~Grace~

"I suppose I can't get any food, right?" I asked. I readjusted my hands so that they wouldn't sting as much. I winced when the raw skin underneath the shackles rubbed against the cold metal.

"Stop talking," Scarlet said. I frowned. Scarlet really wasn't a talkative demon. I missed Jude. I figured he'd at least bring me something to eat. Yeah, I wasn't just trying to strike up a random conversation just then. I was actually starving.

"I'll die if I don't receive proper sustenance," I commented. I shifted where I sat again.

"I'm not exactly happy right now. Please stop talking," she said. I raised an eyebrow. She'd actually sounded distressed just now. We stayed silent for a moment. After a while my curiosity grew too great.

"Are you worried?" I asked.

"I told you to stop," she immediately hissed.

"I asked you a question," I grumbled.

She was silent and then, "Yes."

"Do you love Jude?"

"Love!?" she demanded. She turned around and gripped the bars in front of my cell that kept me confined in the same tiny room I had been before.

"I was just asking," I said. I looked her in the eyes and waited. She stared at me. At first she looked angry, but then she began to look sad. "I figured you were worried about him after everything that happened. I saw you save him from Satan and offer to help train him…or whatever that was. I know that you 'showed mercy' towards him on the roof. Don't say that you didn't, because those were your own words."

"I know," she said. She slumped down to the ground and let her long, red hair fall over her face, "I wasn't going to argue with you."

"So you do love him?" I asked. I waited and kept staring. A lock of my own hair fell over my eyes and I blew it away. It was like I could brush it away with my hands when they were tightly shackled to the wall. Sadly shackles tend to limit mobility.

"I never said that I loved him," she said. She looked up at me and I noticed that she almost seemed lost.

"I have someone that I love," I said quietly, "You know when you know. I guess that sounds dumb, but it's true."

"It does sound dumb," she said.

I laughed, "Hey, I told you it would, didn't I?"

"How do you know?"

"That I love Rin?" I questioned. Her only response was a nod. I took a deep breath, "I'd been alone most of my life…until I met him, that is. Somehow after I met him I didn't feel alone anymore. I guess that's when I started falling in love with him. I know because right now I'm more worried about Rin than I am worried about myself." I chuckled to myself, "It's stupid, but it's true."

"It's not stupid." I looked up. Scarlet was staring at the wall.

"Since when did you become so nice?" I asked, "Seriously, you're scaring me."

She huffed and got to her feet, "Don't be a fool. I've never been nice in my life. I was simply stating that I understand, that's all. Goodbye."

"Are you getting me food?" I called after her.

"No!"

I slumped back against the wall and closed my eyes. I didn't like being alone here. Whenever I was alone it only took me a few moments to start thinking about dumb things. I would always consider the possibility that I would never get out of Gehenna, and then mentally slap myself for doubting Rin. Then I'd start thinking about Rin. Sometimes that almost cheered me up, but then I'd start worrying about whether or not he'd gotten back to Assiah or not. It was an endless chain of worry and fear that I hated. That's why I didn't like to be alone. If I was with someone I could at least pester him or her for answer, even if low-ranking guards were usually posted outside. It was my way of entertaining myself.

I'd been lucky today, though. Scarlet had been the one to watch over me. I wasn't quite sure why that was, though. She didn't usually come here. Actually, she'd never been here before. I wondered why it was that she'd come. I let my head slump against my chest and struggled against the unforgiving shackles. "This sucks!" I shouted. I heard my voice echo throughout the building.

I took slow breaths. In and out. I tried to ignore the pain. I'd never been bound up like this before—hey, stop thinking dirty things!—so I'd been surprised that it hurt so much. I refused to let the tears stream down my face. That wasn't something that I was going to let happen. I took another deep breath and held it. I waited until my lungs were screaming for air before releasing it and sucking in more air.

"Grace," a voice hissed. My head jerked up. I looked around my cell but didn't see anyone. Great, now I'm hallucinating. Could my day get any better?

"Grace!" the voice came again.

"If you don't come out now I will hunt you down and drop kick you," I drawled. I heard laughter and then a head popped into view behind the bars across from me.

"I'd like to see you try," he said.

I whimpered, "How did you get here?"

"Oh, you know me. I always find a way," Rin said. He examined the bars and then kicked them in. I wondered how he'd done it when I couldn't, but brushed the thought from my mind.

"I'm sorry I took so long," he said, rushing to my side. He hastily opened my shackles and my arms dropped to my sides. I slumped against his chest and curled up.

"Why'd you make me wait, idiot!" I said into his shirt. He held me tightly and ran his fingers through my messy hair. He pulled me against him and whispered into my ear.

"I'm sorry, Grace. I love you," he said. His voice sounded pained, "I'm so sorry."

I shook my head, "You'll need to do better than that." He pulled out of our embrace and smiled down at me. His dark eyes and hair were the same as I remembered them. I felt like it had been forever since I'd last seen them, though it had only been yesterday.

Rin leaned down and gently kissed me. He gently slid his fingers along the side of my face and kissed me there, too. He kissed my neck, and cheeks, my forehead, my lips…

I only spoke when he stopped, "That was better."

"WHAT WAS BETTER?!" shouted a voice. My eyes snapped open. What? Where am I? What just happened?

"You looked like you were having a strange dream, Grace. Are you alright?" Jude asked. I looked up at him and was suddenly aware of the aching in my wrists again.

"Jude?" I squeaked.

He knelt down beside me, "That's my name." He half-smiled, which was the most I'd seen of him.

"I was having a really good dream," I whimpered. His eyebrow furrowed and he touched my cheek gently.

"About what?" he asked. He sounded worried.

"About Rin," I said. The tears started to fall. I tried to keep them back, but I couldn't. Sometimes getting a glimpse of heaven was worse than enduring the hell.

Jude wrapped his arms around me and he let me cry into his shoulder. "I…I really m-miss him!" I sobbed. Jude released me from my shackles and I weakly gripped his jacket. "I knew it was impossible," I said, my voice muffled by his clothes.

"Nothing's impossible, Grace. He loves you. He'll come back for you no matter what," Jude whispered.

"How do you know?"

"Because love is stronger than anything, right?" he said. I looked up at him. "And you know that," he added.

I slowly nodded, "Yeah. Sorry. That was dumb. I just don't think I can stay here for much longer."

"I'm sorry," he said.

"Why are you apologizing?" he asked.

"Because I wish you weren't here."

"That doesn't mean you have to apologize."

"I guess you're right."

"Yeah, I know."

His face sobered, "But there is something I'm truly sorry for."

I looked at him and sniffed, "What's that?"
"I have to take you to my father." I froze and slowly inched away from him. I stared and didn't try to hide it.

"P-Please don't do that." I shrunk into the corner of the room. Jude was suddenly a threat. I couldn't go back there. I didn't want the darkness again. I didn't want that.

"Grace, I have to," he said. He wouldn't look at me.

"No, you don't! Why are you so afraid of your father?"

"Why aren't you?!" he shouted. I couldn't answer. "Let's go, Grace," he said. His voice was harsh. There was none of the friendliness he'd shown me a moment ago. Why had he changed? What had happened?

~God~

"Where's Grace? And what happened to you?" I shouted.

"We have a lot to tell you," Rin said. I stared at the boy. He was the one that my daughter had chosen. My precious daughter. And yet I'd let him come back in this state. I ordered him to sit down and he complied. He looked exhausted and was covered in grime.

"If you two couldn't retrieve her, then I guess I'll have to resort to…"

"To what?" Mikael asked. I looked up at him and felt the grimace spread across my face.

"War."

"What?!" they bother shouted in unison.

"I have no choice," I said. I turned away from them and took a deep breath.

"That's not true. I've got an idea," Rin said. I turned back to him.

"Is it stupid?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" he shouted.

I laughed a bit. Of course the one my daughter had fallen in love with was so temperamental. He was just like she was.

"It's not stupid," he mumbled. He crossed his arms.

"If it means avoiding war, then I'll listen," I said. I had to avoid war at all costs. It was a potentially disastrous possibility, and I'd rather not destroy Assiah while fighting Satan. I sat down across from Rin and looked him in the eye, "I want you to know that whatever the costs are, I am going to get my daughter back. If I am forced to destroy Assiah in the process—which I'd honestly prefer not to do—I will do so. I refuse to let Grace fall into Satan's hands."

"Normally I'd call you insane, but I understand how you're feeling right now," he said. He didn't break eye contact for a moment. I grinned.

"Good, now I'd like for you to tell me what this genius plan of yours is."

And there you have it...
Thanks for reading yet another chapter. Please leave a review!
(And yeah, in case you couldn't tell...Grace was having a dream about Rin miraculously saving her)