Michael and Gabriel, two of the Four Great Seraphs, have just finished some business with one of the many churches situated in Eastern Europe and were about to return to Heaven.

Night was approaching, the sky assuming a variety of colors tending to orange. It made a beautiful scenery, exalted by the presence of mountains far in the horizon, and the forest which has conquered the ground in a radius of many hundreds of kilometers.

The female Seraph couldn't hold back the urge to extend her twelve angelic wings, and dart into the air, gaining a better view of the landscape in front of her.

"Breathtaking..." she murmured to herself. Her brother smiled at her gesture and, extending his wings as well, followed her into the sky.

"You've always liked such views, haven't you?" asked Michael as he stood beside his sister.

The blonde angel giggled.

"Want to fly for a little then?"

"Shouldn't we return to Heaven, though?" asked Gabriel, knowing that as the leaders of Heaven, they couldn't waste their time sightseeing.

Michael just shrugged.

"Raphael and Uriel will be fine without us for a little while."

Hearing those words, Gabriel's ever present smile just widened.

They've flied aimlessly for about half an hour, before the sky darkened fully, stars now enveloping the sky.

As the two Seraphs were about to teleport to Heaven, they felt an incredibly powerful aura burst, and just as suddenly as it appeared, it also dissipated.

"Did you feel that?" asked Gabriel, her voice tense. Michael nodded.

They must've been very near to feel it.

Deciding it was best to discover its source, the two jumped into air, manifesting their wings and flying at great speed towards the area they felt the aura explode.

They were nearing a little inhabited center,just a few houses here and there, five minutes away from their initial location.

As they reached ground, they were met with a gruesome sight. In front of them, at the center of a crater stood a little boy, around the age of seven, from his appearance. The problem was that this kid had a large, deep, christian-cross shaped wound gouged in his torso, from which blood was flawing endlessly. Considering also his minor cuts that covered his whole back, he was in terrible conditions.

The two angels' eyes widened as they witnessed the scene. Around the kid, three bodies were lying lifelessly on the ground. Only one man, who was wearing the same uniform as his dead comrades, stood on his legs. He was wearing a crazed face, a light saber in his hand, from which fresh blood was slowly streaming.

The Seraphs didn't take much to realize that he must've been the reason the kid was in such bad state.

Not being able to stand on his feet any longer, the little boy fell on his knees, before hitting ground face down. The blood from his wounds was spreading all around him, painting the grass crimson.

Breaking the night's silence, mixed with the pained breaths of the young victim, was the man holding the sword, who just started laughing maniacally.

Fed up with watching, Gabriel rushed to the fallen boy's side. In the meantime the man, who didn't even care who it was, was preparing to strike down the woman in front of him. The moment he raised the sword, however, he was sent flying in the house behind him. He didn't even see Michael as he appeared in front of him, only a finger raised, the usual smile on his face nowhere to be found.

He took in the sight in front of him as the man that he has sent flying destroyed the house. The walls were painted red, corpses all over the place.

"Innocents..." he whispered to himself.

Looking at his right, he felt the anger flow withing his veins. It's been a long time since he felt such anger.

The reason of it was the bodies of other little kids crucified on impromptu wooden crosses. He then took a little glimpse at what the aggressors were wearing...

"Rogue exorcists." he muttered.

After a short prayer addressed to the fallen victims, Michael resumed walking in the direction of the man he sent flying. He really hoped that the man wasn't quite dead yet, he had some explanations to give after all.

As Michael was slowly distancing himself from her position, Gabriel turned the kid around carefully so he would face her. His eyes were half open, unfocused, the light within them slowly extinguishing itself.

"A...A-An...ge...l..." the boy said, blood streaming from his mouth, a small, weak smile forming on his face.

Gabriel examined his wounds, but she already knew that if she didn't do something fast, he'd die in her hands.

Gabriel's eyes were starting to water, to her own confusion. She was no stranger to blood, gore and death... yet the sight of a bleeding child in her arms was unbearable.

To the point of making her spawn a box filled with cards, from which she hastily grabbed one, and put it on the child's chest. The card started glowing, as it was being absorbed by his body. After a few seconds it disappeared.

Making sure Michael was still in hearing range, she shouted to her brother.

"Michael! I'm taking him to Fifth Heaven, he needs urgent aid!"

The blonde man simply nodded, as he kept walking towards the single aggressor.

Gabriel then took the boy in her arms, uncaring of the blood tainting her vestments, as she disappeared in a cross of light.

Having reached Fifth Heaven, where all the research labs and hospitals were, Gabriel couldn't be bothered with the bowing angels, as she instantly called for a doctor. Hearing the distressed voice of the female Seraph, the angels that were bowing raised their heads, realizing that Gabriel was holding a bleeding child in her hands.

Suddenly the room started glowing.

From a cross appeared a silver haired man. It was one of the Ten Seraphs, Sariel, who was, alongside Raphael -one of the Four Great Seraphs- in charge of the labs and hospitals left behind by the Grigori.

Analyzing the small figure in Gabriel's hands, he motioned her to follow him. As they arrived in an empty room, he told her to lay down the child on the bed, before calling for his assistants. As a mass of Angels, doctors and nurses, stormed in the room, Sariel approached the Heaven's strongest woman.

"It's going to take a while, Gabriel. Once he's past danger level I'll make you know." the silver haired Seraph said, as he put a hand on the female Seraph's shoulder, in a tentative of calming her down.

Gabriel nodded, as she left the room, before forming a cross and disappearing to her own quarters. She had to get changed and was also in desperate need of a shower, the dried blood clinging on her body.

Back to the village, as Gabriel vanished in the cross, Michael was approaching the unconscious man a few feet away from him. As he stood in front of him, Michael formed a small magic circle at his ear, and called Uriel, his fellow Great Seraph.

"What is it, Michael?" answered Uriel.

"Uriel, if I'm not bothering you too much, I'd like you to send to my coordinates a group of angels."

"I'm on it." the man at the other side of the call didn't even question his request.

Soon a dozen of crosses have formed near Michael's position. The angels that came out from them bowed at their leader.

"Rise your heads." said Michael, as he gestured to the corpses in the houses and the wooden crosses where the dead kids were crucified. "I want you to give those poor souls a proper burial. I'm going to take this man to Second Heaven. He owns us a few explanations."

"Yes, Lord Michael!" the angels said in unison, as they split into groups to gather the corpses in one place, before burying them.

In the meantime, Michael disappeared in a cross, the man at his feet gone with him.

As Gabriel finished cleaning herself up, she exited her own room in the building reserved to her Brave Saints. As she reached the quarters' meeting room, Gabriel was met by the presence of her two and only Brave Saints. Griselda Quarta, her Queen, and Mirana Shatarova, her Ace. The two were very beautiful women, surely two of the most beautiful in Heaven, but even then they paled in comparison to their King, Gabriel herself. Griselda, by her appearance was in her late 20's, and had blue eyes and long blonde hair, covered by the hoodie of her exorcist uniform. Mirana looked like a woman in her mid 20's, long, black, wavy hair, which she preferred to keep free unlike Griselda. Her eyes were of a shade lighter than the Queen's eyes. To every man, they were absolutely breathtaking.

Judging by their faces, word has already spread concerning the child she brought to Fifth Heaven.

Gabriel walked further into the room, and took a seat in a chair. She then motioned her two angels to sit at her table, expecting where the discussion will soon end.

She decided to explain the three of them the cause behind the commotion.

Michael appeared from a cross in Second Heaven. As he approached the bowing guards, he told them to lock down the unconscious man that he brought with him.

The two followed his order.

Behind Michael, a bright light revealed a man as tall as the blonde angel.

"Uriel." Michael said, acknowledging his fellow Great Seraph.

"Well, Michael? What is the commotion about?" asked Uriel, "I thought you just had to visit the one in charge of the church in Eastern Europe. How did it escalate this way, with a prisoner and a wounded child?"

Michael frowned at the question. "To think that one, once part of the church, would arrive to commit such cruelties. An entire village was slain... kids crucified, parents dismembered. We would've missed it as well, if it weren't for an unknown release of aura, a very strong at it. As we rushed there, only that kid was standing, a deep wound in his chest, and the man who was the reason behind his injury."

Uriel, who has lived through the centuries, still didn't understand how the human being could display such atrocities on his own kind.

"I suppose that the kid's being taken care of then? Sariel would rather tear his own wings off than letting a kid die under his watch." grinned Uriel, successfully lighting up the mood.

Michael simply nodded, a small smile reappearing on his face.

"Horrible..." the two Saints gasped.

Gabriel nodded.

"How can one arrive to such lengths?" Mirana asked rhetorically, her voice tense. She then put her hands together and recited a short, silent prayer.

The two former exorcist were known to be more than willing to teach children in the church. They regularly visited various churches to help with the combat training of young exorcists. It goes without saying that they loved the cheerful expressions of children, and they wouldn't forgive anyone who dared to take the smiles away from their faces.

Griselda moved a question to her King.

"How did a kid survive for so long with those wounds though."

Gabriel shook her head, "I don't know. Sheer will power? When I and Michael arrived there, he just collapsed. If i didn't do something quick he would've died."

Realizing the implication behind her words, Mirana spoke.

"So he's one of us now?" Gabriel nodded. "What card did you give him?" she asked.

"The Joker... it was the only card that his body would accept." The Seraph answered.

The two's jaws hit the floor, staring at their King with unbelieving eyes.

Deciding that it was time to let their guest in Gabriel raised her voice a little.

"Would you like to join us, Dulio? You've been there for a while after all." said Gabriel, without looking back, having felt Michael's Joker presence since they arrived at the Hearts' building.

Griselda and Mirana were forcefully taken out of their stupor as they saw the Heaven's Trump card enter the room.

Unlike his usual cheerful attitude, to which they have gotten used, a frown was occupying his face, his green eyes downcast. Unlike the other two, Dulio's whole reason of fighting was just for the children. He couldn't forgive anyone that dared to threaten them.

As he clenched his fists, he apologized for not making his presence known to them.

"I'm sorry, Lady Gabriel. I... just heard of what has happened and rushed here."

"It's fine, Dulio. I understand your worry." said the Great Seraph as she motioned him to sit at their table.

As he sat, he couldn't restrain from asking.

"How is the child doing?!"

Gabriel frowned slightly.

"I don't know... Sariel will inform me once he's out of danger."

Dulio nodded.

"Anyways," Dulio continued "Lord Michael has returned as well. He said he wanted to have a word with you."

As Gabriel stood up, thanking him for the message, she disappeared in the cross of light.

It was only the three of them in the Hearts' building.

To interrupt the silence is Griselda, who was facing Dulio.

"Do you know what Lord Michael might want to talk about with Lady Gabriel?"

"I fear I do. Those... beasts," seethed Dulio, "apparently murdered this child's whole village, crucifying all the children..." The Queen's and Ace's eyes widened, their blood boiling in their veins.

"Unforgivable..."

As the two female angels looked at the Joker, they could see Dulio's nails become white in color as he clenched his fists, grating his teeth. They knew it was a delicate matter for their fellow Brave Saint.

For the time being, all they could do was wait.

"I'm sure he'll make it out alive." said Mirana, referring to the boy, "Lord Sariel would rather finish his own life than let his patient die on his watch, after all."

The other two former exorcist cracked a small smile at the statement, they knew it was true.

"Well then, it's quite late... I wish you both a good night. See ya tomorrow." said Dulio as he stood up from his chair, and waved the women goodbye, before leaving the building. The two nodded, as they stood up from their places, and started going each into its own room in their quarters.

It sure was a hell of a day for most Heaven.

"You needed me, Michael?" asked Gabriel as she appeared in front of Michael in Zebel, situated on the sixth floor in Heaven, where the Four Great Seraphs reside.

Michael nodded, his face wearing a frown. Reading the situation, Gabriel prepared herself.

"Those men, they're responsible of the massacre of that child's whole village..."

Gabriel's eyes widened slightly, although she expected such a situation.

Michael continued. "All the adults were brutally murdered, entire bodies dismembered... As for the children...They were all crucified, everyone with deep wounds in their torso, as the child you retrieved."

Gabriel's calm attitude was replaced by anger.

Inhaling deeply, she spoke, trying to maintain her voice as normal as possible.

"I assume you're going to interrogate the man?"

Michael nodded.

"His execution, afterwards, rests in my hands. I will not let him sin any longer." said Gabriel, her voice not leaving space to argue, so Michael just had to concede. Sure, as Angels they weren't supposed to feel such resentment towards a normal being, but that man was to be executed for his crimes whatever were the circumstances.

"Now, if you excuse me, I'll go check on Sariel. I suppose Raphael has heard of it already, and he'll be assisting him?"

"That is right."

As he finished, Gabriel formed a cross of light and vanished.