"So? Are you two going to let me in or not?" Cole asked, folding his somewhat tattered wings behind him and taking a step towards the door. Stunned, Alaina stepped aside, letting the demon pass. He ducked as he made his way through the doorway, his horns scraping lightly on the bottom of the frame. He walked straight to the kitchen table, as if he hadn't been gone for nearly a week.

"So you've finally decided to rejoin us." Jophiel said, eyes narrowed.

"Yeah, sorry." Cole replied, not sounding like he meant it in the slightest. He shrugged, causing one of his parcels to nearly fall to the floor. He caught between his elbow and his side just in time. As he continued setting his strange assortment of items on the dingy little table, he decided to add an explanation. "Got a little caught up in... something."

"We noticed." Jophiel said dryly.

Cole ignored him. Instead, he carefully unwrapped the cloth around the larger package. Inside was a strange wooden box marked with ominous runes that glowed a sickly green.

"See this?" he asked, holding the box up for Alaina to get a better look at.

As he lifted it towards her face, Alaina felt a deep sense of foreboding somewhere in the pit of her stomach. She thought she heard whispers swirling around her, and a chill swept down her spine.

"What is that?" she asked, taking a step back.

"It's a memory box." Cole replied.

"Where did you get this?" Jophiel asked. He was starting to look worried, but Alaina's own worry was morphing into confusion.

"A memory box? Like, for keepsakes?" she asked. Why would Jophiel be uneasy with something like that? More importantly, why would Cole bother bringing it here?

"No... it's much more literal than that." Jophiel said, brow wrinkling. Then, he turned to Cole. "Who's memory is in there?"

"Ah, a good question." Cole said knowingly. "But a better question is what is the memory in the first place?"

That... did seem like a good question. Then, what he was implying really hit Alaina.

"Wait... are you saying that box contains someone's memories?" she asked. Was that what all those whispers had been? How many memories were in there? Were there memories from more than one person? How did they get in there? And why did Cole have them?

"Memory. Just one." Cole corrected. "And trust me, it's a good one."

"Yeah? How good?" Jophiel asked. "Good enough to be gone for six days with no explanation?"

"Good enough to be gone for six weeks with no explanation." Cole retorted. Alaina couldn't tell if he was being serious or if he was just trying to get under the angel's skin. The two did seem to live to annoy each other.

"What memory could be that good?" Alaina asked, partly out of curiosity, partly to keep the two of them from bickering.

"Well, why don't we take a look and see?" Cole beamed. Those too-sharp teeth, coupled with his orange, glowing eyes made the look more unsettling than he'd probably meant. Alaina tried to ignore it.

"I don't think that's—" Jophiel started. But Cole didn't let him finish.

"Do you trust me?" he asked Alaina, pointedly ignoring Jophiel.

Alaina caught herself hesitating for just a second before giving a short, jerking nod. She tried to remember the Cole she knew before they'd come to the Underworld – the fairly-normal, almost-human-looking one. She'd trusted him, definitely. Of course, she hadn't known what he was then. Alaina didn't like to think of herself as superficial, but she did have to admit she vastly preferred the human-like appearance he'd had until so very recently.

She hadn't actually seen his wings or horns until right before they came down here. He said he did it to help them blend in – that at least one of their group should look the part. But Alaina secretly thought that was just his excuse. As an elf, she was more sensitive to magic than most, and she could feel the subtle shift in it down here. She got the distinct impression that he couldn't control it in this realm. It was the same reason Jophiel seemed unable to hide his wings, even though it would have been much easier than constantly covering them with soot and pretending he was a fallen angel.

Cole's expression seemed to relax just a fraction at the sight of Alaina nodding.

"Good." he nodded. It sounded more like thanks.

Then, he opened the box.

A blinding light flashed throughout the room and the temperature seemed to drop. Alaina's hair whipped around in the sudden wind.

Then, the light seemed to shrink back in on itself until it hovered over the box, a kind of greenish, swirling orb. Alaina thought she saw shadows moving inside. She leaned forward, almost automatically. Cole and Jophiel followed suit.

Alaina recognized the stone building with its strange towers that jutted up into the sky: Trida Academy.

Slowly, the building got closer and closer. Alaina could hear the sounds of footsteps on the path and light panting as someone lumbered up the hill. It took Alaina a minute to realize that she was looking through the eyes of whoever's memory this was.

Finally, the door was in sight. The owner of the memory wrapped long, spindly fingers around the handle and gave a hard pull. It was dark inside, but they walked purposefully down hall after hall. Alaina had gotten thoroughly lost before they pushed against a door and let themselves into a dimly-lit room filled with books.

A tall, gangly man sat at a nearby desk. He looked up as the light from the hallway spilled into the room. "You're late."

"I got here as quick as I could." the memory-owner whined. She sounded surprisingly young. Was she a student here?

The man sighed, looking unimpressed. "I've opened the very Gates of Hell for you. The least you could do is be on time."

"I said I was sorry." the girl grumbled.

"Did you? I must have missed it." the man said coldly. "You realize that you'll have to be quick about your little summoning. The longer the gates are open, the harder it'll be to close them."

"Yeah, yeah," the girl said flippantly. A manicured hand waved in front of the vision, dismissing the man's warning.

"This is important. You'll have a maximum of three hours before you'll no longer be able to close the gates yourself. Then, only Eero will be able be able to help us."

"Aaron help us, got it." the girl said, taking the book from the man and turning back to the door.

"No, you fool! Eero! You'll need to summon him to the Gallery of Grief! And don't forget to—"

The image faded out, the strange green light seeming to drift back into the box. Cole closed it, looking lost in thought.

"What was that?" Alaina asked, looking over at Cole.

"Where did you get it?" Jophiel asked at the same time.

"I... won it in a bet?" Cole said dismissively.

"A bet?" Jophiel asked, eyes narrowed.

"Yeah." Cole nodded. "See, I bet myself that I couldn't get this off Valefar, and well... I guess I showed me, didn't I?"

"Oh." Alaina mumbled. So it was a stolen memory.

"But don't you see what it means?" Cole asked. "We know who can close the gates. All we have to do is decide what we're going to do about it."

Alaina sighed; they all knew the answer to that question.