy blue for the fun of it.

"Come on, Minister Remington, we don't have all day. I've a club to go run and businesses to manage, and I'm certain that you've some kind of paperwork to go back and complete," the demon said coolly.

"Count Avidious, this is Ewan Remington. Remington, this is Count Avidious, the Lord of the East Coast," Anna said, introducing us. I still didn't move.

"You're meeting with a demon?" I whispered, not trusting my voice at that moment.

"Yes, Minister Remington. Do you not know that all of the branches of the Magdalene Order have contact with the Demon Lord of that region?" he asked as he raised an eyebrow marked with a faint scar.

"Who hell the promoted you all to lord? I thought that you had to earn your titles?"

"I'm a count, Minister Remington. I've earned my title through hard labor during the Third Crusade and special birth. The same could be said of your brethren. You're a mere angel, but there are certainly higher ranks then you were born too." He said it so casually, but what he said was anything but informal.

I froze. "How do you know what I am?"

"That's enough from you two. Count Avidious, please stop baiting Minister Remington. You asked me to bring him here, and I did. I intended to talk about Aion; not bicker about lineage and race," Anna scolded as she stepped between us. The noble blinked slowly before as he turned his attention onto the nun briefly, and then returned his gaze to me.

"Forgive me, sister. There are still days when I remember trespasses from my youth and they come to the forefront. You must forgive me for that," he muttered, but his eyes never left mine.

"I'll forgive you this time, but please. I would like to get this meeting going. We have a lot to talk about," Anna grumbled as she took the only other seat in the area.

The demon allowed one last lingering look at me before he turned all his attention onto the sister. As he did, his face softened, and his hands went from tightly clenched fists to loosely extended fingers. I realized that he was comfortable around her; as if he had known her for years and knew that he had no reason to be defensive. Whenever he glanced my way, his eyes narrowed briefly, but he would always return to Anna, and his gaze would lighten instantly.

I don't know what I had done to deserve this demon's ire, but every fiber of my being was burning to load up my gun and fire Gospels into his skull until it was an unrecognizable pulp on the floor. So, in an effort to keep these thoughts and feelings at bay, I listened intently to what they were talking about.

"What do you know about his plans?"

"I'm certain that you've seen the reports, count. He's going to build several hundred orphanages across the globe, and his business is planning on opening a North American plant. Seeing as his company deals with weapons contracts, I don't think it would be that difficult to stage a coup if he really wanted to."

"There's something else you know," he said.

"There is? I don't think I'm missing anything," Anna replied, though she looked like she was going through a mental checklist of things to tell him.

"I'll let the angel tell me. He knows what I'm talking about."

His silvery eyes darted back up to me, and he waited.

"He wants the Apostles again. I doubt you need me to inform you of that fact."

"It will do for the time being," he said.

Anna sighed and shook her head. Obviously this meeting was not going as planned.

"Can you tell me what you know, or what you have done? The sooner we're able to discover his plans and put an end to his life, the safer this world will be for everyone," she said.

Count Avidious shifted in his own chair before folding his hands in front of his face.

"I've contacted the other Lords and Ladies, and we've learned where they plan on building their facility. That in of itself looks perfectly legitimate, and until we find out that he's secretly planning on building nuclear weapons at that location, there is little to nothing we can do to stop MINATAUR from building the structure. It's the orphanages that have me worried. He has them scattered throughout the globe, but from what I've been able to understand, he's paid particular attention to countries with high populations and high poverty levels: areas where tragedy is more likely to occur. Does he have any of them yet, angel?" Avidious asked as he looked at me again.

"I don't think so. I'd like to think that he'd flaunt a new adoption to the media, but he's been very quiet ever since he had that press conference. "

He nodded and leaned back into his chair.

"He was the one thing I hoped I would never have to deal with again," he muttered after several moments of silence had passed us by. "Do you know how he came back, angel?"

"Apparently the late Baron Alessandro summoned him."

"From the grave?"

I shrugged. "That's what I was told."

The count's eyes settled on me again. "Did you find out anything else during your time with him?"

"How'd you find that out?" I asked, my back stiffening as he said those words.

"I told him, Minister Remington. After you came back, I called him and informed him of your arrival. If you have a problem with that, take it up with me," Anna said quickly.

"Then no," I answered harshly. "Nothing that would be worthy of your time."

"Alright then, I'll try and get a few of my own spies into the network. The European Lords have tried unsuccessfully to infiltrate the Sinner's ranks so it's my turn now. Sister Anna, tell Sister Florence to contact the Council if she hasn't already. My advice is to be on constant guard for any signs of Fanatics. If they appear again, we'll likely be headed towards World War Three. I'll try and keep the demons from acting out rashly, but if they do, you are free to take care of them. I'll not be keeping fools within my troops."

"This is your counsel?" Anna inquired, sounding formal.

"This is my counsel. Do you have anything for me?"

"Nothing, My Lord," she murmured.

And just like that, the meeting seemed to end. Both of them stood up and while they did hug each other, their time together seemed to be over. Avidious handed her a small parcel, told her to take care, and returned to his side of the desk while Anna began to walk away. I was about to follow her when he called out to me.

"Stay for a moment, Remington. This won't be long."

I glanced at Anna, and she gave me a sad look. "I'll be waiting outside. Just be polite and he'll be the same for you."

She shuffled away, and silence hung in the thick air when the door finally thudded shut.

"Do you know why I brought up your time with Aion?"

I snorted and shook my head. "Why would I have any idea?"

"You're not the only one to have dealt with him. I want the truth. What else did he tell you?" the noble demanded.

"You…," I began before collecting my thoughts, "That's a private matter," I growled back, but he noticed my hesitation, and the harsh features lining his face slowly faded away.

"You were tempted by what he had to offer you, weren't you?" he asked, his voice softer, as if realizing that demanding things of me would get him nowhere.

"How would you know?"

The devil looked away and his shoulders slumped, as if remembering something from long ago. His posture almost made me think he was defeated; a far cry from the aggressive demon that had spoken with me not half an hour before. "I knew him when he was still young. I knew all the Sinners when they were young. I realized that Aion was trouble when he kept asking for stories about Adam, but I had no idea how far he would go…His idea of perfection, it almost sounds like it would work, right? What part were you to play?" he asked. His voice was low and almost sad; as if those memories were still too fresh to talk about.

His comment gave me a pause. So I wasn't the only one to turn down an offer from The Sinner, and I wasn't the only one who still wondered what it would have been like to take the other course.

"I was the face. He had me playing the same role as Rosette."

"I was a soldier; just like Genai and Viede. Hell knows how I wanted to go with him to protect her; but in the end, not even she could lead me away from the demon race."

"Rizel?"

He glanced back at me. "Shader. Shader was the ideal believer; young and naïve, but smart. She chose him over me though. His lies were more convincing then my truths."

I turned to leave, but one last thing nagged at my brain. "Adam."

"What about him?"

"The stories you told…where they about the human or the demon?"

Avidious frowned, but he looked like he was thinking more than because he was upset.

"The demon," he said after a moment. "I told them stories about the demon so that they would see that turning against Mother would lead to nothing but pain and death. I told them that I had killed the traitor so that they would see that nothing good had come from his escape."

"You killed him?"

"Yes, but it was hardly a fight. I expected him to come at me like a proper demon, but he'd been living with the humans for so long that he may as well have been one. Why do you ask?"

"Aion has a statue of him and his followers at the mansion he lives at. He's enamored with the story."

"That doesn't surprise me. Every time I told stories he always wanted to hear about Adam, and nothing else. He never understood the moral of the story. Adam only wanted the Earth. Aion wants so much more."

I smirked. "He wants to be remembered for rebelling in a much grander way."

"Well, we'll certainly remember him for something. If statues are made of him though, remains yet to be seen.

"Tell Anna that you are to come with her from here on out, Remington. She needs a protector, and I can see no one better than an angel fallen from His grace. I've nothing else to say, but if you have any inquires?" He looked like he wanted to go, and I don't blame him; the thick air was even getting to me.

I wanted to ask him more. I wanted to know where he had been during the Third Crusade, and if that scar over his eye had anything to do with his time on Earth. I wanted a solid explanation for why the air was so thick here, when it was perfectly fine out in the store.

I wanted to ask him many more things, but nothing else would come out.

I shook my head and left the storage area as quickly as I could. Anna was engaged in a lively conversation with the clerk, but they stopped once I entered their line of sight.

"Well, looks like it's time for me to go back. Now, remember what I told you about those cookies," the old nun said as she took my arm in her own.

"I wrote it down, sister. I'll be certain to remember it. You have a good day, oh, and Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas to you too, Stephanie!" Anna called from the door.

We walked for sometime without saying anything. Anna was clutching her little package closely, and she didn't appear to want to talk about what had transpired. I don't particularly blame her, but I wanted to discuss certain events with her.

Still, I didn't say anything, and time kept ticking on.

X X X

We made it all the way back to the gates of the Oder before I stopped and started speaking.

"Why did you tell him those things?" My voice was low, and she could tell that I was upset.

"I generally don't hide anything from Count Avidious, Minister Remington. I've known him too long to do that."

"He's a demon, Anna. A very old, and very powerful demon. You just don't go up to a devil like that and lay out everything you've ever heard!"

Anna stared me straight in the eye and answered me calmly. "I've known him for almost sixty years. I trust him with my life, and I trust him with the knowledge I've given him. If I tell him something, it's for a reason; not because I wanted to spread some juicy gossip around. Times have changed, Ewan. This isn't the Order you left back in 1929."

"Was he the one that was there the day Mary died?" I asked. I don't even know why I asked that question. I was angry, and I wanted her to be completely honest with me.

Anna lifted her chin defiantly. "He was."

"Then why the hell didn't he go back in to save her? If the Order has changed so God damned much, then why the hell isn't she here?" I growled.

I struck a chord, and her chin wavered slightly.

"He didn't go back in, because I wouldn't let him. She was dead the moment she stepped back into the building to save him. He left after that, but you know what he did that you didn't do, Ewan? He still wrote to me. You left and never intended to return. You only did because you needed some way to make amends for the mistakes of your past. I'm here to tell you, Ewan, that you can't do that. You can't make amends for the things we've done. You can't save Rosette and Chrono anymore. You can't fix Joshua now. You can't go back and reconnect with Kate or Azmaria. You can't change the fact that you wanted to follow Aion, and you didn't. Stop acting like killing Aion will bring this great peace to your life and the lives of those that died. It won't. It will simply destroy a devil that has been plaguing this world for far too long. That's it.

"You keep saying that you don't expect to survive this fight with him, and if you go in like that, you won't. If you go to that battle like this, I don't want you to live. I'd rather have the memory of a man that was happy and light hearted than this shell of an angel that doesn't know what to do with his life. I'll talk to you more about this tomorrow, Ewan. Right now, I am cold, tired, and disappointed," she snapped before opening in the gates and entering the compound.

I stood outside for a long time, trying to make sense of what she said. I had been told those same things so many times over the past few months, and I was beginning to wonder just how long it was going to take for it to finally sink in.

When I did walk inside, I went straight to the church and I sat in the same dark corner Uriel found me in.

"I'm never going to find any answers, am I?" I asked the silence.

The silence said nothing in return.

Well, Remington isn't as angsty in chapter 12...so far. I really want to get the Christmas chapter up for Christmas, and if I actually move my laptop from my position on the couch to my table, I likely will get it done.

Originally I wasn't going to introduce Count Avidious this early in the story, but the more I thought on it, the more I realize it didn't make sense for Remington to meet him where he did. So, his place in the overall story changed drastically.