Issei's Christmas Miracle (A DXD Fanfiction)

Chapter 3 (Punishment)

Scene (Azazel's Apartment)

As we come back to our story, where we left off, we pan into the very same living room as before. Some time has gone by as we can see Issei and Ravel, both sitting on one of the large couches. On the comfy chair, across from the two, was Azazel. He looked to be holding a pack of ice against his left eye. At closer inspection, we notice multiple bruise and scorch marks as well as a shiner, a black eye, (which was currently under a package of cold ice). Still with a grin, Azazel continues as if nothing had happened. Meanwhile, Ravel was cracking her knuckles as Issei looked on with a nervous smile. "So, the rooms in this place are kind of small, so you'll be bunking. That won't be a problem now, will it?" Azazel's grin grows. Nervously clearing her throat, Ravel attempts to put on a proud smile and declare the following. "As Issei was ordered to protect me, it obviously goes both ways. As a proud and high class devil of the Phenex family, it is my duty to…erm, oversee the Sekiryuutei. Therefore, sleeping in the same bed is not only necessary, it is a moral imperative!" Azazel and Issei both tilt their heads. Azazel chuckles for a moment and then responds. "Ravel-chan, I don't believe I mentioned anything about sleeping in the same bed. But hey, I won't stop you! You go, girl!" Turning twelve shades of red, all at once, the blond devil's drills began to smolder with small amounts of phoenix fire. Lowering her head as she didn't want anyone to see, Ravel was, (once again), puffing her cheeks out in anger and embarrassment. Issei decided that he would grab a spare futon from the gaming closet, (as Azazel usually kept such things in there). "Ravel, um, come on, I know the way, you can have the main bed." Standing from the couch, the little blond devil ran toward Issei. Before completely leaving the room, Ravel turned around while Issei wasn't watching and proceeded to give Azazel "the bird". Azazel's grin remained as he simply nodded, slowly while mouthing the words, "you go, girl!"

Scene (Hyoudou Residence)

"Welcome back home, everyone! I have prepared hot tea, so please, enjoy." Rias, Kiba, Koneko, Asia, Xenovia and Gasper all arrive through the front door. They all have variations of sadness, written on each of their faces. Akeno attempted to put on her usual "glass" smile as she shut the door behind them. Rias turned around and just looked at her Queen with a questioning gaze. Akeno simply shook her head, no. Looking even more defeated, Rias proceeds to make her way into the dinning room and help herself to some tea. As Akeno was about to follow the rest of the peerage out of the hallway, a knocking was heard. Looking curious, Akeno walked back over and answered the door. "Sirzechs sama, Grayfia, um, hello!" As the rest of the peerage heard this, they all began to shudder in their own ways. Rias most of all, was beginning to panic. As the three entered the room, this overwhelming feeling of doom permeated every square inch of the place. Smiling, Sirzechs spoke to his sister. "Rias-chan, why hello. I thought I might come and pay a visit, however, you don't look very happy to see me. In fact, none of you do. Very strange, isn't it, Grayfia?" Sirzechs's wife, (who was wearing her usual maid outfit), simply looked at each and every person in the room while proceeding to nod afterwards. Sirzechs continues as he begins to lose his warm smile. "Yes, I think so too. Yes, indeed… Wait a moment, interesting… Say, aren't we missing somebody, from your peerage, Rias-chan?" Grayfia nods once again while responding this time. "Yes, Sirzechs sama, you are correct in this. It appears that Rias-sama's pawn, Hyoudou Issei, The Red Dragon Emperor, host of the sacred longinus, Boosted Gear, is currently absent." Sirzechs nods this time as his smile is completely gone. "Yeah, I wonder where that little rascal could be right now? Rias-chan, where is your pawn, sister?" Rias starts to mumble as she begins to obsessively rip apart a napkin that was next to her tea. The rest of the peerage begin to widen their eyes at Sirzechs tone and actions. Akeno then rose to the aid of her King and spoke up. "Sirzechs-sama, I was going to contact you first thing in the morning, if we were unable to…" Sirzechs has all of his attention on Akeno, this action alone, causes the half fallen to flinch. Nodding while continuing his stare, Sirzechs speaks. "Continue, Akeno-chan." After about twenty minutes of explaining the situation, all of the peerage were in tears. Grayfia then stood up while winking at Sirzechs, (who nodded back at his queen). "Everyone, I implore you to calm down. I have news of Issei Hyoudou." Everyone in the room turned their wet eyes toward the maid. "Let me assure you that Issei is fine. However…" Sirzechs now stands up and interrupts. "However, Issei will be staying with your Sensei, for the time being." Rias finally speaks up, as her two piles of ripped-up napkin get blown aside. "Issei is staying in the Gregori?" Looking back at his sister, Sirzechs shakes his head, no. "Actually, Issei will be staying here, in town. In fact, I have it on good authority that he will be attending class tomorrow morning." Asia then began to scream in a crying fit. This grabbed everyone's attention. "I, I, I get it, you know…(sniff)..." All but Akeno had looks of confusion and the crying Asia continued to speak. "When, when I was on that cross. When I was dying. (Sniff) It was so painful. But, but the worst part, do you want to know what the absolute worst part was?" Grayfia then began to slowly approach the cowering nun. "It was Issei. It was his eyes, (sniff). That look of absolute abandonment, as I died. I suppose (sniff) I was just in so much pain, that I didn't realize it. Raynare, she could've just killed me, before performing that barbaric ritual. She told me so herself. But, just like how she tortured Issei, she did the same to me. So, I understand. Oh dear god, I understand!"

At the last part of Asia's speech, everyone in the room, aside from Xenovia, grabbed their heads in pain. Realizing this, Asia begins to cry even more while apologizing. Before anything else could happen, Asia felt someone hugging her from behind. This was no other than Grayfia as she had her arms around the blond while staring back at Sirzechs. She did this while slightly turning her head from side to side, like a small, "no". Understanding, the Mao nods and smiles. Instantly, both Grayfia and Asia are consumed within a teleportation circle and vanish within seconds. Gaining everyone's attention, Sirzechs clears his throat, rather loudly. "Rias, let me start with you. Firstly, you have a responsibility, not just as a member of the Gremory house, but as family to your peerage. Sister, you have failed at this, spectacularly. Rias-chan, please, don't look away from me…thank you. Secondly, as you know, for every action, there is an opposite reaction. Mind you, I understand that you are a teenager and a girl. In normal circumstances, this would be nothing more than a civil fight between couples. Obviously, this is not the case. But again, I understand as much as I am able to, from your side of things, as I know mother might have put you on the spot once or twice. Yes, I know she is keen on playing matchmaker between you and Issei. But sister, I must ask you something…" Rias is doing the best she can not to cry right now, so she simply nods rather than speak. "Why didn't you just ask him yourself? Letting yourself just wait until the worst of times only to just all but explode, pushing the debris onto Issei himself while in the process. Also, the rest of you…" Sirzechs takes a good look. "If you think by somehow, Issei confessing to Rias, is going to also increase your own personal standings with the Red Dragon Emperor, ladies…well, think again." All of the females in the peerage lower their heads in shame. Sirzechs now begins to look back and forth at Kiba and Gasper. "And you two…" Both males flinched. "What were you thinking, getting involved in this lovers quarrel?" Kiba shook his head and bowed. Meanwhile as cowering Gasper managed to shreak out the following. "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry. It hurt me to say those things. I didn't want to, but, but…President told us to!" Kiba looked to shudder at Gasper's words. He wasn't the only one as Rias did the same.

Crinkling his nose, Sirzechs looks directly at Rias while motioning the two boys to continue their explanation. Kiba then looks at a panicked Rias as he decides to pick up where Gasper left off, almost in a manner of defiance. Uncharacteristically, Kiba was showing an angry frown as he began to speak, still looking directly at Rias. "As I told everyone before… It's not just your fault, President, it's all of our fault. However, I chose to withhold the last part, when I first mentioned this. It's all of our fault, for agreeing with that, that…" Then Gasper screamed out while beginning to cry. "That really awful plan!" Kiba then lowered his head. Sirzechs actually stood from his chair and pointed directly at Rias. "EXPLAIN!" Rias began to cry and repeat, "no, no, Issei, no, no…" Koneko stood and spoke loudly which grabbed everyone's attention. "President wanted Issei to admit his feelings for her. So, we agreed on a small confrontation of sorts. We were supposed to encourage him if he was showing interest, anything, to suggest he loves President. However, if and when President asked him to call her by her name, well, if he didn't." Akeno jumped over Koneko, (figuratively) and continued where the neko-devil left off. "We were supposed to punish him. A means of trying to goat him into confessing." Now the room went completely silent as each member seemed very interested in their own shoes. This included Sirzechs. "Rias, as your brother, I am terribly upset with you. You know you're better than this! The rest of you, I can't be personally angry as you were simply following your masters orders, however, I do hope you understand the severity of your actions." The peerage nods as Rias begins to cry once again. "Rias, as your Mao, I have no other choice but to punish you for this." Kiba and Xenovia both run in front of Rias with their hands held out, attempting to protect their King from whatever Sirzechs may have in store. Attempting not to laugh out loud from this action, Sirzechs does the best he can to maintain his angry face. "Rias! You are GROUNDED!"

Scene (Azazel's Apartment)

(RING RING RING RING) Rolling off of her twin-style bed, Ravel unknowingly falls onto the futon, (toward the right side of the raised bed). Meanwhile, Issei was tucked in tightly in his covers, including his head. Waking up to a loud ringing and the feeling of something on his chest and legs, Issei pulls the blanket off of his face, only to see a set of sky-blue panties with little cartoon ferrets printed in different poses. Maybe they were weasels. Issei didn't know the difference, however, he did know who these panties belonged to as the owner was looking directly at him with a blush. Deciding not to say anything, Issei simply put the blanket back over his head and waited. Tilting her head, realizing the position in which she was in with Issei, Ravel was internally beating herself up over refusing to wear pajama bottoms to bed. As the scene pans out, we notice that Ravel Phenex, is currently straddling a large lump of blankets. She is wearing a sky blue-silk night top and matching panties. Both of her blonde drills have matching ribbons. Realizing that Issei simply decided to act like a "turtle", Ravel chose not to make a big deal about what had just happened. Standing up, Ravel couldn't quite understand why she was still feeling annoyed, then it hit her.

(RING RING RING RING) Grinning and evil kind of grin, Ravel looked toward the alarm clock as a small fireball began to manifest in the little devil's hand. Issei jumps in panic as he hears a crashing and burning sound followed up by a cute Ravel giggle. Feeling satisfied, Ravel then looks at a standing Issei, (still covered in his blankets). Tilting her head while looking innocent, Ravel smiles. "Ready for some breakfast, Issei-Senpai?" First Issei looked toward the smoldering and melted alarmclock, then at the smiling Ravel. A flashback of what that "little" girl did to his sensei earlier, the evening prior, made Issei both shudder and marvel at the woman that was Ravel Phenex. "Don't get on her bad side, Hyoudou…" Ravel then cleared her throat as she was clearly losing her patience at Issei's silence. Seeing this, Issei speaks up. "Yes, Ravel, I am very hungry." The devil's disposition increased into a rather bubbly one as she reached and took hold of Issei's arm and practically dragged him out. "Pancakes? Waffles? Eggs and Bacon? Hashbrowns and Toast? Oh, you're Japanese, so Miso Soup and Grilled Fish?" Feeling overwhelmed, Issei smiled nervously. "Oh, go ahead and choose, I could eat anything really." Ravel stopped pulling as they were almost in the kitchen and looked directly into Issei's eyes with a grin. "What is this nonsense about "choosing?" I was thinking we start off easy with some waffles and pancakes, then work our way up to the eggs and hashbrowns…then…" Issei interrupts. "Um, Ravel, we don't have that much time, class starts soon. Tell you what, how about I make us something, in fact, you could call it a Japanese Traditional On-the-go recipe!" Tilting her head in a questioning manner, Ravel looks very unsure. Seeing the reaction, Issei thinks fast. "I want to make you breakfast, for, you know, not leaving me alone and all. Don't get me wrong, I would love to enjoy Ravel-chan's cooking, maybe tonight, for dinner?" Brightening at Issei's words, the little blond starts to nod her head very enthusiastically. "RIght, okay, let's see where sensei keeps his bread and eggs. Ravel, do you want to make some tea?" Nodding again, little Ravel and Issei begin to scour Azazel's kitchen for food and drink.