Rinoa smiled at him sweetly. "Now, it's not his fault... Most of the fault lies in the hands of the captain of his army, Ghost." She explained without really knowing why she did. Shaking her head and nervously fidgeting with her long brown hair. "Well I did something... I used to be a little more important and now I'm trying to redeem myself- not that it's working..." She said quietly. Blinking a few times when he mentioned helping her. She had to think on this... She shook her head and sighed. "The only thing I was told was to follow a ray of light." Rinoa answered softly. "But the only ray of light I see are those that the sun puts off." She said.

"Never heard this Ghost character." Christian said and thought for a bit about what she said. "A ray of light?" he repeated. "Hmm...well yes the sun would be the obvious answer, but you have to think outside the logic box." he said and smirked. "Ever thought of looking during the nighttime?" he suggested. "Once it's dark out, a ray of light should be clearly visible Rin." Christian pointed out. "Until then, feel free to take it easy, rushing doesn't really help you. Only causes you to get stuck in trees." he reminded and laughed softly. "By the way, aren't you not allowed to talk to demons Rin?" he asked and raised an eyebrow in a quizzical look.

Rinoa rubbed her arm nervously as he spoke to her about searching the night. Night was when the demons and fallens came to play... That thought frightened her. "But..why would they.." She shook her head to clear her thoughts. She didn't want to think about it. Rinoa giggled sheepishly when he mentioned crashing into trees and smiled. She blinked when he brought up angels not talking to demon and she shook her head. "I like you. You're different from most demons..t-they can't condemn me for doing my job as an angel- helping people. I want to help you but first I have to find this soul." Rinoa explained nervously.

Christian noticed that the thought of looking at night scared her. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna let anyone hurt you Rin." he started and frowned slightly. "I don't need help Rin. I'm perfectly fine." he said and looked around for any sight of a ray of light. The sunlight was all he could really see at the moment but he kept looking around. "A ray of light..." he said to himself. It was like looking through a picture book and trying to find Waldo. This wasn't going to be easy but it would be worth it if it helped her out in any way. "What exactly did you do that got you punished?" he asked with a smirk on his face.

Rinoa frowned slightly but soon smiled again. She really did like him. A lot. But not the kind of like that gets two people together, just the kind of like that two friends have. She liked him as a friend. Rinoa sighed softly under her breath and looked out into the distance as if searching the world for answers. She had difficulty remembering what she did wrong..but she remembered enough to count. "I let a little boy die..." She said in a faint voice. Rinoa brought her hands to her heart and looked down at the ground. "I used to be a guardian angel..." Rinoa whispered softly.

She lowered her hands and looked at him. "I never got your name." Rinoa said, trying to change the subject as quickly as possible. Dark thoughts could have their own consequences on an angel... She fakes a small smile. "I can't go around calling you Mr. Demon, that's just rude."

When he heard her he was actually surprised. "Really? Well I'm sorry but you can't save everyone. I do not think that's a good reason to be punished though. People die all the time. I'm pretty sure someone is dying as we speak." Christian started and frowned. "I'm sorry though, truly I am. I'm sure you did all you could to keep the kiddo safe though, don't feel bad about yourself. It could have happened to anyone." he explained and chuckled softly. "Sorry, My name is Christian. Pleased to make your acquaintance Rinoa." he answered easily. His eyes continued to search for the ray of light but he gave up, deciding it would be best if they just waited for night to fall.

She sighed softly and shook her head. She knew what he was talking about, but it didn't really matter. Whether it was justified or not, she was deemed a messenger. Unworthy to remain as a guardian. It was in the past. Rinoa did a little curtsy. "The pleasure is mine Christian." She replied when he introduced himself. Rinoa hovered towards the tree and sat on a branch to let her wings rest for a minute. "Should we meet up later?" She asked curiously, seeing how it wouldn't be nightfall for another few hours or so and sitting here was getting anyone anywhere.

Yes, go back home and hide behind that closed door. Go back to being alone Christian, you don't belong outside. he thought to himself and frowned. "Y-yeah...I guess that would be the best idea. We can meet up here at this tree once it gets dark." he said to her and forced a smile on his face. "Until then, take care Rinoa. Be careful with the trees." he said and without another word, Christian walked off towards his house. He just hoped she didn't get stuck on another tree while he was gone. "I'm sure she'll be careful though, she learned her lesson." Christian said to himself quietly as he opened the front door of his house and stepped inside.

Before the young angel could say anything, Christian left. She sighed softly and watched him leave, following him with her eyes until she saw him go inside what she guessed was his home. Now she was all alone. Again. She carefully got down from the tree and leaned up against the bark of the tree. After a few minutes she was sound asleep. All this searching and worrying really took a lot out of her.

Christian had to keep himself busy, so he grabbed his art supplies from under his bed and took it all to the kitchen table. "What to draw?" he asked himself as he sorted everything out. He had various pencils and colored pencils, a few erasers and a sharpener. Opening his sketch book, he flipped through the pages until he found a blank one. "Alright, let's just see what happens." he said and grabbed a pencil and began to sketch out a face. His face, and he wasn't liking it. He erased it quickly and sighed softly. He wanted to draw something that would make him smile, something that he actually liked looking at. It was then that he started sketching out a hillside with an abandoned well near it. Christian sketched out clouds, stars and the moon in the sky and smiled. So far it was looking nice.

Rinoa awoke from a terrible dream- it was dark and very lonesome..but there was a bright light that seemed to glimmer above of all surrounding darkness. She was chasing that light, afraid to see what was hunting the young angel. All she could hear was her heartbeat echoing in her ears and several sources of growling that followed behind her. Ghost had woke her up by taping her foot with his own.

"Rinoa, wake up!" He called to her, his eyebrows furrowed together. Rinoa rubbed her pale blue eyes and looked at him. "What do you want?" She asked, covering her mouth to yawn. "It's dangerous to be out like this at this hour." He said to her, holding out a hand for her to take. Rinoa slowly stood, ignoring the offered hand. Ghost sighed. "The demons have began their search- have you found any leads?" He asked. She shook her head. "No, but a friend gave the advise to search at night so I could see the ray of light you told me about." Rinoa answered quietly, causing the other's silver eyes to widen. "At night?" Rinoa nodded, then smiled. "Don't worry, my friend is gonna protect me from the terrible creatures that lurk in the night." She said cheerfully. Ghost gave her a worried face. "Rin..." He said quietly, placing a hand on her head. "Just be careful- without messengers like you, the souls we're looking for can't find their way." He said to her in a quiet voice.

Rinoa blinked and looked at Ghost, awestruck as he flew off to join the other angels. "So... I'm important after all...?" She asked herself in a soft voice, her cheeks tinted with pink. It would be dusk soon, so the young angel began walking towards Christians house with her wings out so she could hide from the humans. Once she was in front of his door, she took a quiet breath and knocked a few times.

The sketch looked perfect, but Christian was worried that the ink would ruin it. "I have to be careful.." he said to himself softly as he pulled out an inking pen and traced over the pencil lines carefully. He was so focused on that, that he was surprised when he heard a knock on the door. Frowning, Christian set the cap on the pen and quietly got up and walked to the front door. His eyes looked over at the window and he decided to peek out before he opened the door. When he did peak out, his grey eyes noticed the little angel and he smiled slightly. Christian opened the door and looked at Rinoa as she stood there at his door step. "Hello again Rin." he said and offered her a small smile. "Ready to go look for this soul?" he asked her as he closed the door behind him. It was pitch black outside, so he knew that finding a bright light wouldn't be too difficult. He just hoped they found it before anyone else did.

Rinoa waited patiently for Christian to open the door. When he did, she took a single step back to give him room to walk outside and close the door. She smiled warmly and nodded. "Ready as ever." She chirped softly. Rinoa averted her eyes for a moment, then looked back up at him. "Ghost payed me a visit- he said the other demons had already started looking." She said quietly, honestly a little worried that they would the soul first. That would be very very bad.

(short~ x.x)

When Rinoa told him what Ghost had told her, he frowned. "That's not good to hear." he said and looked around. "Hmm, it just means we have to be faster than them. If they do get it, I can try to get it from them." Christian explained quietly and motioned for her to follow him as he headed down the street of the dark and lonely town. "Keep your eyes open for a bright light." he reminded. His grey eyes took a while to get used to the darkness and scanned the area for a bright light. It shouldn't be hard to find, but there was always the possible chance that the demons have already found it.

Rinoa nodded lightly and followed him, closely but not too closely. She still gave him his personal space. Rinoa didn't like the idea of him doing that- but she wasn't going to argue with him. Nope. She knew better. As they walked in darkness, her pale blue eyes scanned their surroundings for the ray of light Ghost had mentioned. This was going to be a long night. She could already feel eyes on her. Dark eyes from creatures that did horrible things to angels like her... Shaking her head she calmed down. Christian told her that he wouldn't let anything happen..and she trusted him.

((something epic needs to happen while they're searching xD))

"Come on, we have to hurry Rin." Christian said and started running down the empty street, looking back to make sure she was following him. Off in the distance he saw a small group walking around and farther away was a light so bright he was glad he had sunglasses on. "There it is Rin!" he said as he pointed in the light's direction. Quickly, he ran off in the direction of the light but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the group he had seen earlier had gotten to it first, and they were demons. What ghost had told Rin had been true and they were too late.

Rin nodded and ran with him, finding it a little difficult keeping up with him. She looked in the direction that Christian had pointed and shielded her eyes from the light. That had to be it! She opened her wings and flew after Christian, making it easier on herself to keep up with the demon. She stopped when Christian had suddenly stopped, her pale blue eyes going wide. "No way..." She said quietly under her breath. What was she going to do? She couldn't call Ghost and tell him what was going on..that was out of the question.

Christian frowned and looked back at Rinoa. "Listen, you wait here okay? I'm going to try to get them to hand it over. Be careful Rin." he said and quietly walked over to where the other demons were. When he was getting close, they looked over at him and smirked. "Well, well, well...look what we have here. Christian, what are you doing here? Came to get this?" asked one. "Well...yeah actually. I heard people were looking for it so I thought I'd join in." Christian explained. "Right...so then why is that angel following you?" the demon asked, causing Christian to look back at Rinoa. "W-well..I guess she wants it too?" he guessed with a shrug of his shoulders. "You are working with her aren't you?" asked the demon. "You guys...why do we need that anyway. She really needs it, more than we do I think." he admitted with a soft sigh. The other demons weren't too happy to know that they had a traitor among them and threw the first punch. This caught Christian completely off guard as he stumbled to the ground. Quickly he got back up and looked at the demons. "Look, I don't want to fight, just hand it over." he said calmly. "Why don't you try taking it from us?" challenged one with a smirk on his face. "Gladly..." muttered Christian as he quickly kicked the demon on his chest knocking him to the ground. He was helped up though and the fighting continued.

Rinoa nodded lightly to him and just stood there like a good little angel. She didn't quite understand what was going on, but she knew this wasn't going to end well. It was clear that Christian was indeed different from the other demons... Her eyes went wide when a fight started and she brought of her hands up to her mouth. What was she to do though? What could she do? Rinoa quickly scanned the area for any demons that might be hiding. She moved her gaze back to the fight and silently prayed that Christian would win. She believed in him.

((meh x.x she'll probably be kidnapped in my next reply- didn't want everything happening at once xD))

"Do you realize...what...you're doing?!" hissed the demon. "That's the thing, I don't care." replied Christian as he quickly moved out of the way of a punch, only to be hit from the side. Wincing, he felt blood trickling down his neck and glared. Without a word, Christian turned around and twisted the other demon's arm, pulling him to the ground and stepping on his head. "You stay there, or I'll have to kill you." he whispered and focused on the other one who was launching a punch at him which he quickly dodged and returned with a punch of his own.

Rinoa watched as the fight continued. While Christian was caught up with fighting for the soul a single demon slipped close to Rinoa who was also focused on the fight, and grabbed her tightly from behind. Making it impossible for her to escape. She gasped and was able to turn just enough for her to see the demon holding her hostage, too scared to even get a whimper out. The demon smirked. "Can't deliver a soul if the messenger isn't present." He said in a cold dark voice. Rinoa's eyes widen and she began to struggle against the dark being. She couldn't be taken, not when she had come this close to redeeming herself. The demon just held her tighter, moving his spiked tail up by her throat, causing her to freeze with tears coming her eyes.

The demon chuckled and opened his massive wings and began to fly off. Rinoa finally screamed as she was carried off and unable to fight back.

Christian was too busy fighting to notice the one demon slip out of the fight. He continued fighting, taking a few hits himself. When he heard a scream, he turned around to see a demon carrying Rinoa away. Christian widened his eyes, "Rinoa!" he called out and hissed over at the other demons. "Give her back!" he yelled. "I think not, but you can have your stupid soul now. Have fun with it, fair trade I think." said the other demon as he laughed and flew away with his buddies. Even the one on the ground had managed to fly off with them. Frowning, Christian knew he couldn't fly after them. He didn't exactly have wings. The small wings on his head fluttered but that was about it. Silently, he walked over to the bright light and shielded his eyes, why did it have to be so bright?

Ghost was soon notified of the messenger Angel's sudden disappearance. He put his hand on his head and shook his head. "I told her to be careful!" He exclaimed, yelling at himself after he was told. Ghost suited up like the captain he was and took flight to Earth to find the demon that Rinoa had decided to stick with.

---

Rinoa winced as she was thrown into the cold hard ground and curled up in a ball. The demon chuckled. "Don't even try to escape." He told her coldly, then left the room and slammed the door. Leaving the young angel alone in the dark room. Rinoa sat up and leaned against the nearest wall, hugging her knees and resting her head on top of them. What were they going to do with her?

Christian reached out to touch the bright light and instinctively hissed and pulled his hand back. He couldn't touch something that...pure, bright and well...holy really. "Great, now what am I going to do? I can't just stay here all night, but I can't just leave this here for the demons to take." he said to himself and looked up at the moon in the sky. "I hope you're okay Rin, I'll figure out a way to get you back safely...I hope so anyway." Christian said to himself. A hurt look on his face as the small wings on his head fluttered.

Ghost flew around Earth looking for Christian. He wasn't going to hurt him, but he was going to see to it that he got Rinoa back while he guarded the soul. Only a messenger could deliver a pure soul to the heavens. All he could do was guard it. At last, he had found the demon who he guessed was Christian. His aura was different from the other demons. He slowly lowered himself to the ground before Christian, his large white wings flapping as he did so. When he landed, he folded his wings behind him and looked at the demon. "You must be the demon Rinoa has taking a liking to." He said, then glanced at the soul. "Seems like you guys found it.." He glanced back at Christian. "Where is the messenger?" He asked him, once again acting like Rinoa didn't really matter. Ghost was a hard shell to crack. He cared about her like a sister, but he wouldn't admit it.

---

Rinoa sat in the dark room, silently praying that she would get out soon. Yes she was an angel with high faith but she was young and her mind was vulnerable. Being locked up like this in a place surrounded by demons was going to get to her. She didn't wanna be a fallen... They were doomed to walk the earth, wanted by neither angels nor demons. Alone. She shook her head and hugged her knees tighter. 'He'll come for me... Won't he..?' She thought to herself.