Guest - Thank you for the advice and resource! I've been looking at a lot of wikis about blending in magic with an urban fantasy setting so I hope it fits well, especially the Rick Riordan books and the Shadowhunter Chronicles.

Flo - I'll be sure to take it slow for now so don't worry, but thank you for your concern :) As for Issei, he'll confront Ryusei about it but I'm not exactly too sure about pairings for Ryusei yet. If you have any thoughts, please let me know.

BloodRaven - I was definitely going to make a Felicity character, but I'm still sort of working on it. It was going to be Ms. Kamiya or Celeste, but I still haven't really decided yet.

4

Ryusei walked around the campus after school had ended awhile ago. He figured he should set up a talisman portal here just in case he was stuck at school and needed to go. The only problem with that plan was that this school was basically ruled by devil families. Aside from Rias Gremory, Ryusei felt a powerful devil presence here. He didn't know where they were but he knew they were here. This school was crawling with devils.

For some reason, Issei and Asia never came to visit. Not as though he was upset, he was more curious. Did something happen with them? And in the same ball park, what the hell was with his teacher? Ryusei felt magic pressure coming from her, intense and violent no matter how much she suppressed it. And that warning she gave him…eyes everywhere.

"Huh? Ryusei?"

He looked up to see Emi, wearing her P.E uniform and covered in sweat, carrying several boxes and pulling a wagon with even more boxes. Her blonde hair was tied back into a fluffy and loose ponytail and her brown eyes pierced him.

"Emi? What are you still doing at school?" Ryusei asked.

"I'm on the tennis team, we have afternoon practice," Emi said. "What about you? It's getting late, shouldn't you be going home?"

"I wanted to walk around and get familiar with the school," It wasn't the whole truth but he wasn't technically lying.

"I see," Emi said, pursing her lips. "Can you help me out then? I have to get these boxes to the fourth floor science club."

"The fourth floor?" Ryusei raised an eyebrow. "How are you gonna get that up there?'

Emi smirked. "There's ramps in the corner of the floors for special needs students. C'mon, I'll show you."

And so, Ryusei tagged along to help her out. As she carried two or three boxes with her hands, Ryusei pulled the wagon along behind him. Emi explained to him about the various clubs around Kuoh, and how a lot of students tend to join one or two to pass the time and socialize. The tennis club, the basketball club, the art club, music club, anime club, science club, cultural festival club…he didn't realize one school could have so many.

"Hey," Ryusei said. "Do you think our teacher is a bit…weird?"

"What? Ms. Kamiya?" Emi asked. "Well yeah she's a bit out there, but she's really helpful. Actually she's the science club adviser so…"

"You're kidding," Ryusei sighed.

"Well," Emi stopped in front of a classroom. "We're here." She knocked on the door with her feet. "Excuse me? Ms. Kamiya? Are you in there?"

"Yes. Come in."

Ryusei slid open the door as the two of them walked in. The science club was a small yet functional classroom with posters plastered over the walls, beakers and cylinders on the shelves and a giant Periodic Table on the back wall. Sitting by the front table was Ms. Kamiya, legs crossed and reading an old but familiar book. Sitting by one of the desks was Hiro, was he doing homework?

"Himegami, Hyoudou, why are you here?" Ms. Kamiya asked.

"Our captain asked me to bring these to you," Emi said. "She said it was important and that you'd know what to do with them." She set one of the boxes on the table Ms. Kamiya was sitting at as the teacher peeked in.

Was he just imagining things or did a smile just tug at Ms. Kamiya's lips. Whatever the case, she seemed rather pleased with their delivery. "Thank you, you two. Will you be off now?"

"Yeah, sorry I gotta get back to practice," Emi walked for the door. "I get out at 6 so I'll come by if you're all still here."

"See you later then," Ryusei waved as she closed the doors behind her.

"What's wrong, Ryusei?" Hiro asked, fixing his glasses. "You seem uneasy."

"Is this…really a science club?" He asked.

"What do you mean?" Hiro asked.

"Well…the book that sensei's reading is a grimoire," Ryusei said. "It's a magic related book which is completely against science. And not to mention I can sense more grimoires all around the classroom. What are you two up to?"

Hiro stood up and fixed his eyes on Ryusei. "You can sense them?"

"Well…yeah," Ryusei said.

"Calm down you two," Ms. Kamiya smiled and sat back down at her table. "You're right, Hyoudou, this isn't an actual science club. We just thought we should have our own room in order to practice and this seemed like a good cover up."

"Practice what exactly?" Ryusei asked, not exactly sure if he really wanted to know.

Ms. Kamiya pulled a book out of the box that Emi had set down. "Magic. I've been teaching Nagase how to perform magic."

"What?" Ryusei narrowed his eyes at Ms. Kamiya. "Why would you do something so irresponsible? You can't just drag humans into this world like nothing!"

"Ryusei," Hiro said. "I'm the one who asked her to, this isn't sensei's fault."

He stared at Hiro with wide eyes. "Hiro…why would you want to learn magic? Do you know what's in store for you? This world is not something you wanna be associated with…maybe you can still get yourself out."

"I know what I signed up for, Ryusei," Hiro stared at Ryusei. Those eyes…those determined and unwavering eyes.

"Hiro…" Ryusei looked to Ms. Kamiya. "Are you sure it's alright to be talking like this? You said that there were-"

"This classroom has been completely warded against everything," Ms. Kamiya put her hands in the pockets of her lab coat. "No one can spy on us in here, and no one can teleport in."

"Ryusei, you seem to know a lot about magic…" Hiro said, walking towards him and Ms. Kamiya. "Who are you?"

"I'm just…me," Ryusei pulled the wagon closer to the front table. "I hope you're sure about this, Hiro. I don't know how much she's shown you, but this world is much, much more terrifying than you think."

Ryusei was about to exit the room, until Ms. Kamiya stopped him. "It really was you, wasn't it?"

"What could you mean?" Ryusei asked, not turning around to face her.

"Garo Motoyama was impaled through the heart, his men were completely massacred, and the blood banks he was storing around the city were liberated," Ms. Kamiya said. "That was you, wasn't it?"

"What?" Hiro asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Ryusei said, prying his hand free of Ms. Kamiya's grip.

"Hyoudou," Ms. Kamiya said. "I know what you went through on that island, and what you went through after it."

Ryusei stopped in his tracks. He turned around slowly to face her, his eyes horrified. "W…What?"

"I know why you're doing this, why you're crossing those names off," Ms. Kamiya took his hand. "But know that you won't have to do it alone. This is going to be a long and tiring journey. It's best if you don't walk this path alone."

He knew she was right. He knew that it was going to one hell of a job trying to kill all of those people by himself, especially since most of these guys have armies behind their backs. It would be easier if he had help, people to fight by his side, but…he didn't want anyone else to die in his name.

"I'm tired," Ryusei relaxed. "It's been a long day. I'm going to go home. Good night, sensei, Hiro."

"W-What, Ryusei!" Hiro said, but Ms. Kamiya stopped him.

Ryusei closed the door behind him, hoping to hear in on their conversation from outside, but these doors were really warded. He couldn't hear anything at all.

He leaned against the wall next to the science club door and wandered into his thoughts. Did he really want to involve other people into this fight? The last time he opened himself up to anybody and told them the truth, his closest friends died protecting him. He couldn't involve ordinary humans in like this…Hiro and Emi, they've shown kindness when everyone around him treated him like some fossil from a museum that was brought back to life. He couldn't…he couldn't…

"You can't what?"

Ryusei looked to his side to see Emi once again. She was changed into her school uniform and her bag swung over her shoulder. "You okay Ryusei? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Emi…" Ryusei forced himself to calm down and straighten up. "It's nothing. I was just going to go home."

"What about Hiro and Ms. Kamiya?" Emi asked.

"Club practices, I didn't wanna interrupt them," Ryusei forced a smile.

"I see," Emi didn't seem convinced, but she softened and smiled. "Say, you wanna grab some food on the way home? My treat."

"Eh? Are you sure? I don't wanna-"

"It's fine, don't worry about it," She grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the school.

They went to a local McDonald's and took a seat by the window. As he waited for Emi to come back with their food, Ryusei realized what type of situation he was in. Was it really okay for him to have this kind of normal life? Would Emi accept him if she knew what he had done…or what he was about to do?

"Jeez, it'd help if you relaxed a little," Emi set their trays on the tables and sat across from him. "You're so serious. What's up?"

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Ryusei ate a few fries.

"Clearly something's on your mind," Emi rested her cheek on her palm. "We may not be that close yet, but I'm here if you wanna talk about it."

Ryusei opened up his burger. "A friend of mine is in a bit of a situation."

"Oh?"

"He's done some…not so decent things in his past, and he's not sure if his friends would accept him and stay with him if they knew about it," Ryusei said, nibbling at his burger. "He's got an important mission to do but he knows he can't do it alone for too long. He's debating if he should tell someone about it it, but…"

"Seems like your friend's a real idiot."

Ryusei almost choked. "W-What?"

"If you really consider someone a friend," Emi smiled. "Why would you be so worried if they're going to accept you? This is one of those times where your friend needs to take a leap, the faith can come later."

Ryusei stared at Emi in awe. She came off as a completely air head who was carefree and outgoing and didn't have a care in the world. And yet here she was, giving him sound advice…

"I think…" Ryusei swallowed his burger. "I had the wrong impression about you."

"What!" Emi pouted. "What's that supposed to mean? Did you think I was some kind of air-head?"

"N-No, of course not," Ryusei found himself genuinely smiling.

Emi crossed her arms and pouted, looking the other way. "You're mean, Ryusei."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Ryusei smiled. "Thank you for your advice, Emi. I'm sure my friend's going to take it."

"He'd better," Emi grabbed her fries and started nibbling. "Your friend's got some pretty good friends, it's about time he start seeing it."

After walking Emi half-way home, Ryusei decided to finally go home. He walked through the streets with Emi's advice in mind. Maybe she was right…maybe he should at least tell Issei and Asia about everything he's been through.

It was then that he noticed he was being tailed. Ryusei kept calm and walked in a constant cadence to avoid giving it away that he knew. What the hell was this? Who was tailing him? How did he know him? Was it from his first visit to the south side? He doubted that those spies would even think about tailing him after what he had done to Garo. There was only one conclusion he could come to…Rias Gremory.

This magic pressure felt familiar, Koneko? It felt suppressed, trying to mask their presence, but it wasn't good enough. She was at least 100 feet behind him, jumping from rooftop to rooftop.

Why was Koneko following him home? Was this because of Rias trying to keep an eye on him? There was a slight possibility that it wasn't Koneko, but the chance was so out there Ryusei didn't consider it. There's no way it couldn't be.

His house was only a corner away. Once he entered, he could be shielded as long as he's in his room. The wards and talisman there protect him against eyes outside his room. Even through the window, all she would see was him laying on his bed or doing homework. He could use the portal on his door to enter his hideout and go out investigating.

"I'm home," Ryusei walked through the front door to see his parents watching T.V in their living room.

"Welcome home," His father said. "Issei and Asia said they had club activities so they won't be home until later. Are you hungry? There's-"

"I'm okay," Ryusei headed towards the stairs. "I'm feeling kind of tired so I'm going to bed. Good night."

"Goodnight," His mother said with an unconvinced look.

Walking into his room, Ryusei felt an overwhelming sensation of eyes on him. Despite the wards on his room, he still felt like he was being watched, as if eyes were penetrating through the talisman and looking right at them.

Ryusei took off his blazer and unbuttoned his dress shirt as he headed towards the door. Tracing his fingers along the door frame, the outline of the door began to glow. The portal was ready. Opening the door and stepping through, he entered his hideout.

Ryusei was immediately on guard. This presence…someone was here.

"I gotta admit," A voice said. "This place is extremely well protected. It took me a whole half an hour to break through the talisman and wards. Don't worry though, I repaired them so no one can see through."

Towards the tables holding his weapons and magic stones, a girl walked forward. She had short vibrant purple hair with the ends turning white. Her skin was rather tan but her eyes a bright blue, closer towards white. She couldn't have younger than 15, and yet this magic pressure was overwhelmingly strong.

"Haven't I seen you somewhere?" But then he remembered. She was there at the court room at his hearing. She was among the three figures sitting down, alongside Garo and that white haired boy. "Why are you here?"

"I just wanted to visit the illustrious Dragon Slayer in person," The girl smirked. "Word on the streets is that you killed that old fart Garo. Can't say I'm too upset seeing as I never liked him in the first place."

"So why are you here?"

The girl waved her finger as one of his shishigami flew over to him in the form of a butterfly. Arriving, it returned to it's original form, a paper with an image of a man in a hood.

"Congratulations, Hyoudou Ryusei. You're a wanted man by the supernatural community." The girl said.

It was him, though the image was pretty unclear and hand drawn. It was him with his hood over his face. They didn't get his noticeable feature, being the scar on his chin, but it was him nonetheless.

"Looks like one of Garo's men survived," Ryusei sighed. "Guess I'm rusty."

"So you admit it?" The girl looked genuinely surprised.

"I can't really seem to convince you otherwise, can I?" Ryusei said. "Plus you found this place, either way I can't explain myself out of it all."

"I guess this makes things easier," She sighed, almost disappointingly.

"Are you going to arrest me?" Ryusei asked.

She raised an eyebrow. "Arrest you? Why would I do that? You seem to be doing a good thing."

Ryusei walked over to the tables and set the wanted poster down. "Am I? I'm killing people, what part of that is good?"

"Don't act like you didn't save those people being used as blood banks," The girl scoffed and crossed her arms. "As heir to the Fairy Court, I, Celeste daughter of Oberon and Titania, hereby appoint you, Hyoduou Ryusei, as my knight."

Ryusei raised an eyebrow. "Why would I want to be your knight?"

Caught off guard, Celeste jerked back and put her hands on her waist. "How rude! You should consider it an honor that I, Celeste, would even consider you good enough to be my knight."

"Yes, but why would I want to be your knight?" Ryusei asked.

"Because," Celeste smirked. "I've known of you, even before you came back to Kuoh."

Ryusei froze. "What?"

"The incident in Lian-Yu? The induction into your super secret brotherhood of assassins? Even the incident at London." Celeste walked over to him. "I've known about you, for a very long time." She popped him on the nose.

"W…What do you want?" Ryusei asked, reluctantly.

"I want you to keep the Fairy Court, as well as the wolves out of your sight," Celeste said. "Anyone else is fair game for your judgement, but we are to be off limits. If not, I'll show everyone who you are, and then your whole family will be in danger."

"You know," Ryusei shot her a look of complete dread. "Blackmailing me of all people, won't end out well for you, your family, or the wolves."

Celeste looked shaken. It was clear that this was her first interrogation and negotiation. Normally he would use whatever he can against her, but he couldn't risk his parents being caught in the line of fire. Issei and Asia should be okay seeing as they have Rias Gremory, but his parents…

"Very well," Ryusei sighed. "I'll take you up on your blackmail…I mean offer."

Putting her hands on her waist, Celeste laughed victoriously. He didn't want to submit to her, but it was the right thing to do now.

"By the way," Ryusei said. "Did you follow me to my house?"

Celeste raised an eyebrow and looked at him confused. "Follow you? Why would I follow you?"

"I see," He grinned. "Nevermind then." So it wasn't her, which meant it had to be Koneko. "Are we done here? There's one more blood bank out there that I have let to liberate."

"Very well," Celeste said. "I'll leave you to it then, but I'm keeping my eye on you, Dragon Slayer." She vanished with a gust of wind swooping up her body.

He let out a sigh of relief and annoyance. Not only did someone find his hideout on the second day he built it, but she was able to blackmail and keep him from hunting the fairies and werewolves. This is such a pain in the ass. He should have just killed her the first chance he got.

Ryusei activated his bracelet and donned his uniform. Grabbing his nodachi and kabuki mask, he set out to the last blood bank storage area.

Crossing the town wasn't entirely difficult, but he had a lot on his mind at the moment. The fact that Koneko was tailing him, and then Celeste breaking into his hideout, and now he had to go liberate the remaining blood banks. None of this seemed right. It all felt…too scripted. There was no conclusive evidence to even arrive at such a conclusion, but his gut was telling him to be extremely careful.

The warehouse on the edge of the city was meant to be used to storage for construction, but now it was empty seeing as any construction plans for the south side of the city had been canceled. He could sense a number of people inside, maybe around 10? But there was something else…not a single vampire around the entire area. In fact, the closest one was within the city, nowhere near here. What the hell was going on?

Landing by the front door, Ryusei entered with extreme caution. Ryusei sent out three shishigami to light up the inside of the warehouse. In the far end of the warehouse, hordes of humans gathered together. They were all wearing rags over their mouths and screaming.

Ryusei flashed over and knelt down to help out a girl. She looked younger than he was, maybe a middle schooler with long raven hair and dark blue eyes. Why did she look so familiar?

"You have to run! It's a trap!" The girl shouted as soon as he removed the rag.

It was too late. The other "humans" sprung out of their restraints and surrounded him. As he looked around and sensed their magic pressure, it was clear that they were all devils. In fact some of their faces looked familiar…he was certain he had passed them at school.

"It's over," A voice called out to him from the front doors. Looking ahead, Ryusei was rather surprised to see Rias Gremory. She stood triumphantly with her arms crossed, joined by three people. One of them was a girl equal to Rias's age with long black hair and sadistic smile. The other two were…Issei and Asia? What the hell were they doing here? Did they know?

"You're completely surrounded," Rias declared. "We have devils stationed outside guarding the perimeter of the area. You can't escape. Drop your weapons and come with us quietly."

Ryusei turned around and cut open the girl's restraints. She at least was human, he was sure of it. There wasn't any way she was involved in this, she even warned him that it was a trap.

"Take this," Ryusei said, handing her his kunai. "Stick close to me, and keep your head down, okay?"

The girl pressed her back against his and took a weak stance. "O-Okay."

A smile came on his face. Even in this situation, her fight-or-flight instincts kicked in. This girl was a fighter.

"It'd be best if you let me go, Rias Gremory," Ryusei said, materializing a scroll from his shishigami. "I really don't want to hurt anyone."

"It's over, Ryusei," Rias said.

He froze. Should he reply? If he did, it'd be a dead giveaway that it was him, even if he could defend himself. Issei, Asia…say something, please!

Asia held up a talisman…the ones he had placed around his room. "We found this in your room, Ryusei-Kun. Please…"

"Ryu…" Issei said. "Is it really you?"

In a split second, Ryusei threw his kunai across the warehouse and pinned the talisman against the wall behind Asia.

"Bring him in!" Rias ordered.

Ryusei tossed up the scroll as it unwound. He quickly turned around and covered the girl, as dozens and dozens of shuriken and kunai shot from the scroll and attacked the devils around him.

"Hang on tight, okay?" He asked.

He didn't wait for an answer, as he dashed past the devils and ran towards Rias and the others. She prepared for an attack, a blast of demonic energy. While carrying the girl, he was able to twist his body to evade, but the blast broke parts of his mask, revealing his eye.

Landing, he ran towards the door while looking back at Issei. He was looking at him with those eyes…the eyes he had never wanted to see on Issei or Asia. The eyes of someone looking at a complete monster.

Atop a water tower that had a great view of a certain warehouse in the south side of Kuoh, Celeste Clearwater sat by the ledge of the tower and swung her legs back and forth, eating potato chips as she watched the show. Of course, she knew that the blood bank had been a trap, seeing as she felt no magic infusion in any of those people, save for one. She could have warned the Dragon Slayer when she broke into his hideout, but of course that would spoil all the fun.

"Sick and twisted as always I see," Leonidas Wolfbloom knelt down besides her, taking on her chips. "Why didn't you just tell him it was a trap?"

"Because then I wouldn't get to see the show," Celeste grinned.

"How's he doing?" Leo asked.

Celeste stopped her legs and stared at the warehouse as a figure dashed outside. It was him, carrying a human girl in his arms.

"Surprisingly not dead, though I can't really say much seeing as that Gremory girl is as incompetent as always," Celeste pouted.

Leo giggled as he sat down next to her. His white hair tied back into a ponytail, though several strands of hair came over his forehead. His mysterious teal eyes were always scheming, up to something behind her back. "Sometimes it's hard to believe that you're over 300 years old."

"Oh please, I'm still just a kid," Celeste scoffed. "What about you, huh? Aren't you almost 80?"

"Werewolves age much slower than humans, you know," Leo smiled. "But in any case, now that his secret's out, I wonder what he'll do."

"True," Celeste said. "Perhaps I could talk him into coming to the Fairy Court. We could use someone of his talents."

"I think he'd be better with my pack," Leo said. "We need an instructor as merciless as he is, yet kind and compassionate."

"Enough of your petty arguments," A voice said behind them. Looking back, Celeste saw a familiar face. A high school science teacher with long flowing black hair and cool gray eyes. She looked casually at the warehouse with her hands in her labcoat pockets. "He's mine."

"Not fair that you get a claim over him so easily, Kamiya-San," Leo snickered.

"I appreciate you offering, Leonidas," Kamiya Mizuki said. "but taking care of him is my responsibility. I owe someone a debt, that I'll never be able to pay back."

"A debt?" Celeste asked.

"But in any case," Kamiya said.

"Don't just ignore me," Celeste bit her lip.

"Any news on the Reaper?" Kamiya asked.

"Some of my wolves have reported in," Leo said. "He's currently in China, but he'll be making his way here soon. I give it three weeks before he arrives."

"What do we do?" Celeste asked. "My mother and father are informed of the Reaper, but they're afraid to make any moves yet."

"As am I," Leo agreed hesitantly.

"We wait," Kamiya said. "For now anyway, as he is, he's in no condition to fight the Reaper."

"We can't just sit back and let that freak steal all those souls," Celeste said.

"Oh? Since when have you cared so passionately about humans, Celeste Clearwter?" Kamiya smirked.

"You big boobed bitch," Celeste gritted her teeth.

Kamiya purposefully wrapped her arms underneath her breasts and pushed them up. "Oh, you mean these? Yeah, they're so heavy. It hurts my back just walking sometimes."

"I swear if you weren't an angel I would kill you right here and now," Celeste growled.

"He's on the move," Leo said.

Celeste looked back to see Ryusei running towards the city, possibly to drop off that girl at her home or a police station.

"None of you approach him for now," Kamiya ordered. "Report to me if anything else happens, especially about the new Vampire Head."

And just like that, the angel of death vanished with the sound of flapping wings. Celeste let out a sigh of relief. "I thought she'd never leave."

"You two always get along so well," Leo smiled.

"In what way do we get along?" Celeste asked, before sighing. "In any case, I'll keep an eye on him."

She got in one last look at the Dragon Slayer, before vanishing and going back to the Fairy Court.

Five Years Ago…

Ryusei snuggled up against a tree around the campfire. It had been around three days since they crashed landed on this island, and yes they had confirmed it was an island. Merrick had spent that first day circling the area to see if there was any help. He met up with the rest of the survivors after circling the entire area of the island.

Now, they were all sitting together atop a hill that Alicia had found to use as shelter and high ground. Those two…Merrick and Alicia, were extraordinarily calm and collected despite the crappy situation they were in. They were able to rally everyone together and divide up responsibilities. There were three teams: one to hunt for food, one to gather water, and one to build shelter. In three days, they managed to build three huts, a campfire, and even a rack to dry their clothes.

"Here," Merrick handed Ryusei a fish. "You gotta eat or you'll faint. C'mon."

Ryusei took the fish reluctantly. He hadn't eaten in hours and his stomach was ready to pop.

He looked around at the others. Aside from Ryusei, Merrick, and Alicia, there were three other survivors. There was a blonde foreigner who was hesitant to help out at first, but the threat of death scared her into submission. There was also a man in his forties and his twenty year old daughter. Oddly enough, the both of them took orders from Alicia and Merrick without question. Now that he thought about it, these two were excellent under these conditions. Not once did they even stop to think about their next move, almost as if they've been through this situation before and knew what to do.

"Alright everybody, listen up," Merrick gathered everyone's attention. "So far, we've been here for three days and it seems as though we're the only survivors. I've gone to check out the plane multiple times for any supplies and rations and everything we have is in that hut over there. So for now, until we figure out a way to get off this island, we all have to work together okay?"

"How…" The foreigner said. "How can you be so calm? We're all going to die here! I might never see my mom or dad again…"

She was older than Ryusei, but no older than Alicia. She had long blonde hair that was flowing behind her back and brown eyes.

"Do you have family at home?" Alicia asked.

"My parents, and a little sister," The girl said. "I was supposed to go to New York for vacation, I should have just stayed home."

"What about you guys?" Merrick asked the father and daughter.

"We were going to visit her grandmother," The man replied. "My mother is pretty sick so we though we'd go visit her if we can."

"I'm Hana," The daughter said. "This is my father, Tetsuya."

"A…Airi," The blonde girl said.

Merrick smiled. "I'm Merrick. These are my partners, Alicia, and Ryusei."

"Wait a minute," Ryusei swallowed his fish. "Partner?"

"Well yeah," Merrick rubbed his head. "We're partners aren't we?"

He instinctively looked to Alicia for guidance, but she just sighed and told him to play along.

"Okay," Merrick cleared his throat. "Tomorrow morning, I'm going to go scout the rest of the island. There might be animals or caves here that we could use or eat. We have enough water and food to last us another week before we have to go hunting again. Everyone follow Alicia's orders, she'll take care of everyone."

"Why should we have to take orders from you?" Airi wiped her tears away. "And besides, aren't you two a bit too calm and relaxed? We might die here yanno?"

Alicia grinned. "This isn't our first life or death experience. You can trust us, Airi-San."

Unconvinced but not wanting to start a commotion, Airi backed down. Merrick nodded and looked to Tetsuya. "Tetsuya-San, would you mind coming with me tomorrow morning? I would ask Ryusei to come with me, but he's injured and I don't wanna risk anything else."

"Yes, of course," Tetsuya nodded.

"Dad…" Hana tugged at her dad's shirt.

"I'll be okay, Hana," Tetsuya smiled. "Just stay with the others, okay?"

Just then, Ryusei heard rustling noises to the bushes far from them. Was it an animal? It was already night so why would there be animals still wandering around? He looked back to Merrick, but he was still talking to Tetsuya. Instead, Alicia got up and joined him.

"We're gonna step out for a bit," Alicia said as she helped Ryusei up and walked towards the bushes.

"Did you hear it too?" Ryusei asked.

"You've got sharp ears, Ryusei-Kun," Alicia smirked. "I'll have to keep that in mind."

"What's going on?" He asked.

She stopped several feet from the campfire and in the darkness of the trees. She stooped down to meet Ryusei's eyes, her own eyes with a fiery passion.

"Ryusei, listen to me okay?" Alicia said. "You cannot tell the others about this, do you understand?"

Reluctantly, Ryusei nodded.

"Merrick and I belong to…an organization," She explained. "Do you remember when I told you we were orphans? Well we were taken in by a woman and she trained us and raised us. We've done a lot of bad things, but we're trying to make up for them now okay?"

Though he didn't fully understand it all, he nodded.

"Take this, okay?" Alicia pulled out a weird shaped kunai and handed it to him. "Protect yourself. This island is a lot more dangerous than you think, but I promise you we're getting off of this place and you'll get to see your family again, okay?" She held up her pinky finger.

"Yeah," Ryusei made a pinky promise with her.

"Hey!" Merrick shouted. "You two done making out over there? We gotta get some sleep!"

"Shut up!" Alicia shouted back, before taking Ryusei's hand. "Let's head back."

Ryusei lay on the ground with a blanket made of leaves that Alicia had made for them. He was in the middle of Tetsuya and Merrick, but he couldn't sleep. For the second night in a row, sleep eluded him. For some reason, he couldn't shake the terrible feeling that something was going to happen.

He was downright terrified of what was happening right now, but he needed to be smart and use his head. He knew he wasn't physically strong, so now of all times he needed to use his head.

"What's wrong?" Merrick asked, his hands behind his back as he looked up at the sky. "Can't sleep either?"

"Nervous, I guess," Ryusei said.

"Hey, Ryusei," Merrick said. "What did you wanna be when you grew up?"

"Me?" He gave it a bit of a thought. "I guess, I've always wanted to be a teacher."

"A teacher, huh?" A smile came on his face. "That's not half bad, a good dream to strive for, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Ryusei said, perplexed at Merrick's sudden shift in character. "By the way, what's this super secret organization that you and Alicia belong to?"

Merrick fumbled. "She…She actually told you? Well I'm not surprised but I can't say I'm not a bit shocked." He cleared his throat. "Think of us as superheroes. We get rid of the bad guys so that the world can be safe."

"Merrick," Ryusei looked at him blankly. "I'm 11, not stupid."

Merrick stuttered. "I-I guess you're right, my bad Mr. Columbia student." He smiled. "I guess you can call us, assassins."

Ryusei stared at him with shock. "Assassins? As in you kill people?"

"This world is much bigger than you think, Ryusei," Merrick said. "More than just humans and animals inhabit this world. Creatures of myth, monsters underneath your bed, demons and angels, every single story you ever heard as a kid…all of it is true. It's our job to make sure that the line between reality and fiction stay blurred, to keep humans safe from the world they don't know and will never understand."

"You talk as if you're not human anymore," Ryusei said.

"I might as well not be," Merrick snickered. "Ali and I…we've done some pretty terrible things in the name of peace for humanity. We just…couldn't take it anymore, you know?"

Ryusei gulped. His character suddenly changed again. He spoke with such anguish in his voice…what exactly did he have to do?

"Get some sleep, Ryu," That name sent bells ringing in Ryusei's head. "I'll tell you more in the morning."

Ryusei laid back down and closed his eyes. Ryu…He wondered how Issei was doing.

Author's Note - I'll be taking it easy on the chapter releases so I don't burn myself, so thank you to anyone who was worried about me! Also, I never really liked writing fics where the MC was too closely associated with the Devils, so this is going to stray away from that a bit so maybe the Angels or another faction. I'm also going to be taking the pacing a bit slower to develop characters, so I hope you guys don't mind. I know that there hasn't been a lot of action scenes so that's the reason why. Hope you guys like this chapter and I'll see you soon :)