So, here's the revised version of Graceless. Same pairing, same Delphi-adopted-by-Harry trope, but fairly different beginning. Enjoy!
GRACELESS (REVISION)
CHAPTER 1:
BORDERLANDS
"Hey."
"Yeah?"
"…Do you ever wonder why we're here?"
"…It's one of life's great mysteries, isn't it? I mean, is it the product of some cosmic coincidence, or is it the hand of God Himself, shaping our actions for His divine plan? I dunno, Raynare, but it keeps me up at night."
Raynare, Fallen Angel, seductress extraordinaire (in her own mind if nothing else), and cannon fodder for the Grigori (something she would never admit to herself), glared at the petite blonde girl in Gothic Lolita dress. "…I didn't ask you that so that you could quote that stupid human internet show, Mittelt!"
Mittelt, for that was her name, snorted. Despite looking in her mid-to-late teens at the oldest, she was deceptively older by a couple of decades, due to her Pureborn Fallen nature, a Fallen Angel bred and born on Earth. "Okay, firstly, Red vs Blue is NOT stupid. It's hilarious. Secondly, it fits our situation, being basically stationed in the arse-end of the Underworld borderlands. Okay, this base is actually needed compared to Blood Gulch, given that we're near the border between our territory and the Devils', but still…I doubt the Devils want to do anything. Really, the only Devils stupid enough to cross into our turf are either Strays, or stupid kids who have nothing better to do than to piss us off. And thirdly, I was paraphrasing that line, not quoting it."
"Spare me your pedantry, Mittelt. Dohnaseek and Kalawarner will be back from their patrol before long. I'd rather they come back to find us not at each other's throats. Anything on the wards?"
"Not a damn thing, not within caution distance. A few Strays milling around on the other side of the border, but they're smart enough to avoid crossing."
Raynare nodded, even as she grimaced in annoyance. "Dammit. I was hoping for some action." She looked out of the window of the bunker they were in. Well, less of a bunker and more of an abandoned house they had requisitioned to act as a base, but it was so heavily warded, it could act as one now.
Outside was an abandoned small town, closer to a large village, built on the border between the territories of the Grigori and the Devils, encouraged by Sirzechs Lucifer and Azazel to try and foster peace and understanding. Unfortunately, that didn't last. Stray Devils of an unusually strong sort attacked, and while they were eventually cleared out, the town was abandoned, and few tried to settle near the border again, especially as many believed that one side or the other had deliberately set the Stray Devils upon the border town.
Being sent here, while expected of someone of her rank, still rankled with her. She was a Fallen Angel, a member of THE elite race. Not as vile as one of those Devils, or as indolent or self-righteous as her former brethren in Heaven, and certainly not as weak as the mouthbreathing humans she was currently walking amongst. True, she only had a single pair of wings, but that wasn't the point. Fallen rule, and all others drool, as Mittelt liked to say.
Dohnaseek had been her mentor on the battlefield during the dying days of the Great War, that apocalyptic clash between the forces of Heaven, the Devils, and the Grigori. A battle that ended in a ceasefire that was not even a real peace, that threatened to start anew with the slightest cinder. Kalawarner had been her comrade in so many seduction and assassination missions. Mittelt, despite looking to be in her mid-teens at the oldest (and that was being generous: she could pass for a pre-teen), was actually about twice her apparent age, a Pureborn Fallen Angel, and ageing patterns tended to be tricky for them. She couldn't even shapeshift until she was mature, to change her body's apparent age. Raynare could shift it between her teens and a more…vintage appearance, though her preferred appearance was the same one she took ever since she Fell.
Said appearance was of a woman of ambiguous but fairly young age, perhaps twenty-something. Long dark hair framed beautiful features that nonetheless had an element of cruelty to them. Her figure was buxom and slender, and in Raynare's mind, the epitome of perfect beauty. Certainly, men and women alike would die for her, or kill for her figure. Topping this all off were her violet eyes, a feature common to most Fallen. She was dressed, as she frequently was on any assignment not requiring infiltration, in her battle outfit, an indecent assortment of leather and latex that many compared to a dominatrix' outfit.
She glared out at the abandoned village, with the purple sky of the Underworld hanging overhead. All her time in the Grigori, she had been a minion, a footsoldier. At best, she was assigned to surveillance, seduction, or seek-locate-destroy missions. She had been given no opportunities for advancement, such chances going to those who mocked her, who put her down. Melchiah, for example, the one to make her Fall with false promises, only to cruelly turn on her. She got her revenge when he tried abandoning her to some Devils, only for their positions to reverse. She sometimes pleasured herself on the memory of his being torn apart while begging her to save him, something he had refused to do for her earlier. His betrayal was only the first of many.
She was brought out of her bitter thoughts when Mittelt suddenly said, as she peered at the screen showing the ward layout (not unlike a radar screen), "Hey, Raynare…wards have just been tripped. Some sort of spatial anomaly. A brief one, but…I think that was a Portkey. You know, those things the wizards use because they're too stupid to use ritual circles?"
"A Portkey?" Raynare asked, her curiosity piqued despite herself. "Why would a wizard willingly enter the Underworld? Actually, I didn't think you could do that via Portkey."
"You can't, not normally," Mittelt said. "From what I understand of it, Portkeys can move between locations in a single dimensional plain, but not between dimensional plains. Hang a moment, wards are showing the local Strays converging on where the spatial anomaly originated. Also…got confirmation of two human magical signatures. They're heading this way, and so are the Strays."
Raynare looked back out the window, and saw a figure being pursued by a small herd of monstrous Strays. Wondering where the second one was, she soon realised that a smaller figure was being carried by the first, draped over his shoulder. As one Stray caught up to them, the young man (for Raynare was sure that's who it was) fired off a blast of what she was pretty sure was Fiendfyre. It was impressive that he managed to use enough of it to avoid losing control, but soon enough, he had to cut off the blast. Many of the Strays had died, or were fleeing with bad burns, but some were loping towards him. He made to flee, only to be swiped to the side, sending him and his burden crashing into a nearby wall.
Mittelt, who had joined her at the window, frowned. "Shit, he's going to…they're going to die," she corrected herself. "And I think they didn't mean to be here. I'm going out there!"
Raynare didn't really bother stopping her. Mittelt could handle a few Strays of this calibre, but it wasn't quite Raynare's concern. Then again, she was bored, and killing a few Stray Devils would take the edge off it. So, with a shrug, she left the base, lazily forming a Light Spear and flinging it into the Stray Devil menacing the human interlopers, causing it to shriek with agony.
This got the attention of the others, maybe four more all told. Raynare grinned, forming another Light Spear. "Hello, boys. Who's up for a Light Spear enema? Free samples for all you shitbag Stray Devils!"
Between Mittelt and Raynare, the malformed Stray Devils were soon wiped out. Their dying screams, while something Raynare would savour, were snuffed out all too soon. "Fuck," Raynare muttered. "That battle was like too many of my one-night stands. Over too soon to be remotely satisfying." She turned to Mittelt, to find her crouched near the interlopers, using healing magic. Nothing as good as, say, Twilight Healing, but certainly better than nothing. "So, what's the damage?"
"The girl's fine, she's just unconscious and has some bruises. The bruises are only very recent, within the past minute or so, I'm pretty sure they happened when she hit the wall. The unconsciousness thing happened due to a Stunner spell. As for him…definitely a concussion from when he hit the wall, on top of magical and physical exhaustion. Still…look at this, Raynare. We didn't just get any old wizard falling into our laps."
Raynare, bemused, peered at his face. He looked vaguely familiar, messy black hair framing handsome if scrawny features. However, she did notice a scar on his forehead, just hidden behind his fringe until Mittelt brushed it away, revealing it to be in the shape of a lightning bolt.
"Well, well, well, no less august a personage than the Boy Who Lived has ended up in the Underworld," Raynare mused. "You were probably right, Mittelt, I doubt he of all people would come here voluntarily. Sucks to be him."
"What are we going to do, Raynare?"
Raynare considered this. She was the commander of their cell, but this was fairly unprecedented. While she didn't have the best view of humans, she'd not normally leave them to the non-existent mercies of the Stray Devils, unless they had done something to earn her scorn or ire. And she wasn't sure she could send him back the way he came.
"Call it in. Request early withdrawal once Dohnaseek and Kalawarner are back," Raynare said. "Can we move him?"
"His injuries aren't bad, so it should be fine. Still…how did Harry Potter end up in the Underworld?"
"Beats me. Though who's the kid?"
At this, Mittelt grimaced. "…I can't say. He adopted her. Caused a stir in Magical Britain. I'll carry the girl, you can carry Harry."
Raynare smirked, even as she carefully hefted Harry up over her shoulder. She noted the girl's pale hair with blue tips at the fringe. She seemed to be about eight years old. "I'm surprised you're not fangirling out, Mittelt. You seemed to be the one obsessed with Potter's life and goings-on."
"I'm not stupid, Raynare. He's been on the run for the best part of a decade, and that was after all the crap he went through at Hogwarts," Mittelt said, cradling the girl. "Asking him for autographs can wait until he's conscious, been told what the hell is going on, and given a way to get out of it…"
The first thing he felt was the pain, as if someone was jabbing a cold icepick into his eyesocket, and trying to give him a transorbital lobotomy without anaesthetic (he cursed Hermione for lecturing him about lobotomies after an offhand remark: it still gave him nightmares). His memories soon followed, of the ambush in Rome, his adoptive daughter being hit by a Stunner, his attempt to get away with a Portkey, only for a spell to hit it as it activated.
And then, the monsters. The monsters attacking him and his daughter. And now…
He opened his eyes gingerly, only to stare in bemusement at what he saw. One was a girl in what looked like Victorian dress or Gothic Lolita fashion, her blonde hair done up in twin tails. The other was a young woman, dressed in an indecent-looking BDSM outfit of latex and leather that barely covered her nipples and her crotch, while on her shoulders were spiked pauldrons. Dark hair framed cruelly beautiful features, while violet eyes peered at him in curiosity.
He knew these two were not human. The fact that both had black wings, like ravens, was a bit of a blatant clue. He felt for his wand, only to not be able to find it. He tried hard not to panic.
The blonde held it up apologetically, showing it was snapped. "Sorry, it got broken when you disagreed with that wall. Sooo…I'm guessing you ended up here by accident?"
"…I suppose, but where the hell am I?"
The older woman chuckled darkly. "Hell is not far from it. You are in part of the Underworld, Harry Potter. Not Hell or Heaven, not the afterlife as you know it. Just the realm of outcasts and monsters. You're lucky we were nearby. Strays may be weak against us, but human wizards who are unprepared are another matter."
Harry got to his feet, somewhat shakily, glancing around, and seeing his daughter on a nearby cot, seemingly safe and sound. "I guess I have you to thank for saving us, Miss…?"
"Don't call me Miss," the woman said. "I am Raynare, commander of this cell of Fallen Angels, and this is Mittelt. My other comrades are on patrol."
Fallen Angels? So they really existed. And while Harry's trust and nerves had been badly frayed by years on the run from Magical Britain, or at least the part that wanted him and his ward dealt with, he appreciated their help. "…Well…thanks, Raynare, for helping us both."
Raynare seemed taken aback by his gratitude, oddly enough. "You're welcome," she eventually said. "Though it was fortunate you ended up close by to our base. Strays infest this area around the border."
"Strays? Border?"
"She means Stray Devils, those monsters you fought," Mittelt said. "You're probably going to need a crash course in what's what down here, but…TL;DR version? Angels and Devils really exist, and we're Fallen Angels. The Biblical Factions got involved in a pretty big war centuries ago, before I was born, and it ended in a ceasefire, not a proper peace. We've got to share real estate with the Devils here in the Underworld, while the Angels sit pretty in Heaven. This place is near the border between Fallen Angel territory and Devil territory. Don't worry, there shouldn't be any real problem with you being here. Besides, those freaks were Stray Devils, killing them is a public service."
His baffled look had Raynare sighing. "It's a bit long to explain, and don't worry, you'll get an explanation. We'll need you to explain to our higher-ups how you got here, though I think I can make a guess. It was accidental, in all likelihood. Portkeys normally can't ferry you across the dimensional interstices between your realm and the Underworld."
Whatever reply he had to make was dashed from his head when he heard his daughter moan as she woke. "…Dad?" she mumbled.
Harry looked at Raynare. "Have you got a more suitable costume for kids?"
Raynare rolled her eyes, but with a gesture, her outfit burst from her body, showcasing it in all its naked glory, before it reformed into jeans and a slightly too small T-shirt with 'Peccavi' on it. "Satisfied?"
Harry nodded, before going over to his daughter, who was waking up. "Dad?" she asked, peering at him with brown eyes.
"I'm here, sweetie. I'm here. Now…we're in a bit of a strange situation."
"…Stranger than going on one of Auntie Luna's expeditions?"
"…About the same. Now, Delphi, these two helped us. They are Raynare and Mittelt."
His daughter looked at them, and waved. "Hi. You…have wings? Are you angels?"
"Fallen Angels, actually. And what's your name?" Raynare asked, her expression softening.
"I'm Delphini Hydra Potter, but everyone calls me Delphi…"
CHAPTER 1 ANNOTATIONS:
So, there you have it. Harry's ended up in the Underworld…but wait, he has Delphi Riddle as an adopted daughter?
No numbered annotations this time.
