Chapter 1: Old Friend
Part 1: Meeting
Years ago, location unknown
I fall to my knees in pain. I glare at the man standing before me. "Damn you Zenos," I say. "What have you done to me?" He stares at the orb in his hand.
"Curious," he says. "I was trying to take the powers of god but it seems you had another hidden power. What are you young devil?" I reach over and grab my sword. "Still have some fight in you?" I slash up and he staggers back.
"Damn it," I say. "I missed what I was aiming at." He covers his left eye with his other hand. I jump back and fall back to my knees. I start breathing heavy as I try to focus on creating a teleportation circle.
"Running?" he asks.
"We will meet again," I say. "On that day I will kill you and make you suffer. I will take back what is mine." I teleport away and arrive in a field. "I don't know this place. It seems in my haste I randomly teleported somewhere. My body hurts but it feels much more than that." I cough up blood and fall to my side. "Am I going to die here? I can't die here. I need to live for them." I pass out.
I wake up and slowly sit up. I look around and I appear to be in a tent. "Oh good you are awake," I hear someone say. I turn to the voice to see a young man standing there. "I will go get my father." A few minutes later an older man walks in with some sort of head dress.
"Hello," he says. I look him over.
"Are you native American?" I ask. He nods. "That means I am in America. I am way far out of my jurisdiction now. What have I done?" I cover my face with my hands.
"It seems you are troubled," he says. "I can sense that your spirit is broken. Something has been taken from you recently and your body is trying to adjust to the mission element." I look up at him. I stand up.
"You are strange," I say. "I am Cartil."
"You may call me Bull," he says. "Come with me." I follow him outside. I look around after my eyes adjust to the light.
"I assume I interrupted a day of celebrating your roots," I say. "It's good to remember where you come from."
"You have wise words for someone so young," he says. I sigh.
"I guess the truth is going to come out sooner or later," I say. "There was a time in my life where I was training to become a military general and studied many things. I learned a lot." I look around more as we walk. "I can see your people are very in touch with the spiritual energy of life." I smile when I see children playing.
"You are insightful young one," he says and we enter building. I can sense tension in the air and I hear arguing. "It seems they council still hasn't decided on anything." We walk closer to the arguing. We arrive in a room with a large table. He walks over and sits down at the head of the table. I lean against the wall behind him and watch everyone.
"are you sure you should bring him here?" an older woman asks.
"I agree," says the youngest looking member of the council. "We can all sense he is not human and not a good spirit." I sigh as my hair turns crimson and my eyes turn blue. "See he can change his look." Bull raises his hand and everyone quiets down.
"I know," he says. "You should also know we help anyone in need."
"That is naïve," the old woman says. I look over the many council members. I start walking around the table as Bull starts talking about tribe things. I pause when I get across from Bull. He nods and I wave my hand. The whole room gets surrounded by a barrier.
"What is this?" a young woman asks. "Why are you letting this happen?" I start laughing.
"It seems your chief is the only smart one here," I comment. "I am Cartil Gremory." My devil wings appear. "I am a devil. If you think all devils are evil then you are already doomed. There are good devils out there. Every race has its good and bad apples."
"Well said," Bull says. "I suspected you were a devil but you are something more correct?" I smile.
"You saw right through me it seems," I say. I take a deep breath and close my eyes. Holy light behinds to shine around me and my devil wings fade away while getting replaced by angel wings. My angel wings then divide into 12 wings. I open my eyes. "I am a devil who also happens to be the reincarnation of God from the bible."
"This is not true," the youngest man says. "You are a deceiver." I tilt my head confused.
"That would be you," I say. "I could tell from the moment I walked into this room that you did not have the best interests of the tribe in your mind. You want to betray Bull and become chief."
"Are you going to let this outsider talk to me like that?" the young man asks.
"Let him speak," the old lady says. "I am curious about this young man."
"When you forget where you come from then you forget who you are," I say. I walk up behind the young man and place my hands on his shoulders. "I could kill you right now but I will let the council decide you fate. I am just here to watch." I walked away and stood behind Bull. I returned to normal.
"He is my honored guest," he says. "We are to treat him as family." The meeting lasted for a few more hours. Bull and I are sitting down watching the dancing around the fire. "Enjoying yourself?"
"I am," I say. "This is very interesting to me. I learned a lot today. I have great respect for your people. Thank you for helping me and letting me see this. How did you figure me out so fast?"
"I can tell if a soul is wicked or not," he says. "Reading a persons soul is power I have."
"That seems like it would be useful," I say.
"It has been," he says. "Also lets say we are kindred people as well." I look at him confused and he laughs. "You will figure out it soon enough." After spending a few more days with his people while I recover I learned a lot and became an honorary member.
"It's been fun," I say. "I thank you all for treating me like family. I must return to mine now."
"I have send word to the other tribes out there that you are a friend to us all," Bull says. "Another thing Cartil." I tilt my head. "The body heals fast but a broken soul will heal slower."
"I will remember that," I say. "If you ever need anything do not hesitate to asks." I wave as I disappear.
Part 2: Question
Team AxA HQ, present day
"So Cartil has gone to the United States," Sirzechs says.
"Lotus says he went there to see a friend," Bellona says. "Cartil believes he can help him heal or set him on the right path."
"Oh little brother what is going on?" he asks himself. "why have you kept us in the dark?"
"How is Rias?" Bellona asks.
"She has stopped crying for now," he says. "They use to be so close but he has become distant from her. She feels like there twin bond is broken." He sighs. "Mother has also been very worried."
"What I do is to protect my sister," I say.
"Where are you Cartil?" he asks.
"You already know," I say. "I am nearing where my friend is. I suspect I have messed up. Please tell sister to not worry. I will return to normal soon enough."
"We will try to keep them away from you," he says.
"I suspect the Greeks will not bother me anymore," I say. "Hera will make sure of it. If you plan to track me down Bellona maybe you should visit your daughter first."
"Cartil," she says.
"I know," I say. "I always have. I must go now."
Part 3: Friends
United states minutes later
I walk through this familiar place and go into the main building. I hear talking in another room. I blink into that room and hide in the shadows. I see Bull talking to his children. He stops talking and look at my direction. "It's been awhile my friend," he says. "Why are you in the shadows?"
"I need your help again Bull," I say and step out of the shadows. My broken form is now on display. My angel wings are nothing but bone. My hair has turned jet black. I look sickly and other aspects of my body look in worse shape.
"This is not good," Bull says. "Get the healers." His children nod. "I can see your soul is whole but broken. What did you do Cartil?"
"I messed up," I say. "I wanted more power to protect those I love. I rushed all my experiments on myself without testing them completely. The side affect has created a virus that is killing my DNA. I am dying and every time I lose my cool it speeds up." He walks over to me.
"Son to get the healers," he says and his son leaves. He takes my arm and sighs. "It seems your body can't heal anymore. We need to help you quickly." His son returns with the healers and they walk over to me. I watch them as look over my body. They are talking in a language I don't understand.
"Father will be okay?" one his daughters asks.
"I am not sure," he says. "I have never seen this much damage to the body and spirit." He watches the healers and I sigh. The healers turn to him and talk to him. He nods. "It seems your recent battle had a massive negative affect. Your power turned on you instead of being unleashed." I close my eyes and focus. After a few minutes I change back to my normal appearance. "It has affected your magic as well."
"I will explain," I say. "Just not here. I think we need to go back to the cave." He nods and he turns to his children.
"Prepare a party and rations for the trip," he says. "This will be a long trip Cartil so you need to rest." I shake my head.
"I will be fine," I say. "I just need a place to silence to meditate." I leave the building and head to a quiet place near the village that is in the middle of the forest. I sit down and cross my legs. I begin to focus. I gather the chi around me and start trying to heal my body. After awhile I hear footsteps come up to me.
"We are ready to head out," Bull says. I nod. I open my eyes and stand back up. We head back to the village. We get into the carriage. "The car would be faster but it would attract too much attention."
"Whatever you feel that is best my friend," I say. I lean back in my seat and close my eyes. We begin to move.
"How is your family?" he asks.
"Fine," I say. "They are probably worried about me. I do not blame them I left suddenly after what I did to Olympus. I reached a point of weakness and darkness I never want to fall to again."
"I heard about some of that," he says. "We have heard about all of your victories. It's a shame that you kind find peace."
"Strength breeds conflict," I say. "I don't help it really. My paranoia of a vision of the future as caused me to do so much stupid things. I push away people close to me because I don't want them to burden what I have to." I laugh. "I returned early to pull some of the burden off of Issei only to end up taking it all."
"Sometimes we are the only ones who can do what must be done," he says. "That is the price of having the power to change things."
"I hope one day that I won't be doing this alone," I say. "I get lonely doing all this by myself." I look outside and sigh. "This place has so much beauty that needs to be protected."
"I believe things will get better," he says. "First step is healing you then we can deal with the preparing for the future." The carriage stops and I sigh. "A simple check point, don't worry about it." He gets out and starts talking with someone. I grab my phone and call someone.
"Cartil?" Yin asks. "What is going on?"
"I am visiting a friend," I say. "We are trying to heal me. I am worried it will fail so I am making you the new leader of Team AxA."
"Why?" he asks.
"I believe you will make the team better," I say. "I am sorry I have been a bad friend to you. I hope one of these days you will forgive me." Before he tries to speak I hang up the phone and shut it off. I sigh and look out the window again.
"Everything is settled," he says as he comes back in. "We will move shortly."
"That is nice," I say.
Part 4: Prey
Unknown location, present time
"It seems our time to strike is soon," Set says.
"With Cartil in his weakened state he will be perfect prey," Loki says.
"It is a shame he didn't break Olympus completely," Anubis says. "If we take out Cartil now then we will just finish the job. Loki, gather the rest of us. We shall follow Cartil to America and kill him now."
"What of his family?" Loki asks.
"We shall wait until he is dead before attacking them," Anubis says. "Now let us prepare for the up coming battle."
Part 5: Reflection
Unknown Location in the United States, hours later
We arrive outside a cave and they start making camp. I sigh. "Are you nervous?" Bull asks.
"Yes," I say. "The last time I was here it nearly broke me more. This time I am scared that this will break me completely."
"You will do fine," he says. "You will need to take all the time you need." I nod and walk into the cave. I continue down the hall until I reach a waterfall in the center of the cave. I walk into the pool and sit on the rock. I close my eyes and relax.
"It's been awhile," God says.
"Yes," I say. "The last time we talked was the last time I was here. Unlike that time I am a different kind of broken."
"Yes you are," Lucifer says. "But this time you have us as well."
"Its good too see the wish in person," Leviathan says.
"A kind and strong person he certainly is," Asmodeus says.
"He is impress that is for sure," Beelzebub says.
"The united will of us all," God says.
"Well I guess its truth time," Lucifer says. "We wanted to end the war after dealing with the red and white dragons but we had no idea to stop it."
"We regret that it took so much loss to do it," Leviathan says. "Issei and you have done so much to bring peace to world. We thank you for that."
"Now onto to the healing," Beelzebub says. "You threw caution to the wind in your search for power."
"I wanted to protect the world," I say. "I wanted to protect my family."
"It's a wonderful goal," Lucifer says. "But it's not realistic. One always comes at the cost of the other one. One day you will have to make a choice."
"There is no choice," I say. I open my eyes and look around at them. "I will protect both. Anything less would be a failure." Lucifer smiles and nods at me.
"What is this?" God says and we look at the waterfall. "It seems the spirits here want to show you something." I watched as an image appears. My eyes go wide.
"What is this?" I ask.
"It seems to be your birth," Lucifer says. I can only watch and listen.
"A lovely girl," father says.
"Little Rias," mother says. "You are so beautiful." Mother then winches in pain.
"There seems to be another baby coming," the doctor says. I am watching my own birth. I come out glowing bright yellow. "It seems this child is admitting holy light. I can't even hold him anymore." I watch as he sets me on a table. "This is strange that a devil is emitting holy light. It is hurting us. We need to cover the child up."
"This is a major surprise," Father says. "Another baby and one that emits holy light, this is very interesting. We must keep this a secret." The image changes to mom holding sister while looking into a room. I can see myself in the room. I can see mother crying.
"Its okay mother," brother says. "You will be able to hold him some day." My body begins to shake. "He is a unique child; if this got out we would be in danger."
"I wish I could hold my baby boy," mother says. "I know that. Do you have any idea how hard this is for me? I don't know what to do right now." I can hear sister start crying. "I know you miss your twin brother. I understand how you feel."
"We are going to have to hide his identity," brother says. "We will also need to create a story like he is an orphan that you took in." I see mother look at sister and then at brother. She nods at him. I can see the pain in her eyes. I begin to cry. She turns back to looking in the room as brother leaves.
"One of these days I will be able to hold you," she says.
"Why are they showing me this?" I ask. "This is painful."
"I am not sure myself," God says. "Could be that they are trying to show you the hardships your mother went through so you don't take risks." The image flickers to a child me running around playing with sister and Sona. I can see mother in the background. I see Grayfia walk up behind her.
"Do you have any idea how hard is for me to not hug Cartil?" mother asks.
"I assume it's very painful my lady," Grayfia says. "Hopefully one day the world will know the truth and then you can hug him as long as you want." I can only see pain in mother's eyes. The image changes again.
"I know this," I said. "This is when I appeared and declared to the world that I was Cartil Gremory." The image changes to mother. I can hear my words and she then stands up. She starts crying.
"It's finally happened," mother says. She is smiling.
"Even though she was scared of me back then," I say. "She was excited that the truth came out."
"Your mother is strong," Lucifer says. The next image is of a young Hanalil. My eyes go wide again. This moment was after I failed to protect her the first time.
"I wonder who that boy was," she says to herself as she walks behind her parents. I can her blush. The next few images are of her dealing with the stupid crap her father put her through. It stops on the day before the party where I saved her again. "Why are you such a jerk father?" she runs into her room crying.
"I know what this was about," I say. They look at me. "Her father was trying to arrange a marriage for her back then. He quit pushing it when I came into her life but I have a feeling that was just for show." The next few images are of her being happy after our many dates.
"Isn't about time you start listening to me?" her father asks. "This little fling with that Cartil boy has gone on long enough. You need to dump him and marry this person I have arranged for you."
"I knew it," I say. "He is a selfish bastard."
"Shut up father," she says and I smile. "This is not a fling and I love him." He raises his hand but then walks off.
"Mental note," I say. "I need to kill him now." The next image is of a very happy Hanalil staring at the ring on her finger. She quickly hides it as her father walks into her room. They fight over the stupid arrange marriage again. After her father leaves she starts packing her things.
"So she ran away and moved in with you?" Lucifer asks.
"Yes," I say. "I had moved out of the main house by then and was living on my own. Her father always assumed she moved in with me but could not do anything. He had no way to prove it." the next few images were me reliving the hell of Hanalil being forced away from me. It stopped at her father yelling at her to get rid of the child she was pregnant with. She fought back and I smiled. The next few images were her telling Ri about me.
"One day we will reunite with him," she says. "Trust me little one." The image goes black before showing her watching the television with Ri in her lap. "This rating game is going to be intense." She smiles as she watches it. "That is your father's sister. She is a good woman." I see her eyes go wide when she sees me. She starts to cry when I reveal who I am to everyone.
"Mommy," Ri says. "Is that daddy?"
"Yes," she says. "The day we reunite with him is coming closer." She hugs Ri close and kisses her forehead. The next few images are her taunting her father. He admits defeat. "I win and you failed. Your pathetic agenda is over now father. I am returning to my husband now." Over the next few hours the waterfall showed me the struggle of every one of my wives before they met me.
"I never expected this kind of inner reflection," God says. I grab my chest as I am now being shown the after math of my "death". I watch as everyone of my wives break in different ways and I also she my mother break
"I understand now," I say. "I have been a complete idiot. I have been blinded for so long. I understand what I must now." I stand up and turn towards the exit. "Thank you." I walk out of the cave. "So it is night time now. I sure was in there for awhile."
"Do you get the answer you sought?" Bull asks as he walks up.
"I didn't get the one I wanted," I say. "I got the one I needed." I walk with him and sit down. I look at the campfire.
"That is always how the cave worked," he says. "So what do you plan to do now?"
"I have something I need to find," I say. "I think I know where it is located." He places his hand on my shoulder. I look at him and nod. "I assume they are out watching the border." He nods. "I often wondered why you easily helped me but then I figured it out."
"We are kindred spirits," he says. "I knew who you were from the minute you appeared here."
"I have figured out who you are," I say. "I understand why your tribe has no name. You are the Great spirit that watches over all the Native Americans."
"Like I said kindred spirits," he says. I lay back and fall asleep.
Part 6: Reveal
Rome, Temple of Bellona over looking a village, hours later
I walk into the temple and look at the statue of Bellona. I sigh as I touch it. I take a deep breath. "Bellona where are you?" I ask. "Show your face." I fall to my knees and cry.
"What is it?" she says as she appears. I look at her and she is shocked. "I did not expect you here."
"Don't lie to me like that," I say. "You knew I was going to come here. I am worried about Cartil as much as you are."
"Why did you come to me then?" she asks.
"I need your help," I say. I stand up and walk over to her. She looks at me for a second then looks away.
"Why would you want my help?" she asks.
"Mother, please help me," I say and she looks at me shocked. "I took the name of Miki because I hated you and wanted to start over. Cartil has shown me that no matter what happened that you are still my mother and I love you. Please help me save my husband."
"What can I do?" she asks.
"Please send father to look after him," I say.
"I don't think Mars would want to help him," she says.
"Tell him it's a request from his daughter," I say. "Please mother convince father to help him. When you manage to do this give him this." I hand her a card. "That will allow him to go to the United States."
"I can't promise anything," she says. "I will try my best to talk him into it."
"Thank you," I say. I hug her tightly and smile. She holds me close. I step back and turn away.
"I love you my daughter," she says. "I am glad we can fix things between us now."
"As do I mother," I say and leave.
Part 7: Iron
Heart of Earth, Hours later
I watch as Lance checks out the vitals of Atlas. "Alright things are looking good Atlas," he says. "You may not go rest." Atlas nods and walks away. Lance turns to his computer and goes over his research. "001, we need to increase the armor of the Walkers."
"I will run tests to determine how much," she says.
"We also need to fix the Forged stability," he says. "I am thinking we may need to test new materials for them." I can hear Axis whining behind me and the sounds of Trihexa trying to comfort her. "How are the tests on the Breakers going?"
"They will not work under current conditions," she says. "The master will need to rework him."
"These constructs of his are a pain to deal with when he isn't here," he complains. "Is it true he destroyed his swords?"
"Yes," she says. "If I understood correctly he plans to re-forge them into 3 new swords that are far stronger."
"I hope he can find the answers he seeks," he says. Suddenly shadowy figures appear around us. "So the secret army finally shows itself."
"Phase 3 is close to happening," one says. "It is time we return to sleep until the master has need of us again. Lance and Lotus watch over the master please."
"We always will," he says. "Now go rest and I hope the next time we need you will be in the great future war." They disappear.
"Lance," I say. "What is the secret army?" He looks over at me.
"His first attempt at creating an army," he says. "They are the generation one constructs that are known as the Talons of Shadow. We call them a secret army but there is only like 20 of them."
"How did you meet Cartil?" I ask. He takes his glasses off and wipes off the lens.
"Finish running the simulations 001," he says. "He saved me. There is not much to the story. A group of people did not like what I was researching and they tried to have me killed. He was there investigation something else but saved me anyway. Afterwards we talked and he helped me with my research." He puts back on his glasses and smiles. "He is a good friend and mentor. He soldiers so much of a burden that I am happy to help try to make things easier for him."
"I think I understand now," I say. "Thank you for sharing."
"What about you?" he asks.
"There is not much to say," I say. "Bellona would talk about him a lot and how good of a swordsman he was. So I wanted to learn from him. He inspires people around him to want to do great things."
"Master has always been a unique one," Venos says as he slithers by. "With Issei's Kingship and Cartil's Inspire they will be a deadly combo on the battlefield when it comes to war. I look forward to seeing those to in action in the future war."
"What are you doing here?" I ask.
"All of Cartil's familiars live here," he says and disappears into the shadows.
"He is a very odd snake," Lance comments. "Well all of the familiars are odd. The owl just stares at things randomly. It's very strange."
"I want a familiar," I say.
"You will have to talk to Master Cartil about that one," he says. "I am sadly just a human so I don't really get anything cool. I am fine with it."
"Don't sell your self short," I say. "You will have something awesome one day."