Chapter Twenty-Six - Fly by Night
The sun beamed through the small crack in the curtains, as a ray of early morning pierced into the veil of darkness that prevailed the room, casting it's golden rays across Xenovia's face. As the light tickled her skin, she scrunched her already closed eyes, grimacing slowly as the warm embrace of sleep began to slowly shed off of her.
With a groan, Xenovia slowly sat up in bed, as her golden eyes scanned the environment around her. In her sleepy-haze, she half-expected to find herself within her old dorm room; simple furnishings, that cheap, but oddly comfortable bed…
Yet that wasn't what she was greeted with. No, instead, the swordswoman was greeted with the sights of her apartment. The same apartment that Rias Gremory had arranged for her to live in.
As Xenovia shuffled out of bed, she slowly began to stretch out her back, arching her spine backwards as she reached her hands out to the roof. While she did so, a pair of leathery wings sprung forth from her sides, near the small of her back.
Xenovia slowly stopped stretching, as her devil wings flicked. Slowly, she gazed down at her wings with a contemplative gaze. Had she done the right thing, turning into a devil? Truthfully, it was a decision that was made in the spur of the moment, but was it her true desire, or was it simply just her desperate attempt to establish stable ground in those horrifying moments not so long ago, where her entire reason for living had been uprooted?
She closed her eyes as she shook her head. Maybe she would never be able to find that answer… Either way, it was the life that she was living now, and because of that, she would live it to its fullest.
As her wings retreated away from view, Xenovia padded over to the curtains, throwing them open to shower her room in sunlight. Even though the light was still a bit of a pain for her devil-self when it suddenly hit her in the mornings, the sight brought a smile to her face.
This. This was a sight that she never thought she would have seen; the sun rising up on a brand new day… A day where she wouldn't have to worry about fighting for her life, or fulfilling some incredibly dangerous mission. No, the only battle she had to worry about today was a simple gathering with her new comrades to clean a pool early late that morning, which was a new, and very welcome change of pace.
Xenovia glanced over at the open walk-in closet in her room. The day before, she had even got taken out by Rias and Akeno to shop for a swimsuit, and on a whim, she decided to forgo her usual option of a simple competition swimsuit, and purchase a extravagant dark-green bikini that had somehow caught her eyes, and refused to let go.
A buzz from her phone caused Xenovia to break her line of thought, and have her quickly check the time. 10:30, a time that she would have found inexcusably late only a week or two ago… Yet, she couldn't exactly bring herself to care.
That was, until she realized that Rias had promised to stop by to pick her up at 11:30.
Xenovia bit back a slight curse, as she padded out of her room, and into the main kitchen/living space of her apartment, which was far more western-inspired than Xenovia had expected to find in Japan, but perhaps that was the tastes of the architect. As Xenovia began to enter the kitchen to find herself the ingredients for some quick breakfast, she flicked on the radio, which she had messed around with an evening prior when she was still adjusting to her sleep schedule, she could recall how pleasantly surprised she was when she found a radio station playing a lot of the same music that was loaded onto her iPod, it certainly helped her fall asleep that night.
As the stove crackled to life, and Xenovia set about cracking an egg onto her pan for a simple omelet, a familiar song began to crackle through the radio, which Xenovia couldn't help but hum as she worked away.
"Hey you with the pretty face, welcome to the human race~"
"A celebration, Mr. Blue Sky's up there waiting… And today is the day we waited for…"
Vin was roused from his sleep as the sounds of music and food filled his senses. Slowly cracking open his emerald eyes, he shifted to sit up on the couch he was using as a bed, the blanket that was covering him falling to the side.
His gaze slowly turned towards the kitchenette across the room, where his boss, the dual-haired Governor General himself, stood. Clad in a housecoat, the man was humming away as the radio played a familiar tune around the apartment.
Azazel stopped humming, turning around, his red eyes locking onto Vin as he smiled, "Morning, Kiddo. You woke up just in time, I was making some breakfast for us right now."
"Yeah, I could smell it, what'cha making?" Vin rubbed his eyes, as he scrambled off the couch, and back to his feet.
"Good ol' fashioned bacon and eggs," Azazel replied, "Here, sit down, I'll get you a plate."
"Bacon and eggs? That's… a rather American breakfast," Vin confessed, as his gaze shifted the stereo system set by one of the walls, "Is this the radio?"
"Yep, the only station over here that plays this type of music," Azazel replied, as he exited the kitchen, two plates in his hands, "And as for your first question, why not bacon and eggs? I've been around the world more times than you've probably gone to school, kid, and throughout all of those trips, I've learned that bacon and eggs? They are easily a top-ten breakfast."
Vin picked up a fork, as he took a bit of bacon with a small grouping of egg, relishing in the familiar and homey taste, "I see. So, what's the plan for today?"
"First," Azazel said, before taking a bite of his own food, chewing quickly, before swallowing, "We're going to eat breakfast. We got a packed day ahead of us, after all."
"Is there a particular reason why?"
Azazel picked at his food for a second, before speaking.
"The three factions are going to be holding a summit here in Kuoh in order to discuss a peace treaty. It's a pretty monumental event, so it's a little imperative that I bring some… bodyguards with me to the event."
"You want me to act as a bodyguard for you?" Vin raised a brow, "Dare I say it, but I don't really think you of all people need a bodyguard."
"No, no, you're right," Azazel chuckled, "It's more about appearances than anything. It's like a bunch of kids showing off their new toys. No one's going to be taken seriously unless we roll up to this meeting with some showcases of power. Which is where you come in."
"Me?"
"Yep. You're a high-value find, kid. Completely unique Sacred Gear… I may have… access to the Vanishing Dragon, but the devils have the Red Dragon themselves, so they kind of… cancel each other out, so to speak. With you there though, you'll be the person to tip the scales more in our favor."
"And why exactly would you need to tip the scales at a peace conference?"
"Because it's all one big competition under the table. Any peace treaty is going to include a whole bunch of terms and contracts about territory, supply lines, trade, taxes, and so on and so forth. You lack a way to show how much power you have, and people are going to screw your faction over in the most legally-sound way possible."
"But I have no training whatsoever," Vin countered, "I can't even fly with my wings yet."
"Which is why we're going to teach you," Azazel reinforced, "Now c'mon, let's finish breakfast, and get ready. We're burning daylight here."
"Good morning, Xenovia!"
Asia's bright cheer snapped Xenovia out of her reverie, as the newly-reincarnated devil stepped out from under the shade of the apartment building's veranda. Bag full of a few changes of clothes slung over her back, Xenovia nodded her head in greeting as she joined up with Asia, Rias and Issei, as they began to walk towards Kuoh Academy.
As the group marched on, Issei spoke up, "Hey Xenovia, you're from Italy, right?"
"Correct. Why do you ask?"
"Ah, I was just wondering how you're getting used to life over here," Issei confessed, "Italy's pretty different from Japan, right?"
Xenovia hummed, "That's true, things are certainly different. But the apartment that Buchou provided for me to live in is rather nice. It reminds me of home a lot more…"
Rias smiled, "I tried to pick some furniture out that would be familiar to you, so I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying it."
Xenovia bowed her head, "Thank you, Buchou."
Rias giggled, while waving her hand dismissively, "You don't have to bother with any bowing or anything, Xenovia; you're part of this family now."
Realigning her gaze, Xenovia flushed with awkward shame, "Of course, my apologies."
"Don't worry about it, Xenovia," Rias patted her new Knight's shoulder, "Let's just go and clean this pool, and enjoy a nice day."
"It'll be a nice change of pace, that's for sure," Issei chimed in.
"Are you sure that's the only reason why you're so excited for this?" Rias smirked.
Issei, for his part, chuckled nervously, scratching his head, "Yeah, you got me there…"
It only took them a few more minutes of walking before they reached the front gates of Kuoh Academy, and from there, it was only a short time until they were approaching the school's pool deck.
"Ah, Buchou, you made it," Akeno called, as she, Koneko, and Kiba all walked over from where they were resting against the chain link fence to meet up with the others.
"Akeno," Rias smiled, "I hope you three weren't waiting too long."
"Not at all, Buchou," Kiba shook his head, "We had just gotten here ourselves."
"Wonderful. Now, shall we head to the pool and see what we're working with here?"
Rias and the rest of her peerage walked their way to the gate in the chain link, walking along the pool deck's edge, until they were faced with the pool they were tasked with cleaning.
Although perhaps 'pool' was a generous term…
Issei wrinkled his nose as he looked down at the gurgling, festering stew of decaying leaves, branches kicked up by the wind, bugs that had flown in, and all manner of other vile contaminants that cause the supposedly pristine waters to become a dark tainted green.
"Uh…" Issei drawled, "How do you all suppose we're going to clean this?"
"Ufufufu~" Akeno giggled, "Quite simply, Issei. Observe."
With a wave of her hand, Akeno cast a magical circle at the bottom of the pool, it's red glow illuminating through the sludge and scum of the pool. Suddenly, a large gurgling sounded out, and like a bathtub, the entire pool drained in an instant, leaving only a slightly dirty, empty pool left.
"Perfect, thank you Akeno," Rias clapped her hands, "Alright, we all have to get changed, and after we give this pool a little clean, and a refill, we can use it for the afternoon!"
Issei's thoughts began to spiral at the ideas. Swimsuits… He was finally going to see Buchou and Akeno in genuine swimsuits! Not the sporty, school kind, but real, genuine, two-piece swimsuits! Was this finally his big break?!
"Issei-senpai, you're thinking like a pervert," Koneko pointed out, no level of exasperation hidden in her tone.
Even though Issei wasn't sure, he could almost swear that he heard the other voice in his head let out a quiet, but nonetheless withering sigh, as they headed off towards the changing rooms.
"I thought you said we had a packed day ahead of us," Vin asked, "So what the hell are we doing here?"
Shortly after the two had gotten ready for the day, Azazel had led Vin into town, and into the more suburban portion of Kuoh; eventually ending up at a small river that ran throughout the town. Once they reached the bank, Azazel summoned two portable camp stools, and, of all things, fishing supplies.
The governor general sighed, as he cast his line out into the river, "Before we do any form of training, it's important for the two of us to at least know each other. Plus, even if we're on a time-crunch, we can't really do anything more than simple hovering practice when it's daytime out."
Vin sat down, "Alright… I suppose that's fair. So, what are we going to do?"
Azazel shrugged, "I don't know, catch-and-release? Ask you some questions while we're at it?"
"Sounds good, I suppose," Vin grabbed the line that was set before him, and let the bobber hit the water, "So, where do you want to start?"
"Hmmm…" Azazel scratched at his goatee, "How about we begin with your life before all of this Supernatural stuff came in?"
"You know what? Sure…" Vin sighed, as he looked into his reflection rippling on the water's surface.
Issei stared at his reflection in the somewhat mirror finish of the changing room locker, straining his eyes as he took in the details of his body. To be honest, he could easily categorize himself as far from out of shape, the fact that he could probably outcompete the majority, if not all of the school thanks to his devil traits probably helping in that assessment, he still did quite have the body to match. It was a bit despairing, considering that he'd done so much training in the recent months, yet in terms of his physical appearance, he'd hadn't seen a lot of changes to reflect that.
Same flat stomach, his arms were likely a lot bigger when he flexed them, but when he wasn't, the difference was pretty minimal. Issei was by no means a muscle-head, nor did he want to be a hulking mass of pure, rippling muscle, but he still wanted his body to look maybe a little more impressive. He was going to be the harem king, dammit, and if he was going to be, he wanted his body to have a degree of quality that could at least slightly hold a candle to the likes of Akeno and Rias.
Was that slight insecurity? Sure, he supposed. It wasn't keeping him up at night, or forcing him to go down odd dieting paths, but it was something that he found himself wishing for on more than one occasion.
Still, he could set that all aside for now, since he had much more pressing matters to attend to… That being burning the images of Rias and Akeno clad in alluring swimsuits deep into his memory; and that was an objective that Issei was all too excited to pursue.
So, with a spring in his step, and a song in his heart, Issei got ready as fast as he possibly could. The sooner that they could clean the pool, the faster he would reach the nirvana that most, if not all people in the entire school wished to experience.
"Issei," The sole other occupant of the changeroom spoke up, as Issei turned to find the prince of Kuoh Academy, Yuuto Kiba, standing before him, his uniform shirt open to reveal his slim, but toned physique, the essence of a pristine, lean warrior. A sight that would probably be the only thing in contention with seeing two of the four queens of Kuoh Academy in swimsuits.
"Ah, yeah… What's up?"
"...You… You really helped me through a tough point," Kiba admitted, "Despite the fact that I tried to turn you away, that I tried to get you to stop worrying about me… You did so much, not just to get me back, but to make sure that I was safe, that I could still achieve my goals… It… It means a lot."
Issei froze, stiff as a board when Kiba suddenly wrapped him in a hug.
"Thank you, Issei," Kiba whispered into the pawn's ear, causing the hair's on Issei's body to raise, "I swear, that I'll repay your loyalty by protecting you from whatever comes your way."
"Uhhhhhhh…" Issei floundered for something to say, "What brought this on… And why did you wait until now to tell me?"
"It was a little awkward to say in front of the others, no?"
"Sure, sure…" Issei patted Kiba's back stiffly, "I understand… T-Thank you?"
Kiba finally freed Issei from their embrace, "You're welcome."
"Cool, cooooolll… So I'm going to head out and begin working on cleaning up, alright?" Issei asked, "Alright, cool…"
Issei managed to grasp the doorknob, and push it open, before hissing in pain, as his left arm spasmed, and painfully shifted, his flesh bulging into the vague shape of his Boosted Gear.
"So that's what led to you awakening your Gear, huh? That's… somehow a lot more anti-climactic than I thought…"
"What do you mean?" Vin asked, scandalized, "I was about to die! That's a perfectly normal set of circumstances to awaken a Sacred Gear!"
"Sure it is…" Azazel reassured, "Now… How about we begin practicing a little bit?"
"Wait, here?" Vin looked around, "Aren't we a bit out in the open?"
"Oh, right," Azazel flicked his wrist idly, a vast dome appearing in the air for the briefest of glimpses, before fading from view.
As if detecting the question on the tip of his tongue, Azazel turned to face Vin, "I just cast a visibility barrier around this area. No one will see you, and I'll know the second someone enters. That solves your problem, right?"
Vin nodded, getting up from his seat, as he nervously rubbed his palms together, "Alright, so what's the plan?"
"We're going to begin with the absolute basics of being a Fallen Angel: flight. You gotta use those wings, after all."
"Sounds reasonable, what do I do?"
"Oh ho ho… Slow your roll, kiddo," Azazel chuckled, "Trust me, we'll get to that. Let's start with something more basic: hovering."
Azazel set down his fishing rod, standing up across from Vin, "Alright, first things first, you're going to bring out your wings, okay?"
Immediately, the two men had their wings unfurled, "Okay, now, we're going to bend our knees to leap up, right? As we do, I want you to channel your magical power into your wings, and flap them as you reach the apex of your hop. You got all that?"
"I think so," Vin nodded, excitement building in his system.
Azazel smirked, "That's the spirit. On the count of three: One…"
"Two…"
"Three!"
The two hopped up, immediately, Azazel's twelve wings flapped lightly, causing the man to hover perfectly still in the air. Meanwhile…
"Ah, shit!"
*WHUD*
Vin failed to hover, and although one of his wings managed to have some magical power channeled into it, all it served to do was make Vin's landing awkward, leading to him face-planting into the river stone's underfoot.
Azazel winced at the sight, quickly touching down to help Vin up, "Hey Kiddo, are you all good? You took a nasty stumble there…"
Vin ran a hand over his sore face, some minor bruises were an inevitability, "I've been better…"
"It looked to me like you were having issues with trying to channel your magical energy into your wings," Azazel observed, "You nearly got it with the right wing, but the left wing… Not so much."
"Any advice then, Boss?" Vin hissed.
"Well… It's hard, because most Fallen Angel children have an innate ability to control their magical energy distribution. Most children with Fallen Angel blood learn to fly, or at least hover as early as age six," Azazel pointed out.
"So I'm being shown up by toddlers? Wonderful," Vin despaired.
Azazel flicked Vin's forehead, the teen recoiling with a yelp, "Stop that. What I'm trying to say is that it's a skill that they naturally have from birth. You just have to learn to get a feel for it… And the only way to do that is more practice… So up and at 'em kid, and prepare to grit those teeth!"
Vin sighed, he knew damn well this was going to suck, "Can you at least hold onto my phone for me so I don't break it?"
"Yeah, sure thing," Azazel extended a palm out to Vin, who slapped his cell phone down in the Governor General's hand.
Vin fixed Azazel with a look, "Don't go through that thing."
Azazel smirked, "Why, you got pictures of your girlfriend's boobs on there?"
Vin flushed, before scoffing as he began to get up, "You wish."
"No kid, not 'I wish'. You wish," Azazel smirked, as he sat back down to return to fishing.
Overall, washing the pool had been an easy endeavor. A simple few houses, and some scrub brushes, and the group had the entire thing scrubbed clean in a matter of minutes; and soon after Akeno had refilled the pool with some fresh water that glistened like diamonds in the early summer sun, everyone was sent back into the changerooms to get dressed in their swimsuits.
Despite the fact that it was her first time trying to wear such an article of clothing, Xenovia felt no real concern with trying to get her new bikini on. Hell, if she could get in and out of her church-issue battle leotard, buckles, straps and harnesses included, in a matter of seconds, then a simple bikini was going to have to try a lot harder to give her a challenge.
Xenovia opened the locker where she stored her swimsuit, and began to undress. Yanking her t-shirt over and off her head, and chucking it in the back of the locker; her bra soon followed as she basked in a brief moment where her breasts were no longer confined to the sometimes awkwardly-sweaty cage of her bra. It was a welcome change of pace, especially in the summer heat.
Next to go would be her pants, but first, Xenovia went about removing everything she carried in her short's pockets into her locker. Her keyring, and wallet soon were set down on a shelf in the locker, and Xenovia began to pull out her phone so it could join them, until her eyes landed on the powered-off screen of the device.
Xenovia continued to stare at the phone that rested in the palm of her hand as she was pulled into her own thoughts. It had been nearly a week since they had to stay behind in Kuoh as Irina alone returned to the Vatican, and in all that time, Xenovia had only seen Vin in the most passing of moments. Now, that wasn't to say that Xenovia was entirely codependent on Vin's existence, no. But regardless, she was concerned with the radio silence of her maybe-sorta boyfriend.
Thus, she had been staring at her phone for a while, her mind betraying all logical sense of reasoning as it flipped through hypothetical after hypothetical. Perhaps Vin was captured, being held against his will, or maybe he just forgot about her as an honest mistake, or maybe he didn't truly care about her…
Truthfully, she could tell just how outlandish and frankly, stupid her train of thought was, but at the same time, she couldn't help but indulge that flawed logic, relishing in the ugly feeling that began to fester in the pit of her stomach.
Suddenly, a shy voice snapped Xenovia out of her reverie. Turning around, Xenovia found herself face-to-face with Asia, who had since put on a nice navy-blue one-piece swimsuit, reminiscent of those one's in the weird Japanese cartoons that Irina would watch sometimes.
"Ah, Xenovia… Is something the matter?" Asia asked, "Buchou and the others have already headed out to the pool."
Xenovia shook her head, "No, sorry, there's no problem… I'll be right there."
"That's good…" Asia smiled, as she turned to leave, "I'll… Just… See myself out then."
Xenovia paused for a moment, before a thought raced to her mind. She ground her teeth. How could she have been so stupid!
"Asia," Xenovia called, as the small girl yelped, but froze nonetheless.
"Y-Yes..?"
Xenovia stared at her feet, "I want to apologize… I treated you like garbage when we first met; I even tried to kill you, for god's sake!"
"Eek!"
"Ugh!"
Both girls gipped their heads as a searing pain shot through their brains. The two stood still for a moment, before their headache subsided.
"I'm sorry about that too."
"It's alright," Asia replied, as she walked over to Xenovia, "I've made… Well, I still make that mistake. I won't lie to you… It was a little bit of a rough transition, but we have people here who support us… We have family here."
"I was wrong about you Asia," Xenovia shook her head, "I'm so sorry, and I know that will do nothing to atone for what I did… So please, do whatever you deem fit to me. Hit me, if you want. Anything…"
Asia tilted her head, "Do you want me to hit you?"
"If it helps atone for what I did to you, then yes."
Asia took a step forward, As Xenovia closed her eyes, and braced for whatever injury she would soon sustain. It would hurt, sure. But her honor, and her sense of shame hurt more.
"!"
Xenovia opened her eyes, shocked when she felt a pair of slender arms wrap around her, and gently tug her head into the crook of Asia's neck. As Xenovia stuttered, too stunned to speak with coherence, Asia began to pat the back of Xenovia's head.
"It's not good to think of yourself like that, Xenovia," Asia spoke softly, her voice like a warm blanket of care and safety, "You realized you did something wrong, and you went out of the way to apologize for it. That's enough for me."
"Asia…" Xenovia paused, before finally reciprocating the hug, "You're too kind, I swear…"
Asia smiled, "Well, that's a problem I'm all too glad to have."
Xenovia softly chuckled, "Yeah."
A beat passed, before the two girls finally finished their embrace.
"I'm going to head back out there, are you joining us?" Asia asked, "I'd love to hang out more."
"I'll be right there," Xenovia replied, her gaze passing down to the phone in her hand, "Give me a few minutes, I'll be right out."
As the door to the change room clicked shut, Xenovia flopped down onto the bench situated in the center of the room. She poweredon her phone, and dug through her text messages. Before finally ending up on the contact for Vin.
Well, she was never going to get any answers or closure without reaching out, no?
After all, Vin did make a promise to her…
Azazel perked up as he felt something begin to buzz in his jacket's breast pocket. Setting down his fishing rod, the Fallen Angel pulled out Vin's phone, and gazed down at the device.
"Oi, Kiddo! You got a message over here!"
"Who's it from?" Vin asked between labored breaths, as he once again attempted to leap up and hover. The boy managed to sustain himself in the air for a few seconds, before stumbling to his feet.
"It says here… Xenovia," Azazel read off, before his gaze flipped back over to Vin, "That's your girlfriend, right?"
Vin quickly ran up to Azazel, swiping the phone out of the Governor General's hands, "Give me that."
Slowly, Vin read over the message, as tingling excitement filled his body.
"Hey… Uh… Azazel… I know this is a big ask but..?"
"You want time off to go on a date with your girlfriend?" Azazel guessed.
"Um… Yeah, exactly that."
"Well, if you can master flight by the end of the day today… Then sure, I don't see why I can't give you a few hours tomorrow."
"Sweet," Vin exclaimed, as he quickly typed away at his phone.
[Yeah, I can probably spare a few hours tomorrow for a date, you cool with that?]
[Yes.]
[Alright, that's good…]
[...]
[So, what are you up to?]
[Me and the rest of the Gremory Peerage are cleaning up the school pool. Was just about to head out there myself.]
(Image Attachment)
Vin raised his eyebrow as he tapped on the image…
Before a titanic blush took over his face.
Azazel looked over, "Huh, what the hell's got you so flustered all of the sudden?"
"Nuh-Nothing!" Vin squeaked, before his wings instinctively flapped, and he was carried up high into the air, where he remained hovering.
Azazel squinted his eyes as he looked up, "Well damn, he actually did it."
The sounds of victorious cheering suddenly flitted by Azazel's ears, and the Fallen gave a chuckle as he returned to fishing.
"YYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
[What did you just send me?!]
Xenovia frowned, before typing back.
[I sent you a photo, what's wrong with that?]
After a few moments, Vin's reply popped up.
[You didn't send me a photo, you sent me a nude.]
Xenovia huffed, what was with this guy sometimes?
[I was covering my breasts. Plus, haven't you seen them before?]
[...]
[Touché.]
[For the record, I'm not complaining, I'm just… caught off guard, that's all.]
[Anyway, I got to get back to training, alright?]
[Yeah, you go do that.]
[I will.]
[...]
[Is it a bit too early to say 'I love you'?]
A gentle smile crossed Xenovia's features, as she typed away.
[Maybe? I don't mind though.]
[It's cute.]
[See you.]
[Yeah, you too. Enjoy yourself.]
Powering off her phone, and setting it in her locker, Xenovia quickly began to pull on her bikini with a new sense of happiness. It was like a break that she never thought she would get, a chance to truly live life free, as her own person.
The feeling was so freeing, that she couldn't help but discard her stoic mannerisms, as she exited the change room to join the pool party with her new friends, her new family… And all with a big smile on her face.
Shortly after Vin had finished his conversation with Xenovia, he managed to finally get a feel for how to channel his magical power within his body into his wings in order to sustain flight. And after a bit more experimentation, and a lot more trial and error, Vin had finally reached what would be his last trial.
"Okay kid, this is the last big push," Azazel instructed, "You're going to dive off our apartment's rooftop, and hopefully, you'll fly before you become a paste on the ground."
Vin leaned on the railing that outlined the rooftop, staring down all five twenty-eight stories of the building. A sudden sense of vertigo inflicted him, which forced Vin to close his eyes and breath heavily.
"Don't worry kid," Azazel patted his back, "We trained all the way from around noon to eleven-thrity. You got this, okay?"
"Aren't people going to see me though?" Vin asked.
"Eh, you got the cover of night on your side now," Azazel reasoned, "Plus, if anyone's going to still be out this late, they're likely wasted as shit right now, so if they were a flying teenager, they'll probably just think they hit the sauce a little too hard."
"Sounds reasonable," Vin conceded.
Taking steps back until he was a good distance away from the roof's edge, Vin closed his eyes, and took some deep breaths, "Okay… Here goes nothing…"
Vin opened his eyes, right as he took off, sprinting across the rooftop, before planting one foot on the railing, and leaping off with a twist. His body twisting as he fell backwards, his face and chest to the sky, arms spread wide.
As the sudden pull of gravity took hold, the pure shot of adrenaline set his body into overdrive. Despite the obvious mortal danger he was placed in, Vin relished in the feeling, more addicting than he could have ever thought.
He spread his wings, and flipped himself over with a spin. A powerful flap of his wings sent him soaring upward once more, like a rocket. Up and up he went, until he was cast against the sky.
Back to the silver moon, Vin spread his wings wide, and finally let loose all inhibition.
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWHHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOO!"
Vin cheered, a massive smile on his face as he flew around the night sky. He dove forward, down until he reached a long stretch of buildings, and rolled to land on the rooftops, sprinting along them, before immediately leaping off and taking flight once more.
The sheer feeling of liberation that overcame Vin was unparalleled. The sheer, unadulterated joy he felt was unparalleled. Vin flew up high, watching over all of Kuoh in awe. The entire town was his oyster now… It was all so much…
Yet he couldn't stop.
So, Vin took off, soaring down towards the neighborhoods of Kuoh, laughing whole-heartedly as he went.
"So what I'm trying to tell you, Rias, is that I think it's time for your other Bishop to be set free."
Rias stood stunned as she faced down her brother, even as her sister-in-law grabbed her hand.
"Come, my lady, we should retire for the night."
"Of course, Grayfia," Rias nodded, before turning back to her brother, "You've given me a lot to think about… Good night brother, Issei…"
"Good night," The two men waved back.
Once the door clicked shut, Issei and Sirzechs began to slide into their beds. Issei, for his part, went to go close the blinds over the one window, but paused as he stared out at the window at the night sky.
"Thank you for indulging my request Hyoudou Issei," Sirzechs said, "I really wanted to have the chance to speak with you alone… Erm… Is something the matter, Issei?"
Issei suddenly perked up, as if he had been zoning out, "Oh no, sorry. I just thought I saw something swoop past out of the corner of my eye."
"That's alright," Sirzechs smiled knowingly, "It was probably just a crow…"
I'm back everyone! I apologize for the long wait between chapters, I was… struggling to figure out aspects of how to do this arc in particular. I should also mention that you may not see another chapter for a little bit, since Pokemon Legends: Arceus is coming out this Friday, and good lord, I am going to be all over that game.
But this chapter was the very beginning of the Peace Summit Arc! Thanks a lot to the people on Discord who helped me out with this chapter in it's concepting phases (looking at you, Crimcrom). This chapter was a lot of fun to make, even if it took a while to do so. Frankly, this is the point in the story where the pure, heavy angst is beginning to let up a bit, so to speak.
I want to keep this brief, since I want to try and get this chapter out as soon as possible, but thank you once again to everyone who supports this fic, either by simply reading, or leaving behind a favorite, follow, and especially review. You all make it all the more worth it…
Remember, if you genuinely enjoyed what you read, make sure to leave a follow, and/or favorite, and please do consider leaving behind a review telling me what you did like, what you didn't like, or anything to do with the story. I make it a personal point to read through every review I get.
Alrighty, that's all I have for this time! Thank you all so much everyone, and until next time, rock on!
