It was 3 days later in the late evening before Issei began to stir, the warm blankets he was snuggled under and soft pillows behind his head made his eyes fight to stay shut but alas they blinked open slowly. He let out a sigh similar to before when he realised he was still in Heaven but as the thought fully registered his brain pulled the memories of what had happened earlier and he was up in an instant.
A figure in the corner of the room lying on another bed jerked up suddenly surprised by the boy's sudden movement. Issei locked eyes with them and as his eyes adjusted to the darkened room his anger rose when he identified the Seraph Gabriel.
"You!" he growled attempting to move towards her before being held back by the handcuff attached to his arm chained to the bed he previously occupied.
Chuckling momentarily he addressed Gabriel again, this time slightly calmer.
"Nothing much has changed since the last time I was here eh? I'm still locked up" he said with malice evident in his tone.
The seraph noticeably slumped in response to his accusation.
"I never wanted you to be locked up Issei, we had no choice after the rampage you went on" she replied sadly earning a snort from the teen.
"And who caused that rampage in the first place with their selfish experiments, all because you couldn't get the precious boosted gear you sunk so low to obtain" he spat back causing the seraph to flinch back a little.
"I-I admit... I made a mistake with you" she muttered just loud enough for Issei to hear.
"Well it's about bloody time the penny dropped" he retorted half annoyed and half mockingly.
"Would you stop with the childish attitude and snarky remarks for one damn second while i'm trying to apologise!" the Seraph angrily shouted shocking the teen and herself, she'd never even raised her voice before, let alone cursed.
Once he got over the shock Issei was about to retort until he saw the look in her eyes, they were pleading him to for once just listen and for once for some unknown reason he felt obliged to try.
"Go on" he prompted her to continue in a neutral voice.
Gabriel sighed in relief.
"Thank you, want I wanted to say before the white dragon emperor showed up was that I'm sorry for how I treated you like a tool for so long, I realise I was too focused on trying to mold you into the perfect weapon for Heaven, something I never should have been involved with in the first place" she confessed to the boy pausing to see his reaction.
Issei gave her nothing but a neutral expression urging her to keep going.
"I-I never should have traded your life for your sister's, I didn't ask for your consent and she was far too young to understand the implications of what she was agreeing to. I made a terrible decision that has hurt you greatly and then I made it worse by treating you as a tool and not a human being, for that I am truly sorry Issei Hyoudou" she poured out her heart to the boy as her wings shone a blinding golden colour indicating she was best honest, perhaps the most she'd ever been since he'd met her.
Issei was absolutely frozen still with shock, never in a million years had he expected Gabriel to ever give him the time of day let alone a heartfelt apology like this, after hearing her admit to everything she'd done to him was wrong and that she regretted it he didn't know how to feel. On one hand the burning rage for everything she done to him was still there, quelled for the moment but still definitely around however it was quickly being pacified by the slowly dawning truth that Gabriel meant everything she'd just said.
The teen opened his mouth to speak but no words came out while Gabriel simply stood a few meters in front of Issei staying silent in fear of breaking the newfound temporary truce between them.
The something happened that Gabriel had never thought would, at least not in her presence, happen in a million centuries.
He broke down and cried.
Tears flowed freely from Issei's eyes as a weight that has been pressing onto his heart for longer than he could remember was finally lifted. In the heat of the moment he lunged forward causing Gabriel to flinch but then freeze in shock when he wrapped his arms around her.
"I-Issei!?" she stuttered in shock at the boy who'd hated her since they met show her affection for the first time.
"T-thank you... so much" was all Issei could choke out between joyful sobbing.
The confused expression on Gabriel's face slowly morphed into a gentle smile as she realised they were finally on the same page.
After a few minutes Issei calmed down and sat with Gabriel on her infirmary bed since she was still injured enough to have to rest.
"I honestly thought i'd be angry with you forever" Issei confessed to the Seraph.
Gabriel looked into the boy's eyes for a moment before responding.
"I was beginning to come to the same conclusion" she admitted.
"You were always to adamant that I was to be used as a weapon for Heaven because I possessed the Boosted Gear, for years you tried everything to get me to comply with your rules, what could have possibly gotten you to change your mind?" Issei inquired curiously.
Gabriel paused again before answering the boy.
"It was Griselda, after you passed out she carried and cuffed you to the bed in case you woke up trying to attack me" she began.
Issei shifted uncomfortably at being reminded that was exactly what he'd done, now his anger for Gabriel had been dissipated he was able to think rationally about her and how much he'd really acted like a petulant child about the whole thing by being so angry all the time.
"I'm sorry acting so angry and never listening to you until now, yes what you did to me and my sister was awful and i'm not sure if I ever will fully forgive you, but I know that I at least own part of the blame as to why it lasted for so long" Issei apologised to the Seraph earning a surprised by grateful look from her.
"It's okay Issei, I'm mostly to blame and you have every right to be angry at me but i'm just glad we could finally stop and understand each other rather than continuing the relationship we had before" Gabriel confessed to the boy.
Issei nodded in agreement.
"So I assume Griselda asked you to apologise?" Issei questioned Gabriel.
"Well you're half right I suppose, though it wasn't so much asking, more losing her mind shouting at me to do it or she would never forgive me before storming out" Gabriel told him.
"Whoa really? If there's one person I never expected to lose her cool it'd be her" Issei responded slightly surprised, whenever he'd known her before she was calm and collected, the only exceptions he knew of was when he'd walked out of her training session all those years ago.
Gabriel nodded in agreement.
"Believe me I was just as surprised, she'd never so much as raised her voice at me before then, I suppose I deserved it though and i'm actually quite glad she did it because otherwise I don't think i'd ever have been able to go through with apologising to you" she replied earning a nod from Issei.
"Well it's in the past now, I think when you get out of here you should probably go and talk to her, i'll go with you to prove we sorted things out between us if you need me to" Issei offered.
"I agree, I feel the need to apologise for taking so long and how I acted towards her, I appreciate your offer but I think it'll be another few days before they discharge me" she pointed to the bruises and cuts that had yet to heal prompting another question from Issei.
"Do you have any idea why Vali wanted to stop me from killing you? After all it was her that put you here in the first place right?" Issei inquired causing Gabriel's eyes to darken surprising the teen slightly.
"I wasn't going to tell you given how familiar you got with those devils but it wasn't the white dragon emperor that left me like this, it was Sirzechs Lucifer" she told the boy.
"What!? The leader of Hell just attacked a great seraph out of nowhere?" Issei questioned thinking he must have heard her wrong.
"Yes, there was something off about him but i'm sure it was Sirzechs" Gabriel confirmed getting a frown from Issei.
"Well I guess him being all sympathetic when I broke out of that cell was a lie then" Issei thought aloud gaining the interest of Gabriel.
"You talked to him? Also when were you in a cell?" she asked the boy.
"I was arrested and thrown into a power dampening cell after I killed the high class devil Riser Phoenix in a rating game, Sirzechs talked to me before trying to get information and then again right as I was about to jump from the tower, he came off all apologetic and told me everyone had forgiven me and while the latter may be true at that point he must have already attacked you so he was most likely lying to get me to stay with him away from you" Issei explained to the surprised seraph.
"That would make sense for him to keep you away from the person who could expose him, but Issei, you killed a high class devil" she asked worriedly, if he'd killed someone high enough then he'd become a target along side her, especially when Sirzechs found out he'd come here after being saved.
"Yeah... honestly while he was an arrogant prick, he didn't deserve to die, I made a mistake killing him especially since Asia was so close to him at the time" Issei expressed some guilt for killing Riser, however that guilt was quickly washed away when he remembered Asia.
"Asia! Gabriel i'm really sorry but I have to go, there's something I have to make right! I really need to get back to the human realm, can you transport me!?" he urgently requested.
"Of course!" she complied by forming a swirling golden vortex. "This portal will transport you down onto the coastline near the water you landed in, but Issei please be careful, I sense you've lost a lot of power since the last time we met" she warned Issei.
Issei only nodded but knew that once he went through this portal, he'd essentially be in enemy territory with none of the power he used to have or any of the power Ophis had gifted him, he truly was starting from scratch.
(Not entirely partner, this time you'll have me by your side) Ddraig piped up after hearing his partner's uncertain thoughts.
Issei visibly relaxed after hearing Ddraig's voice.
'You're right Ddraig, we'll start over anew but this time together, properly' Issei telepathically told his partner.
So with one more wave goodbye and a promise to see her again sometime under better circumstances, Issei bid Gabriel goodbye and entered the portal back to the human realm with his lifelong partner at his side no matter what uncertain future they may face.
Once Issei and the portal had disappeared, Gabriel let out a sigh of relief as a familiar man with crimson hair emerged from the shadows...
Howdy everyone, welcome back to my first story :)
I can't believe this is the 15th chapter already, I had to reread the story and take notes to plan ahead since it had been a while since I worked on this and i'll be the first to admit that some choices were cringe and other were stupid and wrote me into corners and were also cringe.
But here we are with the latest chapter seeing Issei resolve his issues with the woman that started his journey into the supernatural but after this he's now back at square one in terms of strength, rather poetic eh?
Anyway enough rambling from me, thank you all for reading, reviewing and favouriting, you guys rock and I really wanna keep you entertained for hopefully at least another 15 chapters to come!
See you next time :)