Atarah's Beginning

I had feared that something like this would happen. The Sisters had always warned of the dangers of desperate men and despite what the priests would have you believe the Church was full of desperate men. I also knew that despite my cunning with my Sacred Gear, Sword Birth that I shared with my Twin Isaiah, it was only a matter of time before one of the Exorcists killed me or stalled me enough that the poison would. I let out a pained scream as a light sword was stabbed into my leg.

"Atarah!" Isaiah shouted in despair while cutting down the exorcist from behind. "We need to run." I bit my lip as he hauled me to my feet to keep from shouting out in pain. I knew that Isaiah would never make it if he was carrying me as his chances were slim even if he wasn't.

"Isaiah, no matter what happens know that I love you and if I don't make it I want you to make the most of your life, live it for us both." I said while figuring out a plan to buy him time. He gave me an odd look before shaking his head.

"Don't speak like that. We'll make it out of here, together." He said making me give him a sad smile knowing that there was only one way that one of us was surviving and it wasn't going to be me. We reached the door to the final room before freedom when I made my move. I used the doorframe to give me the leverage to separate from him and force him through the door.

"Live…" I said as I gave everything I could to Sword Birth and blocking the door with swords and slowly filling up the room with them to force him to run. I allowed tears to run down my face as the last look on his face was sheer horror and despair. I turned back to the room in time to see an exorcist stroll in.

"Well, well, if it isn't Valper's little cock crown." He said with a dark glee I didn't understand but that didn't stop the shiver I had at the name of the Head Priest. "What's the matter? Don't you like his blessings? Then again I doubt that a man like him would be able to please even a little whore like you. Don't worry, I'll make sure you'll know pleasure when I 'bless' you myself before sending you straight to hell."

"You wish!" I snarled as I created swords above him killing him instantly as they fell. I tried to steady my breathing as I slid to the floor knowing that I would die quicker if my heart kept going at its current pace. I then spent my time launching swords at anyone that came in, they would not get near Isaiah as long as I lived, until there was silence. I didn't trust it and kept up my guard despite black slowly creeping along my vision.

"Dear God, how could they do this to children?" A new voice said after a long time of hearing nothing but my laboured breathing. I used the last of my strength to create one last sword that was ready to kill or maim the next exorcist to walk through the door.

"There are no sins too foul for some men to commit. They paid for it though, the children fought back. There were reports of Sacred Gear Holders being here." Another voice said as I heard footsteps getting closer. I fired the sword as soon as his garb came into sight and collapsed to the side. I barely saw him destroy the sword before taking in the situation. "Get a Medic! We have a li-…" And then the world went black.

CFM

"I hope the idiots aren't making you work too hard, Asia." I said to the girl that saved my life. It turns out that the Church had found out about the Holy Sword Project in full and decided to shut it down which was why we were being killed, they didn't want loose ends. I would have felt good about that if it wasn't for the fact that they were continuing research along the same lines which pissed me off, especially as I was the first to become an artificial Holy Sword User or at least given the potential as the Church trusted me even less than I trusted them.

"No, I find that while hard the work is well worth it." The Blonde said before giving a prayer of thanks to God. I rolled my eyes at the only person I trusted, if only because she was far too nice to harm anyone, and shaking my head. The reason I was with Asia Argento the Holy Maiden and wielder of Twilight Healing was because the Church didn't want to let me go to damage their reputation and rather than having two protection details this meant there was only one.

"Don't let them take advantage of you Asia. While helping people is a good thing for the most part some will use that against you. I also suspect the Church would throw you under the bus if you healed someone they believed to be the enemy even if you didn't know." I said inwardly feeling guilty as I had befriended the girl who had no friends thanks to the Church and knew I couldn't stay.

"You're leaving soon, aren't you?" She asked sadly making me sigh. While Asia was without a doubt naïve no one could call her stupid, and if they did it would be a bald faced lie.

"I can't stand being imprisoned by hypocrites like these surrounding me. I will live and die free for my ideals and until I find out what they are I will look for my Brother. Despite what the Church says I know he didn't die. I need to find him so I know he is fulfilling my request." I saw her hang her head and my guilt grew until she looked back up with teary but determined eyes.

"Then I wish you luck and hope God will watch over you in your quest. I will do my best to live by the tenants of God himself and your words of wisdom." She said making me tear up myself and grab her in a firm but gentle hug.

"No matter what, you will always be my friend. If you ever find yourself in trouble I will do my best to find you and come to your aid. Friends Forever?" I asked as I pulled back to see her tears.

"Friends Forever." I smiled at her before going to my room where I had everything ready to go. The Church would find that they had one less prisoner.

CFM

"Whatever you want I'm not interested." I said to the older teen as she sat across from me without invitation. It had been a while since I had been able to treat myself and I wasn't about to let a girl that pretended to be a blonde ditz, I could see the intelligence in her eyes, keep me from enjoying it. When she merely sat there smiling at me I rolled my eyes. "I thought I told you to piss off?"

"Now don't be like that Atarah." She said putting me on edge despite, or more specifically because of, her cheery tone. "I'm sure we are going to be the best of friends." I deadpanned at her as I knew nothing about her except that she was starting to piss me off. "Oh I'm Jeanne Arc by the way, that's Arthur Pendragon." She gestured to a teen that was slowly getting everyone out of the café in case it came to a fight. Smart given the fact that I didn't want casualties and apparently neither did they.

"What do two Hero Descendants want with me? Don't look surprised. Knowledge is Power and the Strong that was Powerless will grab power in all of its forms when the opportunity is given, especially as I don't have a faction to back me up."

"Well that is going to change. The Hero Faction is recruiting and Cao Cao wants you to join us." She said as I just stared at her. I got the feeling that her kind of recruitment strategy didn't involve much talking. I looked at Arthur who took a seat next to her and sighed.

"While the Hero Faction is part of a bigger organisation, its main goal is to protect humans from the influence of the supernatural sects that seek to use them for their own ends. To do that we need strong humans that can match them such as you. Your conflict with Vasco Strada didn't go unnoticed." He said making me grimace as that wasn't so much a conflict as it was me trying to get away from the Exorcist. It was a good thing he didn't want to kill me otherwise that was what would have happened.

"So the thing that got me on the radar was me getting my arse kicked. That makes a girl feel loved." I said rolling my eyes. "Listen, the only way to stop the Supernatural would be to slaughter them all and I'm not a Genocidal Bitch, a Bitch but not Genocidal. Also, if you had done any real research on me you would know that it was humans that have caused me misery not any other species." That was true, of all the species I had met it was mostly humans that had done me harm. The closest any other species had come to harming me was when Azazel joked that I was an 'Akeno' in disguise which led Baraqiel to almost kill me via hug of doom.

"Is that you rejecting our offer?" Jeanne asked in a cheery tone that didn't hide the malice too well.

"Damn right I'm rejecting it." I said as I created a sword pinning Arthur, painfully given the scream, to his chair while the one that would have done the same to Jeanne was destroyed by a weak Holy Sword. I rolled back out of my chair as she leapt for me before arming myself with two katana. "Blade Blacksmith, the opposite and equal to my Sword Birth."

"That's right, now give up and accept your place or I will hurt you and drag you to Cao Cao." I snorted in response and fended off her attacks. She had skill, there was no doubt about it, but she was predictable and was already tiring from having to replace her swords since the demonic and holy swords erased each other. As soon as she failed to create a sword I headbutted her, which made her crash through the table I had sat at. It was then that the police stormed the café.

"Fuck this." I muttered as I ran for the back and leapt through the kitchen window before I could be followed. A small bit of magic I picked up from the Church and I was suddenly a fit old man.

CFM

"I'll tell you whatever you want just don't kill me!" The Priest begged making me even more disgusted with the man than before which was quite a feat as he gave of the same vibe as Valper Galilei. The reason he was begging might have had something to do with the sword at his throat.

"Then quite whining before I slit your throat." I growled, not in a good mood especially as he had been staring at my chest before the sword was created. "Now tell me why the Holy Maiden was excommunicated from the Church when she has done far more good than the paedophiles that the Church helps cover up for. Don't bother denying it as I was one of the ones to retrieve such a 'special blessing' as a child."

"She healed a Devil while out for a walk and refused to repent." He said while I tried to block out the smell of him literally pissing himself.

"Of course she wouldn't repent. She believes that it is her duty to Heal and the fact you lot force her to do it to gain more followers didn't exactly tell her she was wrong. Now I have only two more questions, how did a Devil get near her considering she was always watched and where is she now?"

"Last I heard she was seen boarding a plane to Japan, Kuoh! I have no idea how the Devil got in but they loosened security around her when it was obvious she wasn't going to do a runner like the Sword Maiden did." I blinked at that as the only person I knew that had been held with her was me and I sure as hell wasn't called Sword Maiden back then.

"They need a new name for me. I haven't been a Maiden since I was seven." I saw his eyes go wide before I knocked him out. I sighed and pulled out a burner that had only one number in it. It wasn't long before it was picked up even if the person didn't talk. "Azazel, its Atarah. I'm calling in that favour you owe me."

"Oh, and what could I do for you that you couldn't gain by taking me up on my offer." Azazel said making me roll my eyes at the not-so-subtle hint. At least he was a good sport about it unlike the Devils that wanted me in their Peerage.

"You know that is never going to happen. I need to get from Rome in Italy to Kuoh in Japan." There was silence on the other side for a moment before he sighed.

"I can do that easily if you promise to check on a Cell I have there watching over a certain red reptile. That way you still have a favour from me and get to meet up with that Holy Maiden friend of yours. Apparently they've arranged for her to come to them instead of Headquarters like she is meant to be."

"Sounds like they've gone rogue and if they have they may try and kill me. If that happens I will destroy them Azazel no matter how much you want to keep numbers up." I said making sure he knew where I stood.

"If there is no other choice, then do so. If you can try to hold up and give me another call. I'll send Tobio Ikuse, you'll know him when you see him, and he'll deal with them." I hummed before he hung up. I had no doubt a ticket would be waiting for me as I got to the airport.