Chapter 2: Old Friends
"Those who stand by you in times of war connect to you in ways that do not exist in the common bounds of society."
3.5 Years ago, Ente Isla
The man who identified himself as Ray Zenji was leaning against the wall as the smoke outside began to settle and the glow from the flames dimmed into non-existence.
Emilia tried to sit up completely but felt a sharp pain in her lower back which made her groan slightly in pain, normally anyone else would shout but Emilia Justina was a hardened soldier of merit and very rarely allowed herself to give off the hint that she was distressed or in pain in the cases where it was possible to hide it. Ray sighed and placed his hand on Emilia's left shoulder to stop her from getting up and said "Slow down, you may be resilient against injury but you're not immortal, the cuts on your head were the least of your injuries and I don't want you to open up the stitches in your lower abdomen. A centimeter more to the left and you would be dead."
Emilia reluctantly decided to lay back down and pulled the covers up and saw bandages wrapped around where her liver resides and is a bit disbelieving of the extent of the injury because of the sparse pain in her front and feels more pain in her lower back and left shoulder. Ray takes notices of her self-inspection and says "If you have any doubts of my medical capacity I assure you I've treated worse. Most of the pain you feel is being suppressed by a liquid solution I gave you whilst you were unconscious, it kept your nutritional levels stable and should be helping the pain. As for your privacy I have respected that, you were lucky that the reptile didn't cause any chest injuries or I might not have been able to treat your blood loss, even for you losing the heart is fatal."
Emilia replied "When I move the pain hits my lower back and left shoulder. More importantly though, were there any other survivors from my unit?" Ray closed his eyes and shook his head lightly before saying "Just you and I almost couldn't save you from the injuries at that. If I wasn't there you would be dead for sure. I'm sorry for the loss of your comrades but the village is safe for now, the other squads and units of the church managed to push back Satan's forces. I've already informed them of your survival Miss Justina, they told me a healer was on his way but he never came so I assume bandits are taking advantage of the chaos."
Emilia closed her eyes and in a sudden burst of anger slammed her right fist into the wall, making the wooden construction crack and suddenly the pain made her regret her action as stitches in her lower arm came undone and began to bleed.
Ray spoke in a language Emilia had no knowledge of, saying in English "Why are all the hero types so damn hardheaded." and as Emilia grabbed the reopened wound he calmed down and spoke in Ente Islan, saying "I'll stitch it back up if you don't punch the walls again." Emilia sighed and extended the wounded arm as Ray grabbed suturing supplies from the desk beside the bed and removed the torn stitches and said "This is going to sting." Emilia steeled herself as Ray pulled out a flask which smelled of a strong alcohol and poured some across the wound, causing searing pain which Emilia was able to keep bottled up inside her as Ray began to stitch the deep cut, a process which took him less than a minute.
Ray bandaged the sutured area of her arm and said "Don't exert yourself, three days isn't much recovery time for injuries of this extent. I've only seen one person recover from shit like this every 15 minutes and you are not him.". Emilia felt both annoyed and curious, he obviously seemed to know what he was doing as she remembered having a serrated blade made of bone impale her in the place Ray mentioned was the worst injury and he treated it without killing her.
Days passed as Emilia recovered from her injuries, Ray Zenji made sure she didn't over-exert herself and when she did he made sure any reopened wounds were closed again. Both seemed annoyed at eachother, Ray did not exactly have perfect bedside manner and Emilia was not one to stay still, especially when she had a war to be fought.
At least 2 weeks into her recovery several members of the church paid her visits to inform her that the battles being fought were currently stalemates and to make it known that Ray was now being paid to help her recover as the only healer Emilia trusted was robbed and killed by bandits en route to the cabin.
By the end of the month her physical injuries were healed, their severity normally would have merited two or three months of recovery.
She strapped on her armor which Ray had repaired during his trips to the more densely populated part of the town and when she felt confident, summoned Better-Half and sheathed it on her left hip. As she opened the door, Ray stood on the other side, dressed in his trenchcoat and black vest with a large sword resting on his back with no sheath keeping it in place, she could sense some form of magic keeping it there but it was not Celestial Force, his weapon itself felt as if it were a demon's weapon rather than a blade forged by men.
Ray spoke, saying "I guess you're leaving now, don't be reckless and get yourself killed, stay alive." Emilia shook her head with a smirk and replied "I'll be fine, they don't call me Hero Emilia for no reason." As she walked by him, he said "Heroes always end up dead or incapacitated beyond the ability to fight. Few are exception to this rule."
Emilia stopped and turned to face Ray, saying "If you're so concerned then why don't you come with me, I've learned that looks can be deceiving and also." she paused for a moment before saying "You've earned my trust." Ray gave a light smile and said "Alright, might be fun to get back in the demon slaying business." Emilia returned his smile and chuckled lightly before replying "Then let's get moving."
Modern Times - Raymond's room, 7:18 am
Ray woke from his memories with a feeling of regret, dressed in a plain black T-shirt and wearing the cargo pants he wears whenever he's on the job.
His physical build much the same as three and a half years ago, seemingly weak yet he displays a superhuman agility and strength when he fights. Feeling a bit of longing for old times he remembered when he and Emilia were comrades in arms. His dreams are memories now, meeting Emilia who is now going by the name Yusa Emi jogged his memories of before she accused him of murdering a church official. Ray knew who the killer was, but was unsure if he was willing to give up the hunt for the demon king so soon.
Then another memory hit him, his eyes went wide for a moment and he quickly shut them with a tear coming down his left eye.
A memory, one year ago, Ente Isla
Blood poured down his vest, pierced by a sword charged with Celestial Force, Ray felt pain in his heart twofold, the physical pain and the emotional pain. He had come back from a scouting mission in the central continent whilst Emilia had defeated one of Satan's generals in battle and the demon general was presumed dead. Ray looked at his own right hand which was gripping his devil arm, having reshaped into a Katana. Instinct told him to thrust it into Emilia's heart, her eyes staring at him as if she was pleading him to do it. His will instead made the sword phase into energy and absorb into his own hand.
Ray resumed his focus on Emilia's face as tears rolled down her eyes, she shouted in his face "After everything you've done, why? Why did you betray everyone, why did you kill Bennard? He was on our side!"
Ray repeated for what seemed to be a hundredth time though it was only the third, he repeated "I did not kill the church priest, I wasn't even in the continent at the time Emilia! What reason would I have to betray you after everything I've done before, I've saved your life countless times, patched up every injury you've needed help with, we-"
Emilia was filled with both fury and sorrow as she wanted Ray to stop lying to her as well as to stop pointing out the fact that up until the incident, they were closer than siblings, so many had misinterpreted their lack of restraint as romantic feelings only for the fact to exist they were brother and sister through war. Even though they were not related by blood, their adventures together had brought a bond that Emilia did not want shattered, only for, to her point of view, have it shattered against her will.
She interrupted him by thrusting Better-Half deeper into his chest, the other end of the blade began to pierce the tree which Ray was impaled against by his closest friend.
Tears fell down his eyes as he groaned in pain and slowly began to close his eyes and once they were closed he said "Emilia, you've always known and kept secret my other half, but you don't even know yourself. I'm sorry about this, but if you are so blinded by the lies Olba is telling you than so be it. Emilia Justina, do not seek me out, you would only delay the true mission. I ask that you stop the demon king without betraying your convictions."
Emilia was, for a moment, overcome with grief over her actions, she had done just that, she had betrayed her convictions by killing the first person since her father that she trusted with her thoughts.
Ray painfully moved his left hand to wipe the tears from her eyes, which caused her to feel a bit of anger as she perceived him to continue to be pretending to care, feeling as if he was never truly her friend for three years. She thrust Better-Half so deep that the hilt of the blade was against his chest, the blade itself either inside him, the tree behind him or protruding out of said tree.
Ray then said, painfully "I won't let you betray yourself, if it reinforces your belief that I am your enemy then fine. Just as long as you don't lose faith in yourself.".
Having said those words Ray activated a powerful burst of dark magic Emilia had never seen before, a demonic form took Ray's place, a form more horrible and inhuman than anything Emilia had ever seen, even Alciel had no comparison to the form that was once her friend. Ray said nothing in his devil triggered state, merely flapping his wings so hard that Emilia was knocked back, the tree behind him was shattered by the force of Ray flying back. He then pulled better half from his chest and his fully manifested form began to heal his injury as if it were nothing, the stress and pain was high because this was the first time he had ever done a full-scale devil trigger, all times before were partial transformations, such as his arms or legs, or sprouting wings without changing the rest of his body, things Emilia had seen him do before in battle. This was different, he for a moment wanted to break the blade in half, but instead tossed it lightly towards Emilia who regained her footing and grabbed the sword instinctively without calling to it with Celestial Force, Ray was returning it to her. He hovered in the air for a few seconds as Emilia wiped her remaining tears and took a fighting stance only for Ray to send a massive air burst with his wings, disorienting Emilia.
When she recovered, Raymond Zenji was nowhere in sight and there were no hints to which direction he fled.
It was a memory he wanted to forget, but couldn't. It was the only impulse which made him drink alcohol yet his demonic side made it extremely difficult for it to affect him in the way he wanted it to, but this time he didn't feel the urge to drink. All times before this memory had happened was when he assumed she was dead, that there was no chance for reconciliation, no chance to prove to her that Olba was the killer, that he lied to her from the start and killed his predecessor with a weapon Ray had given him out of respect, respect that was betrayed. Olba killed Bennard to gain a closer position to Emilia so he could have more political power after the war, Ray knew that Olba was somewhere on Earth as if Emilia pursued the Demon King then so too might Olba pursue Emilia to ensure she would never speak against his political actions.
Ray then heard knocking at the door, he could only assume who it was and the voice behind it confirmed it.
Dante was on the other side, having found his partner's place of residence and said "Hey Ray, open up, we need to make some money and I just got a call from our mutual acquaintance here in Tokyo, says a youma has been harassing some Politican's daughter and he wants us to deal with it." Ray would normally brush this off and look for a case which doesn't seem like an overprotective father assuming a secret admirer was a demon, but he wanted to push through the memories and the best way to do that was chasing a lead, even if it seemed bogus.
To be continued...
