The night came soon enough, and rest was something I wasn't sure I could take. I knew…this feeling in my core was getting stronger. I knew it wasn't the spirits, it was just my unease mounting most likely, but I couldn't shake it. I shook it off in vain, steeping out of the bathroom after a finishing up all my hygienic tasks. I stripped off my shirt, and swapped pants, before just falling to the floor slowly and quietly, ignoring my mattress for a moment as I rested on the floor. It was cold, hard wood, something that the moon reflected off of rather well. I looked up at it, tilting my head a little to stare at it from my upside down position. It was so full, so gleaming bright and beautiful. The stars like precious stones accentuating its crown jewel. I stared at it solemnly, engraving the sight into my mind with all my attention. It would be fine, I will see it rise again, and Rias will be free.

There is nothing to worry about.

I let out a long slow breath, and I didn't feel the need to roll over onto the mattress

Here was surprisingly comfy.

I closed my eyes, the chill not bothering me in the slightest, and I yawned slowly. Tomorrow will be fine.

A faint red glow started to shine in my room, something that I barely clocked with the moon's light surrounding me. I only noticed it after I heard a faint rustle of cloth, and opened my eyes slightly to see if it was the curtains.

Nope. It was Rias.

I'm being desensitized to her nude presence.

I sighed, sitting upright, and I looked at her as she met my eyes.

"You ok?"

She stared at me for a time, before she looked down, "If I asked you to take my virginity, would you?"

I was honestly surprised by this question…but I knew why, I knew what she hoped it would achieve, and I just sadly smiled.

"Come on Rias, you need rest."

She walked forward, growing closer and closer, before she fell onto my lap, hugging my chest, and shivered, her red hair draping across her back and shoulders like a tumbling waterfall. I felt my chest damped as silent tears escaped her eyes, and I wrapped my arms around her. I let out some of my aura, in a small amount, and I felt my body temperature rise slightly as my calming aura exuded the room. She relaxed a little, her shivering, while still present, was subdued. I heard her sniffle, and she wouldn't raise her head.

"Let's get you to bed."

"I…cant. Grayfia will find me."

I didn't know who this Grayfia was, but I couldn't care less. I had a rather firm understanding of how my aura worked, especially on Devils. If she thought she could come here with intentions to steal her away, she was not going to succeed.

"It's fine…at the very least, rest while you can." I said with a smile, and she didn't move. I released an arm from its hold, and scooped her up, rising onto a knee, and dropping her on the mattress. I pulled the sheets up, and she grabbed my arm.

She seemed so childish right now, is that just what she's been pushed to? A desperate plea of hope?

I was angry, furious. How could you do this to flesh and blood? Times have changed, people change. Just because you're a long lived race doesn't mean you should follow the beaten path. Tradition is not always right.

I turned and laid down myself, putting my head on the edge of the mattress by her side, knitting my fingers over my stomach and staring at the ceiling fan for a moment.

I felt her move, and I felt her hair fall over my shoulder as she cradled around my head. It was a funny thing almost, but her grip on me was all the more tangible.

Hell will not forget Wrath.

Mine.

We shared that silence, my aura saturating the space as her breathing evened out, and her composure regained itself as she returned to her more normal self.

"Riser will arrive tomorrow. He will show up some time tomorrow at the school ORC building."

I see. I can see why her desperation leapt up several notches.

"I take it Grayfia is arriving to take you to your family to try and make you obey?"

She was silent, though I wasn't sure if that was her agreeance, or her unsureity herself.

"I will be…prepared."

Prepared? Like a sandwhich? A prize?

How fucked up are these Devils!?

Rias sat up suddenly, and moved, leaning down and resting her head into the crook of my neck, chasing my warmth, "But we will win…I must believe we will."

"We will." I said firmly, "Even if I lose the battle, even if he somehow manages to defeat me and your peerage, I will grow to my limit, and force your freedom. This is not your future Rias. I am the Bearer of Opposers, I deny the system that makes that so. You will not be bothered with this again."

I raised an arm, and rested it along her back, preventing her from falling off the mattress.

"You're safe here."

She nodded, and slackened as I increased the concentration of my aura, passifying her inner struggles, and sending her into a deep sleep. Once she was out, I slowly sat up, sliding her back over to the center of the mattress and tucking her in. She was better this way, dreaming.

A silver magic glowed behind me, and I felt my anger pound the inside of my temples as the aforementioned "Grayfia" appeared behind me in the corner of the room.

She was silent at first, examining my back as I pulled the last of Rias's hair away from her face, and spread it out across the pillow to prevent discomfort.

"She will rest here tonight." I said flatly, turning and standing to my full height, not the least bit embarrassed as I realized what a beauty she was. She was dressed in a maid's outfit, clean and pressed, with red lipstick to accentuate her rather cold features. But I wasn't taken in by it.

In my eyes, no beauty could cover the horrid circumstances they were enforcing onto Rias.

"She has been summoned by Lord Gremory-"

"She Will Not Attend." I said flatly, though this time much more powerfully, something that surprised her.

"It is my duty to bring her back."

Time to test out my theory.

An aura started to surround me, avoiding Rias, and projecting forward with all its force.

Fear.

I had felt it for days, Rias's growing fear rising until it surpassed coping, until it superseded self-control. It all came rushing forward as Grafiya's eyes widened at the overwhelming pressure that surrounded her.

I let up after a moment, seeing her sweat blossom on her brow, and her hands drift apart. She didn't let it show, but I knew she was unsettled. She didn't even know if that was me most likely. Her stance had shifted as well, a cautious step back was ready to be taken.

"That fear you felt is the very same Rias bore when she came to me less than a few hours ago." I said, before I swelled in size, and my rage replaced that fear, and doused Grayfia again with a much more intense barrage that had her jaw clenched, her hands balling.

"And that, is the Rage that I feel for her entire family."

I loomed over her, hunched over and enshrouded in the moon's bright light.

Casting a very deep, dark, black shadow.

"She will rest here tonight, and be present to greet Riser Phenex tomorrow at the ORC Clubroom…Now…" I said menacingly, my teeth baring themselves as my rage finally shown on my features, my eyes flaring red in almost blind rage as my veins popped red and white, outlining my musculature and vascular structure in a very intimidating way.

"Get. Out. Of. My. House" I snarled, biting at every word. Grafiya examined me, regaining her emotional clarity, before turning and seeing Rias behind me, resting peacefully without fit or tears. She looked back at me, before she closed her eyes.

"Please arrange for her to be prepared and present for her guest."

"You have my word." I said, calming significantly, and returning to my naturally large size, before turning my back to her again, and sitting by Rias's side, releasing my calming aura some more as Rias slept. She turned, facing me, and weakly grasped for it. I took her hand in mine…it was small compared to mine.

I cupped it in both hands, and Rias smiled faintly. I looked over my shoulder, glancing at the maid that was clearly mystified at the sudden feeling of this space, and undoubtedly enjoying the aura I was producing.

I didn't like it.

"She is safe here." I said evenly, before my eye glowed a powerful gold as my now natural golden hue came glaring though.

"Leave."

She closed her eyes again, and bowed, her magic circle appearing, and she left us alone.

"You were lucky she chose to leave without a fight. She would win that scuffle, and she knew it."

'then why leave?'

"Because she too doesn't want this for Gremory Heir."

She may have left alone, but not empty handed. I had just delivered information that I had control over the emotional states of my opponents.

While a card I would have liked to keep secret, it hardly matters. My piece will break in my fight with Riser anyway, if they didn't want me near her, they would get their wish.

As she would get hers.