Guardian Angel III:

Neo Arcus Angelus

Chapter 2

Second Strike

Oh, hi guys!

Yeah, I'm not dead, big shocker. I know it took me forever to get this chapter out, but I've had a lot of stress over school lately. Hell, I still do, but I figure I've been procrastinating long enough, so here I am. I hope this chapter is satisfactory and makes up for my long absence. My muse is a fickle little bastard and just pops in and out whenever it damn well feels like it, so I'm sorry this took so long.

Anyway, let's get this party started!

After a long day of catching up and settling in the previous day, it had concluded and everyone had gone home. Holly had taken one of the guest rooms in Matt's home until he could find a better place for her to live. He had had trouble sleeping the previous night, staying up to think over what had happened in just one day. It was morning now, and he and Holly were eating breakfast in the quiet of his kitchen. After his meal he was going to report everything to Soi-fon, and request an investigation team to check out the area around Holly's house.

He gulped down the last of his eggs, and placed his plate on his counter to be washed later. He turned back to Holly. "I'm heading to the second squads barracks to talk to Soi-fon, you can make yourself at home here or wander around the Soul Society if you want, just don't cause any trouble."

She gave him an amused look. "You're telling me not to make trouble? I think we have our roles a little reversed here."

"Heh, maybe. Still, I plan on checking your house out. It's doubtful, but I've got a few idea's as to who might be behind this."

"You think it's Ira don't you," she said, not asking but saying it with direct certainty.

Matt stopped in his tracks, but didn't turn around to answer. "We don't know what happened to him three years ago, he just dropped off the grid. Don't think I haven't considered him, but I can't think of any reason why he'd wait until now to make his move. If it is though..."

"I know you and he had a weird sort of alliance."

He nodded. "I could never really tell which team he was playing for, if he was ever playing for one at all. At times it seemed like he wanted to kill us all, but at the same time he hated Astaroth and the other Immortal Sins as much as we did. He was a total maverick, really confusing."

He sighed before continuing. "At any rate, I won't know until I take a look for myself. I'll probably be gone most of the day, so like I said, no trouble."

She gave him a mock salute and a smile. He figured that something might go down while he was gone, but didn't really have time to think about it, he needed to head out and get his mission cleared. He tied his Field Commander badge onto his arm like always, and threw Gabriel over his shoulder as he headed out the door. He wasted no time in using shunpo to cover ground as he headed for the Special Forces barracks.

A few minutes of rapid movement, and he was there. He jumped over the walls surrounding the barracks and landed in the main courtyard. As he headed for Soi-Fon's main office, he passed more than a few people under his command in his regiment, all of them greeting him with stuff like 'good morning' and 'great to see you'. He liked being able to be their boss, but be friendly about it. Especially since only a few years ago some of them outranked him.

He strolled down the wooden walkway waving to the few passer-byers that he met on his way. The thin paper and wood door was right in front of him before he knew it, and he tapped the wood of the door a few times to give fair warning before he barged in. As he expected, Soi-Fon was sitting behind her desk, working vigorously on her paperwork. To her left was Marechiyo Ōmaeda, definitely his least favorite Lieutenant. He was fat, a slob, extremely boastful, and in Matt's opinion, could barely fight. Most people believed that he only got his rank because of his family, and the more time he spent with the bumbling oaf, the more he believed it as well.

"Yo, Soybean, what's shakin'?" he said casually with a quick wave.

She sighed heavily but decided to skip their normal argument for today. "What do you want Anderson?"

"I don't know if you heard the news, but a buddy of mine, Holly, popped up in the Soul Society yesterday. If you could clear a little investigation for me, that would be great. Don't worry about losing anyone on staff, I'll go alone, it's sort of personal anyway."

Marechiyo scoffed, drawing Matt's attention.

"What makes you think the captain would clear an investigation into the death of one measly human soul?"

"Because three years ago when the Soul Society was sitting with its thumbs up its ass, that measly human soul was part of the small number of people actually trying to avert the impending apocalyptic invasion of Hells fiery hordes. Sorry if I find her sudden and unexplained death a little strange."

The burly man growled and clenched his fists. "Why you-!"

"Ōmaeda, Anderson, that's enough!" shouted Soi-Fon.

Both of them quieted, and the slim captain settled back into her seat. She eyed Matt intently. He was easily one of her most effective and well recieved Field Commanders. He would be the perfect soldier if it weren't for his mouth, which had the knack of getting him in trouble with both her and other higher ranking figures. Still, she was well informed of what had transpired three years ago. What had been dubbed as the Hellspawn Incident was only fully known to Captains, as well as the Lieutenants and seated officers that had been present at the battle. The battle itself was common knowledge, but what had happened inside the cavern, especially Matt's battle with Astaroth, was Captains information only.

The one he was referring to was Holly Nelson. As far as she knew, the girl had above average strength for a human, as well as precognitive abilities and was an accomplished martial artist. She was a fellow disciple of her former master and idol, Yoruichi Shihoin, which meant that the girl was not to be underestimated or undervalued. Even the captain herself had to admit, the girls death was indeed sudden and strange. She had seen Yoruichi one or two times, and the girl had come up in a conversation. Apparently, her old master had nothing but praise for her.

"I'll allow it," she concluded.

"Alright, that's a load Soybean. I'll head out right away and be back before you can say 'bankai'," he said as he headed out the door, "Be seein' ya!"

Once the door had closed, Marechiyo growled again and stomped his foot. "That simpleton, who does he think he is talking like that? That fool needs to learn his place!"

"I agree, he does have a problem with authority that needs to be corrected, but one can't deny his skill. Remember, he was trained by Ichigo Kurosaki and defeated Captain Hitsugaya in single combat."

"Hm, I still don't like him."

Half-hour later

Matt exited the Senkaimon and breathed in the air of his home town. It had been a good long while since he'd been to Seattle last, a few months at least. He came out right on his houses lawn, and the lights of the living room shone brightly in the darkness of the night that encased the city. He couldn't help himself, and he walked up to the window looking into the living room. His parents were both sitting in the living room, his mother reading a thick leather bound book, and his father watching a football game.

He really did miss them, but everything was as it was four years ago when he first became a Soul Reaper. It was back to square one. His parents remembered that he had indeed died four years ago, and all the time he had spent with that during his time as a deputy was wiped away. I comforted him when he remembered that once they reached the Soul Society, he would have over a thousand years to spend with them, probably even more. That always made him smile, and it kept him going.

Satisfied that they were fine, he turned and left, heading over to Holly's house. With his speed, it was like a blink of an eye. The significantly larger and more expensive house was also illuminated in the darkness. Matt took the time to peer into their living room window as well. The atmosphere in the Nelson household was significantly gloomier, and for understandable reasons. Holly had only died yesterday, and though he'd just talked with her this morning like he used to while they walked to school, they wouldn't be able to speak with her for a long time. Their sadness was more than warranted.

He sighed, and moved to the adjacent side of the house, and leaped up into Holly's bedroom. He looked around; it looked liked like the police had already investigated her room. There was some caution tape and a few evidence markers spread around, but Matt knew that the police had no chance of catching whoever did this.

He jumped down from the window sill and onto her carpeted floor. He approached her bed and took a closer look. The sheets were still stained with dried blood, and there was a huge gash in the mattress indicating a bladed weapon was used. That only supported the theory that it was a spiritually aware culprit, but he couldn't think of who would do this, or why. Matt still couldn't shake his thoughts away from Ira. As much as he suspected the red haired Immortal, it just didn't seem likely. What reason would he possibly have for killing Holly, why would he go after her of all people?

He looked around the room for a few more minutes, but didn't find a thing. He was about to head out and snoop around the outside of the house when his spiritual sense suddenly spiked. He immediately jumped out the window, grabbed onto the edge of the roof of Holly's house, and flipped up onto the roof, grabbing a hold of Gabriel's hilt.

His neck twisted form side to side, and his eyes darted every which way. This spiritual pressure was extremely large, captain level large. It held a sly, almost fox-like quality to it, but some of it felt familiar. He wasn't sure why, but it seemed like he had encountered part of this spiritual pressure before.

"So, you're the Anderson kid he's always going on about," said a voice from behind Matt.

He whirled around and pulled Gabriel free from its hilt, slashing downward in a furious arc. The blade never made contact with the intended target, and the tip of the blade embedded itself in the shingles of the roof. Matt pulled his sword free, and looked over at the other end of the roof. A man with white hair, squinted eyes, -almost completely closed- and a sly grin on his face. He was wearing all white robes.

"Let's have some fun."

He quickly freed a wakazashi from a previously unseen sheath, and leaped towards Matt at blinding speed.

At the same time: Coaldale, Alberta

Acedia was walking down lonely street just outside the town of Coaldale. It was the dead of night, and he really wished he had stayed in town and looked for a place to stay, but he was already a good way down the road, so he'd live with the choice. He hated walking, but he didn't have a car, and the next town wasn't too far away if he was reading his map right.

He was heading down to Seattle to visit Holly. He'd been all over the place the last three years. From wandering around East Europe, to trekking around South America. He'd been adventuring around the entire world, trying to make up for falling for Astaroths silver tongue so long ago now. He sort of missed Holly though; she was really the only family he had anymore. Well, the only person that gave a damn about him at least, and he hadn't actually seen her since he left three years ago.

She would be about nineteen years old now if his memory served him correctly. He still hadn't aged a day, being and Immortal, and still resembled a man in his early twenties.

He boredly walked down the dark road, his hands were shoved in the pockets of his jacket. He suddenly stopped and his eyes shot open; he sensed something familiar, and something he really wished he hadn't. He could hear a second set of footsteps coming from the darkness in front of him, and he stood firm to face it. Acedia was able to make out locks of red hair as the footsteps grew louder, and it only served to confirm who he already suspected.

"Good to see you again Acedia, hows life?" said a harsh voice.

Acedia sighed and freed his hands from his pockets. "Ira, haven't heard from you in a while. What brings you to this little corner of the world?"

"I think that should be pretty obvious."

"If you're looking for a fight, it'll have to wait," he said, brushing past him, "I've got somewhere a little more important to be."

Ira smirked and turned to face him as he walked away. "You know, I'll admit Holly's pretty strong, but even with those eyes of hers, she can't fight in her sleep."

Acedia stopped again and turned his head, the one eye Ira could make out was glaring daggers at him.

"What did you do?" he growled.

"I'm the avatar of Wrath, use your imagination," he said with a grin.

In a flicker of movement, Acedia was gone, and in an instant, Ira had a huge gash rushing down his right shoulder and upper arm. Acedia stood behind him with his singe tonfa blade drawn. He turned around and pointed it at Ira, who could already feel his right arm go numb and un-usable.

"Don't even try to run away you son-of-a-bitch, I'll take off that cocky head of yours before you move an inch," he said, an unusual tone of anger his voice.

Ira still retained his smirk. "If your feeling so confident, why don't you attack again."

Acedia took the advice, and flew forward with blinding speed, thrusting his tonfa blade forward to stab Ira straight through the head. The tip of the blade was mere inches from Ira forehead when Acedia felt a grip on his arm, and his attack was stopped in its tracks. The former avatar of Sloth's eyes widened at what he saw. Ira was holding his attack at bay, but with his left hand.

"Wh-when did you-?"

"That's my little secret."

Then, with a swift flick of his wrist, he twisted Acedia's arm in a complete 360 degree circle, and with a simple yank, completely ripped it off by the shoulder. The pain was instant, sharp, and unbelievable in scale. The Immortal let out a scream that could very well have reached the town he had just left. Acedia fell to his knees and clutched his bleeding stub, tears uncontrollably falling from his eyes.

"How's it feel? That's how it felt when I lost mine. Now, let's see how much you enjoy losing your head."

Acedia looked up from his crumpled up form, and the last thing he remembered was the blinding flash of illuminated metal.

Then the blackness took him.

Chapter 2, complete!

I sorta feel like this was maybe rushed a bit, but I don't know. Drop a review and give me your opinion. That's what the buttons for after all. Oh, and why yes, I did just pretty much kill Acedia.

See ya next chapter y'all!