The jumps through these dimensional gates were becoming less nauseating with every trip. She stumbled forward from the portal into a small encampment littered with crates, supplies and weapons of some kind. Panic began to settle in as she heard voices and footsteps approach from beyond the hoarded goods.

"Satania!" was roughly whispered from her right. She followed their voices, dashing to a pile of hastily stacked crates with her friends crouching behind them. The angels walked past the group and entered the portal. Unlike the other portals, this one was housed within a metallic structure that encircled the portal, and some cables were running from them to Satan knows where.

'They built this?!' Satania thought to herself as she watched the small squadron of angels enter. and re-emerge from the portal, placing more crates near its entrance. The crates were filled to the brim with crystals that glowed with an ominous purple hue.

"These angels have made routine trips to and from the portal." Raphiel stated from her crouched position. The four watched as angels wearing similar armor to the ones in Slechtvoorteken picked up and ferried the crates away from the stash near the portal.

"This is the last bunch...now we can move this stuff into place for plan..." the angel's voice grew distant as he and his compatriots flew away with the final batches of supplies.

"Alright, the coast is clear now." the girls rose from their hiding positions.

"We're currently in the Forêts Des Douze Paladins, it'll be a long flight but my family's estate is not too far from here."

"Welcome to the Shiraha mansion!" Raphiel stated, waving her hand with a grand flourish. The main foyer was oppressively large, probably larger than all four of their student apartments combined. Hell, her family's WHOLE BAKERY could probably fit in here. The whole ensemble was completed with a gaudy statue of an angel in prayer as the centerpiece, surrounded by two twin spiral staircases that connected the first and second stories.

"Master Raphiel, you have returned." a short haired angel announced approaching them.

"Mother and father are still out on their business trip, correct Martiel?"

"Yes milady. They aren't expected to be back for another week or so."

"Perfect. Have the maids prepare three guest bedrooms for my friends. Preferably near mine."

"Of course." The head butler bowed and left to tend to the household.

"Must be nice." Gabriel mumbled.

"This way." Raphiel directed as she began walking down the east wing of the sprawling mansion.

"This place is amazing! Even the walls are fancy!" Satania exclaimed, running her hands over the marble architecture and anything that looked expensive.

"So who are you parents? I'm gonna take a guess and say they're pretty important." Vigne asked.

"My parents are the head of the Ainsworth Corporation. The company manages the imports and exports of all goods produced and sent out of heaven, and any coming in. My father is the CEO, while my mother is the head of PR." Raphiel explained.

"They might as well be Heaven's economy." Gabriel added.

"When you said she could've bought the whole airport if she wanted to, I thought you were exaggerating." Vigne shook her head.

"Here we are. Not even Martiel is allowed to enter this room without my family's discretion." Raphiel announced, the group having arrived at a grand white doorway complete with fancy wood carvings and a golden doorknob. On the upper half there were angels with little halos gliding along the curves in the wood, and on the bottom Satania could even make out their demonic counterparts moving in the opposite direction. It was like they were dancing around the center of the door. Neat.

The girls filed into the room, flopping down into the chairs, each one looking ridiculously expensive but equally as comfortable and soft once you sat in them. Seriously, how rich were Raphiel's parents? And Satania just kept sinking into the plush cushion . She barely fought the erupting yawn off. Apparently her body was tired, and that won't do at all.

"Okay so let's run down from the beginning." Vigne stated, starting the group's adjunct meeting. "First, my visions are actually true and you guys are bad friends for doubting me." Satania huffed.

"Can you really blame us?" Gabriel added. "A group of angels have attacked one of Hell's smaller villages for whatever reason."

"And the Cardinal Sins clearly don't want anyone knowing." Vigne added helpfully.

"Mhm, and those same angels are somehow linked to Ms. Prophet over here." Gabriel concluded.

Her mind was too sleep deprived and confused to even make a rebuttal. This little rundown didn't help at all. Too much crap is happening all at once! First the visions, and now terrorist, contraband smuggling angels?! Sure Raphi and Gabriel are exceptions to the 'we must always be holier than thou' rule, but this is ridiculous! And what does all of this have to do with her?

"We still have a small lead. Tomorrow we can head out to a couple of locations that should line up with what Satania saw in her original vision." Raphiel added, placing her hand under her chin, fingers drumming across her face. "There's Lenox Hill, Tempest's Lull, The Cathedral of Cascades, hmm..."

"St. Joan D'Arc's Keep and Canterburgh should be candidates too." Gabriel added.

"Yes, we can add them to the list. Let's try to be as thorough as possible."

The two demons listened along as Raphiel and Gabriel vomited alien names left and right onto a paper list Raphiel produced. Satania would bet some of these places weren't even real. Attalos? Xaloth? Zaanan? Really? By the time the two were finished with their adherent brainstorming there were twenty names scribbled onto a piece of paper.

"I think we should have enough locations. We'll only be doing four locations so we don't overexert ourselves tomorrow: Tempest's Lull, Attalos, Canterburgh and St. Joan D'Arc's Keep." Raphiel stated authoritatively, twirling her pen.

"Tomorrow?! We've already lost enough time! Besides, it's still light outside!" Satania protested. Wait..there were stars out in the sky too. What time was it in this goody two shoes dimension? Did Heaven and Hell's time even match up with each other? It still felt like the afternoon to her, even though her body kept betraying her as she swayed ever so slightly.

"You look like you're about to collapse and I'm not dragging you around if ya' do." Gabriel prodded.

"What she meant to say was - you need to rest. We all do." Vigne finished, sending a glare back to Gabriel. Satania groaned as she dragged her hands over her face.

"We don't. Have. Time. For. This-''

-KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK-

"You may come in." Raphiel ordered. A different maid from earlier poked her head inside the ajar door.

"The bedrooms have been prepared and are blocked off by your room, as requested."

"Right on cue. Thank you, that will be all." The maid bowed and quickly exited.

"Well, let's end it here. We can continue tomorrow. Follow me." Raphiel directed, leaving the room, Gabriel and Vigne following suit.

"But!...ugh." Satania let out a disgruntled sigh before trudging along after the group. After a few minutes of walking, a climb up the spiral suitcase, and another couple minutes of trekking, the group arrived at the bedrooms, opened and prepped for use.

"Well I'm not passing up on a room like this! Night!" Gabriel practically leaped into her room and slammed the door shut.

"That girl... good night you two." Vigne sighed before proceeding into her own room.

"We can't sleep now! There's still so much we need to...huh- whoa?!" Satania yelped as Raphiel forcefully grabbed her wrist and dragged her into the third bedroom.

"R-Raphiel let go!" Satania struggled as she failed to free herself from the angel's ironclad grip. Now in the center of the sprawling bedroom she heard an audible -click- of a lock trapping her inside the room.

"I'm not going to sleep Raphiel. I need to go to those places now!" Satania challenged. She defiantly marched towards the door before she was shoved backwards.

"Hey!"

"If you want to leave, you'll have to get past me." Raphiel countered, blocking the doorway. Growling, Satania dashed towards the doorway before Raphiel pushed her back harder, shoving the demon onto the floor.

"You can't even get around me to leave the room! What happens when another one of those rouge angels finds you? Or heaven's authorities for that matter? What will you do then?" Raphiel asked.

Satania had no answer, her gaze boring into the floor until Raphiel's hand entered her peripheral. She took the offered hand and slowly rose to her feet.

"I'm sorry Satania. But you're in no state to do anything right now. None of us are. We've been running on fumes for two days straight." Raphiel raised a small hand mirror to Satania's face. She couldn't even recognize the tired, disheveled girl that stared back at her through the mirror's reflection. "I know you're stressed. I know you want answers. But those answers are useless if you're too exhausted to understand them."

Has she been pushing them too much? Herself? She looked up as she felt Raphiel's hand on her shoulder.

"Please Satania. Rest." the angel pleaded.

"Okay." her head lowered.

"If you want to talk, or if you have another nightmare, my room is right down the hall. I won't mind." Satania nodded meekly at the invitation. Raphiel gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze before walking towards the door.

"Goodnight Satania. Sleep well." Raphiel said, looking over her shoulder before closing the door. Satania trudged over to the hand mirror that Raphiel left on the room's dresser. The girl in the reflection's hair was tousled, and her eyes were drooping heavily. She looked lost. Scared. With a sigh she plopped face first into the cloud like mattress. Maybe she should listen to Raphiel's advice and sleep. It's probably gonna be hard though.

There was too much stuff to thi-

Satania groaned as yellow light flooded through the blinds in the guest bedroom, hitting her face. She didn't move an inch from the soft embrace of the mattress. It was pretty hard when she was practically sinking into the mattress. Maybe Raphiel can let her take this mattress home with her as a gift. Two soft knocks diverted her attention and forced the demon to rise from the bed's embrace(regretfully). She dragged her feet to the door, and wasn't greeted by a familiar face. The maid from last night bowed, her short black bob cut bouncing as she moved.

"Good morning miss. It seems you've finally woken up." 'Finally?' "Your friends are already in the dining room hall eating breakfast."

"Huh?! Why am I only finding out now?"Satania blurted. The maid bowed deeply again. "Apologies miss, but when I arrived earlier to wake you there was no response. Per Master Raphiel's request, I let you rest, and would only periodically check until you awoke yourself." she finished curtly.

"Oh." Satania ended lamely, sheepishly rubbing her neck. "Sorry uh..."

"Kafziel." the maid provided helpfully.

"Right. Sorry Kafziel. Didn't mean to yell at you." As if to admonish her further, her stomach rumbled loudly.

"Mm. That's quite alright. Please follow me." the maid directed. The twin pair of footsteps echoed throughout the large hallways. Each step helped bring a little kick to her consciousness. The yellowish-white light illuminating the hallway through the grand windows signified it was daytime. Something was dried up against her lip. As they approached a large brown set of double doors, she could hear a bunch of chatter, as well as smell something amazing. She was really hungry. Kafziel opened one of the doors for her revealing a dining room table with at least a dozen seats on either side. At one end sat 3 familiar heads, who looked at her once they noticed the intrusion.

"Morning Sleeping Beauty." Gabriel greeted her with a shit eating grin as large as a soccer field. Vigne and Raphiel joined in on Gabriel's snickering, much to Satania's disdain.

"What?"

"Did you sleep well?" Raphiel asked her between a fit of giggles.

"Yes?" Satania replied, confusion increasing tenfold as the three continued their snickering. Vigne rubbed to the corner of her mouth, Satania mimicking her until she found the familiar caked up stickiness near her lips. Her mind finally waking up, her face morphed into disgust as she finally pieced together what caused the sticky sensation. Ew. A curt tap on her shoulder and Kafziel was standing behind her again offering a cloth to wipe the saliva from her face.

"Thanks." Satania mumbled. The snickering turned into outright laughter as Satania glared at them. Satania couldn't help the low growl that emanated from within as she sat down. Her face glowed red from embarrassment as she hastily grabbed some danishes and bread from the assorted group of pastries and fruits from the platter on the table.

Popping one with a red colored jam into her mouth, she hummed in delight. Not bad. Nowhere as good as her family's pastries of course, but not bad. Looking back up Satania caught Raphiel glancing at her, a small smile on her face as she watched Satania continue to shovel food into her mouth before she returned to her own plate. The laughter died down into a comfortable silence as the girls continued to eat breakfast. Well Satania tried to, until she felt another gaze boring into her.

At her right, at the head of the table was a little girl in her preteens with her white hair styled into adorable twin tails. She must have been hidden, seeing as how the chairs towered over her head. Satania stared unnervingly as the girl's curious eyes seemed to be critically analyzing her, dissecting her very being. Satania swallowed her mouthful of food, but before a word could be uttered, the little girl shouted out at her "Your hair is really pretty!"

"Uhhhhh..." Satania started. Before she could respond another flurry of questions assaulted her.

"Why are they in loops?"

"Why is yours red?"

"Can you do magic and spells?"

"Could you beat Raphiel in a fight?"

"How strong ARE you?"

"Sara, please don't pester my friends with your silly questions." Raphiel chided the young angel.

"Sorry sister, but can you blame me? I never got to see demons this close before!" she exclaimed.

Gabriel spit out her juice, hacking over its contents while Vigne's mouth dropped open in shock. Satania frantically checked her wrist and her hair. The mysterious wristband's gem still emanated its green glow, and her bed head was still a messy blonde instead of her normal scarlet and missing her signature bat clips. So how in the world did her little secret get exposed so quickly? None of the maids knew so how?

"How did you know my hair was red?" she warily asked the child.

"By looking at it?" she responded innocently.

"Listen Sara, this is a VERY important secret. You need to promise me you won't tell a soul. Okay?" Raphiel said, locking eyes with her younger sister and unfazed by her revelation. The younger Shiraha nodded in understanding.

"I doubt your Mother and Father would be fond of you using the estate as lodging for demons, miss." Martiel chided as she entered the dining room. Well that's great. Two angels already knew her true heritage. This plan was already backfiring.

"They aren't here to feel that way nor to tell me otherwise, so I see no problem with it." Raphiel snapped. "You will not speak a word of this to them, or to the other maids. Understood Martiel?"

The head servant of the estate sighed, but begrudgingly obliged her master's request. "Understood Master Raphiel." Satania could only stare at her plate as the serene atmosphere shattered as the reality of the situation reared its ugly head.

This isn't a vacation.

Her kind are not welcome here.

As long as Heaven and Hell kept their ideological differences, she and Vigne would sooner be burning on stakes before breaking bread at anyone's table.

Sara's earlier bubbly enthusiasm morphed into hesitation. "Did I...do something wrong?" she squeaked meekly.

"You didn't do anything wrong Sara." Raphiel reassured her.

"Come Miss Sara. School will be starting soon. You mustn't be tardy now." Martiel urged the young girl. Sara nodded before running to and hugging Raphiel who slowly returned it back.

"Bye Raphiel. Bye pretty demon lady." she waved in Satania's direction before leaving, Martiel in tow.

Satania heard a loud clinking followed by footsteps marching away from the table. She should have said something, but what could she do? She knew next to nothing about Raphiel's personal life, how was she supposed to help in a way that mattered? Hopefully Raphiel cooled down later on, they needed to be focused.

"Crap!" Gabriel shouted, startling the remaining two occupants at the table.

"What?!" Vigne screeched back.

"We left our stuff in Hell! We don't have clothes to change into."

Another thing to add to the ever growing list of concerns.

A hill overlooking a cliff side to the dark briny depths of an ocean.

A smaller hill(it was barely a mound if she was being honest) outside of a small little town tucked away from Heaven's capital.

A temple to some unknown angel with an impressive tree on its flank, as if the tree itself was the one guarding the temple and not the angel.

Tempest's Lull, Canterburgh, and Attalos had all been duds. They were zipping back and forth through the outskirts of Heaven all throughout the morning. Thanks to these nifty disguise bracelets, any angel they did run into had no clue she was a demon. Even with Raphiel picking and sorting locations that were close in proximity, Satania was willing to bet the same distance would have been akin to her flying across Hell five times over.

Had it been naive to think she would find the answer to her vision at the first handful of locations?

Possibly.

But there was still hope in Saint Joan D'Arc's Keep. Fourth time's the charm. The girls touched down next to the nearby hillside with a very similar marker of a tree at its center. From the hill you could see an impressive view of the fortress below in all its glory. `

"Anything?" Three pairs of eyes gazed down from above her, questioning.

It was decided that the best way to see if Satania had the original vision at any location was to recreate what happened in it. So here she lay, splayed out at the top of the hillside. The spare white blouse Raphiel lent her had been caked with dirt for the fourth time that day. The blades of grass tickled her face as the breeze gently passed over them. Her eyes scrunched close in concentration, trying to force or will anything to happen. Sighing for the umpteenth time today, Satania opened her eyes and stood up, dusting the dirt off her legs. The vista was truly beautiful, probably really great for picnics. Unfortunately for her, she still had work to do, and was just as lost and clueless as yesterday.

"Still nothing." she mumbled defeated. Two sighs and a groan soon followed after her statement.

"Well, don't beat yourself up over it. It's not like you can control it." Vigne added helpfully.

"It would be nice if I could though. Would make this process a lot faster." Satania mumbled.

"Food for thought. But we've finished our journey for today, with time to spare as well. One of my favorite restaurants is in a town nearby, we can stop by and finally unwind a little." Raphiel said.

"Amen to that! All that searching worked up an appetite." Gabriel grinned.

Right. One day at a time. Nothing will get accomplished if they drag themselves haggard.

'We're not stopping. Just taking a break.' Satania reminded herself.

The four angels walked down the hill onto the main road they strayed from. But the path forward from the fortress was impeded.

"Hello children."

A/N: Hello dear readers! We've finally arrived and begun the Heaven Arc! This one's been in the oven for a while, but the girls finally made it.

Fun fact of this chapter: Vigne is an only child! The other three all have siblings except for Vigne! :(

New and returning readers thanks for stopping by! :D