A/N; considering how long it's been since I last updated this story (or any of my stories for that matter) this new chapter is disgustingly short, not to worry though; the only reason it ends as it does is because I plan on (re)introducing some new characters in the next one and didn't want to dump too much story in one chapter.

This is a small taste of what's to come, that's right folks; Nightshade McArthur is back and… probably still going to be updating semi-irregularly, let's be honest… :I

Still, this is a nice little chapter, a dash of violence and death, a hint of fluff and just the right amount of story progression and character introductions ^_^ Enjoy.

Roland looks up from his book as he hears the doors to the church open.

"Oh, hello. I'm sorry, I didn't think there'd be anybody here… I was told the church was abandoned…"

Standing in the doorway is a blond girl dressed like a nun. She looks to be about Roland's age.

"The church is abandoned, technically I'm squatting…"

Roland shrugs as he says this, he seriously doubts this girl has it in her to report him to the authorities, or the church.

"Oh… Okay. My name's Asia Argento, I've just moved here. I was supposed to help a priest named Freed, have you seen anybody here at all?"

"No sorry, like I said the church is abandoned."

A voice sounds from over Asia's shoulder.

"Was abandoned. I'm going to have to ask you to leave young man, I have business to attend to with miss Argento here."

"Take care young Roland.. there is an unholy, inhuman aura about this one…"

Roland jumps in surprise at the voice that echoes in his mind.

What the hell was that..?

"That was me, Darigaaz, warning you that the woman who's just arrived is what this world calls a fallen angel. She is part of a faction that poses a threat to your species, and the species of Rias Gremory… I am certain that she will take kindly to you eliminating this creature for her…"

Not a bad idea, but how about I try talking to the fallen angel first..?

"What kind of business..?"

The woman raises her eyebrow at Roland.

"Church business."

"That's funny, because my instincts tell me you're a fallen angel… I didn't think fallen angels were associated with the church…"

The woman's eyes widen at the mention of her species, not expecting the boy in front of her to know about her kind.

"Perhaps you're more useful than I initially thought… but first I have business to attend to with young Asia here. You'll have to come back later."

Roland raises an eyebrow suspiciously, but nonetheless leaves the building. Once outside, he leans against the wall beside the large double doors. Figuring that even if the fallen angel means the girl harm, it will take her at least five minutes to get to the point where she proves a true threat. He decides to take this time to wheedle an explanation out of Darigaaz.

So how is it that we're able to communicate?

"We could not before you moved back to Earthrealm as you were too close to my physical body. We could have spoken verbally of course, but to do that with a voice as powerful as mine would have cause considerable damage to the landscape between us."

So telepathy is the best way to speak, It's unusual that you require immense distance… from all I've read on telepathy, it usually works better at close range…

"And so it does between creatures of the same or similar species. However if I were to attempt telepathic communication with you while you were in Ravnica, it would have forced an overwhelming amount of knowledge on your young mind… it's possible it would have killed you."

At this point, Roland sensed the use of magic within the church. Pushing the doors open he sees the podium at the end of the room has moved, and in its place there is a staircase leading into a basement-like room.

Running across the room, he stops at the top of the stairs as Darigaaz speaks again.

"Roland, there are many fallen ones down there continue with caution. But if you wish to save the girl, hurry. Her life force is slipping away…"

Roland walks slowly and softly down the stairs, listening for any indication that he'd been noticed.

Getting to the bottom step, he sees the girl from upstairs… Asia Argento… chained from the wall, hanging from what appears to be a large cross.

This angel should be executed for her abuse of irony alone…

"Indeed."

As Roland watches the events, a green light leaves Asia's body from her chest, within the light lay a pair of ornate silver rings. Once the light enters the fallen angel's hands, the last semblance of life leaves the nun's body.

The fallen one starts to cackle excitedly.

"At last, the power of Twilight Healing is mine! With this even the great Azazel has to notice me!"

Roland hears this and it sickens him, he's shocked when he feels a fiery anger burning its way through his system.

"Welcome to the world of Dragon Influence. As long as you carry the pendants of myself and Rith, you will feel your emotions far stronger than any human can, and it's not always a good thing.."

She'll pay for taking the life of an innocent for such petty reasons!

"Fallen Angel!"

Roland's voice echoes around the antechamber, getting the attention of everyone else in the room, the fallen one that killed the nun turns and starts to cackle again.

"You challenge me, do you not realise how stupid you are? I possess twilight healing! There's not an injury you could inflict upon me that I could not repair!"

Roland walks toward her as she speaks, his hands held out before him gathering white mana between them as he goes. Reaching the center of the room, he stops, glaring hatred at the woman.

"You claim to be immortal. You claim to be able to heal any injury. I'd like to test those claims! Let's see how your so called Twilight Healing can withstand this; The Wrath of God!"

As Roland gives a name to the mana forming in his hands, it creates a cataclysmic explosion, the shockwave filling the room and vaporizing the gathered cult of fallen angels, as it reaches the Angel who claimed Twilight Healing, she projects a barrier in an attempt to stop the shockwave. The barrier shatters under the sheer force of Roland's magic. As the shockwave comes in contact with the Fallen one, she can feel it tearing her apart on a molecular level, as she tries in vain to heal herself as quickly as the magic is destroying her.

Finally, as though by some benevolent force; her Twilight Healing stops working and she is destroyed entirely. The magic, being a spell that destroys creatures leaves the artifact that bestows the Twilight Healing; the silver rings, intact.

Roland also notices that the Nun's body remains unscathed, figuring this is due to the fact that she was already dead before he cast the spell.

Gathering a small amount of green mana between his hands, Roland casts a second spell; "Commune with the Gods."

This spell summons a divine class creature, otherwise known as a God, and allows the caster to make one request of it, unconditionally. Depending on the casters Devotion to the mana shared by the "God" depends on whether or not the creature is duty-bound to honour the request.

Given the fact that he is currently in Earthrealm, the only "God" he could summon would be either the true God of Christianity, or one of the ancient gods, Odin and his ilk.

Luckily he gets the Christian God-class creature. Surprised to see the Arch-Angel Michael appear before him, Roland figures there must be a good reason, but he cares too little to ask right now, he has a more pressing request. And since his Devotion to white mana is so strong, Michael will have little choice but to honour it.

"You summoned me..? A human? How interesting… you have power beyond your species, yet I sense no sacred gear within you… I do however sense that you have summoned me with a purpose… You have a request?"

Roland nods.

"Yes."

He indicates the nun hanging from the wall.

"This girl was killed by a fallen angel, for her magic artifact… her, sacred gear I suppose… Twilight Healing. This innocent creature was destroyed by the lust for power of one of your fallen brethren! I demand you revive the girl, make right the wrongs that have befallen her!"

Michael raises an eyebrow at Roland's demand.

"You would make demands of an arch-angel… you assume too much human! Yet… I feel compelled to adhere to your request…. What magic is this that you hold dominion over one as powerful as I?"

Roland smirks.

"Sorry Mikey, it's a spell called Commune with the Gods, since my devotion to white mana is so high, the creature I've summoned… that would be you. Is duty-bound to honour my request. You have no choice in the matter, you will resurrect miss Argento, and you will do it now!"

Michael sighs.

"Using such power is a wonderful way to make enemies young man… are you sure this girl is worth it?"

Roland scoffs in disgust.

"You call yourself an angel! The life of an innocent is always worth it!"

"A surprisingly noble sentiment on it's face… however, the end does not always justify the means. Miss Argento was a devout follower of her faith, she is dead now and is in a happy place. And to tear her from that, to "Right a wrong" in your eyes, you resort to supernatural slavery? You are an amusing one… with such a mentality, it's a surprise you aren't already dead… Well, as you say, I have no way to resist your request. The question is, do you truly want her revived to the human world, a world where she will be constantly targeted by those who seek her Twilight Healing..?"

Roland contemplates Michael's argument for a moment.

"You have the power of the heavenly host at your disposal… Reincarnate her as a member of that Host, and she'll have divine protection to spare her the greed of those who would rob her of her artifact."

Michael smiles at the re-worded request.

"Very well, I shall revive her as one of my brave saints, she shall be my Ace."

Roland scoffs.

"You guys use cards, the Devil's use chess pieces… what do the fallen angel's use, Battleship tokens..?"

Michael says nothing as he takes a golden Ace of Spades from his pocket and throws it at the lifeless nun.

The card strikes her in the chest, the same place her artifact was taken from, and almost instantly, her eyes open. A golden light fills her eyes as a pair of golden wings appears from her back, breaking the chains that bind her to the wall.

She lands gracefully and walks over to the pair, taking her twilight healing rings from the ground where the fallen one once stood and putting them on her hand, causing them to disappear from sight.

"I take it, I have you to thank for my revival, Lord Michael?"

Michael shrugs.

"I was going to leave you in the peaceful embrace of death… but this boy summoned me and compelled me magically to revive you… you are now a member of my brave saints, you are my Ace. This means that together with myself, my queen, my jack and my ten card, we are the royal straight spade flush. This combination will grant us power that can stop almost anything, so remember it, in case we need it… for now we should be going. We will meet again Roland, take care before using that spell again; I will not be so kind the next time."

The two flap their wings and disappear in a glow of pure light.

"Well, that was rude… didn't even wait for me to say goodbye…"

"YOU DID WHAT?"

Roland looks at Rias in surprise, and a little shock.

"I told you; I killed a room full of fallen angels to save a nun who had to get reincarnated as a member of the heavenly host because the head fallen one had already killed her by the time I got there…"

Rias looks as though she's about to explode with anger.

"You killed dozens of fallen angels, potentially sparked a war between the fallen angels and the humans! And as if that wasn't bad enough, the cherry on top of the sundae that is your stupidity; you used a powerful binding spell to order the head of the heavenly host to do your bidding! ARE YOU COMPLETELY INSANE? Or do you simply have so little regard for your own species that you'd willingly start a war on two fronts? Did you not think that your actions could possibly cause the extinction of your entire race?"

Roland raises an eyebrow at Rias.

"Honestly, I thought you'd be a little happier that I killed those fallen angels… but to address your point; there is a faction of magicians in this world, so if the angels or fallen angels seek retribution from anyone the odds are fairly high that they'll go after them, not the humans."

Akeno chuckles at Roland's assessment of the situation.

"He's got you there Rias… and I doubt the heavenly host will seek retribution for Roland compelling Michael to resurrect a powerful healer, if anything he's just made the Host more benevolent than ever… most of the Host can't heal humans or other factions, with Asia as part of their collective, now they can. I've got a feeling we'll be seeing more miracles than we have for quite a while now…"

The Archangel Michael sighs in frustration as he walks into the Hall of Memories briskly. Asia follows behind him, unsure of whether or not he wants anything of her, she's taken to following him around as he moves through Heaven.

"Miss Argento, you don't have to follow me everywhere.. you're more than welcome to explore Heaven as you see fit."

Asia smiles at her new mentor/father figure.

"Oh that's alright lord Michael, I don't mind at all. Besides, I have a bad habit of getting lost when I explore without a guide…"

Michael nods in acceptance of her statement as he peruses the shelves that line the wall.

Each shelf is filled with small glass orbs that are filled with light. Some are white, some gold, others are black or red or blue.

"Milord, what are all these orbs, and why are they such different colours?"

Michael responds matter-of-factly as he continues searching for a specific set of orbs.

"Each orb represents a significant event in the life of a human on Earth. The different colours are a filing system of sorts; the Gold ones are when a Human is touched by divine intervention, see look over there; that's the orb that holds the memory of Christ's resurrection."

Michael points at a golden orb in the center of the room as he says this.

"But I thought Christ was the son of God, surely he doesn't count as a Human?"

Michael shakes his head.

"During his time on Earth, he was a Human being just as you were. The white ones are when a Human performs a benevolent or pious act, such as charity work or helping another in need. The reason there are so many white orbs is that even helping people you know counts as a benevolent act, most just assume that heaven only factors in the way you treat strangers. The blue orbs are when the human acts emotionally to a situation, again there are quite a lot of blue orbs because humans are a rather emotional species."

Asia nods in understanding.

"The black orbs are when the human is influenced by supernatural forces that aren't Heavenly such as devils or fallen angels. This also counts Magic from wizards or interactions with Older Gods, Odin and his kin. The Red orbs are when a human commits a Sin, any of the seven Sins that are committed creates a red orb, there's more and more of these being created every day as Sloth and gluttony are more prevalent in today's human society."

Asia gazes into a red orb and sees a man sitting on his couch lazily changing the channel on his television whilst eating potato chips.

"So, if I may my lord, what is it you're looking for?"

Michael smiles at her briefly. Finally, a pertinent question.

"I'm looking for any evidence of our friend from the church, logically he should reside in dozens of blue and black orbs. Being a magician who acts purely on emotion, from what I saw of him at least, he should have almost a whole shelf to himself, but so far all I've seen is a single orb; the one from the church… Wait no, here's another."

Michael takes a black orb from the shelf, looking inside he sees Roland going through his test for Rias, summoning his creatures and then destroying them for her assessment.

"This tells me nothing of how he came to be!"

Michael throws the orb across the room, shattering it in frustration. Asia jumps in surprise as he vents his anger.

The orb in question reappears on the shelf after it breaks and Michael turns back to the shelf with another sigh as he continues his search.

"These orbs are organised by individual person, all of his orbs should be right here!"

Asia looks on the shelf at the orbs surrounding the one Michael threw.

"There's a white orb Milord, perhaps that has what you want in it… he looks quite a bit younger in it at least…"

Michael picks up the orb she points to, gazing into it with reticence.

His eyes widen as he sees a young boy sitting at a dining room table eating cereal, a portal opens in the doorway and a man in robes steps out of it.

"Why is this orb white..?"

Michael sighs again, resigning himself to what he's about to do, he takes Asia's hand and cracks the orb over his own head.

Asia gasps in surprise. As she looks around, she sees herself in a small apartment.

"Hush child."

Michael's words remind her of his presence and she falls silent, watching him as he views the scene before him eagerly.

"My name is Jace Beleren and I have come here to Earthrealm to collect your son, he is to be the hero of realms. He will not only save my realm, but yours too, I'm certain."

The man in the robe addresses a woman; the boy's mother, Michael assumes.

"So that's it! No wonder he has no orbs in the Hall of Memories, he's been living in another realm for the better part of a decade!"

The image around the two of them swirls into nothingness as the three memories step through Jace's portal.

Asia and Michael find themselves once more in the Hall of Memories.

"So that answered my questions, but unfortunately it also left me with quite a few new ones…"

"New ones, milord..?"

"Such as why has he returned? And what happened to Jace?"

Jace sneezes heavily as he watches Ajani spar with some new recruits of the Boros Legion.

Tajic, "Blade of the Legion" one of the Boros' prime members turns to Jace in response to the sneeze.

"Are you well master Jace… perhaps you've a cold?"

Jace shakes his head and replies with an annoyed groan.

"No, no; someone's talking about me again."

Tajic raises an eyebrow in confusion as the two turn back to Ajani's sparring match.

A/N; once again I apologise for the shortness of this chapter, I'm as disappointed as you are I'm sure. Also, Tajic at the end here is just a little hat tip to the TCG, he's a legendary creature from way back when, other than him anyone introduced in this chapter will return later (might see him again at the very end-ish but doubt it...)