Okay, so, before I get into any boring stuff, EVERYONE READ THIS: Big shoutout to GotMegaMilk for drawing some stellar fanart for this story. You can find their links on my profile, and their twitter is (at symbol)MegaxMilk, or just google GotMegaMilk, whatever you gotta do. Go check those links out right now, or I kill Raynare and the baby.
...
Just kidding...
...Maybe.
Putting that aside, I'll give a brief(definitely not brief) explanation(excuse) on why my updating has ground to a halt. I mean, it was never fast to begin with, but now it's super duper slow, and here's why: I have just started my second semester of college after a ridiculously busy Christmas break, so that's where like a strong 75% of my time is at right now. The other 20% is in a huge super-secret hush-hush project (PM me if you're super interested, I guess) that I'm working on; more information on that as it progresses, right now we're at about 1/5 completion. For those of you math dorks out there (burn in hell, number-witches) who are wondering where the rest of the 5% is at, I've compiled this helpful list:
Sleep.
And that's about it!...As far as time, anyway. Now, big important message. I'll repeat that, for those in the back.
BIG IMPORTANT MESSAGE!
Okay, I'll try to keep this as short and sweet as possible. (editor's note: it is not short.) Writing His Angel over the last 8 or 9 months has been a total joy. Reading everyone's reviews is always the highlight of my day, and I can't thank you all enough for the support.
That said, and there's really no way to put his nicely: I'm really not feeling it anymore. Not the feedback, that's still great, (love you guys) but my drive to write Fanfiction has been slowly slipping, combined with the changes to my schedule and dwindling (by some sources) quality of the latest chapters, and I'm in a tough spot.
On the one hand, I really want to finish this, cus everyone wants the babeh, and on the other...I kinda don't, and I kinda can't, not with the time I have right now, not with the quality you guys deserve. So, this is where the important part comes in. We've got two options here.
1: I greatly rush the next few chapters, and they'll come in a series of timeskips, each showing a pivotal part of the relationship between Issei and Raynare and turning the story into essentially a collection of interlocked fluffy and cute one-shots, which would bring us the babeh in probably one or two more chapters that I could have done within a few weeks. I would try to keep the quality up; but, obviously, with this system there would be a lot cut out and several subplots would just be forgotten. The thing with Vali, what the ring and dagger were for, the journal his mom left him...that kinda stuff. That's the first option, and the one I am more inclined to do.
2: I don't write. I do not have time to produce quality, full length chapters. I won't have time until Summer, but then quality and length of the chapters will be what you've come to expect, whatever that may be. I personally don't like this choice, because I would hate to leave you all waiting. Even rushed ending is still an ending, right?
Whichever option I go with, His Angel is winding to a close. The endgame was always that Raynare would get pregnant, and while I may have rushed it in the beginning (a lot) it's still here, and that's where we're at. I want to finish this story. I would tear myself to pieces if I knew I got all your expectations up and then just crushed them by not concluding His Angel. We've gone on too long to quit now, and some of you have been too reliable to let down. Looking at you, Curse of Whimsey. I always count on your quick reviews to give me a smile (:
Anyway, put what you want in the reviews or PM me, either way. Protip: something that would really boost my morale to keep writing this is tell me what you like. Tell me what's made you cry, or smile, or laugh. If it's something you can't/don't want to put in a review, PM me. Knowing I've had a genuine emotional impact on my readers, it's just...I feels like I've succeeded in some small way, you know? You don't have to, and it might not change anything, but I'm just putting it out there. I am very easily swayed by nice words...mostly.
Well, I think I've rambled enough. Honestly, this is far too short a chapter to talk this much in just the author's note, but hey...can't win them all. I've actually had this done for a while, but I wanted to expand it (cus it's short) and just can't find the time. Rather than letting it rot in my documents, here it is. Hope you enjoy.
Sofia, the nurse attending to Issei, walked into his hospital room, holding the door open behind her. "You have visitors, Mister Hyoudou."
Issei looked up from the book he'd was reading, 'What to expect when your Angel wife is expecting', and set it down on his lap. In the door, behind Sofia, walked Sona Sitri and her Queen, Tsubaki Shinra. Sofia left after they'd entered, and Tsubaki stood by the door.
"Sona! What are you doing here?" Issei asked. He was on better terms with Sona than Rias, enough to call her a good friend.
"This is my hospital." Sona said matter-of-factly, walking to his side.
"Oh, right. I keep forgetting I'm not in the human world."
"It's an easy mistake. Anyway, I came to check on you. Rias is a tad bit angry, but her peerage is concerned for you. Especially Matsuda, oddly enough. What's that about, I thought you hated him?"
"We talked things out. Simple as that, I guess." Issei replied, rubbing his temple.
"That's not what Rias called it."
"Rias doesn't...wait, Rias is angry? What for?" Issei asked, Sona's words just catching up with him.
Sona pursed her lips. "Well, look at this from her perspective. She assisted you on the grounds that she'd have your aid to count on when the time came, and neither you or Raynare helped in the Rating Game like you said you would, which almost cost her her freedom and chastity. Not to mention, you weren't able to participate because of a misunderstanding turned lethal, and her Pawn was also quite injured. She's... aggravated. Don't misunderstand, she's still concerned about your wellbeing, she's just upset."
Issei looked guilty. "I...wow. Now I feel like a jerk. I didn't even think about it like that. I'll make it up to her, somehow...probably." Issei said, muttering the last word. He still, even after everything that had happened, wasn't entirely sure he liked Rias all that much. Not because of anything she'd done, they were way past that, he just found her personality...grating. That being said, he wasn't above doing something for her to make up for his failure.
Sona shook her head. "Don't worry about that right now. At the moment, you need to focus solely on healing up. You're lucky you weren't a devil, you know. That amount of concentrated light in the middle of your chest? Nothing in Heaven or Hell could've saved you. But, I suppose that's exactly why you didn't let Matsuda get hit, isn't it?" Sona asked, a soft smile on her face.
"Caught me. It's not like I could just let him die...or something like that." Issei answered, shrugging.
"You're a really kind person, aren't you?" Sona asked, still smiling. She wasn't looking directly at him, and almost seemed to be talking to herself. Issei gave her an odd look. He wasn't great at communicating with anyone who wasn't Raynare, and he didn't have a ton of experience when it came to social cues, but what she'd just said seemed a little off-base. Not only that, it was totally out of character for the straight-laced and serious Student Council President.
"I mean...I guess. I don't really think so." Issei answered, trying not to make it awkward.
Sona's eyes widened for a fraction of a second before her smile disappeared, replaced by her usual stoicism. She cleared her throat and had an almost unnoticeable blush on her cheeks. She hadn't realized she spoke out loud.
"S-so, how are you doing? Are they taking care of you?" Sona asked, trying to get the conversation back on track. Issei didn't notice how she stuttered or that she wasn't looking him in the eyes.
"Oh yeah, this place is great. My chest is almost completely healed, minus a nasty scar. They tell me that'll never go away, but Raynare says it looks cool, so I guess it's fine with me."
"Speaking of which, where is Raynare? The staff told me they couldn't even almost get her to leave."
"She's been here for the whole time I've been here, so I told her to go home and get some real rest. They tell me I'll be out within a day, so she shouldn't be by herself for long."
"She was completely hysteric when Rias called me. She didn't leave your side or stop sobbing until Asia had closed most of your wound and you were on the way here, so I've been told."
"Ah, right. Nobody's really told me what happened, after the accident. Could you…?"
"Of course. After Raynare stabbed you, a majority of the right side of your heart was completely destroyed. Matsuda willed his Sacred Gear into a sort of organic slime that stopped you from instantly bleeding out, and then Raynare nearly killed him because she thought he was still trying to kill you. After he cleared that up, she rushed you to Asia, who was able to mostly reconstruct your heart and stop the major bleeding. The hospital did everything else. You've been unconscious for a grand total of five days, so I've been told. Though, you woke up sometime yesterday, so I suppose it's more like four and a half? Anyway, that's what happened."
"Wow. I need to write Asia a thank you note. Or, maybe buy her something? What would a nun-turned-devil even want…?" Issei asked, trailing off.
"She said you were one of the people who saved her from the church incident, so I think you're pretty much even."
"Still, though...oh, right. About the Rating Game. Raynare told me a bit, but what's the whole story?"
"Rias was winning at first, but because of Matsuda's fatigue from being hurt, he wasn't able to fight at his full potential. After a while, it was just Rias, Asia, Matsuda, and Riser atop the roof of a building, and Riser was able to eliminate Asia. Matsuda flew into a rage, and Riser essentially butchered him. Rias willingly resigned to stop Riser from killing him, and they lost."
"But that's not all, right?"
"Well, you'd have to ask Matsuda or Rias for all the details, but Matsuda basically challenged Riser to a match of single combat right in the middle of the engagement party. King Sirzechs thought it was a great idea, and told Matsuda if he won he could have a reward of his choosing. Matsuda claimed all he wanted was for Rias to be free of Riser, and then they fought. Matsuda gave up his eyes to his Sacred Gear so he could use his Balance Breaker, and he won. He also used a cross from Asia to inflict holy burns on Riser, which, frankly, was wildly entertaining."
"How did Matsuda hold a cross? I thought you guys were weak to that kind of stuff."
"We are, very much so. You'd have to have seen his Balance Breaker to really understand, but he basically summoned a humanoid wolf-demon to help him fight. It held the cross, not him."
"That makes sense."
"Indeed. But, enough about Matsuda. Rias told me you're expecting?"
Issei's face instantly turned deep red. Had she told everyone?
"A-ah, yeah...Raynare is...pregnant." Issei managed to sputter. It was a bit of a difficult sentence to say, because he was essentially telling Sona he and Raynare had frequent sex. In reality, Sona was a devil and that couldn't bother her less, but Issei was raised in a sheltered environment and to him it was uncomfortable to talk about.
"Congratulations. Have you thought of a name yet?"
"Well...not really, no. We don't even know if it's a boy or a girl or...twins. Oh God, twins…" Issei said, eyes wide. Every time he thought of the pregnancy, he thought of something else that scared him. Sona flinched. Issei's use of the Lord's name was warranted, but still painful.
"Well, when the time comes, I'd be more than happy to let you and Raynare use this facility free of charge. Ultrasounds, Genetic tests, delivery...we can do anything here." Sona said, a small amount of pride in her voice. Her first act as Heir of the Sitri after coming to age was to put all of their cutting-edge medical technology in a facility open to the Devil populace instead of just the High Class. It was a bit costly, but she let friends and other important people use her hospital without charge.
"Wow, thanks! I'll take you up on that, I think." Issei said, grateful.
"I look forward to it." Sona replied, a small smile on her face.
Tsubaki cleared her throat, breaking the small silence that came after Sona's words. She and Issei looked to the Queen, who nodded to Sona.
Sona turned back to Issei, standing up from her seat by him. "It seems I need to leave. Do contact me if you need something, alright? I will have only the best for my patients."
"Uh, sure. Thanks for stopping by." Issei said with a small wave.
"Of course. Until next time."
With that, Sona and her Queen left the room, leaving Issei by himself. He sighed. Truth be told, the boy was mind-numbingly bored, and was almost sad he'd sent Raynare home. Sona's visit had been a welcome respite from the dullness of his hospital stay, and he wished it had lasted longer.
Resigning himself to another day of boredom, he picked up the book about supernatural pregnancy again and kept reading.
Issei was asleep with his book draped across his face when the next visitor came. Accompanied with a flash of blinding green light, Azazel himself appeared in the hospital room.
Issei shook awake, flinging the book to the floor and losing his page. He looked at the intruder with surprise and then recognition, realizing who it was.
Azazel approached Issei with a grin, stretching his hand out to Issei. They shook, and the Fallen Governor took a seat by his bed.
"You can't ever just walk through a door, can you?"
"I was going to kill Raynare, you know."
Issei's eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched, not expecting Azazel's response at all. The typical grin was gone from his face, and he looked Issei dead in the face with a serious expression.
"When I heard what happened, I was furious. Beyond furious, actually. I ruined one of my labs."
"You didn't. Tell me you didn't hurt her."
"No, I didn't. But I was going to. I was going to go wherever she was and show her what a real light spear looks like."
"Why?"
"She almost killed you, Issei-"
"I don't care!"
"But I do. I do care, very much, and I'm not the only one. You have to understand something, Issei. Your mother made me promise two things: That I'd keep my distance, and that I'd protect you. So, of course, you almost dying was bound to ruin my day."
"Sorry to inconvenience you."
"Don't make it like that. I haven't done anything, and I'm not going to. I just wanted you to know."
"What stopped you?"
"I heard she's pregnant. That true?"
"Yeah."
"Thought so...and that's what stopped me. There's a lot of things I'll do, but killing a child, even an embryo or fertilized egg or whatever it is right now, isn't one of them. Not to mention, you probably would've made a mess. Juggernaut Drive is...not something I'm equipped to deal with."
"What is Juggernaut Drive?"
[Don't worry about it.]
"The lizard's right, let's not worry about that right now." Azazel stood up, and looked around the room. He walked to a far corner, right of the door, where a bookshelf hung on the wall. Azazel pulled a book off of it and absentmindedly flipped through it, Issei watching him the whole time.
"What are you doing?"
"Thinking. They treating you alright here? How's the food? And your bed, is that cozy enough?"
"Um...I guess?" Issei replied, his head slightly tilted in confusion.
"Come with me. I've got a top notch facility in Fallen Angel territory, way better than anything they've got here."
"I'll be out by tomorrow."
"I don't just mean now."
"What do you mean? You're not making a lot of sense."
"With the kid. When Raynare is ready, bring her to me instead of here."
"You just told me you were going to kill her. You won't be seeing Raynare for a long time if I have any say in things." Issei said, reminding Azazel what he'd just said. Any threat to Raynare was not something he'd be likely to overlook, especially if the Governor General was half as angry as he said he was.
Azazel hesitated, then sighed in exasperation. "That's fair. So, when are you going to tie the knot? You can hardly have a kid without getting married, right?" Azazel was most certainly not in any position to speak on something like that, given his extensive history with various women, but he was sure Issei would have a different stance on the subject.
Issei sighed. "I dunno. I need to propose, and get a ring, and then actually get married...it's all a lot coming at me. I'm still in highschool...what are my classmates going to think?"
"Who cares? There's an excellent school in Fallen Angel territory that would be perfect for you to finish up in. Not to mention, I've got pull at basically every major university out there, human and not. You can have your pick of colleges."
"Oh, man…" Issei put his head in his hands. Everything that was happening was catching up with him again, and it was becoming overwhelming. Marriage, a child, college...it was more than one teenager could handle.
"Hey, just saying...if you'd wrapped it before you tapped it, like you're supposed to, a kid wouldn't be a problem." Azazel said, winking. His grin was back in full force.
Issei smiled at first, then broke into a full on laugh. A moment later, he sighed, his stomach and chest aching from all the exertion. "Do you honestly think Raynare would've let me wrap it, even if I'd thought about it?"
"Good point. Fallen Angels can be tricky like that."
"Speaking of which...there's something important we need to talk about."
"There's a ton of things we need to be talking about. What's on your mind right now, in particular?"
"Raynare not being Fallen anymore."
"Oh, right. Yeah, I asked around about that, and I have it on a very reliable source that that's a good thing. She's the first of a 'new breed', of sorts. She was given something...special."
"What do you mean? What happened to her?"
"Nothing happened to her, not in the literal sense. Tell me what you know about Heaven."
"Oh, man...it's a place where angels and good souls live, right? Ddraig tried teaching me at one point, but it all kinda fell through."
"You're mostly right. It's also a place where the System created by God is housed. Sacred Gears, Prayers, Reincarnation, Angelic Descension, it's all controlled by that central system."
"Aright, what's that got to do with Raynare?"
"When the original God died, the system was taken up by Michael, the Archangel, Highest of the Seraphim. He kept in running fine by himself for a while, but the old God's grand plan started to waste away in there. He'd put hundreds of other things in the System, and Michael couldn't hope to find them all."
"I don't follow."
"Think of God like the programmer. He knows all his work, inside and out. Then he dies, and another, much less skilled programmer has to come along and reverse engineer his code. Wouldn't work, right? Not as well."
"Alright."
"So Michael couldn't really bring out the System's full potential. That's brings us to now." Azazel waved his hand, and a green magic circle wrapped around a camera in the corner of the room, disabling it. Issei lifted his head in surprise, not realizing it was even there.
"What I'm about to tell you doesn't leave this room, understand?" Azazel asked, looking Issei in the eyes.
Issei just nodded, not really getting where he was going with this.
"Word around the campfire is...there's a new God running the system." Azazel said. Issei's eyes went wide. Azazel put his finger up to stop the boy from interrupting, and kept talking. "Heaven has kept extremely tight-lipped about it, and no one knows for sure. For a new God to be chosen...it would be groundbreaking. No, that's not the right word...amazing, I guess. To say the least. But, what's interesting, is that this new God seems to be re-initiating and improving God's unused System features, one of them being Angel Redemption. Your girlfriend, fiance, wife, whatever; she's the first of several scattered cases. Fallen from all walks of life of being Redeemed. They're being called Risen Angels. Now, I hope I don't need to tell you, but all of what I just said is strictly confidential."
Azazel moved away from the bed, and snapped his fingers. The camera he'd had disabled hissed and sparked as his magic circle dissipated. Azazel inhaled slowly, held his breath for a moment, then exhaled. He rubbed his temples. "It's always something, I swear…"
"What? Is something wrong? What'd you do to the camera?" Issei asked, confused.
"Well, I had been blocking the feed, but I might have just shorted it out, and tripped a silent alarm, and revealed myself, all at the same time. Suffice it to say, it's my time to go. We won't be able to talk for a bit, so...stay healthy, I guess. Oh, and…" Azazel came close to Issei again. "There's going to be a summit between the three biblical factions coming up soon. I want you to be there. I'll be in touch."
With that, Azazel disappeared from the room in a flash of verdant light.
He left just in time for the door to fly open and Sofia to rush in, flanked by two devils in light black armor.
"Who was that?" Sofia asked Issei, a worried look on her face.
"My uncle."
I'm sorry for the length, and I know it was just dialogue, but it was something, you know? It would be wasted if it was just chilling out in my documents for no good reason.
To everyone who's every supported this story: thanks. Really, from the bottom of my heart. Thank you. It's you guys that made this worth writing, and no matter what happens, I'll finish this story. It might not be this month, and it might not be five months from now, but by God, unless I die, this story will come to a conclusion that's worth the wait. (On the off chance I do die, The Almighty Maluch has full rights to this profile, and will let everybody know.)
Anyway, until next time, whenever that may be.
Belial out.