Sorry it's been so long! I'd like to warn you ahead of time that this chapter is a bit…dramatic…and depressing. It's all my fault! It's 3 AM right now, but I finished it! Read on, and I'm sorry again that it's so…sad. It's touching too, though. Just saying. Also, sorry, but I didn't edit it. I figured timeliness would be more important that quality. :)

~Mikael~

My entire body felt tense. This was the worst part of our plan, of Grace and Rin's plan. I willed myself not to get up and go and find Grace. She was in the most danger out of all of us. The bait always was.

The plan relied unnervingly heavily on timing. If Grace's group didn't arrive before Elijah's or ours, the plan would collapse. Satan's ability to monitor everything in his castle, his eye, was where Elijah's group was heading. They were in charge of destroying the eye.

Grace's group was the bait. It consisted of our strongest angels, Grace, and Rin. That idiot. He'd insisted that he was to be in her group even though he should have been in Leo's. It didn't matter, though. As I thought, there was no separating those two. What Satan wanted more than anything, for obvious reasons, was Grace herself. He wanted her dead or a slave. If he couldn't have her power, no one else could. That's why Grace was the bait, the distraction so that Leo's group, my group, could strike.

Our main goal: Belrthmo. We needed to get close enough to it that we could destroy it without having an unfortunate run-in with Satan. To do so, we needed to disable his eye and distract him. Of course, we didn't know how to destroy the demon weapon. We needed someone else for that.

Before we could do anything, though, we had to wait. Grace had given us each a lock of her hair. When she used her angelic power, every part of her glowed…including her hair. As soon as her hair lit up, we were to wait five minutes before we commenced our mission. Timing was everything.

~Elijah~

"I just don't understand why we, of all angels, had to be the ones stuck with…them," I said for the sixth time.

Kain nodded, silent as ever, as we ran. "Not to mention that we got the least eventful of all of the missions," I grumbled.

"But the most important!" said someone. I turned to see that it was the short kid with the bald head and glasses. He was your typical human nerd.

I glared at him, my hair flying behind me, neatly arranged in between my speckled wings, "Don't talk. It makes you more annoying."

"Don't you think you're being a little harsh?" quipped one of the girls, the more annoying one with the horrid eyebrows.

"No," I replied, mimicking her annoying voice. I was seriously angry. I sometimes got that way. The only one who could calm me down was Kain…and that's just what he did. He stopped running, and when I noticed that I skidded to a stop also.

I stared at him for a moment and then spoke up, "What are you doing?" I walked towards him. The Exwires stared also.

The timid girl spoke, "Um, shouldn't we be moving?"

I growled at her and she hid behind the tall guy. That's when Kain put one of his big hands on my shoulder. I looked up at him. He shook his head, "Be nice."

"But…they're…it's…we're…" I sighed, "Fine." The corner of his lips lifted, his signature smile. I rolled my eyes and ran on.

"Alright, we don't know what's waiting for us in that room. I assume you know your positions, right?" I asked as we ran. I picked up the pace to make up for lost time.

"Yes, Sir," said the pink-haired kid.

"Sir?" I asked and then grinned, "I like that." We ran quickly. We had to get there as fast as possible.

Soon enough, just as Grace had instructed, we turned right and ran into a dead end. "Ok, find it, Exwires," I said. The Arias started chanting the verse that we'd made sure to learn before crossing into Gehenna.

I sort of blocked out their words, keeping my eyes trained on the wall in front of us. "I don't see anything," I said, clenching the hilt of my sword.

"Look," Kain said. He pointed and I followed his finger. A tiny demon had crawled out of an equally tiny hole.

The tall kid looked at me for confirmation and I nodded. His hand shot out and he grabbed the demon in his fist. He winced when it bit his finger. It was a blood sacrifice. Normally, it would kill the person who was sacrificed. This time, since it was weakened by its fatal verse, we would be able to gain access to what was on the other side of the door without losing a member of our company.

"I still don't get why it had to be me," the Exwire grumbled. Damn, I really should have bothered to learn their names. That would make this a lot easier.

"Human blood from someone who received a particularly traumatic temptaint," I repeated for the third time.

"Stupid," he mumbled.

"What now? I forgot," said the pink-haired one.

"We wait," I said.

"For what?" asked the strangely adorable yet somewhat obnoxious one. I had to acknowledge her blond hair. Blond hair is the best kind of hair. Trust me, I would know.

"For that," Kain said. I blinked and looked down. My pocket was glowing. I reached inside and pulled out the lock of hair Grace had given me. I nodded, and looked around at the Exwires.

"Time to move! We've got five minutes!" I said. Kain acted instantly. He stepped forward and drove his foot through the wall. If we hadn't killed that guardian demon, he wouldn't have been able to make a dent.

I slipped through the hole he'd created, the Exwires right behind me, and set to work. My heart sank when I saw what was waiting for us inside.

There weren't giant masses of demons. There wasn't a single person in that room. The only thing in the entire room, other than the eye, (which was a revolting, undulating, black orb on a pedestal on the other side of the room), was a hamster.

"Oh, it's just a hamster," said the pink-haired guy. He sounded relieved.

"Get out," I ordered.

"Huh?" he asked, "But it's just a hamst-"

"Get out!" Kain bellowed. The kid's eyes went wide and he immediately ran out the door, followed closely by his friends.

"Kain, this one's going to be tough," I said.

"Five minutes," he said, unsheathing his scimitars.

"I'll see you on the other side?"

He nodded. I grinned and turned to face our opponent. I took a deep breath and unsheathed my rapier. I cracked my neck and, after counting to three, charged forward. Only when we got close enough did the hamster transform into the Demon King of Earth, Amaimon.

"It's been a while, Elijah!" he shouted, his voice clearly delighted and his tone light. He spoke while deflecting both Kain's and my blades with his claws.

"It certainly has, Amaimon," I replied over the clashing of our weapons.

"And Kain! What a surprise. I didn't expect to see you here! Father will be most infuriated, you know?" Amaimon said. He'd been forced to take a few steps back, towards the eye.

"Quit the chatter, Amaimon. Fight!" I demanded. He smiled and paused for a few brief moments. I seized the opportunity to attack him; I should have known better.

"Wait!" Kain yelled, but it was too late. I lashed out at Amaimon with my blade. He easily deflected me and landed a powerful blow to my stomach. I flew backwards, slamming into the wall behind us. I fell to the ground, immersed in pain. I would start healing soon, but it would take a while if it was broken ribs.

"Elijah!" I looked up to see the blond girl crouching beside me.

"What are you-" I began. I coughed and tasted blood and decided it would be wise not to talk. Maybe I'd hurt myself more than I'd thought.

"Here. Eat this," she said. She shoved a weird looking plant at my face. I heard a shout and my head snapped back to the battle. Kain was struggling, clearly on the defensive.

"Are you tired, Kain? I thought you were the stronger one! If you're already so close to dying, I doubt Elijah will take me very long to kill either. That way I can get rid of both of you and go and tell Father of your little plot!" Amaimon said as he continued to hurl attacks at Kain, his voice ecstatic. It was like he was telling someone that the weather would be nice the next day for the picnic he was planning.

"Kain!" I yelled, but regretted it. More blood.

"Eat it!" the girl screamed, "Mrs. Beedle will help you!" Mrs. Beedle. What the heck was this crazy girl talking about in a time like this? I just needed to get back to my partner. I needed to get back to Kain, to help him. I promised I'd be seeing him on the other side, and I wasn't about to let him get there on his own.

"Just eat it, man!" shouted the big guy. He grabbed my hair, (which, if it had not been a life or death situation, I would have been furious about), yanked my head back, and shoved the herb in my mouth. I swallowed it and almost immediately felt better. Whatever that girl had given me, it was like a magical cure. She really knew her herbs.

I grabbed my sword and immediately shot forward. I leapt forward and plunged my sword into Amaimon's shoulder. The Demon King screamed in pain as I yanked my sword out of his flesh. We were running out of time. If we didn't destroy the eye in time, Leoric's team would push forward and Satan would find out about our goal.

I sprinted for the eye. Once I was close enough, I raised my sword and prepared to strike. Before I could destroy the eye, a crippling pain seared my veins. My sword fell from my hand and I crumpled to my knees. Blood was seeping from the arrow that had burrowed straight through my hand. It was still stuck there. I clenched my teeth.

"The next one is your head, Elijah," Amaimon said. An arrow, seemingly made of stone, was floating beside his head. It was pointed directly at me.

My brain instantly came up with a plan, a way to get around this…to trick him. I looked at Kain. We'd been together ever since we were children. We knew each other better than anyone else. He was always able to understand what I was thinking without unnecessary words. So, when I looked at him at that moment, he knew what I wanted him to do. I nodded and yanked the arrow from my hand.

I ignored the rush of pain, grabbed my sword with my other hand, and bolted straight at Amaimon. His eyes went wide. I could hear Kain sprinting towards the eye. He'd be the one to deal the final blow, destroy the eye. Amaimon stared me in the eyes and grinned. I was almost close enough to plunge my sword into him, then. Maybe, if I had, things wouldn't have turned out the way they did.

Time slowed down. Amaimon spoke. "I'm not that stupid, Elijah." He dodged to the right and kicked me aside. Even two powerful angels, it seems, are no match for a Demon King. At least, not without injury…without loss…

I watched helplessly as Amaimon turned his attention to Kain. He'd seen it coming. As Kain ran to the eye, Amaimon took his aim. "Kain!" I screamed. He looked my way just as the arrow pierced his chest. Kain's eye went wide. He stood there, the arrow gruesomely protruding from his heart. He looked down and then stared at me. He turned to the eye. He lashed out. The eye shattered easily, breaking into thousands of tiny pieces…almost like black glass…

"NO!" Amaimon shrieked. Kain collapsed immediately and numbness possessed my entire body. Amaimon stood there, seething. The numbness, all at once, exploded into fiery hot rage. I stood up and hurled my fist at Amaimon. I was so angry, so lost, so broken that my fist buried itself in Amaimon's chest.

"A heart for a heart," I growled.

Amaimon stared at me, looked down just as Kain had, and looked back up. I didn't hesitate. I ripped Amaimon's heart from his chest and dropped it on the ground. The former Demon King collapsed. I ran to Kain's side and fell to my knees beside him. He was still breathing. I ripped the arrow from his chest and pressed my hands down on his wound to try to stop the bleeding. I think deep down I knew that it wouldn't work.

"Kain…" I said. He didn't say anything, just looked at me. "Kain!" I yelled. He blinked slowly and opened his mouth. A tiny line of blood leaked from the corner of his lips.

"Sorry," he said. He coughed, "I should…have seen that coming."

"You idiot," I breathed. My vision blurred. Tears.

"E-Elijah," he said, "I might have to go…on ahead." He broke into a coughing fit and gasped for air afterwards. His breathing was ragged now.

"You can't! I won't let you!" I yelled.

Kain looked up at me, and…smiled. "I'll see you on the other side."

His dark eyes stared forward. A single tear dripped from his eye…and I knew…

I knew he'd gone on without me.

The worst thing about writing stories like this is writing a death. Especially an OC. All of my OC's are somewhere close to my heart, so it makes me legitimately sad to kill one. You can call me weird, but it's true. It was necessary, though; I won't take it back.

I also won't lie and say that I didn't consider keeping Kain alive. I did. But I had to do it. I'm also sorry for ending this chapter on a sad note. I also apologize for the semi-gruesome parts, (in case you're especially sensitive to those things), and for the general grimness of this story at the moment.

We'll see what happened with Grace and what's going to happen with Mikael and Leoric soon…and we can't forget about Jude and Scarlet… Things are probably starting to become a little clearer for you now. If you're still confused about anything, either leave me a review or PM me, and I'll answer your question at the start of the next chapter.

Leave me a review if you want! I really do love them! When I get one, my heart explodes and then repairs itself and then implodes for good measure! :)