Salym stared down into the black vortex that was the entrance to the Abyss.

She had brought weapons with her, Holy Hand Grenades, sharp knives, things that she could strap to herself. None would work as well as Godyn's flaming sword, but at least she had something. She had also managed to procure some demon clothes, stolen straight from a demon in the mortal realm. But even the tainted, black, slutty dress could mask her heavenly glow. She was really worried about being discovered before she managed to rescue Raelyn.

She was about to jump into the vortex and be transported to the Abyss when she heard someone calling her name. When Salym turned, she found Slevin coming towards her.

"Wait!" he said, huffing to catch his breath. "Don't you think you should wait for Godyn? He is the expert of rescuing angels from demons."

Salym shook her head. "He's being told to wait, and it's taking too long. Raelyn never checked into her hotel that means she's been in the Abyss for five months, all on her own. She doesn't have a couple of extra days to wait."

"But it's dangerous," Slevin complained.

"Raelyn would do it for either of us," she reminded him.

Slevin shrugged. "Neither of us is stupid enough to get captured!"

Salym glared at her boyfriend, not amused with this new attitude he was showing.

"Look, I'm going whether you like it or not," she growled. "Either you're coming with me or you're going to be a little scaredy-angel and stay here."

"I'm not going down to the Abyss like this, I'll get mobbed for sure!" he cried.

Salym sighed and shook her head. "Fine, scaredy-angel it is," she snarled and then she jumped into the swirling black vortex, ready to save her friend.

[----]

It wasn't long after Lagrius left to visit Mischev that the Evil Dude just showed up at his quarters. He had just let himself in and scared the wits out of the unsuspecting Raelyn.

She had explained that Lagrius was out, but the Evil Dude was there to see her and he wanted to go for a walk and talk. So now Raelyn was walking beside the Evil Dude, they had just run out of small talk and she was starting to wonder what all of this was really about.

"I'm glad to see you're feeling better," he said. Raelyn nodded and smiled at him. "Lucrinda was really worried about you."

Raelyn nudged him playfully. "I heard you were a little worried too."

The Evil Dude smirked and linked arms with her. "I supposed I've grown fond of you," he admitted. "But don't tell anyone I said so."

For a while the two walked in silence, the Evil Dude leading her down a path she vaguely remembered but couldn't quite place. Raelyn couldn't help but wonder where he was leading her.

"Did you enjoy your stay here?" he asked.

Raelyn was smiling again. "Oh yes, it was a lot more fun than I thought it would be," she admitted.

The Evil dude's eyes flew to Raelyn's hair. She was very well aware that the black was now at her ears.

"I suppose you had a little too much fun," he murmured. "And Lagrius, he was good to you?"

"Yes, more so now than before."

"Oh? He's been acting strange recently?" he asked. Raelyn turned to him her eyebrows drawn together in confusion. "You know, jumpy around you, nervous, stuttering, saying or doing unexpectedly nice things?"

Raelyn blinked her eyes. "Yes," she answered slowly. "How did you know that?"

The Evil Dude sighed. "I knew this was going to happen, I just really wish it hadn't."

The path had come to an end and Raelyn could hear a sort of wind. When she looked up she saw a swirling white vortex above her.

It was the gate to the White Kingdom.

This was where she had first appeared in the Abyss. She hadn't remember the path because she had been so angry the first time she had gone down it and she hadn't been anywhere near it since.

"Wait, you're sending me back? Now?" Raelyn cried, stepping away from him. "But you can't! I still have a few days of vacation left!"

"Raelyn, look at your hair! You're almost fully corrupted, I can't chance it!" he cried, he reached a hand for her but she darted away. "I already sent a ransom note up to the Almighty. Godyn should be coming to get you soon. Honestly I'm surprised he isn't down here already."

Raelyn pouted and sat down on a hot black rock. "I can't leave, I've left all my bags and things at the apartment," she growled. The Evil Dude stared at her blandly. He snapped his fingers and her suitcase appeared. Raelyn stared at him and her lip began to tremble. "But I don't want to leave!"

The Evil Dude crossed to her. "He knelt down in front of her and rest his hands on her bare knees.

"Why Raelyn? Why do you want to say here in this awful place?"

"Well... that program I initiated, it's still in the beta phase. You need me to keep it running," she explained.

The Evil dude scoffed. "This is the Abyss, Raelyn, we don't need schedules, we need chaos," he said. "Besides, you don't belong here, think of all of your charges. They're the ones who need you."

"I don't want to be a Guardian Angel anymore," Raelyn sobbed. "I used to be proud, I got all the difficult cases, but now it's just a load of extra work on my plate and I don't even get recognized for it. The Almighty won't even promote me. She says I'm too good at my job."

The Evil dude watched as the tears rolled down her pale cheeks. Raelyn sniffed and stubbornly wiped them away. "Please don't send me back. I swear I can be of use to you. Maybe... maybe Lagrius could..."

"He's falling in love with you," he suddenly blurted out. "If you stay any longer you and Lagrius will become what Lucrinda and I have become."

"He's... in love with me?" she echoed not truly believing it.

"Not yet, but it's coming," he whispered. When she said nothing he continued: "I love my wife with all my heart and I know she loves me, but I hate how soft I've become and I know she misses her home in the White Kingdom."

Raelyn wasn't listening to him anymore. "He can't be in love with me. We hate each other."

The Evil Dude glared at her. "Listen to me. Every fallen angel misses the White Kingdom. Don't fall prey to this brief sense of entitlement. It never lasts long here."

Raelyn looked like she wanted to say more, but a strange whooshing pop caught her attention. She looked over the Evil Dude's head and her head titled to the side in confusion.

The Evil Dude turned to see what had appeared but only saw the foot as it completed its arc and crashed into his face. Raelyn watched the Evil dude go flying and then turned to his attacker.

"Salym!" she cried. "What are you doing here?"

"Rescuing you!" she replied. She rushed forward and grabbed Raelyn's arm. She then began to drag her towards the vortex. "Come on, there's a purifying bath waiting for you."

Raelyn pulled her arm out of Salym's grip and returned to the unconscious king of the Abyss. "But look at what you did to Eddie. You whacked him in the face!"

"Yeah, I know isn't it amazing?" Salym asked. "Wait a second did you just call him Eddie?"

Raelyn and Salym started at one another and eventually Sallym shook her head and said: "We don't have time for this. You can tell me when we get back to the White Kingdom. We're leaving!"

"We can't just leave him like this," Raelyn declared, stubbornly refusing to move.

Salym groaned, "Why do you even care? He's the king of evil and he kidnapped you!"

"Well, actually... he's sort of my friend, you see?" Raelyn said, twisting her fingers as she spoke. "And he was kind enough to let me vacation here."

"You actually went to the Abyss for a vacation?" Salym thundered, turning a bright red that Raelyn had never seen on her before.

"Well, no!" Raelyn cried getting to her feet. "But Lagrius had kidnapped me and Eddie offered me a vacation opportunity of a life time. And... You know it's not half bad down here. I have them on this program that helps them utilize their time and resources more efficiently."

"Program?" Salym echoed. "Raelyn! You're helping them beat us? What is wrong with you?"

"Nothing!" Raelyn shouted back. "But for once in my life I feel appreciated. They actually need me, and tell me how good a job I've been doing. They make me want to stay here, and I don't want to go back to the way I was, undervalued and overworked."

Salym stared at her friend. She knew what she was saying was true. No one had ever realized how much work Raelyn actually did until she wasn't there to do it anymore.

"We do appreciate you Raelyn," Salym told her. "Everyone misses you."

"No, they miss that I did all the work and fixed all the messes," she shot back. "They don't want me because I'm good at my job, they want me because with me there they don't have to do theirs."

Salym bit her lip. For almost everyone else that was true, but Salym knew of one person who actually missed her. "That's not true. Owl misses you. He's been worried sick about you."

Suddenly it was like a light went off in Raelyn's head. She stared at Salym absently. "Owl... I had forgotten about him. How could I have done that?" she whispered.

Salym reached over and grabbed Raelyn's arm. "Come on, I'll take you to him," this time Raelyn let Salym pulled her towards the vortex. Salym was certain that this time she would be able to get Raelyn to leave when suddenly...

"Wait!" someone cried.

Raelyn turned towards the voice and Salym groaned inwardly. "Lagrius?"

The demon sprinted up to her, he grabbed a hold of Raelyn's other arm and pulled her to him. He glared down at Salym over Raelyn's head.

"You're not taking her," he growled.

Salym's grip tightened on her friend's arm. She pulled her tightly towards herself. "Yes I am."

Lagrius pulled on her again. "No, I kidnapped her. She's staying with me."

"Well I'm here to rescue her, so she's coming with me," Salym shot back, tugging on Raelyn's arm once more. Great now she was stuck in some kind of strange tug-of-war.

Lagrius and Salym glared at each other neither planning on yielding. This meant that they were at a stalemate and Raelyn was stuck in the middle.

"If you don't let go, I'm going to hurt you," Lagrius warned.

Suddenly Raelyn threw her hands up in the air, dislodging their tight grips on her arms. "Enough!" she shouted. "Whether or not I'm leaving is my decision, not yours!"

"No!" Lagrius cried. "You are not leaving! I... I just got promoted!"

Salym took that in with blinking eyes and then turned to Raelyn. "What is he talking about? Why does that matter?"

Raelyn winced. "It's kind of like his catch phrase," she explained.

"Okay, that's it!" Salym cried and before Lagrius could defend himself she had taken something out of her pocket and tossed it at his feet. There was a blast of white and then went flying. He landed close to where the Evil Dude still lay motionless while Raelyn stared at their fallen forms, her mouth dropped open in shock.

"Was that a Holy Hand Grenade?"

The white magic inside didn't affect Angels but for Demons it was a straight up explosion.

"Yep. Now, come on, we're leaving."

"Yeah, sure, just give me a second," she whispered. "Let me just talk to him for a minute."

Raelyn jogged over to where Lagrius lay and knelt down beside him, the fact that he was surrounded by black magic had dampened the effect of the Grenade, which meant that not only was he alive, he was still semiconscious.

As Lagrius sat up she put a hand to his shoulder. "This was fun Lagrius, and we should totally do it again someday, maybe on a level playing field in the mortal realm. I really enjoyed my time here, honest, but I think it's time I went home."

Lagrius pouted and shook his head. "No, you can't, I just got promoted. You have to listen to me."

Raelyn giggled at him. "No, actually I don't. Unless you haven't noticed, it's not just my hair changing color. I think it'll be best for both of us if I left."

"But I need you to get promoted again," he reminded her.

Raelyn sighed and pet his head affectionately. "That, dear sir, is never going to happen. I suggest you ask Eddie for a different assignment."

Raelyn kissed his forehead and then walked back to Salym who was glared at her. "That was creepy and disgusting," she growled and then she grabbed Raelyn's hand and held it tightly as she pulled her along. The two of them jumped up into the vortex and vanished, still holding hands.

Lagrius watched them go, trying to keep a stiff upper lip and to convince himself that he was upset about the promotion chance vanishing before his eyes and not Raelyn leaving him. Beside him there was a groaning and then the Evil Dude rolled over and onto his back. He sat up, rubbing the darkening welt on his temple. He then looked around confused.

"What happened? Where's Raelyn?"

"She went home," Lagrius muttered bitterly.

The Evil Dude sighed and flopped back to the ground. "Oh, good!"

Lagrius turned his sour glare to him. "I hate you."

The Evil Dude reached out and clapped a hand to Lagrius' shoulder and squeezed it consolingly. It didn't make Lagrius feel any better though, even though he was sure that this meant that he and the Evil Dude now had some sort of bond. At least he had gotten half of what he wanted.

He would have preferred the promotion.