Wake Up

When Serafall said that Sirzechs told her that he could help, Issei knew exactly how he meant it. Rias seemed to not get it, but he did. Sirzechs was subtly suggesting that she also marry Issei.

"He sent you here because he thought I could help?" Issei asked the Demon Lord.

"Yea. He always said how proud he was of the both of you for ending up together, so I should take advice from you." Serafall's smile fell.

"Did he say 'get advice from' or 'he could help'?"

"He said that you could help." Serafall looked confused. "Was he wrong?"

"No, but he didn't tell you what he meant, and I can assume that he was grinning like a fool when he did. Serafall, he basically told you that marrying me would solve your problem. I don't necessarily have a problem with it, but I wanted you to know that."

Her smile returned for a second and her eyes went wide. "You mean it?!" Ever since the night of the Leader's summit at the school, Serfall had found herself intrigued with the young Dragon.

It was Rias' turn to speak up. "Oh no. Don't go getting any ideas. Just because it helps you out of your situation doesn't mean that he will help."

"Awww! Why not Rias? You already have such a big family. What's one more?" She stuck out her tongue trying to be cute, but it wasn't working.

"No, is no Serafall." Rias stomped her foot down. "You're welcome to hang around, but no more marriage talk." With that, the head girl took her leave.

Serafall's smile vanished completely, and tears formed in her eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause trouble. I'll just go."

"No wait." Issei started. "She's a bit stressed from today, I did kinda die earlier, give her time. You're more than welcome to stick around. Hang out with the family. Who knows, maybe you'll end up on her good side."

Once again, she was full of hope. "You mean you'd marry me?"

"I'd have to give it thought but, maybe. I'd also have to talk with Sona and see how she feels."

"Grumpy old So. She'll have a heart attack when you tell her."

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I want to be with Asia. I almost lost her tonight."

"Sure, be with you family. I'll just be around."

Asia was still out on the couch in Issei's living room. Issei walked in to find Akeno and Ravel working on healing her. It was tough to restore lost energy. All they could do was try and wake her up. He sat next to the sleeping beauty and rested her head on his lap.

"I'm so sorry Asia. If I'd known that he would have come after you, I would've killed him then." Another thought came to mind. "Dammit. Silly girl. Why did you do that?"

"Do what?" Ravel asked as she cocked her head to the side.

"She stayed by the car after I went inside to get her bath started. She must have had Rassei tell her and didn't say anything." Issei then carefully stood up and laid her back down and kissed her forehead. "I love you, Asia. I'm sorry I wasn't worthy of being your husband." He left without another word.

Kuroka walked in with snacks for Ellie and Ewan. She noticed Issei walk past without so much as a glance. "What's his deal?"

"He's angry. I mean, I've seen him mad, but this is a whole new level." Akeno sighed. "He's angry that he failed to protect her. He saved me when I was pregnant, he saved Koneko when you were, he saved Xenovia when Rias was. Now, he had to save Asia and he failed. He may have taken that spear for her, but she still ended up like this. She may have even lost the baby." The fallen angel continued to heal Asia.

"I shou-" Rias started as she stood from her rocking chair.

"I've got it. He needs a sparring partner more than a hug right now." Koneko stood and walked down to the training room. The whole 'sparring partner' thing was just an excuse to go to him. The entire way down she was worried. Issei had been self destructive before. That wasn't new. She needed to help bring him back. As she entered the training room, she heard his voice.

"Failure! Fucking Failure!" Issei was throwing unarmored punches into a red brick wall. Normally that wall was used for wall ball and other games, but now it was a punching bag. "You could never protect her! No matter what you do! You absolute failure!" A large fist sized hole was punctured in the wall. "If you can't protect them, you don't deserve to be here with them." A small tug came at his shirt as he took a second to breathe. "Koneko."

"You're angry. I get that. But, do you need to take it out on the wall?"

"I guess not."

"And what was that about not deserving to be with us?"

"I can't protect you. I'm not fit to be a King. I'm not fit to be a husband." A tear slipped out his eye. "I'm not fit to be a father." He walked away from her and went to the other side of the pool.

Of course, she followed. "Issei. You are a wonderful and brave man. So what, you messed up once. We've all messed up. Just because it's one-"

"No!" Issei snapped. "It wasn't just one time. I've let you all down more times than I can count! How many times has Asia been hurt because I was too weak to protect her?! How long did Rias go with the fear of me not returning her feelings?! How long did Akeno fear me because I have a bad history with fallen angels?! How long did I piss you off because I was too fucking childish to restrain my fucked up mind!?" He let out a shaky breath. "How long…. how long did I burden you all with my very existence? If I hadn't been so stupid to take Raynare's hand, Rias wouldn't have resurrected me. Then you could all be-"

"Dead! D.E.A.D Dead!" Koneko snapped back at him. "If it wasn't for you, Asia would be dead. Her body hung out to dry like a towel or skewered by that spear! If it wasn't for you, Rias would have married Riser. She would be dead inside, lifeless and hopeless. If it wasn't for you, Akeno would have never excepted her past. She would still be angry at her father. If it wasn't for you, Kuroka would have never come home." She took a deep breath. "If… if it wasn't for you, I would never feel anything again. I probably would have ended it a long time ago in fear of losing to my power. But you told me that you would protect me. You told me that I wasn't alone anymore. You got me to feel again!" Her cheeks were red with her blush and her eyes leaked as she cried. She turned away so he couldn't see.

Issei had never seen the depressed side of Koneko. Sure, she'd been sad before, but not depressed. He gently wrapped his arms around her and held her. "I'm so sorry kitten. I know that you want to believe in me. But the truth is, I'm not worth belie-" Before he could finish, she turned and kissed him.

"You gave me that nickname because you love me, right?"

"Yea."

"You had children with Rias, Akeno, Kuroka, and Asia, because you love them, right?"

"Yea."

"You saved Irina and Xenovia in Heaven because you love them, right?"

"Yea."

"You are a man worth loving Issei, even though you've messed up. It's all in the past. I once had a sparring coach tell me something when I would look back at a bad match. He said, 'What's done is done. It doesn't matter. All I care about, is what you do to fix it.' So, what will you do to fix this?"

That caught him off guard. He was so busy focusing on what happened, he didn't realize that he was needed elsewhere. Asia could wake up any moment and he would be nowhere near her. He needed to move on. "Thank you Koneko. I'm glad you came for me instead of Rias. We would've fought."

Koneko's heart fluttered. "I-it was nothing. I just don't like seeing you sad."

"Kitten." He placed his hands on her shoulders. "I promise. Once Anastasia is born, we'll get married."

"Do me a favor then."

"Anything."

"Tonight, my room 23:00. Don't be late." She then skipped off to the elevator.

Issei returned to Asia's side with a smile. He now waited patiently for her to wake up and didn't dwell on past events. Akeno noticed his change.

"So, what did you and Koneko do that's got you in such a good mood.?" She teased.

"We had a little heart to heart. She taught me to not dwell on the past, but to learn from it. Use what I've learned to fix it next time." He carefully stroked Asia's hair to try and sooth her mind. "She also wanted me to come by and see her tonight."

"Ooooh. Shirone must be in heat Dragon boy." Kuroka giggled as she held her son.

"Really? How come this is the first I'm hearing of it?"

"You asked me to keep her in check, didn't you? I kept her from pouncing you about this time last year. However, we also made a deal that my job ended when her body could take it. I'd say she's ready now."

He thought for a moment. It was true that Koneko had certainly become a beautiful young woman. Her height was close to Asia and her chest was close to Ravel. Maybe it was time to kick things up a notch. "Yea. I'll go see her earlier I guess."

Just then Asia made a groaning sound. "Ugh.. Where am I?" She then looked up to see her husband's face. "Issei!"

"Hey Asia. How are you two feeling?"

"I'm good. I think she's good to- oof!" She moved a hand to her stomach. "She just kicked."

"Really?" He also moved a hand down. "Wow, she's strong. Even after loosing that much energy."

"How do you guys know it's a baby girl?" Ravel asked as she twiddled her thumbs.

"Just a guess." Asia smiled. Her eyes were becoming tired again. "I'm sleepy."

Issei picked her up in a princess carry. "I bet you are. You've had a long day. Let's get you two to bed."

After laying Asia down for the night, Issei ventured down the hall to find Koneko. He opened the door when he heard her talking. What he saw made him happy for her.

Koneko was sitting at her computer. She had white headset on that looked like it sported cat ears. However, they were actually her ears. She had a game pulled up, but he didn't know which one. It also appeared she was talking in the headset to someone.

Carefully, he snuck up behind her and massaged her shoulders. "What's up kitten?"

"Ah Issei!" Koneko turned to face him. "Wha-what are you doing here?" Her cheeks were red as if she'd just been caught doing something dirty.

"Nothing much. You said come up here, so I figured I'd surprise you." He wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "What are you playing?"

"Oh, uh, I'm playing a game."

"Noticed. What game?"

Her eyes darted to her other monitor when she heard a noise from her headset. A chat board sat on the side and was constantly going off. It was only then that Issei noticed the camera on near the monitor.

"I, uh, it's called.." She sighed. "It's one of your games."

"My games?" He took a closer look at the monitor. Indeed it was one of his more ero games from his teen years. "What got you playing that?"

"You're not mad?"

"No. Should I be? Koneko you're 20, by all means do what you want. Just don't let Ewan see it." He kissed her head.

"Don't do that dumb dumb. I'm live!" She pointed to the other monitor that held the chat board. Multiple people were talking and asking who he was. "Ugh! Now, I've got explaining to do."

"Sounds fun." Issei grabbed a chair and sat with her. "I can help."

She turned back to the computer. "Okay, this has gone from a gaming livestream to a Q&A with Koneko. Put questions in the chat and let's see what you got."

"Since when do you live stream games?" He asked as he pulled over one of the other chairs to her side.

"Since about a year ago. You're never in here so you didn't know."

He just sat back and watched the questions come in.

"Alright first question…" Koneko started. "Who is he?"

"My name is Issei."

"I think they meant who are you to me?"

"Oh yea. I'm her fiancé."

Koneko just giggled. "Oooh that's gonna break a few hearts. I know we have some guys in here with crushes on me." She quickly read over the chat and laughed that she was right. "Sorry guys, I'm spoken for." She turned around and planted a kiss on his lips. "My wonderful Husband to be."

They answered many questions late into the night until Kuroka found them. By then, they were cuddled up on the bed and fast asleep. Since Koneko was too big to sit in his lap anymore, she became the little spoon on his right side. Kuroka just giggled.