Disclaimer: I do not own any of the HighSchool DXD characters that appear in this fan fiction, any and all Anime/Manga characters that appear belong to their respective owners the only characters that I own are the two Original Characters that I have created for this fiction.
A/N; Thanks for all the views and reviews guys, you guys are awesome hope you enjoy the chapter
Chapter 9
A past revealed and a shitty priest to kill
With Justin stuck in his trance there is no opportunity for me to relieve my stress and aggression so I only had a few options available to me. I had to vent my feelings on this situation, I don't like feeling helpless but feeling hopeless to help my lover just pisses me off to the point that I feel like murdering the first poor bastards that puts even a single toe out of line near me. I could go to the training area that Justin had set up for us to keep our skills sharp, I could go to the ORC and hang around there, maybe a few of the members would agree to having a spar with me. There is no use worrying about what options to choose, the choice is obvious, training in the forest on my own would be boring as fuck so heading to the ORC is the obvious choice.
I am walking down the street when I see something that makes me freeze in place, across the street in a little kids park is Issei and some girl in a nun's outfit which means two things, either the idiot has been dumb enough to get involved with a member of the church even though he is a devil or he has finally fallen to a new low and has force a younger girl to dress up in cosplay, either one I am going to give that perverted idiot a piece of my mind. When I am a few metres away I sense something very strange, there is power radiating from that girl but it feels strange, there is no hostile intent behind it, instead it feels calming, soothing even. I take a good look at what the girl is doing and I see that she is leaning down over a little kid with a scuffed knee.
What is really startling about this situation is that her hands are glowing a soft green colour and it seems to be coming from the rings on her fingers, 'Must be another Scared Gear', it seems like Issei is just a magnet for trouble, I walk over to them and Issei sees' me coming over, "Ah Scarlet-san what are you doing here". I don't like the way that he is being familiar with me, honestly my first instinct is to beat the ever living shit out of him for it but I will give him the benefit of the doubt for once and let him call me that, "I was on my way to the club, what about you Issei aren't you meant to be at the club by now?" He scratches the back of his head, which I assume is a nervous gesture, "I was on my way when I ran into Asia here, she is lost and wanted directions to the church so I am helping her out."
He cannot possibly be this stupid, it is impossible, but that stupid smile on his face tells me all I need to know. He is serious and I have to resist the urge to faceplam once I realize it, I'd better go with him and make sure he doesn't get himself killed, if he does Rias would probably have my head for not doing anything, "Alright min tag along then?" Issei looks at me oddly, 'Don't look at me like that you retard, even a child should know that devils and church members are freaking enemies, Rias is going to have your ass for this.'
Thankfully the young nun Asia spoke up, "That would be great thank you, I am curious about school and your club so while we walk can you talk to me about them?"
That is a bit of an odd request, another thing that is bothering me is the fact that I highly doubt that Issei can speak fluent English so how the heck has he been able to talk to her? "Asia-san where exactly are you from?" She looks up at me, a little surprised from my question, "I am from England, what about you Scarlet-san?" Well that follow up question was an obvious one, I gesture that we should start moving toward the church rather than standing in the middle of a children's play park, "I am from Northern Ireland actually." At that sentence Asia's eyes light up, "Ah so I am not the only foreigner here around my own age then, that is good I thought that I would be all alone." She looks at with curiosity sparkling in her eyes, inwardly I groan, it is going to be a barrage of questions until we reach the church, I should've just kept my damn mouth shut and minded my own business, "So Scarlet-san why did you move to Japan?" That question made me snap my attention to the little girl, although she probably doesn't know it, that was a loaded question, one that brings up painful memories.
"The village that me and my boyfriend were living in… burned to the ground in a big fire, we lost everyone we ever knew, the only person we had left was my mother, she helped us, brought us over here, gave us a fresh start and a new life." Asia is obviously disturbed not only by the events but also by the monotone way I described it; Issei was the one to break the awkward silence, "So Scarlet-san how long you and Justin-san known each other for?" I smile as old happy memories flood my mind from his question, "Believe it or not Issei-san we have been friends from childhood, my mother meet my father on a business trip and fell in love at first sight, one night of passion and she got pregnant with me." At that both of my companions faces flushed red at my cavalier attitude to sex or love making depending on which term you like more, although I expect Issei has gone red for a different reason.
Continuing on with my recollection, "My father left my mother once he found out she was with child and left her on her own, her boss gave told her to stay in the country, have the child and once she had adjusted move back to Japan to continue her duties once she had dealt with her situation as he put it." Both Asia and Issei looked shocked at my description of events, but like it or not that is what some people are like they make other humans sound like garbage or trash so they don't feel guilty for treating them like it, "my mother decided to keep me and once she had recovered from giving birth and figured out how to be a mother, she would take me with her back to her home country."
"Justin threw a wrench into her plans however by becoming my first proper friend, the other kids knew I was different and made fun of me and treated me like an outcast, Justin didn't care about my appearance and played with me everyday, he had a very good affect on me, he made me happy and my mother just couldn't bare to separate me from him, she enjoyed seeing me happy and honestly she was starting to enjoy living in the small village, it was peaceful and quiet and the people were all polite and helpful so much different form what she was used to."
Issei interrupted my recollection by asking something, "What was Justin-san like when he was a kid?" That question made me smile even wider, "He was full of energy and was always happy despite his condition." Issei's eyebrows went up in surprise, "Condition?" "Yes he had a rare condition that made it very easy for him to get sick for very long periods of time, a normal person could have a cold for a few days, and if Justin caught a cold he would have it for weeks at a time. Thankfully he was cured of it a few years ago."
Before any of us had actually notice it we had arrive outside the church and instantly I can feel a lot of killing intent being leaked out from inside it, the door to the church opens and a priest walks out, he is dressed in traditional robes which I find quite weird, he also has silver hair and red eyes which puts me on edge, if this guy is a vampire then I will tear him apart without mercy, however, his scent is human, must be a fashion statement or something, "Welcome to the church my children, I see that you have brought our newest sister to us for that I thank you, my name is father Freed Sellzen, Asia Argento would you kindly please come inside we need to formally induct you into this church, the rest of you good day and may the Heavenly Father shower his blessings upon you."
At his words Issei visibly cringes in pain but neither members of the church seem to notice but something is wrong, I have a very bad feeling in my gut that something is not right here, looking around at this church it is in a poor state the building itself looks like it is on its last legs and the courtyard is hardly better, the path is all broken up and weeds have overgrown the whole place. I can't allow Issei to stay here any longer for all I know the only reason he isn't dead is because me and Asia are here, "Issei lets go we are already late for the meeting and I don't want to face Bochou when she is mad." Issei looks ready to shit a brick so we quickly walk out of there with Asia waving goodbye and wishing us well, silently I hope that Justin is ok.
Justin's mindscape
I don't know how much more of this I can take, Jéan's life so far has been horrible, he grew up on the streets, stealing money and food just to keep him and his mother alive for another day, when she died his 'father' came to claim him as his heir because his wife became infertile after having their daughter, caught between two worlds as the servants cannot interact with him because he is the ' young lord' and the other nobles treat him with disdain for being a bastard son of the duke, the worst is his sister, she tormented him, beating him, stabbing him in the arm 'by accident' kicking him down the stairs basically making his life as close to hell as she possibly fucking could.
I was not surprised how Jéan reacted to this, he turned to pleasures of the flesh and alcohol and a lot of it, for the next few years of his life, from aged 15 to aged 18 Jéan was a regular at the pleasure district of the city, even had a relationship with one his regular girls Vanessa, however, that all changed one day when in a drunken stupor after a practically horrifying torture session at the hands of his sister, Jéan got into a fight with a man in a bar, a man wearing sparkling silver armor that Jéan insisted that made him look like a "lâche gay" (gay coward) which angered the man and a fight ensued.
Jéan got his ass kicked and I felt every single blow just as I had to feel everything else that happened to him including his damn freaking depression, however, no matter what Jéan refused to stay down until the man knocked him out cold, even with him unconscious, I could hear what the man said next, "You've got guts kid, maybe I could use you, a kid with spirit like yours is very rare."
That event changed Jéan's life forever; he woke up in an unfamiliar building and was immediately offered a place as a Chevalier a secret order of knights under the direct control of the church and the King, the catch was that he would have to give up any claims to any positions of state that he had, Jéan jumped at the chance and was formally inducted into the order, he was given his own armor however he was put through a test, track down a legendary creature and form a contract with it and gain its power for his own, all order members had to do this, most chose very common creatures at the time ones that interacted with humans on a regular basis like the pixies or elemental sprites, Jéan chose to go after a rarer creature to prove his worth, he tracked down a phoenix.
He tracked it down to the mountains that bordered France from Spain and they fought for dominance, a normal human against a the legendary fire bird the fight went as expected, Jéan was beaten until he was barely clinging to life, his body burnt all over he refused to give up and so gained the respect of the creature instead of forming a contract with him, it allowed him to take one of its eggs, if the chick accepted him, it would hatch and make a contract with him, all he had to do was to smear some of his blood on the egg.
The egg hatched and Jéan's familiar and friend Fawkes was born, he was inducted in the order and his magic was activated, he gained control over fire and wind as well as receiving training on swordplay more specifically a rapier, it was apparently easier for him to use and combine it with his magic, after years of training he became a Chevalier, his weapons, armor, Fawkes and his soul blessed by the Pope of Rome himself and sworn into service in the name of the church and the King of France.
Before taking up his duties he visited his 'family' one last time to set his affairs in order, his father was less than pleased but could do nothing to reverse Jéan's oaths. His sister however took things way to far, she assaulted him in his fathers study and tried to kill him with his own sword which he had just name La Dame Rouge, thankfully his father came in just in time to put a stop to his insane daughter.
After that time sped up for me as Jéan's live went by like a flash, patrols, encounters with bandits and heretics, the occasional demon harassing a town or village until one very significant even happened to him. He, like the rest of his order took up arms and fought in the Hundred Years war against England, during one battle in particular the French general in charge of the battle prioritised wiping out the English forces instead of protected the outlaying villages that would be caught in the crossfire.
After the battle Jéan went to the nearby village close to his post and was horrified by what he saw, the villagers were massacred, not a man, woman or child had been spared, griping his sword in anger he set out to find those responsible, heading to an outlaying farm on the fringe of the village, he saw something that would be burned into his mind of the rest of his life, standing in the middle of several bodies of English soldiers, was a young woman holding a sword and covered in blood from head to toe and yet she look like an angel made flesh, Jéan asked her name and if she was injured, "My name is Joan and I am unhurt."
Two years later Jéan was in trouble at the siege of Orléans, most of his order had already been wiped out during the war and he had been caught off from any form of command, stuck in the city with no idea where any of his comrades or what was happening in general he was beginning to lose hope, speaking to the mayor of the city he made plans to evacuate the civilians using a secret passage contained within the church, he and the other soldiers with him were preparing to sacrifice their lives to buy them time to get out and get to safety, when a massive amount of cheering and the clash of steel on steel sounded from outside the city, it was Joan of Archs counterattack to relieve the dying city, she successfully drove off the English forces and saved the city. When she came into the city, she was swarmed by civilians praising her as a Saint; she asked who was in charge of the forces of the city and all the soldiers and civilians looked toward Jéan, she recognised him instantly despite the wear and tear, the war had taken his toll on him, she praised him for a job well done and recruited him as her bodyguard.
Jéan served her loyally up until she was betrayed by both the church and the nobles of the court that were jealous of the power and support that she had behind her, in her last moments before her execution she begged Jéan for a favour, "Save this country, protect it with all your might until you cannot bear to serve it anymore, live not for this country or your duty but for yourself, be free my righteous phoenix" She was executed shortly after and Jéan took her words to heart, it became his code of honour.
Jéan continued to serve his country and church loyally and his faith never wavered, however, that faith was shattered when he witnessed the true face of the church, during the Holy Crusade to reclaim Jerusalem from Saladin, Jéan witnessed the butcher of 3000 civilian Muslims at Arc, after demanding why it happened to the priest that followed the army, "It does not matter, they are just filthy heretics, you are doing Gods work son and he will reward you in heaven"
Jéan could no longer take part in such a dirty war and left the army, abandoning his duty and his faith, he returned to his fathers estate and took up the mantle of Duke, after several years as ruling and bringing his country back from destruction Jéan was riding to a small town near the border to Il de France when he and his escorts were attacked by a vile creature called a Shade. In the battle that followed Jéan was fatally wounded after killing the Shade he accepted that he would die there.
He was surprised when he woke up in a small cabin with a woman tending his wounds, "Who are you?" she looked at him, surprised that he was awake, "Don't move I managed to negate the demons magic with my own but you are still wounded so don't move unless you want to bleed to death, and my name is Mari if you must know, now lay down before you open up your wounds." Jean was torn on the one hand he owned this young woman his life, on the other it was obvious that she was a witch and the church was hunting all of them down and burning them at the stake for, "Crimes against the Lord and Church" he couldn't believe that this beautiful young woman was evil, she had saved his life.
Jéan took Mari into his estate as a servant but he couldn't deny the attraction that he felt for her and eventually they ended up getting married in secret, it didn't last long however, a mere 2 years after getting married and declaring their love for each other, Mari and Jéan were killed, a noble who was jealous of Jéan and wanted his power or position for himself discovered what Mari really was and had both her and Jéan burned at the stake until death.
Thanks to his contract with Fawkes flames couldn't hurt Jéan however Mari was not a lucky, Jéan was forced to hear and watch his wife burn to death in front of him and he was powerless to help her, instead of bearing the pain of loneliness and living a life without her, Jéan let his guard down and let the flames take his life.
Occult Research Club
I am currently sitting on the couch while Rias is chewing out Issei and giving him a lecture on how the church and its followers are devils natural enemies and how if he had not been doing a good dead by showing Asia the way to the church and because I a 'normal human' was with him, he might have taken more that a light spear to the knee, I really don't mind being left out of the lecture because after all I only went with them to make sure that Issei didn't get his ass blow off or something, I really wouldn't want that on my conscience. When Rias finally calmed down she started to explain to Issei that since he had been handing out filers for a week he could now take contracts to build up his power and status as a devil, she and Akeno, who was still looking at me with way to much lust in her eyes for my comfort, tried to get Issei to use the seal on the ground by himself to teleport to the contractors location.
For some strange reason he couldn't use the seal and instead he had to go out on his bike to the location, I would wish him luck but then again he is a pervert so until he can get my respect, I will avoid interacting with him as much as humanly possible. Suddenly I feel a massive amount of power coming straight for us, shouting out a warning I partially transform into my wolf form, changing my hands and feet into sharp claws, stretching out all my muscles to allow me to move at supersonic speeds and changing my teeth into fangs, I get ready to confront the intruder.
To my surprise the person knocks on the door, I look at it confused tilting my head like a confused dog would and opened the door, standing there in full armor is Justin, I am too relieved that he is standing there and that his ok, I deactivate my transformation and jump into his arms, he starts sobbing into my shoulder, I already know the reason, Jéan's lover Jenny had already told me what happened in his past and for Justin to experience it as if it had actually happened to him, it must have been so hard for him.
I stroke the back of his helmet and take it off revealing his new appearance for the most part his hair remained the same, deep brown/black hair that had silver strips on his fringe but now the top of his head mostly the part surrounding the crown of his hair was a deep blonde color cascading into the brown and silver, his eyes were now a mixture of deep brown mixed in with emerald green and ruby red shifting around his retina and his face was smoother and had a very attractive tan, overall he could be summed up in a lot of words but the ones that come to mind right now are, sexy, delicious, oh my god I want to fuck him right here and now sexy.
I can tell that he isn't ready for that kind of physical activity just yet, his heart needs time to heal and he needs to sort out his life from Jéan's and that could take a while, so I have to swallow my own rising urges and help him through it as best I can, that is until a mark on Rias' hand started to glow, "We can get an explanation later, Issei is in danger, lets go" she activates the seal on the ground and the sense of being torn from our bodies is still nauseating to me as we step out of the portal I cant believe what I am seeing.
The room is covered in blood and gore, nailed to the wall above the fireplace is a young woman with the words, "Death to all sinners" written above her in her own blood, looking around I spot Issei, he is hurt, clutching his leg in pain it is obvious that the other occupants in the room did this to him, I transform again ready to rip them limb from limb when I realise who exactly is standing right in front of me, it is Asia and that other priest, Father Freed Sellzen and he is laughing up a storm, "So the rest of the shitty devils decided to join the party then, Asia you were supposed to keep that fucking barrier up you shitty stupid little slut" his hits her with the butt of his gun sending her flying into my arms, I have had enough of this guy, he is dead.
Before I can move Justin is already at the priest, Flame burst punch, fire gathers around his fist and explodes on contact with the priests face sending him flying through the far wall, a bit too fast of a death, in my opinion he deserved to suffer but I am not going to complain, Koneko speaks up, "Bochou there are fallen angels close by, we are going to be at the disadvantage," Rias nods, "Alright everyone into the portal we are going home now!"
I look down at the unconscious nun in my arms, "Rias what about Asia?" She looks down at the young nun with a look of distaste, "Unfortunately only those that I acknowledge as part of my family or my peerage can use this portal, she is on the side of the Fallen, we cannot take her with us without provoking a full scale war, I am sorry but there is nothing I can do." I look down at her one last time before resigning, Rias is right, but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth to do this, while Issei is full on calling for her, "No we have to take her with us Asiaaaaaa!" He is still shouting even when the portal has closed, he is yelling so much that Koneko has to threaten him with her usual monotone voice just to shut him up. "If you don't stop yelling then I will ask Justin-sempai to actually castrate you with his blades, and then let's see how much you scream Issei-sempai."
Even though we manage to get Issei out alive this victory feels hollow and I feel a sense of foreboding in the area, this isn't the last time we are going to see those fallen or Asia I can feel it in my bones.
A/N: I am going to leave it there guys just to be evil, next up is the conflict at the church see you next chapter