Author's note replaced because years later the stuff that was said seems immature. Yup.

"I don't think this way is really an option anymore."

Having continued their travels after the events at the pond, Church and his new acquaintances had quickly left behind the trees and beaten dirt roads in exchange for a mountainous path that Church found immensely tiresome. According to Airi, going through it was quicker than trying to go around, and now that he had a slightly better relationship with her, he was not willing to complain about it.

It hadn't been all bad, up until now. Church was crouching at the edge of a massive gap in the cliff side road they had been traversing. Needless to say, it was obstructing their progress. "I don't know about you guys, but I won't be able to jump over this or anything..."

Airi and Melona stood together a few feet behind him. The path they were currently on was a small outcropping jutting out from a mountain on their right, which was a few hundred feet above a massive forest on their left. In fact, Airi could see nothing but trees stretching to the end of the horizon out that way. It had taken a solid week since leaving the Amara desert to reach this point. That in itself frustrated her, since she definitely could have been back in the Swamp already if Melona hadn't been taking her sweet time.

The forest itself had many rumors and speculations about it, the most popular of which was the existence of another race in those dense trees. Elves, to be exact. Almost no one believed they really lived there these days, mostly because the pointy-eared recluses kept to themselves, but Airi had seen them firsthand. A few months ago, she had been tasked with destroying a certain elven village that the Swamp Witch wanted gone. She had succeeded too, but was defeated afterward when another warrior had unexpectedly showed up. She had never gotten over her loss. The fact that she had failed to finish her master's orders because of that meddler ticked her off. Next time, she would teach the blonde bimbo a lesson.

Melona nudged Airi's shoulder and whispered to her so that Church couldn't hear her. "This will be no problem, Airi. We can easily make it over this. You'll just have to carry Church while you fly over."

Airi cocked an eyebrow at her. "We're trying to hide that remember? You already agreed with me that it would be best to pretend to be human, right? Who knows how he would react to a revelation like that?"

The slime scratched one of her bunny ears while she thought about it. "Well yeah, I suppose. But otherwise, it's gonna take a really long time to get around this. Besides, why do you care? If he did run off you could get back to the Swamp faster..."

She was right about that, but Airi found that she wasn't entirely in agreement. After all, Melona was probably going to take forever to get back anyway, and if Airi had to keep an eye on her, she might as well enjoy the chance to become friends with someone new. After all, she didn't mind getting along with someone as long as it didn't get in the way of her mission...

Having finished his analysis of the obstacle in question, Church walked back towards the two girls amidst their short conversation.

"Something wrong?"

The odd duo paused their conversation in unison and looked awkwardly at Church, having been addressed while talking about him. Church took quick notice of their expressions.

"Oh, sorry. Private conversation." He motioned towards the edge of the cliff he was just at. "I'll just be over there, alright?" With that he walked away from his two companions and towards the cliff edge to wait out the conversation they obviously wanted to have in private.

Melona smirked as he walked away from them. "Oh, he's a real gentleman isn't he?"

Airi responded sarcastically, which was a rarity for her unless she was talking to Melona, ironically. "C'mon Melona, don't give him too much credit..."

The slime gave a knowing look back at her. "I get the feeling you'll be giving him some credit yourself sooner or later..."

Airi merely glared at the pinkette, not quite sure what she was trying to imply. She had half a mind to ask, but the agitated maid quieted as she noticed Church glancing back in her direction, no doubt wondering how long they were going to discuss things away from him.

Still, she couldn't invite him back over yet since she hadn't thought of a solution to their current predicament. Of course, Melona didn't have any ideas either, which led to quite the awkward silence. However, the moment did not last very long.

A loud crack suddenly resonated through the air, followed by a resounding crunch that bounced off the mountainside and reverberated through the bones (And whatever the hell Melona was made of) of the three travelers, nearly tossing all three of them off of their feet.

An entire section of the cliff was breaking off from the mountainside, and wouldn't you know it, it was the exact section Airi and the others were standing on. Airi grabbed Melona and pulled her backwards, the two of them flattening themselves against the wall of the mountain. They were hard to hurt physically, but they weren't immune to pain, so they would have preferred to escape this unexpected catastrophe. "Get back! Hopefully it won't break this far!"

They were just in time too. Just as they backed against the cliff wall, the entire section they were standing on previously broke off and slid down the mountain, creating a rock slide that startled many of the birds that had been resting in the nearby trees. The dust cloud it caused blinded and choked Airi and Melona for nearly a full minute.

Melona spoke up after she finished coughing dust out of her gelatinous body. "Good thing we avoided that, huh? Would've been pretty bad if one of us had fallen..."

Airi cleared her throat of any remaining dust before answering as well. "Sure, good thing. Are we all alright?"

The ever spunky slime quipped happily. "Roger that! Fit and ready for duty! How 'bout you Church?"

No answer was forthcoming, at which point Melona could only assume the worst. "Eh... Oh shit, don't tell me he fell..."

Without really questioning why she should even care, Airi panicked at the thought of it. She looked to the left and right of the damage that had been caused, but couldn't see Church anywhere, which led her to even greater concern. Unlike her and Melona, a rock slide was sure to be fatal for a regular mortal.

Melona recovered from the shock quickly. She wasn't willing to lose the most entertaining thing to happen to her in months just yet. Teasing Church had literally been the most fun she had experienced in way too long for her tastes. "Don't just sit there, Airi. We have to go look for him, who knows what shape he's in?"

Airi quickly dispelled her panic, but the emotion was replaced more with doubt than concern. She was already pushing it when it came to returning to the Swamp Witch at a slower pace than necessary, and without Menace in tow. She didn't have time for a search and rescue for someone she hardly knew. "I... I don't think so Melona. We don't have that kind of time to waste..."

The slime looked at her incredulously. "Are you kidding me? Could you forget about the stupid Swamp Bitch for ten seconds? I mean for crying out loud, she's nothing more than a bitchy slave driver! And on the other hand, are you just gonna let someone fall off a cliff and possibly die and just ignore them?"

"As if you can talk. You aren't exactly the pinnacle of morality and goodness Melona. Why do you even care? Can't you find another muse some other time?"

"Maybe, but certainly not one this interesting! Besides, just because I'm a bad person in general doesn't mean I'm completely unsympathetic, and even if I were, I'd rather do anything to delay getting back to that God forsaken swamp..."

Her wraith companion crossed her arms in frustration. "That's exactly the problem! Stop making excuses and come on! We're supernatural beings, not humans who need to make nice and be friendly."

This earned a very peculiar look from Melona. "That may be true for me, but you were human once, weren't you? Were you like this back then as well?"

Melona's comment stopped Airi in her tracks. After all, she had no answer. She had been human once, yes. And a very kind and compassionate one at that. She never would have left someone to die if it was in her power to help them. But things had changed very drastically since then. She had different priorities now...

When no answer was forthcoming from her, Melona just sighed and shrugged. "Fine. If you're absolutely sure you'd rather just leave him, let's go. I'm honestly not comfortable with it, but it's not worth fighting with you."

With that Melona turned to head towards the gap they needed to get over, fully expecting Airi to follow her. However, the ghostly maid was lost in thought.

Damn... Melona's always been trouble, but since when has she started preying on my humanity? I didn't even know she had a kindness to her on any level, but this is ridiculous...

"Get back here Melona. We're not... ugh, we're not leaving him. We'll at least check to see if he's alive. Will that be enough for you?"

The slime bounded back to her with a cheeky grin on her face. "The real question is, will it be enough for you, Airi? You're too nice to be completely cold and cruel you know. I think you just bury it under all of that other garbage all the time."

Airi certainly wouldn't have considered her loyalty to the Witch garbage, but she chose to not comment on that. "Yeah, and what about you? Since when have you ever cared about someone other than yourself?"

Melona winked at her. "What, slimes can't have soft spots for people? I kinda like him, and he's certainly a more interesting addition than Menace would have been. And sure, I have done some terrible things in my lifetime, but I think you've unfairly assumed that I'm totally evil or something. I've got some good points too y'know."

Unable to refute that, Airi simply turned her attention back to the task at hand. "Alright, we're going to try and find him, but if it takes more than a few hours, we're heading back to the swamp without him."

"Fair enough. I didn't expect you to drop that completely."

With a sigh, Airi looked down into the forest below. Her old sense of humanity was really becoming troublesome these days.

Church wondered if God was trying to tell him something. Even after all of his previous accidents, falling down a cliff amidst a rock-slide was a little over the top, as were his injuries. He was bruised and cut all over, and he was in so much pain that he could barely move an inch. Either that, or he had been paralyzed. Fortunately though, that was unlikely. The Legion's cybernetic implants strengthened the skeletons of their soldiers, especially sensitive structures like the spine and skull. He was also pretty sure that he hadn't been hit in any truly critical areas on his way down the mountain.

But he still couldn't move. And the little of his body he could see without stretching his neck was banged up pretty badly. From the wounds he could see, he was bleeding profusely. He needed to staunch it quickly, but at this rate, it didn't seem likely he would be doing that anytime soon.

Instead of continuously and futilely struggling to get up, he relaxed and examined his surroundings. Above him was a massive tree canopy, only interrupted by the mountainside he had fallen from. The leaves were thick and full, overlapping each other and completely cutting of Church's view of the sky. Yet somehow, the area itself was still bright, as if the trees didn't block out the sunlight. The only sky Church could see was through the torn gap in the tree directly above him, its branches snapped and broken. He assumed he had fallen through it, along with the shattered boulders that were scattered around his immediate area.

He wondered what had happened to Airi and Melona. They had been farther away from the fracture site, but when cliff sides collapse, they could spread pretty far. But he figured that his friends were safe. After all, if they had fallen as well, they likely would be somewhere in his immediate vicinity, but there was no sign of them around anywhere.

But right now he needed to worry about himself. He was bleeding out, and he could feel himself slowly losing consciousness, just like that time back in the desert. Still, if he faded out here, he probably wouldn't die. Those cybernetic implants mentioned earlier also slowed down the rate of blood loss, as well as resistance to shell shock and the like. But if he did lose consciousness now, he would be extremely weak when he awoke. Doubtless, he would still be unable to move, even though his body might've recovered from the fall damage to some extent.

Church knew he shouldn't fall asleep, but he was just so tired... and it was also getting darker. He hadn't realized how long he had been lying here. If it was already night, than he had been bleeding for at least an hour or two. He knew he had to move, had to get up. But all he wanted was rest. He felt all of his stamina being sapped from his body when he tried to move, and he soon lost all will to even try to do so. Sleep beckoned to him with all the sweetness it could, urging him to close his eyes and embrace his fatigue. With little energy to resist, Church did just that.

Church awoke to a temporary feeling of bliss. He had yet to open his eyes, but he felt strangely comfortable. It was warm and soft and cozy... for about ten seconds. At that point everything was replaced by pain.

He could feel every little cut and bruise he had, from head to toe, each reminding him of what he was waking from. He had fallen down a mountainside, of course he was in pain...

He cracked one sapphire eye open to see where he was. In a bed, a very comfy one, that had strangely textured green sheets. They reminded him of leaves, but these were seamless, and there was no way any single leaf could be this big. He also noticed that he was in a small wooden room, which was bare except for the bed and a small little counter to the side. But the wood itself was not like the ones he imagined back in his world. It felt more natural. The wood looked like it was still part of a tree, and not just some wooden boards that had been pieced together to make a floor and walls. There was also a ray of light coming from something above and slightly behind him, but he couldn't crane his pained neck to see what it was, so he just assumed it was a window, or something of the sort.

Altogether, it was quite nice in this little room, wherever the hell it was. Church couldn't remember anything beyond passing out in the forest, so he had no idea where he was or what he was doing here. But it wasn't like he could go anywhere and find out, because the most movement he could muster right now was to sit up in the bed, and even that hurt him all over.

"Ow, geez..."

Church observed the room again, and now that he looked closely, he couldn't see a door anywhere, which seriously worried him. There was a wall protruding from the left side of the room, which he assumed was an alcove or something, and Church hoped there was some sort of entrance on the other side.

Maybe he should call out? Whoever had found him had clearly not intended to hurt him, unless they wanted him conscious for interrogation... but he couldn't really avoid that if it was going to happen. He was stuck in this bed, and he wouldn't be going anywhere at this point. He might as well call out and see if anyone was around.

"Um...hello? Anybody around out there?" No answer. Maybe he had been left here to recover, and whoever had taken care of him would be back later? Either way, nobody was answering him, and he didn't really feel like going back to sleep. How long would he have to wait here?

But his irritable thoughts were interrupted before he could continue thinking them. "H-hold on! I'll be there in just a moment!"

It was a young girl's voice, sounding like it was coming from the other side of a wall. Perhaps there was someone outside after all? He waited patiently for the girl to come in the room, but it sounded like she was having problems with a door somewhere. A full minute passed before he finally heard said door being slammed open and the sound of footsteps descending stairs. Church hadn't even known there was a stairwell behind the wall, but he supposed it didn't matter. His visitor quickly turned the corner of the wall and stepped into the room.

Church automatically began his analysis without even thinking, as he had been taught to by his drill sergeant all those years ago. It was always critical to observe what you could about people. The girl in front of Church was a few inches shorter than him, by the looks of it at least. She was also pretty thin, but Church could tell that she was lean because of exercise rather than malnutrition. Her brown hair was bound up into twin-tails, and a monkey-like thing was resting on her shoulder. Her amber eyes were the epitome of cheer and kindness in a look. Coupled with her bright smile, Church could tell this girl was of a more enthusiastic nature.

He also noticed that her bright orange clothes were sort of... scant, but it wasn't something he was complaining about. She was slim but toned and despite being modest in the chest there was still an attractive perkiness to it. Taking all of that into account, as well as the pitch of her voice just a couple of minutes ago, Church assumed the girl was about fifteen or so, though it was impossible to be sure.

This strange girl spoke up before Church could address her. "Thank goodness you're OK! Elder Taowrol said you probably weren't going to make it, so I was worried. But you seem fine!"

Church just cocked an eyebrow at the stranger. She sure was enthusiastic considering he didn't even know her. "Yeah, I'm fine, but...uh..."

His next sentence just drifted off as he stared at the girl's face. Or more accurately, her ears. Pointed ears. Church knew what that probably meant, but his mind was having a difficult time registering the implications. A few plausible explanations attempted to logically answer the problem in his comprehension: Elves? Impossible. Surgery? Perhaps, but unlikely. Was he still on painkillers? Unfortunately not, since his whole body hurt.

"Um, sir? Are you OK? You seem a little pale. Are you still hurt?" Church wondered if he was going to run into dwarves or demons or something next. It felt like he had jumped into a fantasy wonderland.

"Yeah, uh, I'm fine. But um, where exactly am I? I can't remember anything."

The girl responded with a cheerful smile. "You're in Syrinidell! I guess you would just call it the Elven Forest. I found you on the outskirts, and you were hurt really bad, so I brought you back here to help! The council was against it, but the Captain convinced them to let you stay until you were better. But they said you couldn't stay because no one wanted you in their home, so the Captain decided to let you stay here at her place instead!"

Church was a little confused when he listened to the girl's rapid sentences, but he was all in all relieved that everything might've turned out better than expected. This 'captain' the girl kept referring to seemed like a good person, although Church felt pretty bad about intruding in her home. He'd have to be doubly-sure to thank her for being so kind.

"She didn't really let me have to stay here you know. I would've been fine..."

The girl just waved him off. "It's OK! Although this is her home, she's hardly ever here anyway. She's usually too busy out training or teaching a lesson to the warriors. She only ever really comes back here to sleep, and not even then sometimes."

Church wondered exactly what kind of person this captain was. She certainly seemed busy most of the time, and yet she had still found time to take care of him. He probably wouldn't be able to thank her enough, but he would definitely try. He looked back at the girl in front of him. After all, she had been the one that found him and brought him here. "Well, thank you very much for saving me...uh..."

She smiled at him with almost infectious friendliness. "My name is Nowa. And you're very welcome, Mr...?"

Church could tell already that he was going to like this girl for a lot of reasons. "Church. Nice to meet you Nowa."

"Nice to meet you too! By the way, would you like some tea? The Captain taught me how to make it properly last month."

With no reason not to, Church figured he might as well push his hostess' generosity as much as he could. "I would appreciate that. Thank you.

Roughly a day later, Church sat on the edge of the leafy, green bed he had been borrowing from its rightful owner, holding a cup of mysterious tea that the young pointy-eared girl Nowa had made for him. She had said that she wasn't very good at making tea, and although he had never been too much of a fan of the beverage, Church thought it tasted pretty good regardless. Maybe the fact that the young girl serving it to him was so cheerful had something to do with it.

Since he had been rudely awakened by the well-aimed rays of the sun this morning, Church had been sitting around for what he assumed was an hour and a half or so. Since he had woken up yesterday, he had done practically nothing, sitting around and drinking tea and eating a wide assortment of fruits that Nowa brought to him every few hours; the energetic girl seemed to have a lot of free time on her hands, although she always had bundles of energy that could probably be well spent doing something else besides tending to a stranger. But on the flip-side, there wasn't really anything Church could do even if he wanted to; he had barely recovered enough to sit up on the bed like he was, much less anything else.

It was pleasant, being able to sit around and do nothing, but Church also felt that he should have been doing something instead of lounging around all day. Surely laziness wasn't anyway to repay the hospitality that his hostess had shown him thus far. He should have been offering to do some chores or something.

Speaking of the hostess, Church was actually a little anxious to meet the elf (he still wasn't sure if he believed that even though Nowa had identified herself as half-elf) captain that was taking care of him. To be honest, he didn't really know anything about these people. Did they look down on humans? What if, behind this seemingly wonderful situation, they had an ulterior motive for taking care of him?

But in the end, Church figured he was just being paranoid. After all, Nowa had been very kind and cheerful around him. Of course, she could have been faking it, but the girl had an innocence and friendly aura about her that Church could detect from a mile away. In fact, Church had only run into nice people in this world. This was true because he now included Airi in that list, since she had grown a little nicer lately. Minus his terrible luck with drunkards and natural disasters, Church realized that he had been a very fortunate man thus far.

Thinking of the people he had met so far, Church also came to realize just how fond he was of Airi and Melona at this point. It had only been roughly a day since they had been separated, and only a little more than a week since he had met them at all, but Church found that he already missed their dynamic: Airi's overly serious attitude towards anything that seemed fun, as well as Melona's incessant teasing and widespread innuendo. Church hoped he could reunite with them soon, even though there was no doubt that Airi would be irritated with him for getting separated from them.

Realizing that he was spending a lot of time thinking about his two absent sorta-friends, Church blushed a little and looked up at the ceiling to try and dissuade his thoughts. He hadn't even realized that he was so attached to the red-head and her obnoxiously pink companion already. He berated himself for it: getting attached to people here was not a good idea. Church's number one goal was to find a way back home. It would be far harder to do so if he got attached to the people here. But how could he stop himself?

Of course, another important question to ask was where here actually was. Too many things didn't add up at all. For one, the people seemed way off from the world he knew. Heck, one was a maid. The other was... really pink. And weird. This new girl he had met was supposedly part elf. Aside from that, this world was entirely foreign to him. There were trees, clean water, blue skies... it was not NOVA afflicted Earth. It couldn't be. But this also couldn't be a dream. Or if it was, it was an incredibly long dream. That said, where was he? Another world? He couldn't wrap his mind around that...

Church's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door to the residence being slammed open (He hadn't been outside yet, so he didn't really know what type of building he was in). He noted that his quiet time was always interrupted by something. He heard light footsteps running through the house on the floor above and then down the stairs to his sick room. As he expected, the person making all this noise was Nowa. Church could tell from the look on her face that she was obviously excited about something.

He continued to sip his tea and cocked an eyebrow at her. He didn't need to say anything. She would probably tell him either way. In fact she wasted no time in doing so.

"Great news Mr. Church! The Cap-"

Church held up a hand and cut her off. "Hold on a minute. I told you already, you don't have to call me mister: just Church is fine."

The girl grinned and rubbed the back of her head. "Sorry. It's just that you're technically older than me, and it's expected that I treat my elders with respect..."

He smiled back at her, easily affected by her cheer. "You don't have to say sorry. I'm not mad or anything. It's just that I prefer to be friendly with everyone. Including you Nowa; I mean, we're friends right?"

The hybrid girl blushed slightly before breaking out into a wide smile. "Y-yes! We are! So that means I don't have to address you like an elder... because you're my friend, right?"

Church laughed just a little (Laughing still hurt his sides, so he couldn't do that too much). Nowa's innocence was cute. He wished all the girls he had met in high school were like her.

"Yeah, that's right. Besides, I'm sure I'm not that much older than you..."

"Well, I'm seventeen..."

Honestly Church was a little surprised to learn that fact, but only for a moment. Initially he had pegged Nowa as a younger girl, but in the past day and a half he had seen enough of her to believe she was seventeen. The curve of her body in all the right places was evidence enough of her age.

"Oh? I'm only four years older than you then. I wouldn't exactly call that a respectable age gap. Though to be honest, I thought you were a little younger..."

Nowa tilted her head at him. "Why? What makes me look younger than I am?"

Church avoided glancing at Nowa's rather modest breasts. "Uh, nothing really. Just a poor guess on my part."

Having avoided offending her in any way, Nowa simply smiled, though it only lasted for a moment as her expression shifted to a frown. "Oh, I was supposed to tell you that the Captain is-"

Her sentence was completed by another, more mature voice behind her, one Church noted was particularly somber, yet sill beautiful in its tone.

"Already here."

What a bother: to be called by the Head Angel right in the middle of a bath. She should have at least been allowed that much. Spending all that time on Earth having to worry about not spilling some stupid bottle of milk had really tired her out. She definitely deserved a break. Besides, last time the Head Angel had spoken to her, it was just a talk about how incompetent she was and more threats of being sent to the netherworld. What could she possibly want from her now that was any different?

Whatever it was, the disfigured angel figured she would find out soon. She had been waiting for the Head Angel to come out of the Holy Courtyard and tell her what she wanted, but she had already been waiting around for an hour, and there had still been no sign of the Seraph. One of the other angels had grudgingly (most of the other angels didn't like speaking with her) told Nanael that there was yet another angel for the same audience who hadn't shown up yet. Hopefully it had nothing to do with her.

Nanael had never been good friends with any of the other angels besides Hachiel, and she was busy on another assignment elsewhere. She had always been looked down upon by the other angels because of her deformed right wing. In their eyes, such a thing was an imperfection: and therefore so was she. She had always blamed God for it. Why would he, who was supposed to be the source of all things good, do something so terrible to her? It wasn't fair, and that was why she didn't put effort into anything she was told to do. Why should she care what God or the Head Angel wanted? But despite all of these hurdles that blocked Nanael's path to happiness, she still had a ray of hope. She had no doubt in her mind that one day, she'd show them all: show them that she wasn't imperfect, and that in fact, she was the one superior to them. It was one of the only things that drove her to accomplish her assignments.

"Your thoughts dwell on things better left untouched, Nanael."

The blue-haired angel snapped herself back to reality to see the Head Angel standing before her, glaring at her subordinate with critical eyes, as usual. Nanael fumbled for some sort of response, to avoid standing around and gawking like an idiot. "I-I didn't know you could read minds, ma'am... that's uh…kind of scary."

The Seraph rolled her eyes. "No, I can't read minds, Nanael. It's just that you are easy to read when you are unfocused, and I did not like what you were dwelling on. You would do well to remember your place, before I decide the underworld is the best home for you after all."

Nanael dropped her gaze to the ground and resisted the urge to mumble some sort of sarcastic reply. She knew that she would just be reprimanded and told to "Hold her tongue and remember her place, lest you be condemned to the Underworld forever." It was all the Head Angel ever said to her to her anyway. So instead she just said, "Yes, Head Angel. Forgive me."

Not that I did anything wrong, you ass...

The Seraph waved her hand dismissively. "That aside, I have an assignment for you. Do not bungle it this time. It will be your last chance."

Nanael just nodded obediently, thinking of many other nasty things she wished to say instead of what came out of her mouth. "Yes, Head Angel. I won't fail this time."

The Seraph eyed the cyan angel dangerously. "You'd better be serious about this Nanael. This is an easy assignment, but it is still incredibly important. Pay attention to everything I'm about to say; you have a history of losing focus whenever I talk."

Nanael just nodded, a sign that she was indeed paying attention, despite the rebellious urge to ignore the Seraph just to spite her.

"Anyway, I'll spare you the details that you won't understand, but in short, there has been an anomaly in the fabric of this dimension. Some sort of rift occurred a little over a week ago, near the Continent's Amara desert. This abnormality is a serious matter that has never happened on the Continent before, and God is extremely worried about the phenomenon. However, Heaven has deemed that whatever it is, it is not necessarily dangerous. That is why we will be sending you to investigate. Do you understand?"

Nanael just nodded and pushed the info into a corner at the back of her mind. She would worry about it later. The Seraph eyes narrowed. "You're never serious about anything, are you Nanael? That's why I'll be giving you a partner, to ensure that you don't mess up even more than you usually do." She then looked behind the angel. "Oh? And here she comes now."

Her rebellious subordinate followed the Head Angel's eyes to where they were looking behind her, and her demeanor instantly brightened as she saw her only pink-haired friend flying quickly to the two of them. "Hachi? What are you doing here? I thought you were on another assignment!"

Hachiel waited to speak until she landed beside the two very different angels. "I was, but I finished a little early. Nothing's better than finishing assignments ahead of schedule!"

Nanael snickered at this comment that made it obvious how different Hachiel was from her. "You're such an overachiever Hachi. I bet if you were human, you'd never get married."

The accosted angel responded indignantly. "That's not true! Humans like women that can get things done, you know!"

The Seraph rolled her eyes once more as she witnessed the short conversation. "That is quite enough, you two. There are more urgent matters to attend to at this time. So if you are finished greeting each other, we should move onto the details..."

Church clutched his cup of tea, forgotten as it rested in his hand, and stared at the woman who had entered the room behind Nowa. To say she was downright stunning was an absolute understatement. Long, platinum blonde hair fell to her waist in a flawless wave that seemed to shine with the light that struck it, with one braid in it that hung to the side of her face. Framed by these silver blonde bangs was a pair of serious yet beautiful cobalt eyes with the light of wisdom and experience to them, complementing the sleek and severe yet somehow gentle angles of her face and the long, slender ears that pierced the solid wall of her hair.

The gorgeous blonde looked at Nowa disdainfully. "I thought I told you to tell our guest as quickly as possible. Zero points, Nowa."

"Aw, come on Captain! Something came up: I was just talking to him!"

The just slightly taller elf smiled at her. "Well I'm glad you've become friends with him, but be a little quicker about what I ask for next time."

Nowa grinned and nodded. "Yes, Captain! Of course!"

As for Church, he remained quiet throughout the two elves' short exchange. He couldn't say anything while he focused on Nowa's captain. If Airi was the most gorgeous redhead he had ever seen, this woman was without a doubt the most stunning blonde. Like her fellow elf, she was slim and toned, muscular to an extent that was still attractive on a woman, and somehow even perfectly complimenting the appreciative curves of her body. Her hips weren't quite as pronounced as Airi's, but her body was perfectly proportioned to be the epitome of both femininity and strength, a balance that was almost impossible to strike.

This breathtaking woman eyed Church while he was staring, breaking him from his outright visible appreciation of her figure and looks, which led him to try and muster an excuse for his actions, though she cut him off before he could say anything.

"Are you alright? You seem troubled." She seemed to contemplate something for a short moment before pushing her hair and her crimson beret out of the way to put her forehead to his. "Has Nowa not been taking good care of you? Has your condition worsened?"

Church had trouble answering for a few moments. She was certainly far more bold than Airi, who would never do something like this. Then again, from her point of view, she was just checking his physical condition. Only Church was flustered by her close proximity. "I-I'm fine! Just fine! I was just a little surprised, th-that's all!"

She looked at him curiously, seemingly unaware of what surprising thing had occurred. "Surprised?"

Caught flat footed, Church tried to avoid staring at her chest as he came up with a plausible excuse. With her leaning over, he had a perfect view of the ample bosom. Luckily, he was always a pretty good liar, so he came up with one with relative ease, and with enough speed for it to seem believable. "I-it's just that, until now, Nowa is the only elf I've seen, so I was a little surprised by you. You're both quite different from each other..."

In more ways than one...

She backed away from him and stood next to Nowa, almost as if to give Church an even more obvious comparison, although he knew that wasn't the case. "Is that so? It's no good to be so easily startled. Zero points."

Church was not sure why he was being graded, but paid it no mind, giving the woman before him time to continue.

"Either way, I do believe it is time I properly introduced myself. I am Alleyne, combat master of the elves here in this forest. And you must be Church: Nowa's already told me about you."

Church decided without much delay that such a beautiful name was supremely fitting for such a gorgeous woman.

He grinned and scratched his head. "I guess that means that you're the one who has been taking care of me. R-really, I can't thank you enough. If you hadn't saved me, I would've died for sure... really, thank you. I'm very grateful."

Alleyne smiled at him, although it was incredibly subdued and subtle. She didn't seem like the kind of person who smiled often, or wide, for that matter. "Your gratitude is appreciated. Humans are not often welcome in this forest, but I could not in good conscience deny assistance to you."

Church was glad to return her smile with more enthusiasm. What a kind person this woman was, even if she was a bit too stoic for her own good.

"So how are you feeling? Do you think you'll be able to walk soon?"

He couldn't believe how considerate she was about his condition. Airi had been much less tender when she had rescued him from those thugs back in the desert. It was a very refreshing change of pace, one that Church was eager to get used to. "I-I don't know. I still can't move my legs very much. But, in any event, you don't have to let me stay here. I'll be fine if I exercise just a little. You've done enough for me already."

Alleyne folded her arms in refusal. It was a pose that made her look much more intimidating, though it could have been the crimson cape and militant looking beret. "Nonsense. You are our guest, and can stay for however long you need. In fact, getting your body back into decent shape is something we can help you with for little inconvenience."

Church stared at the two elves in front of him. He was truly a lucky man. He secretly prayed that he would never get better. But he knew that if that happened, he probably wouldn't see Airi or Melona again, and he definitely didn't want that. But for now, for just a little while, he could be happy here, and he thought that almost nothing sounded better.

So this chapter was roughly shorter than the last few chapters, but my outline for it didn't go past Church meeting Alleyne and Nanael receiving her assignment, so it can't be helped. The next chapter will take place over the course of a few weeks, so you can be assured that it will be longer!

And hey, if you guys have interests in other anime, check out some of my other stories, you know? Thanks for reading! Feedback through PM or reviews is always welcome! (Or any other ways you can think of!)