Chris: Uh…Yeah, this is a late update. A really late update. I wonder how many of my reviewers still remember this fic. Aaaanyway, on with the story! Enjoy!

Chapter 3: Bringing Back a Friend

"Ugh…My head is pounding…" Jordan groaned as his eyes flickered open. Taking in shallow, painful breaths, the rogue managed to sit up, pushing away the thin blankets that covered his body. He fully opened his eyes, wincing as sharp sunlight crashed against his eyes. "Ow…It feels like I just consumed fifty liters of applecot liquor. I didn't think that stuff was this potent…"

"Why is your head hurting, idiot? You got stabbed in the stomach." Melissa snorted as she looked over the injured rogue, a derisive look on her face as she spread a healing paste over the long scars on his body. The witch slapped him lightly on the stomach, smirking at the pained look on his face. She turned away to clean Silvei's wounds, wrapping a white, cloth bandage around the gaping wound in her side.

"…I can't believe that happened…" Silvei muttered under her breath, closing her eyes tightly. The archer let out an angry sigh, shuddering as a wave of pain flooded through her body. "So pathetic."

"Eh, you're both still alive. Stop complaining." Melissa grumbled, checking to make sure both of her partners' wounds were taken care of. Once she was done, she cheerfully wiped her hands clean using Jordan's blanket. She not-so-gently pushed the rogue back into his bed and looked around the room to find her staff.

"Hey, where's Sif?" Jordan looked around confusedly, wondering where the soft-voiced angel was.

"Um…" Melissa flushed slightly in shame. "She followed us to the arena. I got angry and yelled at her and she decided to leave. I really didn't want that to happen, though."

"What?" Jordon yelled out in surprise, sitting up on his bed despite the pain. "Impossible! Why did you do that? Sif was freaking hot and she was curved where it counted! I mean, it wasn't that she had like…giant ones, but they were perfect for her size! I could just…stare at them forever…. Unlike some flat-chested idiots I know." He snorted and looked away from the two females, both of whom punched him.

"Hey!" Silvei shouted angrily, her eyes blazing.

"I might not have the biggest breasts, but they're big enough! And Sif's weren't that impressive." Melissa retorted, getting ready to cast a spell and set the rogue on fire.

"Oh?" Jordan turned back to face his leader, his eyes sparkling. "I didn't know you were paying attention to them. I guess we share something in common, huh?"

Melissa didn't say anything. The witch just held onto her staff, clutching it so tightly that you could see the veins bulge in her hand. Jordan sweatdropped and backed up on his bad, feeling an oppressive aura of fear and danger loom over him. Silvei snickered slightly, looking at the red glow that was surrounding Melissa's body. The archer winked at Melissa and turned her attention to Jordan.

"You are so screwed now."

Jordan gulped. "I'm sorry, Melissa! I didn't mean any of it! Just because you like to stare at boobs doesn't mean anything!"

"You're dead, Jordan!" Melissa screamed at the top of her voice, bringing up to staff to point at Jordan's head. An enormous fireball erupted from the ruby that tipped the wooden staff and it slowly grew in size, stopping when it became around 3-feet in length. Jordan backed up again, wincing as he bumped against the back wall. With one savage flick, the fireball streaked towards Jordan.

The resulting explosion was said to have been heard all the way to Elendia.

---

'What was that sound?' Sif thought as she heard a dim blast in the distance. The Grim Angel's eyes narrowed as she realized the explosion came in the direction of Melissa's hideout near the Nelde Ruins. She partially wished that she was like Ledah at the moment. She didn't want to admit it, but being told off by Melissa hurt. She still couldn't get the sight of Melissa's angry face out of her mind. 'I was just trying to help…'

But in the long run, whether or not Melissa treated her as a friend didn't matter. At the moment, she had to figure out what kind of ploy Hector was plotting. From what she could tell, not only was she lied to, but the other Grim Angels were being deceived as well. Not only was Ein here, but from what she could tell, Ledah was on the continent too, also following Hector's orders. Sif allowed herself a moment of pride as she realized that in the hierarchy of Grim Angels, she was above Ein and Ledah, since she was a Grim Angel before the other two had even gotten christened by the gods.

'Of course,' Sif thought in a moment of self-reflection, 'I'm probably not as strong as them now. Ein has his friends and Ledah has pure motivation guiding him. I, on the other hand, have nothing.'

"Waaaaaaaaah!"

"Huh?" Sif looked up and jumped back in surprise as a burning…thing crashed down right where she was standing before. After she got over her initial shock, Sif slowly crept towards the burn-encrusted thing. From what she could tell, it was a person and miraculously, this person was still alive. The charred figure beneath her let out a racking cough and looked up, eyes widening as he saw Sif. Scrambling on his feet, the mysterious person grabbed Sif's hands and let out a cheery laugh, dancing all around. "Umm…Uh…Do I know you?"

"Sif! You don't recognize me?" The person sounded shocked.

"Um…No?" Sif smiled weakly, trying to see if she could discern anything about this guy.

"Oh, probably because Melissa blasted me halfway across the continent. Hmm, let me clean myself up a bit." With a little bit of rubbing, the man somehow managed to wipe off all the ash from his body, revealing a young-looking rogue who somehow managed to keep his clothes intact, even though it seemed he had been hit by a high-intensity fireball. "I'm Jordan! Remember? You helped me out!"

"O-Oh!" Sif let out a half-nervous, half-embarrassed laugh, folding her hands behind her back and trying not to look too awkward. A slight blush rose to her cheeks and she averted her blood-red eyes. "That was no problem, really. How…How are the rest of your friends doing?"

Jordan shrugged and waved away her question. "Silvei's just fine and considering Melissa just blasted me all the way here, I think she's doing just dandy. She did kinda get embarrassed when I asked why you weren't there…Speaking of which, why did you leave?"

"I…don't know." Sif looked down, her blush growing deeper. There really wasn't any reason as to why she had left, but she did. Was it because she just felt guilty? "I just…didn't like seeing Melissa angry at me. She did tell me to stay behind. And I betrayed her trust."

"That isn't any reason to leave, though!" Jordan protested. "Besides, Melissa feels bad about it. I could tell. She never puts in that much power in her magic unless she's feeling guilty about something."

"I can't." Sif muttered, inwardly feeling a small glow of happiness at Jordan's statement. She looked apologetically at the downcast rogue. "I…want to."

"Then why don't you? Oh, don't tell me it's because of that stupid Hector guy." Jordan scoffed. "We demons don't let stupid orders from stupid people control us. Come on, don't always be constrained by role! Have some fun! I know I'll enjoy the change!"

"Sorry." Sif replied one last time, calling out her wings from her back. She slowly floated up into the air, her face resolute. "I'm not a demon. I'm a Grim Angel and this is my duty. Tell Melissa I'm sorry."

With one last shake of her head, Sif rose into the air, soft, black feathers falling off her wings. She slowly drifted out of Jordan's sight, her light-blue hair flowing behind her in a cascading wave. The rogue kicked the dirt angrily, kneeling down to pick up one of the feathers. He twirled it in his fingers, marveling at how soft the tiny hairs felt. Gathering up the rest of the fallen feathers, he tucked them in a pouch. That was when he realized something very important.

"…How am I supposed to get back? I'm freaking twenty damn miles away from the hideout! Don't tell me I'm going to have to walk all the way back! Arg!" Jordan began his slow trek all the way back to the Nelde Ruins, groaning as he resigned himself for the long, long, loooooong journey ahead.

---

"So this is Elendia…" Sif breathed to herself, looking in awe at the peaceful haven beneath her. All the greenery was becoming slightly overwhelming, actually. In Asgard, it was rare to actually see this many trees in one spot. Sure, there were small spots where you could cuddle among the trees, but those were rare and far-flung. Sif could distantly hear the laughter of some young girls and she instinctively flew over to the spot. 'They're so cheerful here…As if fear can't even pierce the aura of peace the covers this land.'

As she flew towards the sounds of laughter, she looked beneath her and stopped in her flight, stunned. Ein was beneath her, looking up secretly over a rock and staring at…girls bathing? Sif quickly alighted behind him and withdrew her wings, amazed at the normally courteous Grim Angel was a peeping tom. He was so engrossed in the sight that he didn't even notice her behind him. Hoping to surprise him, she cleared her throat loudly and poked Ein on the back.

"!" Ein leaped in surprise, ruining his cover and alerting the girls that were currently bathing. You know, those girls that he was peeking at. Silly Ein.

"Ah, Ein! Don't look!" A young, green-haired girl whom Sif recognized as Fia, flushed in embarrassment, spinning around and trying to cover her chest with her arms. "What are you doing here?"

Another girl, this one with medium-length orange hair, stuck out her tongue at Ein and covered her chest, her face becoming a dangerous color of red. "Ein's a pervert!"

"Ah…Uh…I'm sorry! It-It was a mistake!" Ein turned away in a mixture of shame and embarrassment, unable to believe that he actually did such a thing. That was when he noticed his fellow Grim Angel standing in front of him, a soft, amused smile on her face. "Sif!"

"Hello Ein." Sif said, motioning to the other girl's with her head. "You never did anything like this in Asgard."

"Well, I…Be quiet, Rose. That was not what happened." Ein shot a brief glare at his feline familiar, who just purred and stretched languidly. "A-And why are you here, Sif?"

Sif's expression turned serious again. "I need to talk to you about Hector."

"Well, okay…" Ein looked nervous, feeling stares from behind him but too afraid to look. He motioned to a small clearing that was out of the sight of the bathing pool. Once the two were out of the area (and out of the furious glares shot at them by Fia and Lina), Ein looked at Sif quizzically. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Don't you find it suspicious that Hector would lie to us?" Sif asked, wondering about Ein's calm attitude about the fact that they had all been betrayed. "Is there something that you know?"

"I don't know." Ein shrugged, looking plainly at Sif. "I just know that my mission it to help protect Riviera by defeating the demons that are causing all these problems. If I can just defeat the Accursed, then demons will stop appearing."

"Do you believe that?" Sif asked confusedly. She couldn't believe that Ein would believe something as loose as that. He must have of had more evidence that he was right or else he wouldn't sound so confident.

"Yes." Ein nodded once. "Why don't you join me, Sif? We could use another Angel with us."

Sif toyed with the idea of traveling with Ein. It would be interesting, to say the least. And she hadn't spent time with another Grim Angel in such a long time…It would be a welcome change. She also remembered the jealous looks that Lina and Fia had shot at her when she left to talk with Ein. The small, wicked part of her soul wanted her to join so she could just spite the two girls. And yet, for some reason, the rest of her didn't want to join Ein. It wasn't that she didn't like him. He was friendly enough, with a clueless sort of charm. But there was something else holding her back. Namely three demons that she somehow befriended.

Sif looked down and shook her head ruefully, a sad smile appearing on her lips. "I'm sorry. But…uh, I don't think it would be in your friends' best interests if I were to stick around more."

"Huh?" Ein tilted his head to the side, confused. "What are you talking about?"

Sif laughed. "Nothing. Farewell, Ein. We'll meet again, I'm sure of it."

Kissing her finger, Sif planted it on top of Ein's lips. Smirking slightly at Ein's stunned expression, she called her wings to her back and flew away, waving briefly as she floated above the calm haven of Elendia. When she was out of sight, Lina and Fia rushed up to Ein, both of them clothed.

"Is your friend gone?" Fia asked, looking in the sky for some glimpse of the Grim Angel.

"Yeah…" Ein said. "But we might see her again."

---

"So is she coming back or what?" Melissa shouted at a cowering Jordan, her eyes blazing angrily. The sight reminded the rogue uncomfortably of the last time she got this angry, which had resulted him being blasted halfway across the continent. He backed away a bit, a weak smile on his face.

"Uh…I-I don't know?" Jordan said shakily, holding his hands up palms forward in a gesture of peace. "Please don't hurt me?"

"Grrr, I won't hurt you." The flame in Melissa's eyes disappeared and the witch turned away from Jordan, looking disgusted.

"Why do you care so much?" Silvei muttered from her position on the ground, carving rough arrows from a couple of branches she had found. "I'm grateful that she saved us, but she's been sent her to kill us. That doesn't make lasting relationships."

"I happen to know that. As I recall, the only reason why you're here is because you attacked me and I beat you, right?" Melissa returned with a snicker. "I can still remember the outraged look on your face."

"Ah…Right." Silvei blushed and went silent. The archer ignored Jordan's smirk and went back to crafting her arrows, putting all her focus into the slightest detail.

"Does that mean I'm the only person who's joined willingly?" Jordan asked quizzically.

"Willingly?" Melissa asked in disbelief, barking out a laugh. "I had to pay you in order for you to join me."

"Hey, I was willing. That's what's on topic here." Jordan retorted. "Anyway, you didn't answer the last question. Why do you care so much?"

"Uh…I don't know, actually." Melissa looked thoughtful. "Maybe because she's a friend who helped us?"

"That you made leave because you kept shouting at her…" The rogue muttered under his breath, placing his arms behind his head as he lay down on the ground. He slowly closed his eyes, getting ready for a small nap. Melissa, once again, heard him. However, this time, her reaction was different.

"I said I was sorry about that!" Melissa cried out, her voice filled regret. "I don't know why I yelled at her, okay? If she would just come back, I could apologize, but she isn't! I wish she was back too, okay?"

"You miss me that much?" A soft, familiar voice said from the sky. Melissa looked up and gasped in surprise.

"Sif! I…I thought that you left! I'm really sorry for yelling at you earlier, really." Melissa said quickly, worried that the Grim Angel might leave again. However, her worries were dispelled when Sif alighted next to the witch and gave her a brief hug.

"That's okay. I should have realized that you would all still be wary of me." Sif released Melissa and looked at the other two demons. "But please, you must trust me. My mission is different now. I plan to find out what exactly is going on here and hopefully stop it."

"No demon killing with that crazy staff thing of yours?" Jordan asked hopefully, his eyes popping open hopefully. "And you're staying? Oh boy, this is great!"

"…Tch, welcome." Silvei grumbled, nodding once in Sif's direction. "Jordan, stop acting like the moron you are."

"Then welcome back, Sif!" Melissa said happily. "Um…But how are we supposed to do what you want?"

"There've been rumors about a girl who's been killing Sprites and harvesting their souls. I think it might be another Grim Angel who's following Hector's orders. The last that was heard of her was near Valhalla." Sif said seriously, her blood-red eyes narrowed in concentration.

"Valhalla? The arena? But…there are no Sprites living near Valhalla." Melissa said, slightly worried. "We'd better go, just in case. By the way, Sif, if we ever find Ein again, please don't stop me from fighting. I plan on getting my revenge no matter how strong he is."

"…But…you might die." Sif said, a pleading note in her voice.

"I'm a demon. We are created to cause havoc. What better way to die than in a fight?" The witch shrugged once. "Come on, we're going to Valhalla. It's time to see what the hell is going on here."

Melissa walked towards the magic circle, motioning for the others to follow her. Jordan was up first, shooting an apologetic look at Sif before running after his leader. Silvei ignored the Grim Angel, simply following after Melissa. Sif watched them all before heaving a sigh and walking after them.

'But…I don't want you to die, Melissa. Why do you…Why do all demons rush towards their final sleep?'

Chris: Ahem, I hope this chapter was enough to make up for the extremely long update time. It probably isn't, but you never know. Anyway, hopefully the story'll be speeding up a bit now that the plot has been partially established and stuff. Thanks for reading and please leave a review to tell me what you think and if there are any ways I can improve on the story! Thanks a lot!