Helo again. Also, I can't believe I forgot to say this, butt I wanna thank everyone that favorited the story, even though it has been abandoned for damn near two years. Also, I feel like I forgot to disclaimer this story too. So uh, I don't own any of these characters and they each go to their respective original creator. There. Now, have fun.

Lavi awoke to the sun's warm rays striking his face. His eyelid struggled to open, and when it gruelingly did, he was met with the familiar sight of a white ceiling, the rotary blades of his ceiling fan spun calmly.

"Wha…?" Lavi muttered, blinking a couple of times before realizing where he was at.

He was...home? How'd he get here? Did Bookman come? Oh shit, if that's the case, then he'd surely be pissed! He got into a reckless situation, and got injured because of it.

"Great," he mumbled, "he's gonna lecture me again."

He finally attempted to rise from bed, though he realized that he couldn't with weight on his right arm. And that was when he realized: why was his arm so warm? And why did it have that numb feeling as if he'd been sleeping on it?

He turned his head to see what had been keeping him down, and lo and behold.

'What the ffffffffffuck?!' Lavi's mind screamed, eye widening and blood most likely dripping from his nose, as he realized that the source of his numbness was one beautiful crimson haired girl that went by Rias Gremory. Currently, she was snuggled into his arm, which was placed between the nooks and crannies of her neck and her breasts, with her head resting on his shoulder.

And did he mention that she was currently naked?

He couldn't help but stare and marvel at the beauty before him. Her crimson strands were splayed out, and her face looked soft and peaceful. Her lips parted slightly, giving way to the oxygen that allowed her

to live, as she breathed slow rhythmic breaths. He noticed, though he couldn't help not to, that with each rise of her chest, her well endowed assets topped with cute pink peaks, jiggled slightly. Just as physics should work.

Lavi shook his head, interrupting thoughts that were beginning to spiral out of his control.

"I need to write," Lavi said, slowly and carefully prying his arm from underneath the sleeping girl. She looked so peaceful, he didn't want to wake her and impose on that. There just weren't enough peaceful moments in this world.

Successfully retrieving his arm, he got up, the bed creaking slightly as his feet touched the floor. He couldn't help but notice a draft glide through an area that normally never had air go through.

He looked down at himself. He was naked. Save for his eyepatch still on his face.

"Ohhhh kay, I really need to write," Lavi reiterated to himself. Writing helped soothe his nerves. Recording events allowed him to sort through his thoughts and reflect. It was very therapeutic and it was one of the things that he truly loved about being a historian. Sometimes, it was his story to tell; sometimes, he was telling other people's stories.

And he hoped that this time, it would be able to quell his raging morning reaction that seemed too intensified today. For that, he could blame the red headed beauty in his bed.

After quietly getting dressed, he sat at his desk and propped open a book. He began writing, and soon enough, words and thoughts flowed cohesively into the book before him. He wanted to record everything that happened this far. He didn't know why, but he felt like things were about to get hectic.

Rias awoke to the scratching of a pen. And to a grumbling stomach. But it was the scratching of a pen that intrigued her. Her eyes wandered over to Lavi, who continuously switched between being lost in thought and concentratedly writing.

Odd. She didn't peg him to be the type to write. With that thought in mind, her eyes wandered around his room, exploring the rather bland room. There wasn't anything obnoxious, like posters or pictures, but she saw two bookcases, filled to the brim with books. Some looked older than time and others looked like they were bought just recently. Interesting; was he a writer?

She stretched quietly, and the bedsheets shuffled in her movement.

"Good morning," he said, swiveling in his chair to face her, his lone eye closing, as he flashed her his pearly whites with a smile.

"Good morning," she replied with her own smile, stretching as she basked in the sun's rays, causing her silhouette to become prominent as her shadows darkened. Lavi thought she looked like an angel, ironically.

"You hungry? Lemme finish this last sentence, and I'll make us some breakfast," he said, swiveling back around, continuing from where he left off.

"Oh? Sure thing," she replied, as she watched the boy swivel back around to return to writing. What was he writing about?

Curiosity overtaking her, she stood up from the bed and slowly made her way to the boy lost in thought. Her soft pitter pattering of her feet echoed and mixed with the scratching of the pen.

Suddenly, she wrapped her arms around his neck loosely, as she rested her chin atop Lavi's head. She thought his hair was incredibly soft.

She skimmed bits and pieces of his sentences, his penmanship showing a beauty and grace that she found admiring.

"...against a fallen angel…"

"...beautiful red hair…"

"...thought I was going to die."

"Bookman was going to be mad."

She read that last sentence with an uncanny focus. She knew that name. From where? Her brows furrowed as she struggled to remember the information pertaining to that name.

"Bookman is…" she started, as she stared at the name. She knew that name from somewhere, and she hated that she couldn't remember!

"A nigh extinct clan of the 72 Pillars," Lavi finished, not sparing her a glance, as he skimmed through his entry. Her eyes widened in response, and she craned her head to look at him.

"How did you know?"

Lavi lightly shook his head, instead smiling mischievously.

"I also know that you're a devil~~~~."

"Wh-Wha?!" Rias recoiled in shock and she took her head off of began laughing.

"What's so surprising? I knew from the get-go that you were one," he said, swiveling around to face her. He blushed a heavy red when he saw that she was still naked.

"How did you know?" she asked inquiringly, and then gears turned in her mind.

Lavi grinned as a look of realization donned her face. "Took ya long enough. The Bookman clan is also one of the 72 Pillars. But that's besides the point," he said, standing up from his chair.

"I'll make us some breakfast. I'll also leave a shirt for you to wear. I'm not sure if gramps is home yet, and I'd really rather not want him to barge in on a beautiful girl such as yourself wandering around our unit naked," he said, chuckling. He pulled a plain black shirt out from his closet, and left it on the bed, before exiting the room.

Rias stared at the space he previously occupied, as many thoughts ran through her mind. How was it that he knew what she was, but she couldn't determine what he was? She knew he was no normal human. She felt a slight...edge to his presence the first day he came to class, and then the next few weeks after, it just...disappeared.

She could feel it again, though not as...dangerous as it used to be. In fact, it almost felt warm. Almost.

There was only one possible conclusion she could come to: he was a devil. There was no way anyone else would know who the 72 Pillars are, and there was no other way that anyone else would know that she was a devil. But so then why is it that he would sometimes produce a subtle hint of holy aura?

Unless...her eyes widened. What if he was an angel? Or from the Vatican? And furthermore, actually, wasn't the Bookman clan supposed to be extinct?

'No, he said that they're "nigh" extinct,' she reminded herself. Millions of thoughts and questions ran through her head as she slipped on the shirt Lavi left out for her. Hopefully, he would answer her questions.

She exited the room, and into the small hallway, upon which her nose was hit with the salty and savory scent of bacon. Her stomach lightly grumbled as she walked into the sunlit living room, and Rias's face blushed a tad. Luckily, he didn't hear it.

"Hope you're hungry!" Lavi said cheerfully. He hummed to himself as he flipped the bacon before placing it on a plate already filled with a waffle and scrambled eggs.

Rias took a seat by the dinner table, already set for two, and she noticed that, despite being in Japan, the table was set with spoons and forks. She turned her attention to the boy in front of him, his back still facing her.

"I am," she replied sweetly, "Can't wait to try your food."

"Great!" he replied, as he brought two plates over to the small table, placing one down in front of her before taking the seat across.

"Sorry if it's not to your standards, Miss Great Lady of Kuoh," he teased.

She giggled, her mind easing off from the various questions in her head. "Don't worry, fourth member of the Perverted Trio. It'll be just fine; it's the thought that counts."

He deadpanned, "Is that what they're calling me now?"

She stuck her fork into the egg, before sticking her tongue at him. "No, but I am."

Lavi shook his head and sighed playfully, before a smile plastered onto his face.

"So. You have questions?" Lavi asked, his tone sounding serious, though the smile remained.

She looked at him curiously before replying, "Not really the one to beat around the bush, huh? I have a lot."

"Nope! Shoot," Lavi said, as he dug into his own plate.

"Hmm…," Rias looked up in thought, her index finger tapping her chin. So many questions that she needed answers to. What he was, that power that she felt every now and then, why he was here...

She finally settled on one. She wanted to figure him out first.

"What are you?"

"Secret~," Lavi replied, wink(blink?)ing at her, before stuffing his mouth with a forkful of eggs.

"Wh-Seriously?" she asked incredulously, looking at him and halting the process of the food on her fork from entering her mouth.

"No," he swallowed, "I'm a devil. My turn. Did you reincarnate me?"

Rias shook her head, "No, you weren't going to die, but I am surprised you managed to stay awake for so long with that light spear still in your stomach."

"Yeah, me too," Lavi said wistfully, thinking back to last night, as a frown grew on his face. He was careless. If he died right then and there, then the Black Order would've lost another exorcist. And not because of an akuma or because of a Noah, but because he was reckless.

Rias looked at him sympathetically, and she reached over the table to softly grab one of his hands. A quiet silence blanketed the two.

"You have soft hands," Lavi abruptly said, looking at her with a playful smile, his turmoil immediately disappearing from his voice.

Rias blushed slightly, "Thank you."

She was hesitant in asking this next question, though for what, she wasn't exactly sure.

"Are you a pure blood?"

"Yeah, but I'm not royalty like you, Empress Gremory."

She giggled. Empress. That was a new one.

"My turn again. Why uh…." Lavi's face reddened, "Why were we naked?"

She smiled at his blushing face. She thought he looked cute when he was embarrassed.

"Because my healing properties require a lot of physical contact. The more physical contact we have, the more effective my healing will be. So it's most effective without clothes," she explained, taking a piece of bacon and biting into it.

"Oh!" Lavi replied, "I remember that. You Gremory folk use physical contact to heal. Apparently, it's because you sort of osmose your energy with infinitesimally small concentrations that destroy bacteria, and strangely enough, it also catalyzes the repair for damaged tissue."

Rias's eyebrows raised in curiosity. That was interesting. She never got into the 'how' for her genetic healing before, and quite frankly, she didn't even know that. Hell, she doubted that even her older brother knew that.

"How did you know that?" she asked, head tilting in wonder.

"I read a book about the scientific phenomena of genetic traits in devils, by Alabast Richards," Lavi replied, his head tilting, as he looked up, trying to search for more information in his mind. There were a lot of genetic traits that obeyed the laws of nature and physics. Many of them, extremely complicated, while others, not so much.

"For example, the Phenex clan absorbs energy in the air and it spontaneously combusts within their body to produce energy that fuels their regeneration."

Rias looked at him impressively, though she scowled mentally when she heard the clan's name associated with a certain asshole.

"That's...really interesting. You're really knowledgeable about these things," Rias stated before consuming another bite of eggs, bacon, and waffles.

Lavi rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "I suppose so."

"Okay, two more questions," Rias started, but she was interrupted by a tutting Lavi, wagging his finger side to side.

"Nope, you already used your turn when you asked how I knew that information," Lavi said jokingly.

"Wait! That doesn't count!" Rias replied incredulously, shaking her head. Rias stared back at Lavi defiantly. "I'm asking anyway! One, I thought the Bookman Clan didn't exist anymore? And two, what is that aura that I feel around you sometimes? It's kind of holy, but at the same time, it kind of...isn't."

Lavi closed his eyes and took a deep breath, his playfulness was replaced with a tired voice and spoke, "Bookman is the sole survivor of the Bookman Clan. No heir, no grandkids, no extended family...it's just me and him, and I'm not even a Bookman by blood," he shook his head with a mirthless smile, "but it doesn't matter."

Rias frowned at his response. What's more is that he seemed to always be dismissive about his thoughts. It was as if he shouldn't be having them in the first place, but he couldn't help but have them.

"As for your second question," his playfulness returned with a smile and a bl-wink, "Secret~."

Rias sighed at his antics, but before she could get another say in, Lavi immediately got up from the table, the chair scraping the hardwood floor, and his utensils jostling the empty plate.

"Alright, time to get ready for school," he said in a cheerful voice, clapping his hands together before taking a depressed tone, "School...again…"

Rias blinked, as she watched Lavi enter the hallway. She stared at the empty hall until she realized that she wasn't satisfied with his last answer.

"Mouuu, you can't just leave me with that answer, Lavi!" she yelled.

All she got in return was distant laughing.

Still sitting at the table, her thoughts traveled to the boy she was just eating with. He truly was interesting. Playful like a child, yet, from the way he responded to her penultimate question, tired like an adult. Outgoing, yet secretive. He talked very little about himself and she realized he tried very little to try to get to know her. He only asked the essentials and responded with the essentials.

She snapped out of her thoughts when she saw a folded towel and her clothes placed in front of her face. She looked up, and saw Lavi grinning, his eye was closed as if he was giving her an eye smile as well.

"Here you go. Take a shower first, I'll clean up here in the meantime. The bathroom is the first door to your right."

She took the towel and her clothes gratefully, returning her own smile, "Thank you."

But he was polite and gentlemanly. She got up from the table and headed to her destination: a steaming hot shower with her name on it.

Strangely, the two walked to school silently. It was weird for Rias. Normally, wouldn't someone try to strike up a conversation? At least, perhaps, with someone like her?

She wasn't narcissistic, but she knew the effects she had on most of the populace, especially at school. Everyone would be dying to try to talk to her or to get her to talk to them. Even more, everyone (she felt pretty sure) would've been dying to have her, literally, in bed with her.

However, as they walked, Lavi kept his eyes forward, hands resting behind his head, while she was the one stealing glances at him.

Strange, really.

"So...Lavi," Rias started, the silence becoming unbearable for her, "I might as well introduce you to the rest of my peerage as well, considering that you already know that I'm a devil."

"Sure," Lavi said nonchalantly, dropping the conversation again.

Rias frowned, not knowing what to make of the lack of interaction. Surely he didn't find her...repulsive? Or boring? A small pit formed in her stomach with her next thought. Or...annoying? Rias liked to think she was not annoying. Or at least, as annoying as she used to be. Especially as a kid. If he did think she was annoying, it surely would hurt her pride. She shook her head. Besides, she—

"Pick up the pace," Lavi said abruptly, grabbing her hand firmly before walking faster. Rias jerked a bit at the sudden movement, before matching his speed, though she was still being dragged.

"Wh-why?"

"You're too slow, Lavi said playfully, though he still hadn't spared her a glance. "Plus, I wanna mess with the Perverted Three before school starts!"

Rias could only smile at his antics. But inwardly, she pouted.

'Why does he want to interact with them more than he does with me?!'

His visible eye, unnoticeable to Rias, darted around as he scanned his environment for what seemed like the umpteenth time during their walk.

He found them again. The thing or person that caught his suspicion was a small girl, who looked no older than ten years old. She had curly blonde hair and she wore a pink frilly dress, that looked reminiscent of a nightgown. And she was with an older looking man, dressed in a bland brown suit with a blue tie and a matching brown bowler's hat.

Normally, no one would pay attention to the pair—they would've looked just like a daughter and a father going on a walk.

Unfortunately for them, Lavi had already seen them throughout their trip four times already. This made it five. This time, he found them staring behind a tree, far off to the side, almost concealed by the rushing crowd.

Who were they? Were they akuma? Of all the times he'd managed to see them, the little girl's eyes were often shadowed or blocked by something, and the man kept his eyes shadowed by his hat; his head was always tilted downwards. That made his assessment much harder.

Sometimes, it was one could tell whether someone was or wasn't an akuma based on their eyes. Though it wasn't guaranteed, an akuma's eyes often looked...dead or helpless or dull. Though this method of identifying wasn't always the best, as this observation could produce false positives, hence why research and observation is always used when attempting to identify akuma or innocence-like occurrences.

Unless you're Allen. Lucky bastard.

After a few blocks, Lavi noticed that they stopped appearing along the way, but he hadn't let up on their hastened walk until they finally arrived at the front of the school.

He sighed in resignation as he stared at the open gates of Kuoh Academy. He didn't even feel like bugging those stupid perverts anymore. Stupid possible akuma. He wanted to walk a hell of a lot more slowly to school, damn it!

"Do you really not like school that much?" Rias asked, slightly catching her breath. She didn't realize picking up the pace meant walking at the speed of light.

She gazed at him again, looking as if he had never broken a sweat. Though of course, that may just be the devil in him. Then again, she too is a devil, and she was feeling slightly winded.

"Ugh, no. Hate school, but I like the education. It's just...how the teachers teach can get so boring and lifeless, like they just don't care. It's disrespectful to the people that invented or furthered academia," Lavi replied, sneakily glancing around for one last good measure.

While Lavi did not notice the pair anymore, voices around them caught his attention instead. Lavi looked around and saw that students from all directions were staring at the two, muttering amongst themselves.

"They came to school together!"

"Wow, does that mean they're dating?"

"I can't believe it! Rias has betrayed us!"

"They're even holding hands!"

And true enough, Lavi looked down to his own hand which was still slightly tensed from gripping Rias's hand.

A blush washed over his face as he quickly released her from his grip, and he quickly looked away, muttering a quick sorry to the redhead behind him.

Rias, too, sported her own little blush, but still managed to push it away to regain her composure. Instead, she, once again like the many many times since she had awoken in his bed, up until now, found herself looking at him contemplatively. She found it admiring how he valued learning so much.

"Why do you value education so much?" she found herself asking.

"Because I'm a historian," Lavi replied, pointing his thumb at himself, looking at her and flashing a grin.

Rias blinked at his answer.

"Really? What kind of historian are you?"

Lavi winked at her, "Secret~~~."

He laughed, as he began walking away, leaving the red headed beauty behind in her stupor.

"H-hey! You can't seriously think I'll accept that answer!" she yelled, as she ran to catch up to him.

Riiiiiiiing!

Lavi groaned for the final time today. Finally! This substitute teacher was even more dreadful than his previous five classes combined! It was like he was memorizing everything from Giancoli's 6th edition textbook, and he was sure he did, because he even cited an answer page from the textbook after he finished solving a problem.

"Uuuuuu…" a groan echoed his way, and he turned to look back towards the noise.

'Huh, not even Rias got it,' he thought. That was how bad the teacher was.

Rias was, dare he say, cutely slumped over her desk. Her arms were extended over the desk, allowing her hands to dangle lifelessly over the edge. He was pretty sure he heard a snap from a camera somewhere.

"That bad, huh?" Lavi asked, as he walked up to her. She raised her head and groaned again, picking up her bag.

"I didn't understand anything! And then when he was showing us the integration, he had the audacity to tell us that 'we should know this already'. Clearly not!" Rias huffed.

"Who knew that the great Reese's Pieces' weakness was terrible teaching," Lavi snickered into his hand.

"No! He was just terrible!" she animatedly replied before her face contorted into one of confusion, "and did you just call me Reese's Pieces?"

"Good question," Lavi answered, shrugging his shoulders. "Anyways, let's go introduce me to your peerage."

The two began their trek to the old building, once again garnering attention from many of the students littering the halls and the walkways.

"Hey, are they...together?"

"Damn! Lucky bastard!"

"I even saw them walking to school with each other!"

"That's crazy! So they're, like, official?"

Lavi's eye was visibly twitching, as he listened to the downpour of comments, and felt the scrutinizing gaze of the student body. While it was surely a treat that he was under the company of such a beautiful girl, it was hard receiving all of this attention.

Usually, as exorcists, the only attention they got were from the drones of the Earl. This made Lavi wonder, though, if anyone here was an akuma. If only he could tell. Or if he could draw them out. After all, he hasn't been wearing his coat recently. Maybe when he had free time, he could just pick up the coat and draw out the akuma from the crowds.

He shook his head and removed those possibilities from his mind. He couldn't act upon the akuma in Kuoh unless they showed themselves first.

Lavi and Rias continued their walk in silence, with Lavi lost in contemplation, and Rias greeting many of the students politely.

While she was busy greeting students, Lavi glanced at the devil beside him and quietly sighed. He shouldn't get too attached. Sure, her brother asked him and Bookman to watch over her, but what happened earlier this morning breached many of the rules of distance Lavi would keep between himself and others. That was why he tried to avoid conversations with her, or kept their conversations to a minimal amount. She didn't need to learn about him, and he didn't need to instigate a reason for her to try to learn more about him.

Lavi sighed, more audibly this time, and she turned her attention from the students to him.

"Are you okay?" she asked, looking at him with concern.

"Just thinking about work that I'm procrastinating on…" Lavi replied. Speaking of Sirzechs, Lavi hasn't sent a report to him yet.

"Hum...if it's work that you need to catch up on, I can help you out! I can finally give Akeno a break in being my study buddy," Rias offered, before abruptly stopping.

"Sure, I'll think about it," Lavi replied with a smile, as he stopped beside her.

"We're here!" she said, standing in front of the old building, as if she were proudly displaying it.

Lavi looked at the old building once again, and gave it a much more scrutinizing look. Now that he was actually looking at it, it looked so out of place compared to the rest of the school. Nature had reclaimed some parts of the building, as vines grew past the first floor and up to the second floor windows. The white paint was slightly chipped and marred with green moss in multiple patches.

Rias walked to the front door and unlocked it before stepping inside.

"Yeah...I can see that," Lavi replied, as he returned his focus to the girl in front of him, and he followed after her. Their dampened sound of footsteps converted into echoes upon reaching the hardwood floor of the building. Lavi also studied the interior of this new territory as they walked through the hall. The inside reminded him of the many European homes he had been in while he was still stationed in Europe.

Upon reaching the sala of the building, he saw a group consisting of some of the people that he had recorded into one of his books. They were either busying themselves or relaxing.

'Makes sense that they would coagulate together,' Lavi thought. He came to the conclusion that there were two separate groups of devils in this school: one of them is right here, and the other is the Student Council. Which made sense, considering that the head of the Student Council was a member of the Shitori line.

On the couch, with recognizable silver hair and amber eyes, was Koneko Toujo, who was sitting comfortably and munching blissfully on a cookie. Though Lavi couldn't really tell with her usually stoic face.

To the side, leaning against a wall, was Yuuto Kiba, who seemed to be staring intently down to his phone.

And lastly, was Akeno Himejima, standing elegantly to the side, waiting for the two to arrive. She was the only one to acknowledge the presence of the two, as she nodded to Rias, and smiled at Lavi.

"Ahem!" Rias coughed, gathering everyone's attention. Though Akeno showed no motive to face her king, her ears were open, waiting intently to listen.

"I brought something," Rias announced, as she stepped to the side, fully revealing her guest to everyone.

"Oi. Did you just call me a 'something'?" Lavi's eye twitched.

His question went unanswered, as Rias introduced him.

"This, I'm sure you all know, is Lavi Deak. He is also a pure blooded devil. And he also already knew we were devils. Lavi, allow me to introduce to you my peerage," Rias said, gesturing to the people in the room.

Lavi nodded in response, though ideally, he felt that the introductions were already unnecessary. After all, he'd done his fair share of observations already. Though, it couldn't hurt to allow her to introduce them again, if not to be polite about it.

"The girl along side us is, as you already know, is Akeno Himejima. She's my Queen and my best friend. My right hand man of sorts," Rias said, as Akeno smiled at him.

"Ara ara, so you knew such a thing already, and you didn't bother to talk to me?" Akeno's voice came sweetly.

"Uhh…," Lavi looked at her sheepishly, "Sorry…?"

"It seems I have to...punish you for neglecting me. Ufufu," she giggled, eliciting a slight shiver down Lavi's back. Nope nope nope, he got bad vibes all of a sudden, no way was he continuing this conversation.

Akeno huffed in disappointment when Lavi outwardly did not react, and he turned his attention towards the other two members.

Rias continued, "The one sitting on the couch eating sweets is Koneko Toujo. She's my Rook..."

"Hello," came Koneko's monotonous and simple reply, disregarding him immediately and returning to her sweets.

"...and the one on his phone is Yuuto Kiba, my knight."

"Nice to formally meet you," Kiba greeted, before returning to his phone. He popped an earpiece into his ear, and Lavi could vaguely hear music playing.

"And that's my group," Rias concluded, rather proudly, and she automatically walked towards her desk, which was filled to the brim with papers and files. She leaned against her desk, looking at Lavi, "Any questions you may have about us?"

Lavi frowned, trailing behind, "What about Issei? You...did revive him, right?"

He leaned against the desk beside Rias, and he faced the center of the room. He wondered why he was absent from here. Surely he deduced that Rias would have saved him as well. If he didn't make it though...damn. Coming out last night would have been worthless.

"Yes, well," Rias began unsure of how to explain the situation without it coming off as a little bit...fucked up. Lavi turned his head to stare at her, and she continued, "I wasn't planning on telling him just yet. I have a feeling that he may still be targeted by them."

Lavi nodded in understanding, "Most likely by the fallen angels. They want to make sure that they finished the job, so they'll be looking for him, right? It'll also give you a chance to establish the fact that there might be more than one fallen angel in the area."

Rias looked at him brightly, "Y-Yes, that's just it. We've got reports of fallen angels pushing into our territory, and we're not sure how many there are. We're also not sure if their faction are finally making a move or not."

Lavi looked up contemplatively, reaching into his memory for something. Something…

"I highly doubt that's the case," Lavi said, his eyes settled on looking at Rias, "after all, the fallen angels have the lowest population number compared to the three factions. And many of their generals were killed during the Great War or after."

Akeno gazed at Lavi upon hearing that information, her head tilted slightly, as if urging him to continue with what he was saying.

"Most of their generals died during the Black Box Breaching, which was a fort by façade, but an incredibly secret strong hold underneath. The reason why they knew about it was because a devil defected information to one of the fallen angel's generals, though it was a double entendre in disguise. So when...uh…" Lavi's momentum slowly left, and he bowed his head to look at the ground. By then, everyone's attention was on him. Kiba had long removed the earpieces in his ear, and Koneko, though still munching on one of her many snacks, was facing him.

"Sorry," Lavi rubbed the back of his head, "I got carried away. Anyways! Yeah, point in case, these aren't the official actions of the Fallen Angels themselves."

"Ufufu," Akeno started, "not a big fan of attention?"

Lavi snapped up to look at her and shook his head vigorously, "No! No! It's not that, I was just starting to ramble, and I highly doubt you guys wanted a history lesson, ahah…."

Rias was impressed. She'd read through many textbooks that described that same event, though their descriptive attempts at recreating the battle was too far outshined by the oral encyclopedia before her.

"Where do you keep all of that information?" Kiba asked out of nowhere.

"In my head," Lavi said, tapping on his noggin, "I'm a historian, so I'm supposed to know these things."

"Ara ara, a historian? That's the first time I've ever heard someone refer to themselves as that," Akeno said.

"Yeah, well there's a first time for everything isn't there?" he shot back.

Jeeze, what's so hard about wrapping around the idea that someone is a historian? He wasn't the only one! The Bookmen were incredibly accurate and revered. There were also other famous historians, like Machiavelli, though he was more notorious, if not anything else. He read The Prince, and it was...objectively, a different perspective on how politics should run. Subjectively, he wasn't going to delve into that thought.

"You know how they say…" Rias started, her mouth opening as she began her next word, but no sound coming out. She opened her mouth and closed it, as if hesitant in saying something. She finally continued, "history is doomed to repeat itself?"

"I hear it almost every day, and you just gave me

my fill for that proverb," Lavi deadpanned.

"Well…" she struggled, trying to formulate her sentence without being too obvious about her situation. "Well, are there any stories about marriages…? Ones that fail or backfire?"

Akeno turned to look at her king, an eyebrow raising in curiosity.

Lavi looked at her inquiringly, and gazed into her eyes. A faint flicker of hope flashed for a split second, and he closed his eyes, trying to reach into the recesses of his mind for something that she may want to hear.

Grimly, he replied, "Many of them...end in tragedy."

He didn't open his eyes again, for fear of seeing her hope crashing down. Instead, he opted for the blackness of his eyelids.

"I-I see…" she sounded dejected. Lavi assumed that her question was correlated to her somehow. A forced marriage. It was sad, but it was the truth. Usually it was the unconsented who resorted to committing suicide or running away.

"I'm sorry," was all he could say, and he finally opened his eyes. To his surprise, Rias looked as composed as ever, leaning over her desk, and she looked through papers.

Suddenly…

"Issei's in trouble."

Power. That was all that he could feel coursing through his body, as he ran through Kuoh, the sky bleeding its infamous ombre of orange and blue when the sun sets.

Though, for Issei, he could hardly tell. Bright lights looked like an overexposed photo that was glaringly harsh to the eyes. Street lights began to flicker on and cars began to turn on their headlights in preparation for the evening. Each flicker of the light would nearly blind him and give him headaches.

Everywhere he went, it felt like he could see and hear everything. Sounds that he normally wouldn't be able to catch, like the buzzing of the flies by garbage bins a block away, or a conversation occuring in closed buildings.

He was confused, and...afraid. What was happening to him? What was...wait.

'How did I...get here?'

In all of his distracted running, he soon realized where he was at. This fateful location that started it all and made him skeptical towards reality.

'This park…? But how? It's a thirty minute walk from Matsuda's, and I got here in...five…'

Issei's head began to pound, as he felt his senses overload. He needed a breather.

Issei trudged over to one of the benches, and sat down, trying to calm himself. He inhaled and exhaled deeply, as he stared at the fountain. The sound of water rippling against itself soothed his nerves.

He was here again. He stared aimlessly at the space in front of him, remembering last night's haunting events. He stared at the spot where he could have sworn he died, and he could still see his body lifelessly lying there. He could still picture the hole in his stomach that was supposed to be there this morning, yet he found no trace of even a stitch. The only evidence he had was the traumatic memories of his then girlfriend and Lavi.

Lavi was there too.

Issei's eyes widened in realization. He was there! He should've looked for Lavi this morning! He would've been able to confirm whether last night's events were real or not.

Lavi would've been able to put his mind at ease. He couldn't get over it. Days' worth of memories were all just a figment of his imagination?

He sighed in frustration. He felt confused and afraid, and he wanted it to stop.

The heavy footsteps of boots hitting gravel broke him from his thoughts, and he saw a tall, suspicious man approaching. He wore a heavy trench coat, black gloves, and a fedora, and quite honestly, Issei thought that it was a bit too hot for someone to be dressing like that. He could still feel the radial warmth of the setting sun.

"Looks like you're all alone," the man said, stopping a few feet away from the resting boy. His fedora shadowed his eyes, and it made Issei uneasy.

Issei looked at him questioningly. Was that man talking to him?

"No master nor friends in sight," the man lifted his fedora, and his eyes carried a cold glint.

'Master?' Issei focused on that one word, wondering what he could possibly mean. He wasn't a slave, damn it!

"I think you got it wrong," Issei started, leaning forward in his seat, "no one is my master."

That was all that man needed to hear, before smirking.

"Then allow me to put you at rest," he extended his arm outwards, and the familiar hue of light glowed from his palm, "stray."

Issei's eyes widened in horror, as memories of last night came crashing down at him. The parallel between Yuuma and this man summoning that light…

"Oh shit!" Issei pounced from his seat and ran towards a thicket in the park. The trees became a blur of green and brown underneath a constant orange sky, but as quick as he was, the man, with his dreadful raven-like wings spread out, flying up above was easily pacing with him.

"Running won't do you any good stray!" he yelled, as he summoned a spear of light. The man took aim, and his eyes darted around the scared-shitless devil, trying to identify which position he should throw so that it would become a well-placed spear into the boy's heart.

'No sense in trying to waste more energy than necessary,' he thought.

The man smirked, and he finally launched his projectile. The spear of light, Issei saw, flew overhead, and for a split second, he thought the fallen angel had missed, and he began to speed up.

He had fallen into the fallen angel's trap. Speeding up caused him to meet the projectile at the exact point in the projectile's trajectory.

Once again, the spear of light embedded itself through his stomach, and Issei flew forward in its momentum. He felt like his body was on fire. Each ragged breath, each bloody cough, and each twitch of a muscle brought excruciating pain all over.

'This hurt more like a bitch than last time!' Issei thought, groaning in pain. It even hurt to be in pain.

"Does it hurt?" the man asked, swooping to the ground and onto his feet. He tauntingly began to walk towards the downed Issei, summoning another spear of light, "Light is like poison to your kind, after all."

Issei stared in horror as the man menacingly stood over his body, another damned spear of light raised over his head with the tip pointing down at him.

"You're going to die now."

Issei shut his eyes to wait for the inevitable, though he missed the reddish black orb nearly impact the maniacal man in the face.

Kaboom!

The shockwave of the explosion rocked his body, and pain surged through him once again.

'Damn! Just kill me already!' he thought, weakly opening his eyes. Black smoke fogged his eyes, and he felt hands grip both of his arms, and his body dragged against the ground. The friction irritated his back, though the pain dominated the feeling. He groaned in response, and he looked up to see a lone green eye and an eyepatch.

"You gotta stop coming to this park, dude," Lavi grunted as he dragged his body to safety.

"Rias! I got the package!" he yelled back amidst the smoke.

"Tcheh, so there's back up," the fallen angel's voice resounded through the smoke, "I'm not gonna lie, but you caught me by surprise. I'll show you how much of a mistake that was."

Lavi scanned his surroundings rapidly. He was in a compromising position, he was encumbered by Issei's weight, and the enemy was concealed in the smoke. Another reckless scenario. Lavi had to stop getting himself into these things.

A glowing red orbed whizzed through his head in response, ducking slightly to keep his head in tact. The orb rippled through the smoke, and the glowing mass left a tunnel of clear air. Lavi could see Rias and Akeno at the end of the tunnel, and he continued to make his way towards the two.

The sound of the orb impacting something, Lavi couldn't tell what, rocked the area again, and Issei groaned. Smoke filled in the clear tunnel, losing visual on his destination. At least he knew to just keep moving back.

Though he wasn't able to advance for long. Lavi saw a light clouded in the smoke that became a sharper and sharper blur, and he realized too little too late that the light was already headed towards him.

The spear embedded itself low into his stomach, missing Issei's head by a few mere inches. Blood spattered all over the ground and onto Issei's head, covering him in a mess of gore. Lavi dropped Issei in pain, and he keeled, his body shuddering as the poison of the devil burned his insides.

With the sound of wings flapping, the smoke dispersed, revealing Issei's attacker with his wings pulling through the motion of twisting around his body. His trench coat flowed as his wings returned laxly to his back, his feathers scattered to the ground, and he stared at the group of devils in front of him.

Rias and Akeno's eyes widened in panic when the smoke revealed an injured Lavi and Issei. They ran to them hastily, and crouched by their bodies. Akeno tended to the two down devild, while Rias glared up at the man, with anger prominent in her eyes. The man only smirked at the sad state of the group.

"That crimson hair...I didn't realize I was in the presence of a Gremory," he said, his tone laced with dismissal, as if he didn't care who she was.

She composed herself and stood up to face him, "That's right, fallen angel, Kuoh is under my jurisdiction."

"Do well to keep your pets on their leashes," he heeded haughtily, "or I might just think that they are strays, and I'll have to put them down."

Anger flashed in her eyes again as he spat down on her peerage, "And the same goes to you. If I catch you here again, I'll be sure to show no mercy to any of you fallen angels."

He gave Rias one last smirk before crouching, his wings spreading outwards, as he readied for his takeoff.

"Hope we do not meet again," he said, as he pushed himself off the ground, and took to the skies.

"Damn, I really need to stop coming to this park," Lavi said weakly, attempting to get up. Akeno held him comfortably in her grasp.

"Don't worry 'bout me," Lavi said, "I'm much more accustomed to light...than...he is…."

Lavi's eyes drooped, and his eyelids struggled to keep them open.

"Damn, Bookman's gonna be mad at me," he managed to utter as he fully succumbed to unconsciousness, leaning into Akeno's frame.

"Akeno, take Lavi home, and heal him. I'll take Issei back," Rias instructed, as she extended her hand outwards. An array of red lines formed the familiar Gremory pentagon on the ground, its red lights illuminated in the nearly bluish black sky.

"I've already set your destination for his place."

"Understood, my king," Akeno affirmed, as she gently looped Lavi's arm around her shoulder. She didn't want that light spear to touch her, nor did she want it jostling up his insides too much.

With careful steps, she stepped into the center of the pentagram, and it flashed brightly before sending them off.

"My turn," Rias said, as she picked up Issei's limp form. She found that he was light. Had no muscle mass, and relatively lanky. She had a long way to go before she could prepare him for her plan against Riser. Hopefully, it would be enough.

Chapter 4 done, and I will not lie, it was pretty hard to write. My dialoguing between characters suck, and I've read a couple of fanfics where they were IMMACULATE AF. So if anyone has any criticisms for me in regards to my narration, pls do not hesitate to DM me or leave a review. See y'all in four years.