You can probably guess what Luke did with his day off after a long journey to the Garden of Eden, fighting Iumenti and demons along the way, only to return home and find more Iumenti and demons to fight.

That's right, he slept; and it was a blissful sleep too. He wasn't plagued by prophecy related dreams or visions of his past.

Well except for one.

This victory amongst his friends, it was great and all, but Luke was missing one person who could deflate the remaining tensions from his body.

He was missing his girlfriend.

What would she say if she found out how far he had come? When he last saw her in D.C. she knew he could summon a flame. The most powerful thing she knew he could do was cast the Undying Sear.

Now he was able to manipulate elements into weapons and creatures and use them to take down foes many times his size. He was entrusted with a new ability that could push out demons from people, and drill to the source of those who dreamscape—that alone made him a major weapon in the times to come.

Because it will be he who will keep either good or evil in check with such a power. And deep down, Luke knew this, and it scared him. What if he chose the wrong side? One person's evil is always another person's good and vice versa.

After waking up at 1PM he went to a brunch at the mess hall trying to avoid those "what if" thoughts. The school was still under construction, but most of the students took in the free time by lounging around and playing a match of football, cards, and even a snowball fight or two because up in this corner of the world, snow was usually around.

And if not, then Anael students could produce some with ease. They were the best guys to have on a snow fighting team.

However, some things didn't change. The girls were still kept segregated from the boys. No matter how much petitioning they did, no matter how well they fought together, the Deans said it was an outstanding order from the Archbishop of SGA. Many demanded to see this Archbishop Mosaé, but the Deans said he was out on assignment and didn't care to elaborate further. Dean Ammon suggested they petition him when he returns.

Dean Kay was rather quiet when it came to the matter. She allowed Dean Ammon to do most of the talking without tossing any sly remarks, which seemed uncanny of her.

Thus, the boys were back to hanging out with boys and girls with girls. Many of the guys bragged about how they could've won over a Mariah, gotten a little something from Janet, or made Vanessa his bae. Many of them probably didn't even talk to a girl while they were being possessed by demons, but Luke couldn't blame them for dreaming.

While sitting in on a bench reading a book series about Greek and Roman gods, an unexpected face popped up from behind his book. Messy hair, glasses and his classic hoodie. On R&R days, students were allowed to dress out of colors and uniform, and Luke recognized his old CUA roommate.

"Kevin," Luke dropped his book and made eye contact with him.

"Luke," Kevin said as he sat next to Luke who closed his book and put it down. Kevin picked up the book and looked at the back cover. He fanned through the pages. "Seems almost like our setup here, instead with cabins instead of houses."

Luke knew Kevin wasn't here to talk about his favorite book series. Kevin usually appeared to talk business. "What do you want?" Luke didn't mean for it to sound so curt, but then again, he was about to read a battle between a god and a child and Kevin was ruining it.

"I'll only be a bit and then you can return to your outdated mythological world. I would've thought that the reality you're in is enough of a fantasy to excite you."

"Sometimes I like to see how other kids handle the dangers of being..." A soldier? A guardian? A demi-angel?

"A hero," Kevin finished. "Don't try to be humble. You saved this campus." His lips quivered the slightest as if goosebumps were localized to his mouth. "I wish my brother could see you now..."

"That's right," Luke said recalling that it was Michael, Kevin's younger brother, that led the expedition to the Garden of Eden with Luke as the recipient of the purple fruit. "Where is he?"

That question seemed to punch Kevin in the face. "We've been—estranged. Even since the expedition where he lost you, he was never the same. He advocated strongly against the Garden Run. He claimed he, as the Chief Medical Officer of House Raphael, could figure out a way that a child can still have one foot in both realities—or both eyes I should say. I told him he was being naive. We argued, then he got a special mission. He left and did his own thing and I did mine."

Kevin stopped and Luke knew that he shouldn't dig any further. He changed the topic to something he realized the moment he saw Kevin's face again. "You knew."

Kevin was a master of picking up where a conversation was going. "There was a reason why I didn't want to ride in the same snowmobile as him and why I hoped you picked up my doubt about Victor leading the Garden Run before you guys left. I will admit I didn't know he was Jurgen, the man who betrayed everyone on my brother's mission. But I knew he was not to be trusted."

"And you didn't tell me?" Luke said with an inflection as if the withholding of such crucial information made him want to break down.

"I don't tell people how to feel about others," Kevin asserted. "It's simply unfair to be given a judgment about someone you've never met. I let people form their own opinions, and I knew you'd figure it out eventually. When I saw you at lunch stand up to him, I knew you understood already the type of character he was."

"An asshole."

Kevin smirked. "That's one thing we can agree upon."

There was a bit of silence before Kevin stood up and told Luke, "Follow me."

And for once Luke didn't argue. As often as he saw Kevin as a conceited prick, he kind of missed him. He was the one connection he had to CUA, to his old normal life before prophecies, archangels, and Iumenti.

Kevin led Luke to the administrative building that was still being repaired by Raguel students on both sides. Men worked on one half, women on the other. Luke couldn't believe that after working so well together to defend the campus the Deans would keep the school segregated—even if it was out of their hands. Were the consequences of love that much of an issue that they would take such a drastic step, or did they truly believe education was better when surrounded by those of the same gender?

Kevin led Luke beneath scaffolding and towards the entrance and down the front steps of the building. "Sadly, with the recent attacks, the Open House has been postponed." Luke sighed anticipating such bad news.

"But for you, I made a little exception." Kevin opened the main doors leading to the roundabout entrance where cars and other vehicles would pull up just beyond the gate that was nearly completely destroyed by Jurgen. In the center was a fountain depicting the school's namesake stepping on a dragon beneath his foot.

Sitting in front of the fountain in a crimson fur coat that matched her hair was the most beautiful woman Luke had even seen. His heart raced, and he started running. For once he wasn't running away from killer angels or Iumenti. He was running towards something with his arms open, and he didn't mind if they clashed into one another.

He embraced her soft coat and buried his head beside her, notching it in a nook between her shoulder and neck. "Nellie, how did you..."

Nellie pulled back and kissed him. The party and R&R were nice after saving the Campus, but this kiss was the best reward.

Until she slapped him in the face and flipped him to the ground. To think he fought so many powerful creatures but got taken down in seconds by his girlfriend.

"You don't call, you don't text, you haven't written me in a month," she scolded him. "Then I see this place semi-destroyed. Kevin tells me you were on a dangerous mission—Luke do you know what this level of anxiety does to a girl?"

"Makes her beat up her boyfriend?" Luke guessed between half a smirk and half an expression of pain.

Nellie took her knee off of his back and picked Luke up, embracing him in another hug. "Luke I've just missed you," she smiled with watery eyes.

The two of them sat by the fountain for hours, exchanging stories, emotions, and news. Kevin sat far away by a bench reading a book by Freud. Nellie filled in details about CUA. She was now about to head into her final exam period at CUA in a couple of weeks. Once she was done, she'd be done with her first year of college, like Luke had he stayed. She said there haven't been any problems with demons attacking the campus, but she did share one piece of news that surprised Luke.

"Promise me you won't freak out," she said.

"After the things I've seen, I don't think anything can freak me out anymore," Luke assured her. She opened her hand and ash floated from it. Luke rubbed his eyes, thinking he was seeing things. Her hand, he thought she was dissolving; her skin having gone through partial cremation. Luke was scared. The ash was carried by the wind for a brief second, but it was too heavy, and it fell to the ground. It formed the body of a snake and slithered towards Nellie.

Luke lit his hand ablaze. "Nellie, step back."

Nellie cupped his hand and powdered the flame with the dust from her hand helping him shut it off. The snake slithered up her leg and rested along her arm. She pulled back her hand and allowed the snake to slither into the palm of her hand and it solidified into a gray cane with the head of a snake and fangs dripping in liquid.

Luke was totally lost. He started leaping to conclusions. Was his girlfriend possessed again?

"Father Matthew thinks it's a side effect," Nellie said. "Those who have been possessed by a demon long-term end up keeping some of its abilities. So far I only have this quirk."

It sure was a quirk. Ash? That was her ability? She could dissolve her hand into ash and use it to form a cane? Luke guessed it was a great weapon for helping the elderly.

"Have you've practiced with it?"

Nellie's hand turned back to normal. "Occasionally, but I'm limited. I doubt my roommate would be as calm as you if she saw this."

Luke started leaping to dreams. If she had a power and already knew that supernatural beings existed, then maybe she can join him at SGA. Sure, they'd be segregated, but he knew they could manage a way to sneak around and see each other.

That's when Kevin appeared next to them. Luke hadn't even seen him move from his seat. "I see you two have caught up sufficiently."

Luke wanted to both slap Kevin for interrupting his conversation and hug him for making this conversation happen. "How did you..."

"Who do you think delivers and picks up your mail from our P.O. box?" Kevin said. "I don't do it all the time, but when I do, I sometimes make personal deliveries if it's along the way."

"Did you know about this power of hers?" Luke asked.

"As Father Matthew suggested, those who have been inhabited by a demon for a period of about three months or more tend to acquire part of the demon's nature. It's the consequence of ripping a bumper sticker from a car, bits and pieces still remain."

"So that means she can come here?" Luke said. "She can train to master her ability and..."

"She was adopted by no angel," Kevin reminded her.

"But she was inhabited by a fallen one," Luke countered.

Kevin entertained the thought. "Perhaps a case can be made. After all, Sirius lacks the Nef gene and so does Alpha, yet they were brought in."

Luke turned to Nellie with a smile, but she averted his gaze. Luke knew she wasn't as excited as he was about the prospect of the two of them going to school together.

"Don't you want to be closer to one another?" Luke asked.

"Luke, I'm happy for you," Nellie started which lead Luke to believe there was a 'but' coming. "But, angels, demons, giant creatures called Ew-Ment-Eye, this is not what I want to sign up for. I want to graduate college, get my degree in biology, and move onto medical school. I don't want to spend my days training to fight in a war."

"But you can study nursing here. House Raphael students are the best healers in the world."

"Yeah but how much of that can a normal human learn to do?"

Luke was growing frustrated that Nellie was turning down their opportunity to be closer. Why would she do that when she can obtain so much more by staying here with him. "But..."

"I'd respect her decision," Kevin cut in awkwardly. Luke's appreciation for his action was being stretched thin. "But I also will add that a war is coming nonetheless. Your boyfriend's presence guarantees it. The question will be whether you will fight to save others or rely on others to save you. If you believe you can do the former in the normal world, then no one can stop you."

Nellie and Luke thought about this. Then Kevin turned and started heading back to the building. "You two have until dinner, then I will have to escort her back to CUA."

As Kevin left, Luke started to realize that fighting Iumenti and demons was much easier than hammering out relationship issues.