{Tara's POV}

I scowled as I looked at the skimpy skirt I was wearing, and resisted the urge to shred it to pieces. "Are you SURE that skirt is required? Like, absolutely 100% sure?"

My sister threw her hands up in the air, and gave an exasperated huff. "For the love of gods Tara, yes! Stop asking!"

"Ughhhh! Can't you just put an illusion on my pants or something?!" That didn't even sound like a hard request, so it totally sounded possible to me.

"Sto...-" Martha blinked, and I just knew that someway, somehow, she MISSED THE OBVIOUS! I swear, she was always 10 steps ahead, but was blind when it came to that 1st step. "Tara you fucking genius!" And that was how we conned the system on day 1.

I knew Martha didn't really care about skirts and all that, but I definitely knew she didn't like the skirts of kuoh's uniform. They were practically porn skirts. So, after celebrating avoiding that travesty, I grabbed a pair of my dragon scale jeans and threw them on as Martha put an illusion on our clothes. We walked downstairs, and stood side by side as mom came out of the kitchen. Since me and Martha were getting dressed, she didn't have the time to cook, so we left it up to mom. Thankfully, she wasn't a lost cause and could cook a good 8/10 meal. Everyone else was waiting for us, they all got up early since it would be the first time we all went to school together, and looked ready to start the day.

Though, when they saw that we were in jeans and sweatpants, Sona had something to say. "Tara I can understand...-"

"HEY!" I knew she had a point, but I didn't want to hear it!

"...- But you too Martha?" I huffed at her for clearly ignoring me.

"Martha's illusion is at 100, so we won't get caught." Sona didn't get the reference, but Momo and Koneko? They got it. Koneko blinked twice, and nodded as if they were the answers to the world, and Momo just looked like she was slapped. Sona still didn't get it, but Rias put context clues and my years of references together, and figured it out.

She looked conflicted though. And why wouldn't she? She liked the attention she got from showing off, and when you were as beautiful as Rias was? She was basically 'if you got it, flaunt it' personified. Hell, it even feed into her sleeping naked thing, which was weird the first few time she did it whenever she'd sleepover or join our cuddle pile, but we got used to it when we figured out we'd never get her to drop it.

After Momo translated my reference to Sona, she just stood there and blinked until she took off her glasses and facepalmed. "I can't believe this." Was all I heard after she did that. My sister looked far too prideful for something that was my idea. I rolled my eyes at that thought, and walked over to Rias, while Martha walked over to Sona. We all had our lunches and our school gear ready. All we were waiting for was mom. She said she wanted to walk us all to school, and she was just finishing up packing all of our lunches.

Even though Martha offered to wake up earlier to help, mom just declined and said she'd do it. After another minute of packing the lunches, mom was ready, and so we all started heading out of the door. Mom was the last one out, since she had to lock the door, and then she started walking ahead of us while I was by Rias' left with Akeno to her right, while Martha was on Sona's right and Tsubaki on her left.

We all walked as a group and made side conversation about small stuff. Me and Rias talked manga, I think I heard Momo say something about Risette getting engaged? The name sounded familiar to me,and it didn't take long for me to make the connection to the Persona 4 supporter. I didn't actually play P4, but I did watch other people play it. P5 got me into the franchise, so I obviously wanted to know more about the previous games. It also helped that both series also had anime adaptations, movies in the case of P3, so I could also consume those. (Wish they did P5 justice though, gods, what even was that clusterfuck?) I didn't like the P5 adaptation, they somehow fucked it up and I'll never understand how.

Anyway, knowing that someone from the P4 cast existed, which I should've realized earlier considering they were mentioned in P5, even if they were Easter Eggs, was interesting. And since I wasn't as emotionally attached to the P4 cast, I didn't feel like an idiot for not knowing they were here too. Anyway, I had news to share. {Heeey, new info.}

She didn't outwardly react, but I knew Martha was paying attention now. [Yes? Get on with it.]

So I did just that. {Risette is a P4 character.}

Martha blinked, and I felt her thoughts race at that. [... I see.] That was all she said, but I could tell she was thinking even harder now. It astounded me that she could think as fast as she was, and keep up a conversation with Sona. [Are there any Persona 3 characters that would be recognizable in this world?]

Humming to myself, I thought about P3, what I could remember of it, and remembered the rich redhead. {Does the Kirijo group exist here?} I didn't really pay attention to the big names out in the world, caring more about what was in my immediate area.

Martha though, she paid attention. [Yes, yes they do. If I remember correctly, they're led by a Mitsuru Kirijo, and are partnered with Petal Blooms.] That got a blink out of me.

{Really? When did that happen?} I thought I'd recognize when our Grandmother's fashion company partnered up with a fancy group like the Kirijo... (I don't know why I just lied to myself.) If it wasn't anime, certain cartoons, or a few movies, I didn't watch TV.

My sister took a moment, then eventually responded. [I believe it happened 3 years ago. That should've been around the time Grandfather had endorsed one of her new, at the time, lines. The 'Fighting Spirit' series.] Ahhh.

I knew what she was talking about now. The 'Fighting Spirit' line was a series of workout clothes that were smooth, durable, easy to clean, and just felt so good! I think they were ground scale dust, some smooth and woven keratin fragments, and some fabric from China or somewhere. Martial Artists ate it up, and Grandpa was satisfied that his Gi was made of dragon parts. {Ok, I get it.}

After we were done with that, I tuned back into the conversation with Rias. She was talking about a new manga series she was interested in getting, which she thought I'd like. We kept talking until we were at the gate to Kuoh Academy, where Kiba greeted us before he took Koneko to the junior high division.

From there, we split off again. Me, Rias and Akeno all had the same homeroom, so we kept together, and soaked in all the whispers surrounding us. I already knew Rias and Akeno had a title when they were in the junior high division of the school, 'The two great ladies' they called them, but when people saw me with them? A 5'8/1.7m bombshell with a bust to match Rias, nicely toned arms, I had my sleeves pulled up because I liked them like that, and a face that demanded respect? My ego was getting a healthy amount of attention. Until I heard one of the rare guys in the school wolf whistle, then I sent a glare that promised pain his way.

"Mah mah mah,~ was that really necessary Tara-chan?" I just sighed at that.

"Akeno, we all know you liked that, you've no ground to critique me on." And she really didn't considering I'd seen how much of a pervert she was.

"Mhm, so?~" Another sigh and a head shake later, we made it to our homeroom.

I never knew how to fight against Akeno. Her S&M tendencies made it hard to really win against her. She liked verbal play and liked to let her enjoyment in verbal sparring sessions known. Rias was quiet, just taking it all in with a happy look on her face. I was pretty sure it was a mix of the attention being thrown our way, the fact Akeno and I were walking by her side, and us being together for the next few years.

Homeroom was a normal thing, and Rias had made it so we would be seated on either side of her, which was the only thing she'd done, but other then that, the whole day was normal. It was a nice change of pace...

And boring. Oh so very boring. I got to the point that as soon as it was time for P.E, I grabbed Rias and Akeno getting a yelp and a sultry sound I wasn't going to let irritate me, and bolted to the gym.

I steamrolled my way through the halls, sometimes literally when idiots just stopped and stared as I dragged their 'great ladies', and made it there in minutes. As soon as I saw my mom I couldn't hold it anymore. "MOM! Fight me!" I heard Rias choke, because we both knew what/who I just sounded like, and heard Akeno pat her back.

Mom just raised her brow, and did the 'come here' motion, leading to the start of our spar. I didn't care who saw, I was bored out of my mind! (Why did we come back to school in the first place?) I didn't know, I just knew that I wanted SOMETHING to take my mind off of it, and so here I was. Mom still had her class do stuff while we sparred, and I ended up gaining my title that day. 'The Valkyrie Queen' and my sister got hers as well. 'The Queen's Advisor', after she was brought into the gym to drag me away. We found them hilarious considering who we looked like and how our titles sorta fit.

I ended up mellowing out after a week or two, and got used to the normalcy. Sure, being swarmed by girls and the few odd guy got annoying real quick, but other then that? It was peaceful. The days went by like that, and a month later, the ORC - Occult research club was formed.

For the ORC, Rias came up to us at home and asked mom to sign up as the advisor for this weird club, outta nowhere. One moment we're chilling watching Spirited Away, then boom, Rias teleports into the house holding up a piece of paper for mom to sign. It took an explanation, one that came after she got distracted by the movie and joined us in watching it, but mom happily accepted.

Interestingly enough, it was around that time that Sona was 'scouted' by the Student Council. She hypnotized the at the time president to get her, Martha, and Tsubaki involved, at low level positions so they could work their way up, while also getting experience the old fashioned way. Our days were peaceful and I enjoyed the quiet. Sure we still trained, and I was able to learn how to do the 'turn into lightning' thing Laxus could do, but not before mom figured it out before me, which was total bullshit! But it was good.

Though, my peace was eventually interrupted, because that always happened. It was after the 1st semester was finished, that something happened with Rias, that made her PISSED.

I was dropping by Rias' place today, had my cake and everything, when I smelt a scent I haven't smelled before. It smelled like fire, air, and a weird smell that made my nose twitch. I was curious, but since I was right about to knock on the door, it could wait till I was inside to ask. "THAT SON OF A BITCH!" Or not.

Rias didn't curse often, despite my best efforts, so to hear her shout at the top of her lungs that someone was a SOB, made me feel both proud, and slightly worried. (The hell is THAT about?) I had no idea, but I was about to find out. So, without any kind of warning, I brought a leg up, and SMASHED through the door. "The cavalry has arrived!" And I ran into the house!

There was no one by the front door, and I could tell the only people here were Rias' Peerage, and they were all gathered in the dining room. So, knowing where they were, I dashed towards them.

Like earlier, I kicked the dining room door open, and met the stunned faces of my friends, as well as some red bird. "Where's the fire!?" No one reacted for a bit, but then the bird squawked, and disappeared in a burst of fire. I blinked at that, and turned to Rias, who was holding a letter in her hand... Though it looked like she was trying not to tear it apart. "What the fuck?"

Safe to say, things went from there.

{1 explanation later}

I STARED at Rias. My eyes were slit, my tail was just begging to start thrashing around, but I somehow managed to just stare. I knew about Marriage Contracts and stuff like that, I watched/read Isekai and Fantasy anime before and now, but I never expected to be in a situation where someone I knew was in something like that. Especially Rias, who I saw as a little sister. I was slowly regretting my choice to be a dragon, because my instincts were screaming at me to 'show the foolish creature that dared touch my hoard', was the feeling I was getting.

I swore, I deserved a Nobel Prize for self control. "Ssso," I recognized that came out in a hiss, but I didn't exactly care. "Your parents had the bright idea to betroth you and some playboy that whoresss out his Peerage, and despite how many times you've tried, they won't let you out of it? Isss that what I'm getting?" Rias just slowly nodded, probably too worried to trust her voice. I took that nod, and went on. "And now, the ssstupid fucking wassste of sssperm sssomehow managed to get the wedding date pushed up for a year after we graduate?"

"Wouldn't be a surprise if he threw a tantrum like a child.~" I turned an eye to Akeno, who shivered and blushed at my gaze.

With a quick huff, I turned back to Rias, who was trying not to meet my gaze. Thinking about this, there were a few ways we could deal with this situation... (The obvious way would be to just squirrel Rias away and try to see if Martha can make that Fidelus or something spell from HP, so she won't be bothered. Another option would be to just beat this 'Riser' asshole into the earth and roar him into oblivion... But then we'd have Devils after us, and I'm not sure about that. My Dragon Core isn't active yet, and I'm still a kid in my dragon form, and I can't hold Dragon Force for long. So that leaves training everyone up so Riser can't hurt them.) With a 'crack', my tail slammed into the ground, making everyone, except Koneko, jolt. "We're upping your training. If that fucker thinks he can try to touch any of you, then he'll have another thing coming."

Rias beamed at me, and I grinned.

A week later, Irina, Rias and I were talking, and I asked her if she knew if she'd be coming back to visit soon. I wasn't expecting for that conversation to spiral out of nowhere.

{Tara's POV}

Laying on my bed, phone on speaker on my nightstand, I had an issue of Berserk in my hands, while Rias laid across my legs, reading a trashy Isekai. "Hey Irina, is your dad planning a trip back eventually?"

I noticed Rias perk up at that, and heard Irina sigh. "No, unfortunately." I could imagine her drooping, and a storm cloud gathering above her head with how sad she sounded. It'd been years since she moved out, and she never got the opportunity to come visit. If we didn't have our phones, we'd have probably lost touch with each other. "Otousan said something about a holy sword when I asked, but I didn't catch it since he muttered it after saying the church still needed our service."

When Rias heard 'Holy sword', she stiffened. Then, with a look of caution, responded. "Irina-chan, I need you to make me a promise." I didn't like how serious she sounded.

Irina understood Rias was serious, and we could both tell she was giving us her undivided attention. "If it's possible, I'll do it Rias-chan. What is it?"

My little sister bit her lip, looking more conflicted about this then I expected, but eventually made her choice. "If you ever get invited, ordered to go to some undisclosed location, or something like that, please run away."

Irina and I were probably both confused at the sudden request, but Irina beat me to the punch. "I... I think I can agree to that... But... I need to know why." Sensible.

Rias knew that too, and so after giving me another conflicted look, she took a lock of her hair, and nervously started to twirl it. "You remember how I'm a Devil, right?" That got snorts out of Irina and I. A year ago, Rias had decided to come clean with Irina, telling her that she was a Devil. The both of them got into a massive fight over it, where Irina accused Rias of 'tempting me away from the lord', and a bunch of other shit. They needed me to play the role of mediator and explain that no, Rias didn't turn me into a Devil, no, she COULDN'T turn me into a Devil, and yes, I was still me. It took me sending her a video of me holding the bible, reading scripture, and constantly saying 'God', over and over again, to prove I wasn't a Devil.

I didn't tell her what I was though, I wanted to save that for a surprise.

After that being confirmed for her, she calmed down a bit, long enough for us to explain what was going on. She didn't like what she heard, but she understood it. Thankfully, no bridges were burned, and Irina started to actually ask Rias about a lot of things the Church told them about Devils. Her reaction when she heard that no, Hell wasn't ALL fire and brimstone, and actually had trees and stuff, was amusing. "I don't see how she could ever forget. She was about ready to send the inquisition after you because of that reveal."

"Don't be silly Tara-nee, I don't have the authority to organize an inquisition." That made me pause, and look down to my phone, because I knew I didn't just hear that shit. And as if sensing that, Irina went on. "Aside from the Pope, or Angels, the only ones who can order an inquisitorial squad are the Archbishop, a Miracle Child... Which I don't think I'm supposed to talk about, so ignore that, and a High Templar." Yeah, I was just going to file all of this away for Martha to dissect.

Moving on! "Anyway, Rias, you were going to say something?"

She nodded, then asked the both of us a question."I know Tara-oneesan hasn't heard of it, but as a member of the church, you might've heard about it. Do you know what the 'Holy Sword Project' was?"

"Umm... I... Hmm... I think I heard some of the Apprentices talking about it? They were talking about some kind of crystal?" Rias stiffened, and I frowned, opting to let my tail come out and gently wrap around her waist.

Feeling/seeing that made her freeze for a second, before giving me a smile, and mouthing 'thanks.' Taking a breath, she nodded, then sunk into the bed/me. I recognized this was going to be big, and shot Martha a message to link to me. We(read she) figured out how to link our senses, it took a bit of magic help though, so we could look through each others eyes, and listen through our ears whenever the other gave us the ok. [What's going on?]

Instead of responding, I focused on Rias, and she got the message, opting to lay back and listen. "'The Holy Sword Project' was an 'off the books' operation conducted by the church to discover a way to artificially create a way to bolster the number of people capable of wielding a Holy Sword." Uh oh, I was suddenly not liking the direction this was going. And judging from what I was getting from Martha, neither was she. "They did this by gathering children from orphanages, and conducting experiments with them. They eventually figured out a way to... 'Harvest', a person's natural affinity to Holy Swords, and merge it into a kind of crystal or gem, that they could then imbue into someone else. Therefore increasing that person's affinity/capability to use a Holy Sword. When they got their results, they..." Her face scrunched up into a scowl here. "Eliminated, the remaining children, none of which were even in their teens yet."

I didn't stop the growl that rumbled from my throat, and it was only thanks to the gentle pats Rias was giving my tail that stopped me from accidentally constricting her with it. Martha wasn't any better, and was radiating her disgust, which was feeding into my own, as well as my anger. "H-H-How do you know?" Irina sounded so scared, probably hoping that Rias would just say 'sike.'

To all of our anger/horror, Rias answered. "Kiba's name wasn't always Kiba." Her whisper sounded like thunder in my ears. "He..." She sighed. "Kiba was 8 when I found him. He'd been dead for a few seconds before I reincarnated him as my Knight." My draconic side roared in wrathful hatred, and I started to see red.

Probably the only reason I didn't go on a rampage was because I heard Irina's choked sob, breaking me out of a justifiable rage.

After that, we spent some time soothing Irina, and keeping me from sneaking off to lay waste to the church. A vocal roar or 12 would work, I knew it would.

Time kept marching on, and then the day came. The day I'd embarrass my sister was here. Parent teacher conference. I managed to get mom on my side, and we both made sure to be extra careful about keeping our plan under wraps.

But when the day came? I had to make sure Martha was going to have her braids in, which she was, and the plan was a go. I ran to mom, and we bolted to her room. We had flags of Erza and Irene commissioned, and another pair of flags with baby and other pictures plastered onto it. They ranged from baby pictures, to a few she took last month. Sure, I had to accept I'd be embarrassed too, but I'd take it. Martha was none the wiser, and I made sure to have my phone ready for the moment my plan came to fruition. It would be a surprise for the others, minus Rias since she was ecstatic about my plan, but hopefully they'd roll with the punches.

"Ok, you have everything mom?" I didn't really doubt her, I was just double checking. (Though, if we take too long going over everything, Martha might wisen up.) I really hoped she didn't.

Mom shot me a thumbs up, and a happy grin. "Yup! Plan 'show campus my little angels are the best', is a go!" She seemed entirely too eager for this. I knew she'd enjoy the idea of embarrassing us, but I might've underestimated just how much she was loving this. I just shook those thoughts out of my head, and got ready for the day.

It started off normally, both Peerages dropping by to share breakfast and all that, and when we were all finished eating and ready to go, we left as our group. Mom teleported to her office to get a head start, and so I was leading the way as I had come to do. When we were first seen as the unit we were, people just stared and whispered. Eventually we would be called 'The Queen's Court' since I was usually the one leading us when mom had to break off with Kiba and Koneko. Everyone just accepted the title in time, and we'd even play into it sometimes. But today was different. With parents around, the students that usually praised the ground we walked on, were keeping it together for them.

But then when we got to the school itself? My plan had come to fruition.

Mom was there waving flags full of pictures, and the commissioned artwork of Erza and Irene in Kuoh uniforms with their equipment. She was shouting about us being 'her little fairies', and the scene seemed to be too much for my sisters gigantic brain. She just crashed and had to reboot herself out of sheer embarrassment. I saw my chance and took it, which just meant I grabbed my phone and took as many pictures of her face going through the process of taking in what she was seeing, and getting to the embarrassment I was after. Oh it was glorious! Rias and even Akeno were right there with me, taking as much advantage over the situation as we could before Martha could retaliate.

I swore, Akeno was having the time of her life!

But eventually, my sister got herself together enough to threaten to break our phones, so we stopped. I still had a massive smile on my face though. [I'll get you back for this, you know. My vengeance will be all encompassing, brutal, and carry the wrath of a true mage.] I was getting chuuni vibes from that.

A perfect taunt! {Whatever you say you chuuni.} She just sent me a mental whack, and walked ahead. Though, I could see her ears reddend.

When she was in range, I saw her trying to confiscate the flags from our mom, but she was failing hard since despite how tall we were, mom was still taller. Sure, she could just use magic to do it, but she didn't want too and she was secretly happy about seeing mom support us like that. The three of us knew our mental ages, but having a parent support us like this just made us feel so happy.

The day kept going after that, and after we were done with classes, we went to Kiba and Koneko's teachers, theirs were first so Martha and I joined them as mom took the role of their parental figure, which they both felt touched by. Eventually, we broke off when they went home, and we started to head to the highschool division so mom could talk to our teachers. We all knew our grades were great, and we all behaved, so there was nothing to really worry about, but it was a nice break from the normality that was school. Even if mom had to explain why it was just her with no father with us, but we already knew the story of us ending up from a guy she knew from college, who ran after mom ended up pregnant. Granddad and Uncle Ro had offered to find him, but mom didn't care. 'He's missing out on the lives of angels, he doesn't deserve to be here.' We loved her for that.

But it was still normal. Except that was something that was about to change soon.

When we reached the highschool portion of campus, and met up with our Devil friends, I felt it. Danger.

(RUN! ESCAPE!) My instincts were screaming at me, and it was a miracle in of itself that I didn't instinctively transform and fly away. Everyone saw me stop moving and practically freeze, and Martha could feel my panic, but no one else was doing anything. They didn't understand why I was frozen in place. They couldn't feel it.

But I could.

There were monsters in school, and I didn't think I'd be able to survive if they were hostile. I think mom was about to say something, it could've been someone else, that was how hyper focused I was, I couldn't tell who was going to speak up out of our group. But then one of those monsters started coming our way, and I almost bolted then and there!

But when we saw someone run out of the building, wearing a magical girl outfit, shouting about her 'So-tan', my brain and instincts froze. Sona screamed, and ran away from us, and I could feel Martha stiffen as the Magical girl came close enough for her to realize why I was shutting down. I'm pretty sure even mom felt it. So there we were, frozen stiff as my sisters bestfriend was being chased by a monster wearing a magical girl outfit.

But then the monster stopped. She stood in front of us and just looked at me, a curious glint in her eye that made goosebumps break out all over my skin. (No movements, no threatening actions, look as small as possible!) I was already passed the 'run for my life' portion of my breakdown, and now I was just afraid. The monster even looked at Martha and mom, but then I felt my wings and tail pop out and instinctively cover and wrap around them. I was scared out of my fucking mind, but apparently 'protect my family' won out against the fear of death. The monster just looked some more, her curiosity growing at the sight, and then just went back to chasing Sona. The three of us were still there, glued to the spot. Rias and Sona told us about their siblings, but I don't think we ever realized what it really meant to be Satans. After she was a reasonable distance away from us, our brains seemed to restart.

"That... That's one of the pinnacles of Devil strength? I-I've never felt anything like it... I... I'll need to squeeze Sona for more information later." I heard her, mom heard her, we still didn't say anything. Noticing that, more specifically me, my sister gave me a soft look, like I was a kitten or something. "Tara, Sona's sister is gone now, it's ok. You're safe." I still didn't move. I couldn't even open my mouth.

{There's another. Stronger.} And that kept Martha from saying anything else. Mom saw her stiffen, and tried to help us out of it. But we were frozen there. It didn't help that the other monster was making its way to us either. And when I saw a gender bent version of Rias walk out of the building, I was almost done with this day. But Rias saw what the first monster did to us, saw my wings and tail out in the open curling around Martha and our mom, and started making her way towards us with worry in her eyes. But as soon as she stepped in my direction, the monster looked at us, and I felt something snap inside me. (ESCAPE!) I fully transformed, grabbed my mother and sister with my claws, and just flew as fast as my wings could take me.

I didn't care. We had to leave! I had to get them as far away as possible from that thing! I couldn't breath with it near us. I think I heard Rias shout, but my brain wasn't working at the moment. I was full dragon brain, and my dragon brain told me to run if I wanted them to live. I was almost out of Kuoh when I felt mom trying to get my attention. She was smacking my horns, I hadn't even noticed when she escaped my claws, sending that feeling through my head, and that helped me start to reign in my barrings. "Honey, honey it's ok. You're ok. We're ok. Slow down, please." Mom spoke very softly, and it was soothing. "We knew about them, we know they love Rias and Sona, Rias and Sona love the both of you as well. You're going to be fine. It'll all be ok." She was doing her best to calm me down, but my instincts were still screaming at me to run. I was warring with myself, with my fear and desire to fly to the other side of the world to escape, and with what mom was saying. It was going on for so long, but Martha had calmed herself enough to help and send reassurance through our link.

I had to trust them with this, I couldn't trust myself to not run away, so I just did what they wanted, and flew back to school. I did it very slowly, because I was still terrified, fighting myself to not go back and bolt, but still did it nonetheless.

We made it back, I idly noticed the area was deserted except for a few, and saw both Peerages waiting for us, all clearly concerned about me, and Rias just came up to me and hugged my snout. I was still too scared to change back, but she clearly didn't mind. Koneko followed Rias' example but crawled up to my head and sat by my horns. The others just crowded around us, and talked with mom and Martha, who stayed on my head/back.

But then I felt the monsters again, and my eyes SNAPPED towards them. I didn't even realize my wings were seconds away from flapping, nor that my tail was primed to slam against the ground for an extra boost in case I had to takeoff. But the monsters didn't seem to mind, they just turned to each other, looked at their sisters who were glaring at them, and bowed at us. ""We're so sorry.""

The glares didn't let up though, even though everyone was clearly surprised, and Sona was the first to have a go at them. "We WARNED you that one of our friends was sensitive. TOLD you that should you visit, to give us advance notice. And what do you do? Ignore our warnings and nearly terrify our friend out of her skin!" The both of them winced at that.

Rias joined in here, her glare focusing on the male version of her that I knew as her big brother. "Sona's right! I KNOW I told you that Tara-onee," Her brother flinched again. "Would react negatively if you showed up! I TOLD you that MULTIPLE TIMES! Do I need to beat things into your skull so you can understand something as simple as 'don't spontaneously show up', or will it take my sister," He flinched again. "Flying off to the ends of the earth for you to LISTEN TO ME?!" The crackling of Rias' Power of Destruction helped calm me down, which sounded like a contradiction if you thought about it. Though, that last bit sounded like she was projecting a little bit, which I'd understand if she was.

The Satans shared a look, and while Rias' brother looked conflicted, I felt the magical girl's power slowly start to decrease, which helped. But when Rias' brother said "This is as low as I can go." My fear spiked back up again, because if his lowest setting made it feel like I'd die in a blink of an eye, then how strong was he? Rias berated her brother for scaring me again, and it helped seeing how highly he valued Rias' opinion.

The two of them came to a decision, Sirzechs would stay 10ms away from me until I could handle his presence without running for my, and my immediate families lives. He didn't seem to like that, but a glare from Rias made him agree.

I could sort of handle the other Satan, Serafall, but her limit was 5ms, which made her happy.

The rest of the day was spent getting rid of any pictures, videos and memories of my dragon form, and trying to get me used to the monsters that were our bestfriend's siblings.

They had to leave after a few hours, but I had atleast managed to change back. My wings and tail didn't want to leave me though. That had to have been the 2nd most terrifying moment in both my lives.

{Hours later}

At the end of the day, Rias dropped by for a surprise sleepover, and she hugged me for all I was worth. "I'm sorry ab...-"

I was better at this point, so I put a finger on her lips, and stopped her. "You have nothing to be sorry for Rias. We didn't expect it to happen, you had no idea they weren't going to listen to you. It's not your fault, so don't worry, kay?"

Rias hugged me tighter when I was done, and locked her head onto my shoulder, she was only an inch or so shorter then me after all, and slightly shook. "I don't think you know how worried that made me. I thought I lost you, that you were just going to disappear! You're my SISTER Tara, Martha's like an aunt to me, and you KNOW how I see Illiya. I almost lost my sister, my aunt and my mother, because he didn't LISTEN! Please, if something happens where you might have to run, please don't leave me behind. I don't know how I'll handle it if you disappear." Well... Damn. Rias' Guilt Trip was beyond super effective.

Hugging her tighter, I brought out my wings, and wrapped them around her. "I promise." Because what else could I say to that?

I don't think it ever really hit me about how attached Rias was to us. It'd only been 4 years, but in those 4 years, we were together for damn near every single day. Her parents hadn't bothered visiting, ever, now that I thought about it, Sirzechs had a good reason, but him showing up at the Parent Teacher Conference, planted a seed of doubt in some of our minds. Hell, Serafall literally took a few minutes of her days every now and then to visit, just so I wouldn't freak the fuck out if she ever snuck up on me.

Mom had practically adopted Rias into the family, she had a portion all to herself in my room, because she damn near lived here every other day, and like she said, Martha was another mature figure in her life that cared for her. From what Rias had told us, her father was heavy handed when it came to the contract, which was fuckin stupid when Martha pointed out he was trying to get the heiress to his Clan married off to some 3rd son disappointment. Like, did this fucker not understand that was going to be a negative?

None of us bought the 'it's for the good of the Devil race', because REALLY?! Did I even need to go into that. (The answer is no.)

Her actual mom was touchy, she was contracted to her dad, and she TRIED to do good by Rias, but she just couldn't. It was a mix of her being blocked by her husband, the contract, which she had felt like it was written in stone and didn't do anything when Rias talked about Riser, and the Phenex house getting in the way. Then, before she could keep trying, Rias got squirreled away in the human world, and now we were here.

Blinking at that, I had a thought. (Huh... When I put it like that, I don't get why I'm surprised that she's so attached to us.) With that thought, I pat a still crying Rias on the head, and comforted her.

{General Narration}

It took months of Serafall spontaneously teleporting in, only to leave a few minutes later, for me to get used to her presence. She even managed to hug me once, and I didn't freak the fuck out. Ddraig was sort of impressed with me at that, because the old lizard recognized that any other hatchling, I still hated that he called me that, would probably have a heart attack and die if something with the power of a Satan decided to hug them out of nowhere. Though, now that I could handle her, I found out that Serafall was fun, and happily enjoyed her presence, much to the embarrassment of Sona and Martha.

Though, I was always unnerved and a little afraid around Sirzechs. The man was too terrifying for me not to be, even if he would always cling to Rias despite being centuries older then her.

They both warmed up to us sure, though I knew Sirzechs didn't like me, Martha, or mom. He hid it well, but we noticed it. From what Rias and Sona told us, he was a total sis-con, so I got why. We had basically, in his eyes, turned his sister against him. It didn't help that Rias called me Onee, which probably felt like she replaced him with me. He hadn't done anything to us, but I could tell we weren't going to be any of his favorite people anytime soon.

But speaking of getting used to people. Sona added 2 more girls to her peerage, and I was slowly wondering if that was a subtle hint to her orientation. She added a knight by the name of Tomoe Meguri, a girl that seemed to always be on a sugar rush, and a Bishop by the name of Reya Kusaga. Reya and Martha hit it off and started talking magic right away, nerds that they were. Tomoe looked like she'd have an excitement-gasm when she saw my dragon form for the first time, which made me smugger then anything

Having Kiba walk with us to the highschool division was a nice experience, and we raked on him for being called 'a prince', which he just took in stride. Our time there was great, they were all great girls and the increased amount of friends helped me get used to the Satans.

Eventually, time passed, and the summer break/golden week came, and with it, our first visit to Uncle Ro.

[Omake - A sibling's lament. Serafall's POV the 1st day after meeting Tara and the family.]

Getting back to my office was easy, processing the new tidbits of information my surprise visit to So-tan on the other hand, wasn't. It was just supposed to be a normal visit, just show up, have fun with So-tan while Zechs had fun with Rias, and go back to the soul sucking job that was being the Satan of Foreign Affairs. Slumping in my chair, I let my chub hit the desk, and groaned. (But nooo. We just have to scare the daylights out of a DRAGON, WHO JUST SO HAPPENS TO BE RIAS' NEW SISTER! BECAUSE OK?!) I groaned again, and tried to make sense of this whole situation.

Sona had of course told me that she made new friends, her texts/pictures/videos with Martha and the Sakura family made it clear that she was happy, which was great. I was happy that she found a girl that could intellectually, and magically challenge my So-tan, helping her get stronger then if it was just her and Rias' Peerages.

But despite the years of correspondence, never did she say the elder twin was a DRAGON. (I know she said the mother had some draconic traits, but how were we supposed to jump from that, to dragon?! And how the hell did we miss a dragon living in Kuoh in the first place?!) Tara Sakura being a child didn't really matter, it was her being a full blooded dragon that was the problem. (If Tannin knew there was a dragon child in the human world, a child we almost terrified away, he'd throw a fit. That's not even getting into the shit the Fallen and even the Angels and their church would try to get their hands on th...-) I blinked, and made a connection that seemed really obvious in hindsight. (So THAT'S where the dragon materials come from.) Sakura Blooms was a popular company, since nobody knew where the materials came from, and couldn't make a move on because the Wards on the main building would make anyone under Ultimate Class wish they'd died from the laundry list of ailments they'd be hit with for crossing them. (I have no idea where they found that Scandinavian blood curse, I was pretty sure some Magicians killed the creator and burned the books, but apparently some survived.) The blood curse would cause the targets blood to not only poison them by melting through their flesh/organs/bones, but would also spread to any family, or closely enough related person(s) nearby. It was a slow and excruciating death, which was partly the reason it's creator was killed, the fact it could end entire bloodlines after all.

And that was just 1 of the more recognizable curses. A bunch of Magicians, and a particularly brave(read stupid) Devil didn't heed the warnings put out about trying to steal from the main building, and ended up getting him and his entire Peerage killed by a mix of a Mayan/Egyptian/Scandinavian/Celtic Rune cluster that literally turned someone inside out as their magic and blood was siphoned from them, where their own magic would be used to bind the victims in place, while the blood would be used to further strengthen the Runes, which were now at High-High Class levels, getting close to Ultimate Class. It was insane, and was one of the reasons none of the factions went after the main building of Sakura Blooms.

The protections around the elder Sakura's weren't any better, a Fallen that tried to kidnap the Dowager Sakura found themselves becoming a walking ball of pus and rot when he came in a 5m radius of the human woman. The protections didn't discriminate between supernaturals and mundanes, and the power draining capabilities of them deterred the weaklings from testing the speed they'd die at.

(And now we may have just been put on the shit list of the creator of those protections. Sweet Satans...) I sighed again, and kneaded my head at the thought of what we just did, which was starting to give me a headache when I understood how big this fuck up was.

My headache only got worse when Zechs just walked into my office, and slumped into the chair. Neither of us spoke, and just stewed in silence.

Eventually, I had enough. "We fucked up." He nodded, making him look like someone murdered his puppy. "We fucked up, and might've just messed up our relationship with our siblings." He wilted in his chair, and I tried not to roll my eyes.

I got it, I really did, but at the same time, Zechs was acting like a big baby. "I didn't expect Ria-tan to replace me, Sera. What do I do to that?"

Shacking my head, and letting out another sigh, I answered him, with something that I hoped help. "She didn't replace you Zechs, she just found people she loves as much as you." A part of my mind recognized that Rias miiight love Tara Sakura more, since she was actually there for Rias more often then Zechs was, and for being another girl, but no way in hell was I going to say that. "Just do your best. That's all we can do." And it really was.

Zechs sighed, and nodded. (Now let's just hope this doesn't go bad.) Hoping and doing our best was really al we could do at this point.

[EXTRA Omake - You... Idiot. Martha's POV a week after learning about 'The Holy Sword Project.']

Now that I had all the facts, all I could do was incredulously stare at my notes. My thoughts were moving along at a snails pace due to the sheer vileness of the project. (This is the world of an Ecchi anime? What in the actual fuck?) I, and Tara by extension, had gotten rather comfortable with our new lives. Even the random Stray wasn't much of a bother... But this? This was a wake up call.

And not one we appreciated.

(Still...) Kneading my head, I knew I had to get this thought through. (We'll need to do something about this. Mother could do something, but she'll most likely take a soft approach, and that'll take too long. Tara would be too angered at the new information we have to properly talk Kiba through it... Which leaves me.) I scowled to myself, hating my maturity for once. (Very well then.) Taking a breath out, I got up, and decided to make myself some coffee, because I was going to need it.

{30 minutes later}

(Alright, I've prepared enough.) With that thought, I walked into the home of Rias' Peerage. She was with Tara for the day, Akeno was at the shrine, Koneko was also with Tara, and Gasper was still sealed in his room. That left me with Kiba, who, if I'd timed this correctly, would have finished with his training. After letting my senses out, I found I was correct, and began making my way towards the dining room.

It didn't take long for me to get there, and when I did, I pulled up a chair, and patiently waited for him to enter the room.

Again, it didn't take long for the [Knight] to enter, and meet up with me. We stared at each other for a moment, because he apparently didn't sense me which surprised me given the fact his Devil senses should've told him that I was here. (Do we need to instill situational awareness into him?) I doubted it, and decided to just lay the blame on him being distracted. "Hello Kiba, come, take a seat." Surprised, he did just that, and sat down. With him here, it was time to set him straight. I needed to be direct, or else I'd physically beat it into his skull that he was being an idiot. "Kiba, I will be saying things that will anger you, and when, not if, you react negatively, I will silence you and bind you until I am done speaking. Nod if you understand." He gave me a dumbfounded look, clearly blindsided by me suddenly doing this, but narrowing my eyes, and adopting a commiserating look that all mother's acquire naturally, he nodded.

With his nod, I began. "Your anger for the deaths of your friends is misplaced." There was barely any time to blink, before he attempted to leap out of his chair with a war cry, only for my magic to respond to my will, binding him to the chair with shackles made of air, and silencing him. I noticed the glare he shot towards me, it would've taken a blind idiot to miss it, but it didn't deter me. "Now, I will continue, so LISTEN." He didn't seem to care about that point, but I was in no mood to let this misguided child throw a tantrum that could result in Rias, Irina, or the rest of my family be put in danger. "In 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed the chancellor of Germany. The years following that would lead to one of if not THE most notorious attempted genocide in human history. Hitler's ideology made the Jewish out to be the plague of their society, a cancer that needed to be stamped out. With his influence, the ideology he spouted was accepted and used as justification for their atrocities."

Kiba's anger had morphed into confusion, he didn't understand just why I began talking about Nazi's. It was time to start enlightening him. "Hitler turned a nation against people that were different. People that were either born or raised differently. His actions led to war. Actions that unknowingly, you may be following in the footsteps of." His shock was immense, and I pressed further. "Your anger at the shards of Excalibur, while somewhat founded, is misplaced. If a madman were to shoot the nice old lady down the street, his actions would be held against him, not the knife, the gun, or even brand of shoes he may have used or had on his person. Now, I understand you were a child when this happened, and I am not making light of your friends' deaths, but you are older now, and should see that blaming the instrument is a foolish thing that will not only get you killed, but could also reignite the Great War, making the casualties made during the Holocaust seem like a minor footnote in history."

His eyes widened, and he tried to shout, deny, or say something, but I kept him silenced because while he may protest, he still. Did not. Understand! "Your hatred of the shards, a collective of valuable weapons to the Church, would undoubtedly lead you to confront wielders of them, find and destroy any you can, or assault anyone you believe could tell you where they are. Doing so, unprovoked, would lead to tensions against the Church and Devil kind to rise, and all it would take would be some upstart on either side, or an opportunist hiding in the shadows, to engineer another incident, and that would be it. Let slip the dogs of war, everyone loses no matter the outcome! But that's not all! As Rias' Knight, she is responsible for your actions. So should you start a fight over the Excalibur fragments, the fallout will be on Rias' head! And we ALL know how Sirzechs would take that!" He flinched as I screamed at him, but it was starting to set in now, I saw it. "And here's another thing for you to think about. Just as those scientists treated you and your friends, you see no problem with a natural Holy Sword wielder being 'guilty' of something they had no control over. What's stopping you from attacking a child indoctrinated by the Church who wields a fragment of that blade? What stops you from being just like those scientists, persecuting an innocent to further your own goals?!" There it was. The paling and dilation of his eyes was enough indication that it finally set in.

I watched as Kiba began to shake, his eyes watered, and he started breaking down. I felt horrible, comparing a child to Hitler of all people, destroying his worldview, but it HAD to be done. Irina was such a well of information, and told us about children like that Xenovia girl, a prodigy and natural Holy Sword wielder who was born into, and indoctrinated by the Church since birth. There were others, but the Xenovia girl was to be her partner, one she would be spending years with. They didn't get along yet, but a few years could change that. And if there was even a single chance that Kiba lost it and attacked either her, or Irina, since she was being considered for an Excalibur herself, then I wanted to stamp it out now. (Tara would turn him to electric kindling if he ever seemed dangerous to Irina, and that would irrevocably destroy the relationships we have with the Kuoh Devils.) It was an outcome I would move Heaven and Hell to prevent from happening.

Shaking that off, I internally sighed, got up, and walked over to Kiba. He was too distraught to notice right away, but noticed when I dispelled the shackles, and brought him into a hug, letting him cry into my shoulder as he hugged me back. "It is fine to hate the circumstances you found yourself in, Isaiah." He stiffened with the use of his birth name, but again, I didn't stop. "It is fine to hate, it's natural. But you must understand that your anger is misplaced, and your obsession unhealthy."

"T-Th-TThen wha-what do I d-do?" He sounded so vulnerable, and I hated myself just a bit more for what I had done, even though I wasn't sorry for doing it in the first place. It just had to be done, and neither Tara nor our mother could give him the tough answers and wake up call like I could.

Gently running my fingers through his hair, I did my best to keep my tone soft, because at this moment, he was a child again, lost and confused. "You place you anger on those who facilitated the program. On the scientists who hurt you. On the guards that stole from you. On the man who came up with the idea, and robbed you of your youth. You train so that one day, when you find those who destroyed your life, you are strong enough to avenge those who have been lost."

He sobbed into me harder, but through it all, I knew I heard his response. "H-Hai, Sakura-sama." Oh dear.