In hindsight, this was by far one of my least favorite chapters. I'm going to try and improve it now, but... we'll see.

"So seriously, who are you guys again?"

Church tried to identify the people that were harassing him out in the streets of Alabaster Town, though attack was closer to the truth. The three men he had encountered had wasted little time in attacking him outright with their fists, though Church wasn't exactly worried considering the fact that he was clad in steel armor for this bout. Not to mention the fact that all three of the men were such shoddy brawlers that anyone with almost any fighting experience could beat them.

"You don't remember?! The only reason you got away from us last time was because of that stupid scythe toting bitch! You won't get so lucky this time!"

For his part, Church actually had to think about it for a few moments, but in the end he finally remembered who these guys apparently were. "Wait, are you shitting me?! You dumb assholes from the desert?! Holy shit, what are the chances?"

His rhetorical questions went entirely unanswered outside of swung fists, but truth be told Church really was curious as to how astronomically unlikely this encounter was. Sure, those buffons he had been assaulted by in the desert had to go somewhere, but of all places, they just happened to be in this town at this exact time?

Something about that just didn't add up, but for now Church was glad he had a chance to exact revenge on the men that had taken advantage of his injuries out in the sand. This time he had the upper hand, and he was going to make sure they felt it.

A scream from some villager off to the side somewhere pierced the air. "Guards! There's a fight near the village tree! Guards!"

Church took notice of this outburst while carefully moving from side to side to keep the tree between himself and the brawlers attacking him. "So, are you sure you have the right guy? I mean, as you can see I'm a soldier."

"Don't screw with us, we know it's you dirtbag!"

"Nah, c'mon. I couldn't possibly be that handsome, dashing rouge you so rudely affronted in the desert. Definitely not."

This blatant sarcasm was met with a punch so blatantly obvious a five year old could have seen it coming, and Church took hold of the limb and used the leverage provided to toss his attacker over his shoulder and into one of the others. The leader tried to attack him immediately afterwards, but a fist to the solar plexus out an end to that fairly quickly.

"Man, how the tables have turned! This is pretty damn great, wouldn't you-?!"

Church's gloating was cut off by a thrown rock crashing against his helmet from behind, and he had to admit that he kind of deserved that one even as one of his attackers leaped onto his back with an overly flimsy hold.

Still, the man held onto Church long enough for his mustached buddy to try and punch Church in the gut, though this was foiled solely by Church;s appropriated armor. Needless to say the only source of cracking from that blow was the assailant's knuckles.

"You seriously couldn't foresee that outcome ahead of time?"

Church punctuated his words with a straight kick that hit the man in the nose, and then he proceeded to lean forward enough to lift his unwanted passenger off the ground. Once that was accomplished it was just a matter of throwing his whole body back and landing on top of the man, crashing atop him with enough force to break his grip entirely.

The third fighter was barely a foot away from him when he got to his feet, but before either of them could attack the other their short brawl was brought to and end by the arrival of at least six armed soldiers, their lances forming a neat little barrier between themselves and the criminals in question.

"Halt! In the name of Count Vance, you are under arrest!"

Church initially wondered if he could reasonably pose as a soldier here, but he figured that either he had been ratted out by someone at the tavern or that these soldiers were simply smart enough to realize he was not a soldier thanks to the situation at hand.

Still, Church couldn't very well allow his final opponent to leave the fight relatively unscathed, so he knelt down at his side real quick, essentially clotheslined the bastard at the back of the knees to throw him to the ground, then took his momentum to throw his own legs out and land his elbow in his gut in what could have been a bona fide pro wrestling move, with the exception of this one making contact and not being so obviously fake. To be honest though it never would have worked had the enemy not been totally unprepared.

Either way it felt damn good to achieve final vengeance on his nemeses from a day distant past. "Boom, fuck you! I could have let you get off easy, but go fuck yourself!"

Getting back to his feet, Church saw that all of the Vance soldiers were staring at him incredulously. So naturally he decided to play it cool. "OK, you can arrest me now. I promise that's the last one."

"Oh Alley! I think your little baggage companion is waking up."

In some small secluded grove out in the countryside, Alleyne came to stand behind one of the most irritating people she had ever known, yet someone she had once called a close friend. Said woman who was kneeling in front of a stirring Lucas, propped against the rough bark of a tree.

"If you ever call me that again, that childhood incident of yours involving the wine will not remain secret for long."

Echidna cocked an eyebrow at her far older companion. "You of all people is using blackmail? I wouldn't have expected that from you. Besides, I was one hundred and seven at the time, I was hardly a child."

Although that incident some four centuries ago had indeed happened, Alleyne knew that no one today would believe that someone like Echidna had ever been so childish. That in itself made the blackmail kind of useless, but it was still fun to entertain.

More importantly, Lucas was finally stirring, after nearly two weeks of rest. Such an unnatural length of unconsciousness must have been caused by Airi: only her sinister abilities could have incapacitated Lucas for so long. He would have to be fed quite well after he awoke... after all, forcing him to drink had been manageable, but forcing an unconscious individual to swallow food was not.

Echidna rose to her feet, stretching her back as she did so. "Anyway, I'd better disappear before he wakes up. I doubt Luke really wants to see me right now. Or ever, most likely. "

Alleyne cast a curious glance at the green-haired dark elf, surprised to hear her speak so nonchalantly about someone so estranged to her. "You still call him that? I thought you detested sentimentality with your students?"

Waving a hand dismissively, Echidna began to walk off, leaving Lucas to her old friend's care. "It's just nostalgic, that's all. It reminds me of how things were before I screwed them up."

"That almost sounded like regret, Echidna. That's not like you at all."

The Veteran Mercenary stopped and turned to look back at Alleyne for a moment, an unusually somber expression on her face. "Look Alleyne… you know I'm not the emotional type. Usually I like to live without regrets, but in this case, I can't. You have something special that I don't. Your connection with Nowa is something that I envy: I could have had a relationship like that with Irma or Lucas, but I messed up both times. I know it's a little backwards for you to get advice from me, being an old hag compared to me and all…"

Alleyne couldn't believe she was hearing something like this from Echidna of all people. Of course, the Calibara elf had emotions and regrets just like anyone else, but she hardly ever expressed them to anyone. Of course, if she wanted to do it now, Alleyne was more than willing to listen.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is… don't mess up what you have, Alleyne. Elves live a long time: and that means we get to regret our decisions for a lot longer than everyone else."

"Is that why you always push Nowa away, even though she admires your skill so much? Are you afraid to get close to someone that looks up to you again?"

Echidna continued to walk on, a clear sign that she would be done talking after her next reply. "I don't need a third strike to realize that all I do is hurt the kids who look up to me. I'd rather be the apathetic jerk in Nowa's eyes than someone who'll just hurt her in the end. If you get my drift."

Alleyne watched as Echidna disappeared into the trees, and allowed herself a smile. It was a rare phenomenon when Echidna divulged her thoughts, and Alleyne was pretty sure that she was one of the few people Echidna would actually tell these things to.

"I don't need you to tell me about regrets, Echidna… you aren't the only one."

A mumbling from Lucas' direction took Alleyne's attention away from Echidna's departure. It probably would have been better if Nowa was the first person Lucas spoke to, but unfortunately, the young half-elf was off foraging for food because she still refused to eat any meat.

Lucas awakened slowly. It took several minutes of squirming before he finally cracked his hazel eyes open and looked beyond his light brown bangs. He noticed Alleyne standing before him almost immediately.

"…you…Combat Master."

The young boy used Alleyne's official title, but the disdainful tone in which he said it could not have been more obvious. He clearly had no actual respect for the woman before him.

"That's no way to speak to your elders Lucas. Zero points."

The young boy scoffed, but he made no physical movements. It was likely that he didn't have the energy to move much. "Your scores have no meaning for me: you chose someone else to be your student, remember?"

"You were not ready to begin training Lucas. You still aren't. Your petty bitterness is proof enough of that. Now, if you aren't-"

Lucas cut her off: something Alleyne would never allow from just about anyone, but since there wasn't much she could threaten the boy with.

"Don't lecture me, Instructor. You have other fools to do that for you. Where is that woman with the scythe? I must find her…"

"You are far from her: both physically and in terms of skill. If it were not for… someone who cares for you very much, you would have surely died. I suggest that you postpone your vengeance against the wraith until you improve. Moreover, Nowa is one of those 'fools' who listens to me. I suppose you were referring to her as well?"

Lucas frowned in dismay. "Nowa only listens because… uh… dammit, I wasn't referring to her! Just everyone else! And how can you expect me to 'postpone' my vengeance? Do you have any idea what that bitch did to me?!"

"I am well aware of what happened, Lucas. I know what she did. I'm not saying that you shouldn't avenge your village, but the only thing you are going to achieve at your current level of skill is your own demise."

Lucas tried to struggle to his feet, but failed. He was much too weak after the amount of time he had been incapacitated. "You can't tell me to wait! You don't know what it's like to lose-!"

Alleyne focused her pointed gaze at Lucas as edged words left her perfect lips. "I am one-thousand and three years old Lucas. Do you honestly think I have not experienced loss in all of that time? Believe me: I have dealt with far more suffering than you, if by sheer time spent in this world alone."

Lucas had no response, as Alleyne's statement did make perfect sense. The Combat Master used the silence to continue. "Now, if you are willing, Nowa is around here somewhere. I'm sure she would be pleased to speak with you."

"…fine. Thank you… Instructor. I would like to see her."

Alleyne nodded, turning away from the distraught teenager. Hopefully, Nowa would be able to talk some sense into him before his attitude got him killed.

"So, what are you in for?"

Church, now stripped of his false identity, sat chained across from the very men he had fought with in the streets. Alabaster Town's small prison only had three cells, and the other two were already filled with some small time loiterers or vagabonds or something.

Normally, only one soldier would be on duty in for such an unimportant task, but the nature of the prisoners in question had earned the four of them at least three. They were all ruffians obviously, save Church who was just better than they were and classier too.

That aside, his humor did not go over particularly well with the men he had defeated earlier, especially that last one he had elbow dropped for shits and giggles at the end.

Still, his attempts at jokes were more for him than anything else. Honestly he had no idea what to do now. He didn't know how serious of an offense brawling in the streets was, but he had also assaulted an officer and impersonated him. He didn't think he would be getting out of this cell in a mere day or two. And he didn't know how well the bureaucratic chain of command was around here, but what if some report of this made it back the the castle? All it took was mention of one man in a bizarre red jacket and someone would be able to connect the dots. Probably the scary tiger girl too. Church noted with interest that she was the first beautiful woman he had met that he was actually not eager to see again. And it was a real shame, because she was a hottie. Just the kind that immediately killed your arousal by scaring you shitless.

That said, with how bad Church's luck was when it came to par for the course, he would not have been surprised in the slightest if everything from now on went from bad to worse. Who knew how these Vance people treated their prisoners?

However, in what was a truly legendary twist of good fortune, it seemed that Church was going to be have luck's favor today.

"Hey, what are you doing in here?! Civilians aren't allowed-!"

Church and his prison buddies felt a wave of heat wash over them as a soldier out of their sight screamed in agony. The three troopers that stood guard outside the cells rushed towards the disturbance.

Turning to the men that were chained along with him, Church smirked. "I'm willing to bet that is another person here to save me. How much do you want to gamble on it?"

Any words his trio of counterparts had to offer were rudely interrupted by a burst of orange flame that edged around the corner of the cell. It was followed by the sound of metal-clad bodies falling to the ground, and light footsteps nearing the cell door.

Church didn't know what or who to expect, but when the rescuer rounded the corner, it was definitely not anywhere near what Church had thought. "You?!"

Before Church and his cell mates was the exact same waitress that Church had saved earlier that day and by extension gotten him into this mess. But now she was decked out in a far more alluring outfit, with a low cut scarlet red dress that sported flame designs and long feathery plumes, as well as purple thigh-highs and detached sleeves. Church was so distracted by her wardrobe change (and the fact that she was there at all) that he didn't even notice the grotesque purple thing she carried with her.

"What the hell?! You can shoot fire? Since when?"

The brunette beauty stammered out her response, as usual being uncomfortable with any level of raised voice, even if it was just caused by surprise this time. "Ah…s-sorry. I-I-I just… I'm here to save you!"

Why did I have to rescue her at all if she could do this? Couldn't she have just smoked that guy earlier?

"U-um… anyway, I'm sure I can melt through these bars… eventually…"

One of the less polite prisoners in the cell accosted the woman almost immediately. "Or you could just take the keys off of one of the soldiers you wasted."

"O-oh… right. J-just a moment."

Their savior disappeared around the corner again, leaving Church to consider his miraculous turn of good luck. He was being rescued, and by an adorable babe. What more could he ask for?

"Lucas! You're OK!"

Lucas, who had opted to rest (and eat) until Alleyne returned with the person he actually wanted to see, peeled his eyelids open to see an old friend he was very fond of.

Before he could answer, Nowa's body crashed into his with a hug. "You were asleep for so long, for a while, I thought you weren't going to wake up! Thank goodness!"

Lucas felt a lot of pain from that impact, but he was more than happy to suffer it. "Oof… well how can I die without seeing you again, Nowa?"

Said half-elf disengaged herself from the boy much too quickly for his personal tastes. "Oh, I'm sure you would much rather see Miss Echidna. She's-"

"No. I never want to see that woman again."

Nowa sported a brief look of confusion, but her cheerful smile returned in no time. "Oh, then the Captain, probably."

"No! Nowa… I don't care for those two. I only want to see you. You're the only one I've ever wanted to see again…"

Lucas' somewhat endearing comment was either ignored or misunderstood by the young girl before him. He figured it was the latter. What he didn't know was that it was actually the first. "Well, I missed you too, Lucas! It's been a long time. But before we can catch up with each other, listen… don't ever do something so stupid again!"

"B-but Nowa, I had to-"

The young half-elf silenced Lucas' objection. "Never! You could've died out there! I promise that I'll take care of that woman. I don't want you getting hurt."

A brief flash of anger crossed Lucas' face. "You expect me to sit back and let you fight my battles?"

"It's not your battle-"

"The hell it isn't! She destroyed everything that was precious to me! Everything except yo-"

Nowa interrupted again before Lucas could finish his sentence. He couldn't help but wonder if she would have even understood what he meant.

"Fine! Maybe it is your fight… but it's my fault that she got away. She shouldn't be around to be your problem. That means that it's mine. I mean, if Miss Echidna hadn't saved you, you would be-"

"What? E…Echidna's here? Why?! Where?!"

Nowa quickly realized that she had said the wrong thing to an overly volatile young man, and she tried to rectify it immediately, though not to much avail. "…I shouldn't have told you that… Lucas, I think you need to rest."

"Tell me where she is!"

"Lucas, I really think you should-"

"Tell me where Echidna is, Nowa!"

There was no response from the girl this time. Nowa shook her head and slowly backed away from the boy. He was clearly too angry to have a rational discussion at the moment. "Sorry Lucas."

"Ah, Nowa, wait! I'm sorry! Come on!"

The half-elf girl disappeared into the woods without much delay. Lucas let out a sigh, but the silence he expected to come was disturbed by Alleyne's voice, on the opposite side of the tree he rested against.

"I'd give you zero points for that blunder as well. You should get a few pointers from a man I met recently."

"How long have you been there?"

"I was interested in witnessing how Nowa would react to seeing you again. I was also here to make sure you would not attempt to hurt her."

"I would never hurt Nowa. Not for any reason."

There was a few moments of silence as Alleyne contemplated something. "…is that so? You were quite bitter towards her a few years back."

"I was bitter towards you! Not her."

"So you were angry that I chose Nowa, but not angry at her because she earned her place before you?"

Within himself, Lucas knew that Alleyne was punching holes in his argument. But he wasn't willing to admit that he had, at one time, been bitter towards the girl he adored. "I don't want to talk about this anymore. Where is Echidna?"

"I don't think it would be wise for you to speak with her until you've calmed down a bit. After all, she saved you from your opponent: she is far stronger than you, by many times. You shouldn't try to pick a fight you have no hope of winning."

"I will pay her back for abandoning me. I won't forgive her."

No answer ever came. Hours of silence followed Lucas' last words. Obviously, Alleyne had found something more important to do than listen to his grievances. All he could do was rest, and drown his mind in mostly bitter thoughts of his new company.

Church rubbed his wrists as his beautiful and bashful rescuer undid his shackles. The fact that her ample bosom had dangled in front of his face while she did so served to distract him from the weird purple thing she carried around that had seemingly leaped out of a nightmare to kill them all.

Naturally, as soon as he was free, there was the obvious question from the other chained victims. "Hey! What about us?"

To her credit, Nyx looked as though she were about to actually release them as well, but Church was quick to stop her with words alone. "What? You guys are downright criminals. Remember that time when you assaulted me just after I had stumbled out of the desert, on top of he fact that I was gruesomely injured? I remember that."

Naturally hearing that this had occurred to the man she was considering a real hero at the moment immediately wiped away any and all sympathy from the woman with the power to free said guilty ruffians. With a baleful glare fitting of someone who had years to hate another rather than three seconds, Nyx just barely decided against burning them all alive in favor of tossing the keys she had borrowed back into the prison hallway.

As for Church, he lead the way out, flipping his now twice defeated enemies the bird before doing so. As far as he was concerned they got what they deserved.

As soon as he made it outside with his most unexpected rescuer, Church turned to face her, eager to make more than acquaintances with the woman that was now his partner in crime. "So, what's your name?"

Said woman hadn't expected this question to be asked of her at this exact moment in time, because needless to say she had not been overly subtle in freeing him from the prison. It was very likely that more soldiers were on their way right now. But that didn't matter. Her hero wanted to know her name.

"Um, it's N-N-Nyx..."

"Nyx? That really fits. Super well."

"I-It does...?"

With a smile that could have been the brightest thing Nyx had ever seen, the man gave his answer. Of course it was very likely that she was seeing everything in a somewhat warped light at the moment. "Of course. Nyx is a goddess where I'm from. And you're definitely beautiful enough to be a goddess. My name's Church, by the way."

Unable to muster anything even remotely close to a coherent response to being called as beautiful as a goddess, Nyx tried to respond to the second half of the things Church had said. "O-o-oh, t-that name really, uh... fits you too..."

Church had been halfway to discussing what their plan was when Nyx offered this response, and he couldn't help but investigate further because he had no idea what she meant. "Thanks, but... how exactly?"

Nyx accidentally made eye contact with the brilliant shade of blue that was Church's own, and her mind scrambled to form an answer even though she already knew what she wanted to say.

Because you're so handsome it's holy. So hot it's heavenly. Dammit Nyx say something like that!

"B-b-because...y-y-you're kind! Like people who go to church. V-very selfless!"

By the way Nyx immediately buried her face in her hands, Church could tell that was not at all what she had meant to say. But it was alright, because her lack of social ability was actually kind of adorable. Besides, kindness was hardly something to be offended by, as Church had said so himself to someone else earlier.

"Why thank you Nyx. I appreciate that. Now..."

Church was once again about to question what their next move was, but his attention was drawn to the now writhing creature at Nyx's side, being the obvious mass of purple tentacles that it was. He had to admit, it was the one thing about his new acquaintance that immensely bothered him so far. Here was this beautiful girl that seemed sweet and awkward, and yet she had this... thing in her possession. What even was it? Church had no idea, but that crimson eye was unsettling.

Even so, Church didn't want to make his discomfort obvious, so he quickly turned his gaze back on Nyx's own, earning another blush just for something so simple. To call Nyx shy was obviously a massive understatement.

"I guess it's only safe to ask, but did you have a plan for getting out of here beyond freeing me?"

Nyx immediately took this as a sign of her own incompetence, looking entirely remorseful about the fact that she did not. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't plan that far ahead..."

"No worries, I'm sure we can get out of here just fine. Actually, is there even anything to worry about? Does anyone even know that we-?"

Church's assurances were cut off by an arrow embedding itself in the wall next to him, as well as the shout of a soldier calling for his allies.

"Yeah, I guess they know."

Many, many leagues away from all of this hardship, out in the desert that Church still hated with a passion, Menace was fighting a different battle, with much lower stakes. "You know Setra, it gets kind of boring around here sometimes. Even with all of the servants, something is missing…"

"That might be the lack of beautiful women, milady, or that might just be me… no. We definitely need more concubines!"

"Oh, you're right! I really do wish we had kept that boy. Didn't Airi take him with her?"

"T-that's not really what I meant, milady…"

"We should go see if Airi is done sleeping around with him yet. He must be really good for her to have kept him to herself for so long."

"…I don't think that's what she's been doing…"

Completely ignoring Setra's comment on Airi's behavior, Menace rose to her feet with new energy, glad to find something to do for just a little while.

"It's settled then! Let's take a short little vacation, and secure another servant for the Amara kingdom while we're at it!"

"…on second thought, we have plenty of girls here… oh, never mind…"

Hopefully this will be the final revision.