Chapter 10

Four weeks earlier - somewhere in the Underworld

They had been hiding here for a few months now - a group of 6 Devils and 12 human mages and Stray Exorcists. Nearly all was ready for what they had planned.

Until a figure clad in a dark cloak suddenly landed in front of their hideout, a long large building whose former owners had `mysteriously disappeared´ months ago and that was now serving this group - a cell of Khaos Brigade - as a base. The two guards - both of them Stray Priests - standing in front of the entrance raised their weapons.

But before they even fully moved, the stranger had already materialized two light-spears, `disarmed´ one of them - by cutting off his right hand - stabbed the other, who just tried to attack, through his heart split-seconds later and finally blasted the door apart with a light-beam.

The others of the group had of course already noticed the intruder and came out to fight back. They all saw the two men the stranger had defeated, one of them still being alive.

"It is a Fallen Angel," one of the Devils, probably the leader, yelled as he saw the light-spear and materialized his wings.

But once again the attacker with a speed they could not even actually react to... blocked magical blasts from two mages and dodged a thrown spear from one of the Devils - and then seemingly blurred out of existence and reappeared right next to them.

"I'll say this only once, surrender now" the figure said. It was the voice of a woman. "Then I will spare your lives."

"Kill her," a female Devil, who was standing very close to the first one, called out.

"I see," the cloaked figure commented, "if that is how you want it." She now stopped holding back.

Before her opponents even realized it, she had thrown her two light-spears, that pierced right through the chests of two of the mages, killing them instantly... and formed another spear, while she was moving and killed two more Stray Exorcists, by simply cutting off their heads.

A moment later she was suddenly standing right behind one of the 6 Devils and fired a beam through his back. Just like she had intended, the shot went straight through his body and hit a second Devil, who was standing in front of him into the face, killing both of them with one move.

The rest could only stare in shock at the creature who had just killed a third of their group in less than three seconds.

"I say it one last time. Give up now and you live," she told them.

But once again, their two leaders were not willing to cooperate. Both of them were powering up to their full strength. They were both High Class Devils, but against this opponent, this meant as good as nothing.

The female one unleashed a vicious magical fire attack. Not on the intruder - but at the man whose hand she had cut off earlier and burned him to ash.

"I said take her out," the Devil woman screamed at the others. "I won´t let a single Fallen Angel make fools out of us. Get her or I promise, you will end just like this fool there."

Little more than a half minute later it was over. The last mage, the remaining Stray Priests and two of the remaining Devils were now lying around here, most of them unconscious, all of them injured and no longer able to fight. But she had spared their lives.

All what was left were the two High Class Devils who were leading the group. The woman was now holding her arm, that the Fallen had broken 30 seconds earlier. The male Devil was bleeding all over his body and had a large cut wound across his stomach, that was weakening him even more, since it was caused by a light-spear.

"Who-who are you?" he stammered.

"Just someone who returned from the dead to show you the way there," the Fallen Angel replied sarcastically. She removed her hood, showing Raynare´s face.

"You know," she addressed the two, "I have done a lot of things that I am really not proud of. But killing my own teammates, because they are fighting an opponent they have no chance against? Intentionally targeting civilians, just to cover for the rest of your organization?

Even in my worst times, I wouldn´t have considered that," she told them in a smooth tone.

"The others here are nothing but hired mooks. That is also the reason why I tried to spare their lives. But you two, you are truly evil. Well, Lord Azazel thinks you are a nuisance," she told him tauntingly.

"And my trainer also thought you might be a good test for my abilities, so here I am." She smiled.

"Fuck you Fallen," the male Devil yelled.

"Sorry, but there are only two men in my heart... and while I am all in for fucking a certain Devil, you are clearly not him," she replied grinning.

"Like I said, you two are evil... and right now, that actually serves my purposes."

She concentrated her energy and send out two more blasts... and the two Devils were disintigrated within moments.

During that, however, she also concentrated on a certain part of them, their souls.

In opposite to what many thought in her world, she learned from Faust that souls could not actually be destroyed. There were higher forces that kept that from happening. But they could vanish from this universe.

xxx

A few moments later she formed a small magic circle that helped in long-range communication. With Faust´s lessons in telepathy, she would have probably not even needed this help, but the circle was more precise, since it was connected directly to the ones of the individual she wanted to contact. And she - at least right now - didn´t want to tip off any of the other people living in Kuoh, that she was still alive.

"Lord Azazel," she said.

"Raynare, you have fulfilled your mission," The by now retired leader of the Grigori stated.

"Yes My Lord."

"Just call me Azazel. You know that I am retired," he responded.

She just smiled.

"Around half of them are still alive, but incapacitated."

"So you didn´t kill them all. I will send a team to retrieve them and take them into custody. Issei and the others will be told that one of our allies took care of that group," Azazel informed her.

"I have killed enough of them," she stated, a slight sorrow in her voice.

"This group here was a great problem for us. Not in the sense that they were threatening the world, like their main force - but their constant terror attacks were distracting us from the plans of the main group. With them out of the way, we can concentrate on stopping what Rizevim and his group are planning. And by the information we have, their next attack would have cost a lot of lives under the Devil population, innocent civilians and spread chaos in the Underworld. You did some good by taking them out before they could do it Raynare."

"I guess this is why these guys are called the Khaos Brigade," she remarked sarcastically. "It is quite ironic. Here I am now, killing Devils and humans to protect other Devils."

"Did you give them a chance to surrender?"

"Yes, a few times."

"That is more than most of my other officers would have done. Or most of the other Factions. You have changed Raynare, for the better. I am proud of you."

She showed no visible reaction as he said those words - which she had wanted to hear for so long.

"Thank you Azazel," she replied, for a moment actually happy. "Tell me, has Issei shown signs of recovering his memory?"

"Sadly no. Not yet."

Her expression turned grim for a moment.

"That is sad. I had actually hoped to have both of my men to take care of me now," she then said playfully.

"Don´t push it Raynare."

"Why are you not coming here and give me a little push, My Lord?" she purred seductively in reply. "I could need it."

"Raynare," he repeated sternly, "not now."

"Okay, you are right. This is not the time to flirt - or other things," she said. "I promise I am serious now. The truth is, I want nothing more than contact Issei and tell him everything. So that I can have him back... both of you," she added a bit quieter.

Azazel didn´t react this time.

"But Faust had made his wishes in this direction quite clear," she continued. "He will restore Issei´s memories at the time he thinks is right. And we have to play his game. At least for the moment.

We both are not able to go against him. Believe me, we would be crushed. Even if he doesn´t manifest all of his power in his world, he is still dangerous... and he has many powerful servants he could send here. If he would ever decide to actually support Rizevim, your battle against him would be lost before it even started. He has agreed to stand back for the moment, as long as we are fighting Khaos Brigade, but..."

"I know - I know all too well Raynare. You know, sometimes I actually envy Issei for no longer knowing about all this," Azazel responded. "I will contact you again, should there be another mission for you. Until then, do everything you can that this being stays out of the conflict. Raynare, good luck."

xxx

As she had cut the connection, she turned around, looking at the scattered bodies of the humans and Devils she had just killed. And at the ones who she had left alive.

"Number two and three," she murmured loudly, as she felt the live energy of the two Devils vanishing from this world.

"Yes." She heard Faust´s voice coming from behind her. As she turned around, she saw an apparition of him standing in the room. " I have to say, hearing you and Azazel try to plot against me is quite entertaining. Continue like this and some day you might actually be a challenge to me. Yes, your progress in the last months was truly remarkable. You can be proud. And there, look, two more targets for your list." He looked to the point where the two leaders of the terrorist group had died. "You should be happy."

Raynare only frowned at him. She didn´t feel proud at all. Quite the opposite.

"Still, you seem to be quite conflicted," he mentioned, looking at the still living and the dead bodies around them. "Well, that was to be expected, in this crucial phase of your development," he told her.

"But remember the terms of our contract. In exchange for restoring your body and letting you fully return to the living, five souls - but each of them has to be darker than your own. As a gesture, I was even willing to count the Spirit-Wraith, that you had defeated as the first. Five souls in exchange for your own."

"Yes, I remember the details of our deal," she responded sharply.

"Good, I expect the last two souls... whenever it is to your convenience." He smiled at her and disappeared.

xxxxxxx

The present

The female Fallen Angel was running through the streets of Kuoh. Flying would have been faster, she knew. But she would have also been easier to find, for friend and foe alike. And so far she wasn´t even sure if she had any `friends´ here.

While she was running, her pursuers had by now caught up to her. In opposite to her, they didn´t bother to hide and were moving in the air.

Just like their target had feared, however, it also made them easier to detect for others.

xxx

A short distance away, the combined group of Devils from Sona´s and Rias peerages had just appeared.

Most members of the Sitri peerage + Issei, Kiba and Koneko had located the intruders in their territory. As they had realized very quickly, it was actually a group of Fallen Angels, hunting down a single woman.

Issei couldn´t help himself, anger was coming up in him at the thought. The story with Asia and Raynare... it was long ago, at least for him. He was over it - he was over `her´.

Was he? Suddenly his mind seemed to become foggy. His head hurt - and his heart, he realized. He was...? He didn´t know. Raynare, he hated her for what she did to Asia and to himself, didn´t he? No, he... For a moment it felt as if there was something about this what he should remember, something important. But then it was gone.

It didn´t... it made no difference right now. In the moment he had to concentrate on the group of Fallen Angels who were right before them.

The woman - also a Fallen herself - had by now been hunted by the other three into a side-street.

But at the same time, they didn´t seem to have to noticed, that the Devils had already arrived and taken positions around them. While they had their victim cornered in the street, they themselves had been surrounded in turn.

The woman had reached the end of the ally, she was running through. Now, literally with the back to the wall, she was facing her pursuers.

Two of the Fallen were throwing a couple of light-spears at her. She knew there was no longer a sense in hiding her abilities and she materialized her own two black wings and activated her powers as well.

But before they reached her, a line of three mirrors suddenly appeared in front of the woman and send the spears flying back in the direction of the attackers. It was the power of the Sacred Gear of Sona´s Queen Tsubaki. The three Fallen Angels barely managed to avoid being hit by their own attacks.

Then, a stream of water shot through the air, between them and their target, blocking their way. It was Sona´s own power.

"That is enough," her voice called through the air. "Fallen Angels, this is the territory of the Sitri and the Gremory clan. What are you doing here? We know the Grigori had not send you."

But they didn´t answer. Instead, they threw a new barrage of light-spears in the direction of her voice. Well, it was a kind of answer as well.

Their attacks were once again easily stopped by Tsubaki and send back to them. But as it seemed the three Fallen still didn´t want to give up.

"We don´t take orders from you filthy Devils," one of them shouted.

Before they could begin another attack, Sona´s peerage themselves moved.

Her Knights charged at the Fallen directly, while Sona´s water magic formed a creature right in front of him, that resembled a small Dragon.

At the same time, however, her Pawn Saji activated one of his Sacred Gear variations - Absorption Line - that created towels, that were growing out of the ground, wrapping themselves at their limbs and sucking out part of their power.

The Rooks and Bishops were showing themselves and taking position around their opponents.

At the same time, the Knights had reached them. Meguri managed to strike one of the distracted and weakened Fallen down. The other two evaded a hit from Bennia´s scythe and were struggling to free themselves from the trap.

xxx

Issei meanwhile was using the Boosted Gear to power up and began charging his Dragonshot. But it turned out to be needless.

They finally seemed to have realized in what situation they were in. As soon as they broke out of Saji´s slings, they transported themselves away, leaving the body of their killed comrade behind.

"We will meet again," one of them couldn´t seem to keep himself from saying right before they disappeared.

Issei thought it sounded a bit like a typical cliche line.

His eyes fell for a moment on the body of the Fallen Angel on the ground. Black feathers were lying on the ground around it. He couldn´t help, it reminded him of... No, he didn´t want to think about it.

xxx

"You are safe now," Sona addressed the woman the three Fallen had been hunting.

"T-thank you," she said nervously.

"Still, I admit it surprises me a bit that a Fallen Angel, who is running from other Fallen Angels, was fleeing to Devil territory. Who are you?" Sona wanted to know.

"I knew this was Devil territory. That is why I came here. The truth is, I was looking for you. My name is Gaeriel... and I - I want to surrender," she said.

Issei was taking the first closer look at her. She was clad in a long, quite dirty, dark brown coat, which she however quickly discarded, as she saw that she didn´t need to hide anymore and threw to the ground, giving the piece of clothing a look of disdain.

Beneath it, she had a black gear, similar to the ones Irina and Xenovia were often wearing. Only that her's left certain body parts free - like her stomach, her upper arms and legs and her neckline - and showed so much more skin... and knee-high boots. In fact, her outfit also reminded him a bit of... he didn´t think that thought to it´s end. She had long brown hair, pale skin and... as he saw, a nice pair of breasts - in their size maybe somewhere between Rossweisse and Xenovia.

But there was something that had him pause... her eyes - they were violet, nearly the same shade as Raynare´s. It was a quite common color under Fallen Angels, he knew. Azazel had actually the same eyes. But this time they were in the face of a beautiful young girl - just like... He didn´t want to think about it.

"Why would a Fallen Angel be looking for Devils, just to surrender to them?" Sona asked sharply.

"I want to request Asylum," the Fallen Angel stated.

"Asylum?" Something in Sona´s mind clicked. "You are not part of the main force of the Grigori. You belong to a rogue group... and the others too. They were after you because you run from their group?"

"Yes," she replied.

"If that is so, why didn´t you go to the Grigori?" Sona questioned.

"I - I didn´t... I was afraid. My leader... after what he has done."

"And you think Devils would be more accepting of it than your own race?" she asked surprised.

"In this case, yes," the Fallen replied. "My team, what we were involved in... We had been subordinates of Kokabiel. We..." she hesitated for a few moments. Fear was clearly to see on her face. These rogues must be involved in serious crimes, Sona realized.

"If it helps you, I will give you my word that none of us will harm you, not matter what kind of information you give us about your group. You have come here as a refugee, officially asking for asylum and you will be treated as such," she assured her. "But only under the condition, that you actually give us this information."

"What do you m...?"

"Whatever you might think about Devils," Sona crossed her arms, "we are not stupid." `Well, some of us are not,´ she added mentally. "You are on the run. But you didn´t dare to go to your own former leaders with the knowledge you have. You rather tried it with your former enemies, asking for political asylum. So whatever crimes your group is doing must be bad."

One look at the Fallen Angels face told her that she was right.

"I can at least offer you leniency from our part... and protection from other groups. But only under the condition that you give us all the information you have, about what your teammates are going and help to put a stop to it." This was a bit of a shot into the blue on Sona´s part, since she had no idea what kind of criminal activities this was and how great the need was to end it.

But `former followers of Kokabiel´, the madman who had tried to restart the war, didn´t exactly sound reassuring.

"You give me your word?" the Fallen Angel girl questioned.

"I do," Sona replied.

"We - our group - are located in a secret fortress Master Kokabiel had set up a few years ago," the Fallen Angel named Gaeriel explained. "We were assigned to help Valper Galilei with his research. Lord Kokabiel had made a deal with a group of human slave traders to supply him with `test-subjects´."

"What?" Kiba called out as he heard this. He was glancing at her murderously. Koneko, standing next to him, was trying to calm him down.

Issei could not hold his reaction against him, knowing Kiba´s connection with the Holy Sword Project and the one responsible for it.

"But since Lord Kokabiel and Valper are gone," the Fallen continued, "... - our group-leader Sartael had changed. He had gone mad. It is no longer just about `research´. Now he is killing humans just for the fun of it. Sometimes he is releasing a few of them and hunting them down for sport."

"You mean this is still going on?" Kiba hissed dangerously.

"How deep are you involved in this?" Sona wanted to know.

"I - I was so afraid of him. I know I should have done this a long time ago, but I feared Sartael would kill me. Please, he is a monster, please do something to stop him."

Issei had heard everything. Similar to Kiba, he felt deep anger at what the Fallen Angel had described. Of course not as much. It was not his life that Valper´s doing had destroyed after all. But for him, there was also this terrible gnawing feeling, that something was wrong.

`I will always be with you Issei-kun.´ He suddenly heard a voice in his head. `Raynare,´ he thought.

xxxxxxx

At the same time, in another part of the country, a now ten winged Fallen Angel was in a sparring match with the being who had been her trainer for the last two months.

Faust - as she often told herself - was a literal monster, power wise of course (and in other things) - and so his training regiment had been monstrous as well.

He taught her more and more things, she would have never dreamed about before - had pushed her beyond her limits and further. He had challenged her without end.

The last two months had been hell. But she admitted the results were worth it. After her resurrection, she had already possessed a giant inner power - mostly thanks to all the energy she had absorbed from Issei-kun over the time, enough to already give her eight wings - but, as she admitted, little actual control over it in her reconstructed body. Under Faust´s training, however, she had grown from an above average eight winged to an extremely strong ten winged Fallen Angel in only a short time. She realized that she had actually surpassed some of her leaders, who had thousands of years of experience.

She was not quite on Azazel´s or Shemhazai´s level - not that she had ever actually dreamed of being. But she was powerful enough to be taken seriously, even by their standards. And Faust had taught her some exotic power and fighting techniques, that she believed, would have surprised even them.

But Faust himself. He was something else.

She remembered their first match against each other. Back then she already had eight wings, but still - she had been thrown around like a ragdoll. It was nearly like in those stupid Japanese Anime shows, where the `main character´ faces an opponent who is so far superior to him, that he defeats him by literally sitting on his ass and meditating or eating breakfast. That's exactly how it had been.

Well, maybe not exactly. But it was bad enough. She remembered how her jaw dropped as Faust, in his clone body, actually stopped one of her light-spears with two fingers.

By now, however, she was actually fighting somewhat evenly against him. But she remembered that he had said this body possessed less than the hundreds part of his true power. Raynare shuddered at the thought how large the gap between them still was.

Of all what happened, the fact that Azazel had sacrificed himself, along with the others, to stop Trihexa, had nearly shattered her. He had accepted her back as she returned, after the stunt she had pulled with Asia´s Sacred Gear, without question. He had trusted her.

And now he was gone. But Faust had hinted that there might be a way to bring him back, if she learned enough, if she grew powerful enough. She promised herself that she would be.

"Raynare." She suddenly heard a voice in her head that distracted her - Issei.

Faust had already pressed his advantage and landed a hit, that threw her down.

"Concentration," her `sensei´ said to her. "Listening to your instincts and feelings is right, but never at the cost of what is right in front of you. You need to find the right balance. What you just felt are the remains from your mutual connection. But your feelings are right. The time has come," Faust stated.

"You mean?"

"Yes, soon you will have your `beloved Issei´ back."

xxxxxxx

Kuoh Academy - 1 day later

This morning Rossweisse had just awoken from a dream. But it hadn´t been a normal dream. She knew that. What it had shown her...

She remembered Issei and his promise to protect her. But in this case. She knows how powerful he was and how far he was willing to go for his friends and the people he cared about.

But could even he protect her from the future?

Whatever. She knew she needed to talk with him... and that better be soon.

xxxxxxx

Rias could no longer know what she should do. They had all just heard the story of the Fallen Angel Sona and the others had brought with them. A base of rogues, originally set up by Kokabiel and his ally Valper Galilei.

As expectable, Yuuto had of course been furious as he heard that someone was actually still continuing the experiments that had once ruined his life. Worse, as it seemed, the leader of the group had gone insane and was now killing humans just for the heck of it.

Yuuto - this was something else that she was not proud of. She knew she should tell him the full truth about her role in the events how he became her servant. But she couldn´t. Not right now.

Everyone with some common sense would realize that these lunatics needed to be taken out. If not to stop the senseless killings, then at least because of the risk to expose the supernatural to the humans.

But on the other side... she remembered her last conversation with `Lady Belial´, the day before.

xxx

"Do you know what truly happened back then... during the Civil-War?" she had asked her at one point. "The stories say, as far I know, that I had tried to mediate between the two sides. Mediation? Yes, I think that would be a way to call it. I had `mediated´ to make sure the losses on both sides were as large as possible. You would be surprised how many of both factions had fallen because information had `mysteriously´ gotten into the hands of the enemy. Or how many people had just `suddenly disappeared´ back then. It were dangerous times, if you were a Devil."

"So you were working for them, even back then," Rias stated.

"If you mean that I had already joined the noble Dark Order, then yes," she replied. "You know, there was a time where I hadn´t been so different from you. I was a spoiled and arrogant little Devil Princess who thought she was important just because of her birth name... until I found out what we truly were. `Pure Blooded Devils´? What a joke."

"What do you mean?"

"Get a grip on your history little girl," Lamia responded. "Who do we all acknowledge as our ancestor? Lilith - who is also said to be Adam´s wife, who made a pact with `The Devil´, until she herself was turned into a Demon.

Connect the dots, my dear, Lilith was human. One of the early humans, who made a pact with an older race of Demons - the true Demons - fucked many of them and bore their children. Your ancestor, the first Gremory, was actually one of her offspring, as I remember and continued what she started, seducing Humans and Demons, males and females alike, ultimately setting even more half-breed children into the world. And that was the way our `glorious´ race came into existence."

"That - that is impossible," Rias stammered.

"Later Lilith allied herself with the fallen former Archangel Lucifer and his followers," Lamia continued, "who was barely recognizable as an Angel anymore, because of the Dark Forces he had dealt with and because his wings had been burned to shreds after his failed rebellion against God and his duel with Michael. They had children together as well, as you know - Rizevim being one of them. Oh yes, our `grandma´ really came around Rias.

Together her spawn - that means us - and Lucifer´s troops waged war against the true Demons, took control of the Underworld and supplanted the older race. And being the arrogant pricks, we quickly became, removed all records of our heritage and the old Demons and pretended we were the true Devils all along.

Pureblooded Devil, that is a contradiction in itself. We are nothing but a bastard race, born from Demons and through dark powers mutated humans, with even a few drops of the first breed of Fallen Angels."

Rias could not quite believe what she just heard.

"But enough with this little history lesson," Lamia said. "There are more important things right now. For the beginning, there are a couple of certain artifacts that I want you to give to my peerage."

"Artifacts?" Rias questioned confused.

"Just something that you and your servants have collected some time ago. Or instead of artifact, I should maybe better say scales, pieces of Dragon armor. You know what I am talking about, right? I want to know where you have taken them and I want you to hand them over to us."

Rias froze. But moments later Lady Belial brought up something that unsettled her even more.

"And even more important," Lamia continued. "There is a little thing you must do for us. By my information, tomorrow - or maybe a day later - a certain Fallen Angel should arrive in your town. She will ask for your help. We want you to do everything to give her this help. Assemble a team and convince your partner Sona to send them on the mission. And one thing, make sure that Issei is part of this team."

A trap, something inside Rias screamed - it had to be.

xxx

Currently, both her and Sona´s peerages were assembled together, not at the school, but in this case at Issei´s home, together with some guests. The reason was mostly that here the risk was smaller to be interrupted by outsiders, since Issei´s parents were by now already informed about the supernatural

These guests were mostly representers of the 72 Pillars and of some other allied Factions. Her former fiance Riser and his sister Ravel - also, as Lady Belial would call it: `one of Issei´s concubines´ - were there to represent the Phenex Family, her cousin Sairaorg Bael...

... and probably most important, Diehauser Belial - the current head of the Belial Clan and with that, one of Lamia Belial´s relatives and her direct successor in this role. Something that might lead to a problem.

Her worry had been in vain of course. The first thing `Lady Belial´ had said to him, after a formal greeting, was:

"So you are the current head of our Clan. It is a pleasure to meet you, my descendant. Before you say anything - you don´t have to worry that I will try to reclaim the position from you. I have long given it up after all. And besides that, I am actually impressed by what you have achieved." She smiled at him. "So many families have sunk in power and prestige, but we are actually thriving. Now that I am back, I am actually looking out for our peerages working together with you in the future and help our family to achieve even more."

Diehauser actually looked a bit overwhelmed by the greeting. But at the same time relieved that he didn´t seem to have just met a rival. That, of course, didn´t mean that he just unquestioningly believed her words.

"My Lady," he greeted her.

"I have heard that you are Champion of the Rating Games," she mentioned. "Quite impressive. Maybe you could tell me a bit about it when you have time," she smiled at him.

"It will be a pleasure," Diehauser said politely.

This conniving flattering snake, Rias thought. Of course, she wouldn´t care about the position as family-head. She despised the 72 Pillars and the entire Devil race. She made that clear.

Also present were Akeno´s father Baraquiel from the Fallen Angels and Vali and his teammates Kuroka, Arthur Pendragon and his sister Le Fay.

"It is great to see you again Issei," she and Kuroka had greeted him both.

xxx

They were technically holding two meetings at once here. At one side they were discussing Lady Belial´s return to Devil society... and the position she would be holding in it in the future.

On the other, they were discussing the group of rogue Fallen Angels they had been informed about yesterday... and about what to do about them.

"Rias," she heard Sona talking to her.

"What?" Rias asked, suddenly being ripped out of her thoughts.

"I asked you what you think we should do," she said, getting impatient.

"I - I don´t think we should do it," Rias stammered.

"What?"

"I don´t think we should send anyone."

"Not sending anyone? You have heard what is going on there," Sona asked incredulously. "How can you seriously say not to send anybody?"

"I -..." Rias saw Lamia looking at her from across the room. She could only hope that she had not just condemned her family. "I am sorry. I just meant that we should not simply trust this Fallen Angel and what she said. It could be a trap."

"Of course it could be. But we have to at least send people to investigate, to find out for sure and to stop it if people are actually being killed. Rias, what is going on with you in the last time? You barely seem like yourself," Sona stated.

"I - sorry, I have been under a lot of stress lately," she replied. That part was true. "W-when we are sending someone, it should be at least be some of our stronger fighters. Just in case something unexpected happens."

"I have known about Sartael. He is a more or less average sixed winged Fallen Angel. The rest of his subordinates should be weaker than him," Vali spoke up. "Hardly a challenge for most of us. For Issei and me it would be simply a waste of our time."

"We don´t know that for sure. Didn´t that Fallen Angel say that this group had connections to Khaos Brigade?" Rias responded, reminding them of this detail. "So there might be stronger opponents waiting than you think. Please consider coming as well Vali," she asked him.

Most people around realized Sona was right. It was not like Rias to act so insecure or to that easily ask for help... even more, when it was most likely completely unnecessary. She was definitely not well.

Rias for her part, realized one thing, she needed to tell Issei the truth. It couldn´t continue like this.

xxxxxxx

It was on the same evening. Issei had gone to bed early. He couldn´t help it, his head hurt and he felt miserable.

He had actually sent Akeno and Irina away as they wanted to lay down with him as usual. Issei let himself fall into bed and drifted off into sleep. He thought that it would give him some relief - he was wrong.

xxx

A few moments later he found himself inside the replica of a place he had never wanted to see again... the old church-building of Kuoh - the place where he had seen both Raynare and Asia die.

Before he saw him, he felt a presence close to him, a presence like he had never felt it before - or had he, he tried to remember - it was frightening.

Then, as he turned around, he saw the man, a few meters away from him, standing in the hall. He was clad in a dark coat and didn´t seem older than his mid-twenties at best. But the aura he was radiating told that he was all but normal.

"Ah, Issei Hyoudou, how nice to see you again," the stranger greeted him.

"Again? What do you mean? I have never seen you before," Issei exclaimed.

"Of course you don´t remember. You have some problems with your memories after all," the man said.

Issei knew instantly what he meant, the gap of two days, a couple of months ago.

"These two days," he whispered, understanding. "What are we doing here?" he asked angrily. "Why here?"

"Why here? That is a good question," the man replied. "The answer is quite simple. This is the place where you had first come to my attention... you and her both. And why we are here now in this moment? You could say that I have just hijacked one of your dreams."

"Who are you?" Issei asked now sternly.

The man smiled.

"I will introduce myself to you again. I go by many names, but the one I go mostly by in these days is Faust."

"Faust?" Issei questioned, being reminded of the legendary man who had made a contract with the Devil Mephisto.

"Not that Faust," he replied. "Unlike a certain member of the Hero Faction, I am in no way related to that man who made those deals. I have just chosen it as an alias, a symbol, an homage if you see it like that. I am a man who deals with Devils after all. But in opposite to the Faust of legend, I am actually the one who has the upper hand," he stated.

"But you are right, it is not the name I was born by, back when I was still mortal. Actually, you have been talking to two of my descendants just a few hours ago. Or at least descendants of the version of me from this dimension."

"What do you mean?" Issei asked confused.

"My first and most well known name on the planet Earth - Mordred Pendragon, former Prince of the first Kingdom of Britannia," he declared with a formal looking bow.

"I - I just don´t believe this," Issei replied.

"But I am not the only one who wanted to talk to you," Faust stated. "She had desperately wanted to see you again."

A new figure appeared close to them in the room... and Issei froze - No.

"Issei-kun," she said. He took one step backwards.

"You have questions about your memories," Faust stated.

"You know about that?" Issei exclaimed.

"I just decided for my own reason to repress certain parts of your memories for the time being," he said matter of factly.

"What?"

"Do you want them back?"

"Of course," he yelled.

"You should know, a few memories can often change your view on your entire world," Faust commented. "But as you wish."

He made a gesture and suddenly memories of this lost two days were shooting through Issei´s mind... all what he couldn´t remember before.

"Ray-Raynare," he stammered. He suddenly recalled everything. His head hurt even more for a short time, but that didn´t matter. "How - how could I have been so stupid?" he said.

"Believe me, I have asked that myself many times with you. But don´t worry, I love you anyway," she remarked.

"Of course you had to say something like this," he stated with a smile.

"Yes, I just couldn´t resist," she replied.

Then she threw her arms around him and draw him close to her body. "Issei-kun, I am so happy that you are finally back."

"Raynare."

"Issei, our last meeting, you said that you forgive me, right? I mean, are we good?" she asked him.

"We are," he answered after a moment. "But I will have to talk a few words with Rias about this," he said grimly.

"I can imagine," she said. "I love you."

"I love you too," he replied. Strange, a few minutes ago he couldn´t have imagined ever saying this words to her again. He wouldn´t even have imagined seeing her alive. A few memories... yeah, right, he thought.

"What a heartwarming reunion," Faust stated. "Especially since it has taken so long.

"That was your fault in the first place," Raynare growled.

"I am not denying this. I have just arranged this meeting between us for another reason," he replied.

"And what reason is that?" Issei questioned. He now remembered fully how dangerous this being in front of him truly was. For the moment he might not be acting aggressive. But Issei knew now that he could easily obliterate entire worlds many times over if he wanted.

"This reason is you Issei Hyoudou. Tell me, now that you remember everything again, what do you think about yourself?"

"I - I am not sure?" he admitted.

"How interesting. Did you know that Socrates once said, the only true wisdom is to know that you know nothing. So in a sense, you have already made the first step," Faust replied. "You said, you will have to talk with Rias Gremory, right?"

"Yes," Issei said tonelessly.

"Then, maybe it is a good time for you to get to know someone."

xxxxxxx

Somewhere else - another universe... and another time

Issei Hyoudou - another Issei Hyoudou - who was outside currently unconscious, ringing with his death, after being infected by Samael´s poison - was inside of his own mind, similar to his counterpart so often, talking with the being - the girl - who had accompanied him for so long - who he was seeing in his dreams.

For weeks now he had seen her standing right next to him every day, talking to him, following him, when nobody else could. Now, however, when he had nearly died, she had finally told him the truth. It wasn´t just an illusion when he had seen her... it had never been.

"... if there is someone near us at the time of our death, who has enough of a connection with us... well, there is a little trick we can pull to live on." she had said to him. "... a part of my soul had been inside of you the whole time."

She was actually protecting him, using the power she still possessed in her bodiless form to help him survive the poison.

But that was not everything. There was also what she was telling him right now.

"Despite it all, though, you managed to achieve what you wanted to, back then, but couldn´t pull off, even if you tried your hardest."

"What is that?" Asked Issei, as Raynare closed the distance between them again.

"You made me fall in love with you," she whispered, before pressing her lips against Issei´s.

While all that happened, his friends, that meant the Angels Michael, Gabriel, Irina, Xenovia, and Murayama, were retrieving his body and transported it to Heaven, saving him. In opposite to his counterpart from the other world, he would, however, as it looked, survive the poisoning without needing to be resurrected... partly ironically thanks to Raynare.

In this moment this version Issei and, with him connected, Raynare suddenly both felt that something - an outside force touching their Spirits. Of course, they were not really fully aware what it was. Then they have suddenly pulled away from their own reality.

All that, while Issei´s physical form was still being unconscious.

xxx

P.o.v alternate Issei

One moment later, they found themselves somewhere else. Just like his counterpart a few minutes `earlier´ - even when concepts like time and space played a little role for them right now - he felt a little sting as he saw where they were.

It was the Abandoned Church that Raynare´s Fallen Angel group had used as their base, the one where they had been fighting - the one where he had seen her and Asia die. In opposite to the other Issei, he reacted far less to this place, since in opposite to his - at that moment amnesic - counterpart, he had already spent the last month regularly talking to Raynare... in one form or the other.

Then they noticed that they were not alone. As they took a look at the figures at the other side of the room, they came face to face with... themselves.

Beside their doubles, though, was a man neither of them had seen before. They both felt, however, that he was radiating a dark and incredibly strong power, that was just terrifying. One detail that unsettled Issei, in particular, was that he couldn´t even really sense just how powerful this man really was. It was as if he was intentionally obscuring his strength.

"What is going on now?" he questioned. "Is this your doing?" he asked Raynare.

"Not this time Issei-kun," she replied.

"Issei Hyoudou," they heard the man say, "meet Issei Hyoudou."

"This-this has to be a dream," Issei murmured.

"It is Issei Hyoudou," the stranger said, "but a dream of my creation. I have brought you here and arranged this little meeting."

xxx

Normal Issei´s p.o.v

Issei and Raynare had watched incredulously how Faust had just conjured two doubles of them.

"What have you done?" Issei asked him.

"You `remember´," he left a pronoun on the word, "how I once revealed to Raynare that your universe is only one of many? There are countless other realities besides your own. Some are completely different - Some are so similar that even the same people exist. This here is one example."

"Are they real or just an illusion?" Issei asked.

"They are just as real as you and your girlfriend here," Faust replied.

"Okay, that is enough," the other `Issei´ growled. He and his version of Raynare had, quite incredulous, been listening to the explanation the man had just given - other universes, alternate counterparts?... yes clear, on top of everything else he already had to deal with.

"You." He pointed at Faust. "What the hell is going on here? You said you are responsible for this? You brought us here? I was nearly dying from Samael´s poison. And then I have just found out that Raynare here wasn´t truly dead after all and that I had a part of her with me the entire time... And now you come and pull this. As if I hadn´t already enough going on inside my head," he exclaimed angrily.

"You have to excuse your counterpart Issei-kun," Faust said. "You heard it, he is currently infected with Samael´s poison in his world, like you were a few months ago and was close to death as I took the opportunity to bring him here. So he is currently under a lot of stress."

"Fuck you," the alternate Issei yelled.

"Now, we both know you don´t go in that direction," Faust replied sarcastically. "And besides that, there are already two girls here we both know you have a great fondness of. Even if your feelings are often a bit extreme in their case."

"Interesting," the alternate Raynare said, "even this guy seemed to realize your true feelings for me. Only you just don´t want to admit it."

"I -..." Issei´s alternate self wanted to say something, but he seemed even more distressed after the last comments, especially him bringing up his feelings for Raynare - which he, he admitted silently, wasn´t even sure himself about right now. "Stop it."

"Faust," Issei himself spoke, "he has a point. Why did you bring them here?"

"You are right. We shouldn't let ourselves get distracted. And we should give your doubles a few moments to come to terms with everything. They seem a little bit overwhelmed. You see Issei, you and your other self here have been living quite similar lives, nearly identical ones actually - up to a point. You even have both using Raynare the same technique and ending up as your personal phantom inside your mind.

Well, you said you wanted to talk with Rias - about lying to you the entire time, right?"

"And? What does it have to do with them?" Issei asked, looking at the two counterparts.

"You see, the point where your lives truly started to drift apart is a very special one. This you here Issei, had left Rias after your fallout during the Rating Game against Sairaorg, when you - how did you call it again? - Oh yes, failed to confess your feelings to her. Of course, others would probably more likely call it: `Crawling before the creature who had helped to get you killed and enslaved you.´"

This last comment caused an angry growl from both Issei´s... and a barely suppressed smirk from both Raynare´s.

"So I decided - for your sake - to give you a great and very unique opportunity. The chance to discuss this matter with yourself, to see `each other´s´ view on things," Faust stated.

"Bullshit," Issei replied. "This is just another one of your mind-games."

"Is it?" he questioned.

The last part of this chapter is of course, as most of you have probably realized, a crossover with the story `A Man´s Heart´, made with permission from Kyuubi Gohan. It would play, from A.M.H Issei´s P.o.V, just as his conversation with Raynare ended and right before Michael, Irina, Xenovia and Murayama are transporting Issei´s body to Heaven.

xxx

The fleeing Fallen Angel from the last chapter is here revealed to be the GoD´s world version of my OC Gaeriel. This version is however not a member of te Guardians and will turn out to be a quite different character.

xxx

The conversation between Rias and Lamia Belial here pretty much reveals who the character called Pazuzu - introduced in Guardian chapter 20 - and his kind are.

P.S. I have made a few small changes in chapter 3, to make the conversations more clear at a few points.