Occult Revelations: An Immortal Mystery

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the author created characters and concepts. Thanks to Ranger Red 2.3, Mistycharming and SA June for their OC's used in this fic.

A dark and stormy night hung over the City of Numin as the rain hammered the streets and lightning struck down, illuminating the shrouded sky for a moment. Saya, Nyssa, Ellie and Joe had gathered in the living room of Joe's house. Ever since his first battle with the Abyssal Cult, there's been doubt in the red ranger's mind as to what Gabriel Cadia had told him about his life.

The front door opened and the english teacher walked in, he was soaking wet from the heavy storm battering the city outside. "Glad to see none of you got caught up in the storm. From what I understand, none of you girls can fly in this weather." He remarked as he hung up his jacket. "I'll be down in around ten minutes, then we can have some dinner, anything in particular you kids want?"

After taking a breath in, Joe looked over to the man he had knew as his father. "Actually, I need to ask you something. After you've dried off anyway." He informed the teacher who gave a calm nod before heading upstairs to change.

Saya glanced at Joe, his face was quite serious as he sat down next to the crackling fire. "You alright Joe? You've been acting a little off today."

"You were there when we fought off that first cultist that looked like a squid, when Seraphim first showed up, so you know what that agent said. We haven't heard anything from them since they tried to fight Skuros by themselves, but what that first agent said, it's been stuck in my head since then. Though with everything going on, It's just been sitting around, I guess I just want answers now."

"She said you were a Seraphim asset right? It's a bold claim to say the least. As you said though, you can't remember a thing prior to last summer. As much as I'd not like to say it, anything's possible." Saya recounted as Joe sat there silently, thinking back to their first ranger fight and the strange aftermath which had brought them to this point.

"You never know Joe, your memories might come back to you at some point. It might be a longshot, but there's different things you could try to remember what happened." Ellie suggested, offering some advice.

"I'd like to offer my thoughts on this, but I'm still pretty groggy from gym class earlier today. I'd take a shower at school, but then I couldn't clean my wings without a normie walking in and freaking out." Nyssa explained as she stood up and headed upstairs to take a shower.

Moments passed and finally Gabriel came downstairs, soon coming to a halt in the living room as he saw the look on Joe's face. His facial expression also turned serious as he walked to and sat down in his seat, not taking his eyes off of the red ranger for a second. "What did you want to talk about?" Gabriel said, his tone also serious, but with an undertone of cautiousness about it as if anticipating that something was wrong.

"Everything you told me, from the first thing I remember… Was it a lie!?" Joe asked, implying an accusation of deceit as he raised his voice with his last sentence.

"What are you talking about Joe?" Gabriel asked, surprised that he'd accuse him of lying about it, though he was correct, it did catch the teacher off guard that he'd figured it out so quickly.

"After my first fight with the Abyssal Cult, Saya and I encountered an agent calling herself Seraphim Twelve. She said that I was an asset on the loose and that she had to bring me in. I don't remember any of that, but when I try and think back to my earliest memories, what you told me doesn't add up either. So tell me. Who am I really and why'd you do all this?" He explained before demanding an answer from Gabriel.

"I don't know who you are. One day I found you in an alley, your body was torn to shreds and you looked to be on the verge of death. I could've called an ambulance, but I could tell that you were different. Bringing you back and helping you recover triggered your healing and revealed what you were. For a while now, I've been tasked to keep the Occult rings ready for when they were needed, your arrival woke them up and started this. I had to tell you a lie so that you'd stay. I'm sorry I lied to you Joe, but it was necessary." He explained, revealing the truth to the red ranger.

Joe sat wide eyed at the revelation. "Everything you told me… You lied from the beginning… My name, my life, you've just been manipulating me from the start!" He yelled out in a fit of anger. To him, this was the first time anyone had ever betrayed his trust, his fists were clenched and he held his head low. He'd never had such strong negative emotions run through him before to his knowledge and he wasn't taking it well. "I'm leaving, no one follow me." He said darkly as he rose from the chair and headed to the door, opening it to reveal the rain pouring down heavier than it had only a few minutes ago. "I'm not coming back. One last thing, we're not family and we never were, Gabriel." He added, his voice full of internal anger as he left, shutting the door with a heavy slam.

A few moments of silence passed as Gabriel thought over their conversation, trying to discern the reason the red ranger had reacted the way he did. If this were to escalate any further, it could spell a disaster for all sides of this supernatural war.

Not a moment sooner did Saya decide to take matters into her own hands, taking her coat from the rack and wrapping it around herself before opening the door to head out into the storm besieged city. "You're going after him, in weather like this, you know it's a bad idea." Ellie reminded the blue ranger.

"I can't leave him out there like that. He's in a dark place right now and he needs someone with him. Right now, as long as I'm there for him, it doesn't matter what's in the way. I owe Joe that much at least." She explained before departing into the seemingly endless and blinding storm.

[Occult Circle]

Inside Skuros' black fortress, the Dark Angel sat. As he listened to the latest reports from his subordinates about the campaigns to convert more to his cause from the other realms, Nikolai lounged upon a ledge in the command room, carving away intently at a bright red apple before sinking his sharp fangs into it.

A commotion was heard from the nearby halls for a few moments, the sounds escalated into what sounded like fighting. To the surprise of the lounging vampire, an Acolyte was flung into the room from one of the side halls, slamming against the thick stone walls, before dispersing due to the force of the impact.

Skuros turned his head towards the hall the disturbance had come from as the cause of the interruption entered the room. Clad in the yellows and oranges of his demonic house, a young High demon entered the room. A sword strapped to his waist and a flaring orange ball of fire in his right hand.

Skuros studied the new arrival for a moment. "So finally a High demon decided to reply to my offer. Though I will admit, I didn't expect a member of House Phoenix to so eagerly join my cause. So tell me, what's your real reason for being here, Salch?" The Dark Angel asked, sensing the ulterior motive behind his presence here.

"You want commanders to wipe out humans don't you? All I want is to best the immortal, prove I'm greater than him. I don't care who gets in the way, who I have to destroy to do so. As long as he's completely shattered by my hand, it'll be enough for me." Salch Phoenix, eldest of the three Phoenix siblings explained to him.

"I'm assuming you want to be taught how to do so, when there's no physical pain that can really get to him. I'll humor you, young Phoenix. It won't be easy, but when the time is ready, we'll accomplish our goals together." Skuros chuckled grimly as he placed his hand on the High demon's shoulder.

[Occult Circle]

As the night went on, the storm came down heavier and heavier. While Saya searched aimlessly through the stormy streets, hopelessly searching for her friend, Joe walked on into the night. Walking for hours without rest, he had managed to fatigue himself to his surprise. The red ranger staggered, the rain blacking out his vision and soaking him further, restricting his movement more and more.

Raising his hand out as he struggled to keep moving, his palm met the surface of a building. Tired from fatigue all his walking had given them, he now even struggled to think straight. 'M-maybe, one quick rest…' He thought as he turned away and let himself fall back against the building wall. As he came to the floor, his eyelids began to flutter and within seconds he had passed out from his built up fatigue.

[Dream]

After Joe passed out, the sounds of heavy rain and thunder stayed with him, until he finally opened up his eyes. Getting up, he had been resting in what looked to be a bare bed. The place he had been resting in looked to be a large shared bedroom of a rickety old orphanage as children also lay sleeping in completely bare beds. A heavy thunderstorm raged outside. Walking along the cold and rough wooden floor, Joe walked by a mirror. Glancing at himself, he saw a far younger version of himself, who appeared to be five. Though he wanted to look more closely, his body appeared to move on it's own, as if this wasn't a dream he was in, but a memory he was re-experiencing in his sleep.

The younger Joe moved along the floor until he came to a large window, with a young girl slumped down on the window ledge. She also appeared to be five and had red hair. "You can't sleep either?" The young girl asked as she turned to face the younger version of Joe.

"Guess I just got worried about you and decided to see if you were alright. Why can't you sleep?" He asked, before walking beside the girl and resting his elbows on the window ledge.

"There were people in again looking to adopt kids today. They wanted me, but I didn't go. You remember what happened the last time someone tried to separate us. That's why it's either both of us or no deal. They tried everything they could to get me because they thought I was the cutest. I don't ever want to leave you, we're best friends and I don't want anyone to ever change that." She replied, smiling at him, hiding her worry that one day, that just might happen.

"We've known each other since we were in diapers. If anyone does try to take us apart, I won't let them. Nobody's gonna hurt you as long as I'm around, and I'm always gonna be around so that's a promise." He reassured the girl giving her hand a small squeeze.

With that, the scene faded, leaving Joe to his thoughts. 'What was all that? Did all that really happen? Who was that girl?' were the most common thoughts that he thought upon while he slept.

[Dream]

Night passed quickly while Joe slept, the storm ending before dawn broke. The sun soon rose up and it was now only two hours before school started. Coincidentally, Joe lay asleep against the main school building beside the entrance. Somehow he had managed to make his way there in the unrelenting storm before collapsing.

After a few minutes, Seraphim Twelve, currently posing as Sera, emerged from her handler's car and began walking toward the main building which was now open. Spotting the unconscious Joe, she walked over. She studied him for a moment. Her orders have always been to find him and return him to her agency because of the threat he presented in the state he left in. Though he seemed peaceful when he slept, like he was no danger to anyone when he was awake, and the Seraphim agent had no evidence to support the opposite of this.

As she tapped him on the shoulder to nudge him awake a few times, Joe's eyelids opened slowly. The first thing he noticed was the long red hair dangling in front of his face. Because his thoughts had been fixed on who the girl was, he snapped awake and tilted his head up to see who the hair belonged to. Looking up he saw it was Sera, his memory of what he had seen was cloudy and he wasn't in the best of shape last night as he continued to study the undercover Seraphim agent.

"Hey, Joe is everything alright? You look kinda dazed. You haven't been out here all night have you?" She asked showing concern for him.

"I got caught up in the storm, and then I shut my eyes. Then I was having a weird dream. My head's all over the place right now." He said with a slight groan.

"I'll help you inside so you can get yourself cleaned off. I can't leave you behind, especially after you've survived a storm as atrocious as that." She said as she helped him to his feet and walked him in.

Perhaps he wasn't thinking clearly from everything that had happened in the past night, but as the red ranger walked with her, he looked her features, noting how she seemed similar to the girl in his dream/memory. "Hey, you don't know if there's any Orphanages in the area do you? I'm just following up on something and wondered if you might've heard something." He explained with a small lie.

"Nope, never actually been to an Orphanage before. I guess you could say that I've been cooped up with one big family most of my life." She explained to him. While Seraphim Twelve had to lie about most things, in this case she was telling the truth. For as long as she remembered, she had been at Seraphim.

"Oh, no worries, thanks for your help inside anyway. I'll get cleaned up and meet you in homeroom later." He said with a small grateful smile, having her off as he entered the locker room.

As Sera walked down the hallway, her facial expression shifted. She now appeared to be deep in thought as she strolled through the building. 'He genuinely seemed grateful for my help back there. All I've got from Seraphim after a mission was another task. Now I've got this strange feeling, this warmth… Why does it feel so… familiar?' The teenager thought to herself while she wandered.

[Occult Circle]

The minutes ticked by and more students began arriving at the school, As Joe and Sera sat beside each other, Ellie and Ray entered the room one after the other. They were shortly followed by Saya, who held a handkerchief to her face as she let out a short and high pitched sneeze. Taking her own seat, she tiredly rubbed her eyes before resting her head on the desk before her.

Turning towards around towards Ray, Joe took a glance at the exhausted and sneezing High demon before speaking up. "Morning Ray. Saya doesn't look too well, she didn't go out in the storm last night did she?"

Sera glanced over at the ailing demon before turning her head back to Joe. "She doesn't seem well at all, I'll go over at try to cheer her up." She said with a cheerful smile, skipping over to the blue ranger.

His human friend gave a shrug, having no idea as to why Saya had come down with a cold. From behind him however, Ellie gave what sounded to be an annoyed groan. "You can be an idiot sometimes Joe. After you stormed out last night, Saya went looking all over for you. She managed to make her way back to the house, but she was completely soaked and already had a runny nose. Being a demon, she's really susceptible to any human colds or flu going around due to the lack of such things in the Underworld. She's been like this all night, but she still insisted on coming in." She explained as Saya let out another short high pitched sneeze while Sera attempted to cheer her up.

"That's kinda surprising really. Let me get one thing clear though, you know what happened, I couldn't stay there any longer with all that built up anger. I'm sorry that Saya ended up sick, but I don't regret leaving. I remembered something, back from before. It wasn't much, but maybe since I remembered that, there's a chance I can get the rest of my memories back. I can find out who I really am." He explained to the nearby Vampire.

"What's this about missing memories? We don't have another mystery on our hands do we?" Ray interjected before Ellie could respond to Joe.

Joe shook his head a few times. "It's nothing you need to be concerned about buddy."

Ray gave a sigh of relief. "Oh that's great, because I don't think we can use the clubroom today. A load of workmen showed up today saying they were renovating the room for us. They gave me this card and said to give it to whoever's in charge, so here you go."

Ray handed Joe the card that one of the workmen had given him. Joe looked over the details that appeared to be normal, before he saw the logo printed alongside the text. His eyes widened slightly upon seeing the logo. He had seen it before, as a matter of fact it wasn't a logo at all but the symbol of the demon House Leviathan. It appeared that for some reason, their rudimentary base of operations was getting an overhaul. "We'll go see about this later, I kinda have a feeling Saya was involved in this though. Why'd you give it to me though? Our club doesn't have anyone in charge, we've only just really started up."

Before Ray could respond, Sera interrupted their little discussion, coming over with a slightly defeated look about her. "It's no use, I can't get her to cheer up no matter what I try."

"It's hard to get her to open up. Just keep trying from time to time and she'll warm up to you." Joe responded with a calmer tone now that they had moved away from serious topics once more.

As the four chatted away, Saya let out another short and high pitched sneeze before planting her head on the table and giving a defeated groan. "How do humans deal with these colds? They're like a death sentence." She said in a nasally tone as she sneezed once more.

[Occult Circle]

Within the Seraphim headquarters, Seraphim Twelve's handler was finishing his report on the agent to his superior within the dark office. He stood to attention, awaiting a reply from his superior on what his new orders were.

"So it looks as if she really doesn't care about Seraphim anymore. It doesn't surprise me, her being around that Immortal hasn't ever been a good influence on her. I thought maybe this time we wouldn't have to resort to other means. Very well, begin the reset program. I want both her and the immortal back with us as soon as possible. After that, it'll be handled differently this time around." The Seraphim commander ordered Sera's handler.

The handler complied without hesitation, giving a firm nod. "It won't be the first time I've done this. But If I'm unable to reset them?" He asked, awaiting further directive before he could proceed with this new assignment.

"Then kill Seraphim Twelve and take the Immortal by force. The girl's usefulness wears thin, so do what you must to succeed." He responded, the handler nodding in complete compliance with his superior.

[Occult Circle]

After the final school bell rang, the five rangers, Ray and their latest tagalong Sera, stood outside the entrance to the clubroom as burly demons disguised as human workers went about their jobs.

"Looks like you were serious Ray, they really are renovating the clubroom. Guess it beats all those old desks and clutter lying around everywhere. I still don't get why it's being renovated." Joe said as they looked at the fast progress the workers were making, though it still had a ways to go till it was finished.

Letting out another high pitched sneeze, the sickly blue ranger gave a nasly response. "I thought we could do with a better hangout room. That and the old place was dirty, do you how much detergent I had to use to get my clothes clean each week?"

"That kinda makes sense. I always thought the lack of laundry products was a natural side effect of living with women though. Guess it only takes one." Joe remarked, the three female rangers giving him sharp glares over his last sentence.

"You're treading on thin ice there Joe, you better watch what you say. My sister nearly bit my head off the last time I said something like that, literally." Max remarked, referring to the violent werewolf his sister can transform into.

As they calmed down, deciding not to comment on Joe's last few lines, Sera tapped the red ranger on the shoulder and grabbed his attention. "Hey, umm, I've gotta go home now. The thing is though, nobody showed up to pick me up. I still get lost around the city, so if you're okay with it, could you help me get home?" She asked, supposedly requiring the assistance of the red ranger.

Taking a moment to think about it, Joe gave his answer with a small nod. "I've got nothing else that needs doing, why not?"

From there, the pair left the main school building and headed out to get to Sera's home. It was true that her handler was scheduled to bring her back to the Seraphim safehouse she was currently staying in and that he didn't show up, but she didn't need Joe's help getting back there either. To Sera, this was a way to find out more about the red ranger and satisfy her own curiosity, to be perfectly honest with herself, she didn't want to head back on her own either. Perhaps she had gotten herself in too deep to her cover, or perhaps she was changing for the better, only time would tell.

As they turned a corner though, the two were met with an imposing scene. A large black dog with razor sharp teeth and what appeared to be crimson red eyes and a spiked chain collar digging into it's neck. Sera's eyes widened in surprise, though it was a demonic creature, she knew what the collar around it's neck meant. The two backing away slowly, they were met with more surprise as two more of these unholy hounds cut off their only escape routes.

'Hellhounds… Not just any, they're ones tamed by special Seraphim agents. This wasn't the plan, what's happening? Is this what happens to agents that ask too many questions?' Sera wondered in her head at the shock realisation that her organisation had placed her in the crosshairs. Before she could say or do anything however, one of the Hellhounds leapt for her and everything turned to black…

|Occult Circle|

Supernatural Being - Hellhound - The demon equivalent to a dog, the Hellhound is more sinister in appearance to its earthly counterpart but acts very much the same. Many are treated as household pets and are rather docile. Those used for war or hunting however are very savage and only obey their master. After managing to break some of these beasts however, Seraphim now uses them to track and/or capture targets, though they require a well trained master to keep them under control and would turn feral if their master was lost.

That's chapter 10 over and done with. I do have one more thing in the works for this week, but I was just planning out some future major story arcs for this series and kinda got into it that much that I ended up writing this chapter. This was a really plot driven chapter, but we'll get into the action in the next chapter. Now then, Joe finally found out the truth and became rather volatile with his emotions as he entered the storm. I doubt Gabriel will be able to make up for his deception any time soon, but Joe doesn't seem angry now that his memories seem to be returning. The big question is though, who's the girl in that memory. Hopefully none of you see through my elaborate scheme to keep that part hidden, though I did offer a couple of hints. I kinda wanted to play around with the idea of powerful demons being powerless against something like the common cold, so Saya did suffer a little there, but let's hope it clears up soon. Lastly though, it appears as if Seraphim has betrayed their agent, how she'll react and what happens next is where her character development really picks up. That's pretty much all from me now, so I hope you enjoyed this one and until the next one.

Next Chapter: Occult Revelations: Darkness of Seraphim

Synopsis: Captured by the handler's Hellhounds and taken to an unknown location, Joe and Sera must make their way out before they fall victim to one of the organisations darkest secrets. Will Sera confess the truth about herself to Joe? Will the remaining four rangers manage to find them in time? Find out next time on Power Rangers: Occult Circle.