Key:

'Thinking'

"Speaking vocally"

"Powerful/enraged being speaking"

Azazel reappeared silently in the epicenter of the simultaneous power and pain, Shemhazai radiating power. Shemhazai was kneeling by the hospital bed with his newborn son suspended in the air, unconscious. Azazel rushed to the baby, cradling it in his arms before his eyes drifted to the bed, where Shemhazai's wife should've been.

Upon seeing Shemhazai's dead wife, Azazel's eyes widened as Shemhazai stood up simultaneously, looking at Azazel with red and hatred filled eyes.

"Now isn't a good time to visit, Azazel."

Azazel's gaze lingered on the bed before looking at the enraged Shemhazai. Even after knowing his best friend for all of these years, he wasn't sure there was anything that he could say to comfort Shemhazai.

"Shem, remember what you fought for."

Shemhazai's power flared after hearing Azazel's words, prompting Azazel to subconsciously shield the newborn.

"Is this not what we both fought for? A stable and peaceful life?"

"Yes, we did. You may feel like you've lost it all, but you still have your son and the war is over."

Azazel slowly walked towards Shemhazai, treading carefully with his next words.

"I understand how much it hurts, Shem, but you must snap out of this. If not for me, then for Lucas."

After some tense moments of hesitation, Shemhazai returned to his base power.

"Thank you, Azazel. I was close to snapping there."

Azazel smiled, offering Lucas to Shemhazai, who had begun to peacefully sleep while under Azazel's protection.

"Don't thank me, thank him. I'm sure that you'll raise him well."

Five Years Later

It was pretty shitty to start my new life in the DxD world with the death of my mom, but everything else has been great so far. Shem had, of course, turned out to be the actual Shemhazai. He had turned out to be a great dad(much better than Azazel would ever have been), pushing through the obvious impact that your wife dying would have. Penemue had taken up the role of my surrogate mother as well as my tutor for a few months now. To be honest, though, it felt like the entire Grigori had become my family.

As for my body, it was developing, I guess. I was still only five years old, after all, but I could see the makings of a handsome face already. I was taller than average for my age, standing at around 3'10"(117 cm) with platinum blonde hair framing my face and violet eyes just like my father. I usually wore the black, carbon fiber Grigori training suit that provided both enough warmth and flexibility in and out of combat in the temperature regulated Grigori headquarters(turns out my sensitivity to the cold had stuck with me through reincarnation or whatever this was).

Currently, I was waiting outside of Penemue's office for our daily half tutoring and half cuddling sessions, which I enjoyed both aspects of. I love to learn, and Penemue was a surprisingly good teacher. Today was the beginning of my history lessons, so I finally had a chance to learn exactly where I was in the timeline. I knew I was in between the Great War and canon though, based on the memorials and Vali not being here, but this was my chance to learn exactly where I am in the timeline.

"Lu~! It's time for your lesson!"

Penemue almost sang as she opened the door, still in her black business suit, grabbing my hand and leading me into her semi-converted classroom/office, complete with a whiteboard, chair, and desk. After I got settled, she quickly began, starting with the classic Abrahamic Adam and Eve creation of the world story.

I readjusted as I tried to pay attention, but I was failing miserably so far. If there was one thing I hated learning about was the beginning of the Bible, even if everything was real in this world. Luckily, I was able to struggle through until Penemue began mentioning the birth of Christianity and the subsequent spread of the religion, which led to a snowballing growth of both influence and power.

I raised my hand lazily, grabbing Penemue's attention.

"Yes, Lu?"

I sat up in my seat as I asked my question that had been bothering me for a while,

"So which origin story is right if there are multiple conflicting religions with them?"

Penemue hesitated for a second, her purple eyes softening as she looked at me.

"The truth is, Lu, that we don't know. All of the religions just came to exist at some point, somehow."

I nodded, accepting her answer, but I wasn't necessarily surprised. It reminded me, almost too much, of the Big Bang.

Penemue sensed my disappointment and squatted down next to me, a soft and loving smile on her face.

"Lu, life isn't about knowing everything. While our origins can shine some insight into who we are and why we're here, we still control the present, so that's what we should focus on."

I nodded again as she drew me into a hug, wrapping my still small head around her glorious breasts. This was certainly a way to get my mind off of the lesson.

She released me a couple of minutes later, resuming the lesson.

I knocked at Noah's door, hearing his dog bark like he normally does.

Noah opened the door, looking at me curiously.

"Who are you?"

I laughed, smiling at him.

"Is this a prank dude? Come on, let's play some Smash or something."

His eyes narrowed at me, frowning.

"Look, I don't know who you are, and the only person I did that with disappeared five years ago. Get lost."

"Noah, it's me, Dylan!"

"No, you're not."

He slammed the door in my face, and I walked back to my car, wondering what happened. I opened the door and sat down, getting my keys out of my pocket and putting them in the ignition. I tried to press on the brake to start my car, but I looked down and saw that my legs couldn't reach the pedals. I looked up in a panic to the rearview mirror, only to see my five-year-old DxD self, smirking at me.

"Luke! Luke!"

I woke to see my dad, Shemhazai, looking down at me with half panicked violet eyes. He hugged me close to his chest, running his hand over my back.

"Luke, you were having a nightmare and screaming. It's fine now, though."

I barely processed his words, nodding into his chest.

I had gotten my ultimate wish, but it had cost everything. Everything that I had or wanted, and everyone that I knew or was going to meet.

Was this really worth it?

Whatever the answer to that was, I didn't make this decision.

That's what I told myself, anyway.

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