The trip back to Cross took them two days. They'd stumbled upon several monsters on their way, but there was no severe incidents. Upon arriving at the city, they went their own ways, agreeing to meet at the inn later that evening.

Gabriel wandered through the marketplace ignoring all comments in his direction about the Warrior. He fought the urge to fire bolt the next person who asked him if he was indeed the Warrior and decided to leave the city's walls for the time being.

Wandering through the plains, Gabriel stopped for a moment and closed his eyes as the wind whipped around him.

"You should be more cautious, brother."

The soft voice caused Gabriel to open his eyes and stare at the intruder.

"Why are you so insistent on chasing me around?" Gabriel stared at the silver haired man.

"Because you are important to us. To me." The man sighed and turned around. "You really don't remember me, do you?"

"No, I don't." Gabriel raised his hands, just in case.

"You don't even feel as though you might know me?"

"No."

"You recognised Berle."

Gabriel dropped his hands and stared at the silver haired man. "So that's his name."

"Yes. You recognised him." The man turned around and looked at Gabriel.

"I felt as though I knew him from somewhere, yes. That doesn't mean I recognised /him/." Gabriel frowned and backed up as the other man stepped forward.

"Maybe, but he tried to teach you to fight with a sword once. You gave him all kinds of hell about that." The man smiled slightly and stopped moving.

"That does sound familiar." Gabriel shook his head. "I don't know who you are. All I know is that you tried to kill me once before. Twice if I hadn't gotten you first."

"We will meet again, Gabriel. You'll make it through. If you don't know who you are by then, you'll die here." The man unfolded his wings and took to the sky.

Gabriel watched after him for a moment. "Come to think of it, you do seem familiar." He shrugged. "I don't think I liked you much though." He turned and walked back to the city.

**************************

"Oh no. Lucifer is not going to like hearing that."

"I thought they were…"

"Uh, no. Gabriel doesn't go that way."

"You sure?"

"Very."

"Oh."

***************************

Gabriel turned the key to his room at the inn. He opened the door and walked in. The first thing he noticed was that Rena's clothes were on the floor. The second thing he noticed was that Rena was asleep. //Damn.// He closed the door and locked it. Not wanting to disturb Rena, he lie down on the second bed and closed his eyes.

Rena woke up before day break. She felt the bed where she figured Gabriel would be and felt only the bed sheets. She sat up and looked around, spotting him in the other bed. Smiling, she got up and crossed the room to slip into his bed.

Gabriel stirred when he felt the bed shift. He opened his eyes and looked at Rena with a smile. "I didn't want to wake you when I got here."

Rena slipped her arms around Gabriel and pulled herself closer. "I wouldn't have minded. I would have known you were safe."

Gabriel shook his head. "Don't worry about me. I'll be okay." He hugged Rena close to him. "I'll always be okay."

Rena sighed softly and settled back to sleep. Gabriel followed shortly after.