. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"It's been nearly a week."

"I know."

"And he still hasn't turned up."

"I know."

"Why hasn't he turned up yet?"

"I don't know."

Rias threw her arms up theatrically as she leant back in her chair. "Bah! This is so frustrating!"

Akeno couldn't help but smile at Rias' theatrics at not being able to answer a question she really wanted to. It was just the two of them in their clubroom; Kiba and Koneko had yet to make their way from class.

"I understand your frustration but, unless you're going to confront him about the picture yourself, there's not a lot you can do until he comes looking for it."

Rias scowled at Akeno's response and crossed her arms under her chest.

"I can't just walk up to him and demand to know why he possess a drawing that gives off a magical aura I've never sensed before. If he was magical in any sense then I may have done so already; but we've already tested whether he has magical power…and what did we find?"

The question was rhetorical but Akeno answered it anyway.

"Nothing."

"Nothing," Rias mimicked with a heavy sigh.

Akeno thought back to a few days ago when Rias decided she needed to know for certain whether Tennyson actually had magic within him, sending out Kiba and Koneko to tail him for a day to get as close as they could whilst hiding their efforts from him. After a whole day of tailing and watching him, the two of them had come back with nothing of magical value. In between classes, Tennyson tended to keep to himself, only speaking with a female student during lunchtime where the two of them hung out at the edge of the plaza, lost in their own conversation.

Even after school, Kiba had followed him back to his house, making sure to give off enough of a magical presence that anyone with even the slightest magic in them would've been able to sense him. Yet, despite this risky method, Tennyson didn't notice him at all, not even when Kiba was right outside his house.

"There wasn't a single trace of magic on him or any of his family," Rias added with equal frustration as from when she first learned the fact.

An idea came to Akeno that, while already guessing the answer, she ran by Rias all the same.

"Well, if you don't want to wait for him to come to us, couldn't you ask your parents or Sirzechs what they think of the image?"

Rias shook her head. "I might have done if this whole 'Riser' issue wasn't going on. Until it is, though, I'm not going to bother them with something I can handle on my own."

"If you say so," Akeno sighed, marvelling, not for the first time, how stubborn Rias could get at times.

"Does that mean you're okay with waiting until Tennyson figures out we've got the drawing and comes for it?" she added, bringing them back to the issue at hand.

Rias scowled again as she thought about it. She felt her breast pocket where the paper which started this whole mystery. She kept it close to her, ensuring she would be the one to return it where she may finally get some answers. She took it out, unfolded it, and looked at the image again. She had done this several times over the course of the week, each time she did it she felt the strange aura emitting from it get stronger. It was only yesterday that she finally figured out what was bothering her so much about it.

It felt wrong.

She couldn't describe it any other way. 'Wrong' was the only way she could describe what she felt about the image when she looked at it.

Could she afford to sit by and wait for him to come to her when he'd had all week to do so?

One last glance at the image before returning it to her shirt pocket gave her the answer.

"No, we've given him enough time to find us. It's our turn now. We can't wait for answers any longer."

. . . . .

"Wow, you've had such an amazing life!" Julie exclaimed as she leant forward on the bench she sat on, resting her elbows on her knees while resting her chin in her hands staring at Ben who sat beside her on the other side of the small bench.

The past week had gone by so quick it felt like a blur in Ben's mind as he looked back at Julie who had listened intently as he told her how he ended up moving to Kuoh and attending the academy. He'd been reluctant at first when she introduced herself to him at the end of his first day. As he thought back to their first meeting, he struggled to recall why he was in the corridor in the first place as it was on the completely opposite side of the school where the entrance was.

Whatever reason he had for being there, it didn't matter. Because of it, Ben had met Julie, the person who made his first week at Kuoh bearable. Unlike the headmistress' 'tour', Julie had taken the time to give him a proper tour of the school grounds, showing him everything that the school had and actually explaining things to him in what it means to go to a school in Japan and how it differed from his previous experiences.

It was because of this that Julie had shown her interest in hearing about his time in Bellwood, listening intently at his stories. Ben was amazed with how little they'd spent together at school before he considered Julie a friend who he could chat to with most things. Over the course of the last week they had talked about lots of things with her asking him questions about life outside of Japan and her then explaining to him what it was really like to live in Japan. He was curious as to the level of interest she had in his time living in the US before learning that, like most other Japanese students, Julie admitted to being quite ignorant when it came to knowledge of things Western and absorbed everything he told her.

"You think so?" he asked, referring to her previous comment. "I just went wherever my dad's job took him. Our family has always stuck together; wherever he had to go, we went with him."

"That's what makes it so interesting," Julie replied with a smile before nodding to the students mingling around the plaza. "A lot of students here have parents who work abroad, leaving them behind and only returning every on now and then to see them."

"Really?" Ben asked, glancing at the students lost in their different conversations. Was his family the strange one? He couldn't imagine either of his parents leaving home for months on end, the only way they could talk being through a phone.

"Wow, I guess that makes me very lucky, huh."

"It sure does," Julie mused in agreement.

Their conversation was stopped momentarily when they spotted Matsuda and Motohama running across the plaza, a group of female students wielding wooden swords chasing after them and shouting at them. He could make out the word "pervert" being thrown at them and quickly deduced what the two had done to lead to them being chased like they were. It seemed they lived to their titles as Kuoh's 'Perverted duo'. If he hadn't learned what they were like on his first day at Kuoh, it certainly didn't take him a whole week before he understood exactly what kind of people those two were, thanking his luck again for not sitting anywhere near them in class.

"You'd think they'd learn by now," Julie said, sneering in their fleeing direction.

"I'm starting to doubt they're smart enough to understand why they're hated by all the girls here. If they weren't so perverted and acted a little more mature, maybe it'd be different. I mean, look at Kiba. He's constantly surrounded by girls."

A chorus of female voice to his side attracted Ben's attention. He looked to his right to see a group of girls approaching…or rather, they were following the guy who was walking towards them.

"Oh, speak of the devil," Ben mused as he watched the guy he was just talking about approach him.

Looking at the approaching students, Ben didn't spot Julie's neck snapping back to follow where he was looking.

When he finally reached them, the girls following him having stopped a few feet behind him, he stopped in front of Ben and, smiling warmly, bowed his head slightly in greeting.

"Good afternoon," Kiba stated kindly before extending his hand. "My name is Kiba Yuuto. I don't believe we've met yet."

Ben took his hand and shook it. "Ben Tennyson. No, we haven't met yet but you've got quite the reputation around her."

Kiba chuckled politely and withdrew his hand after their handshake ended. "I've been asked to pass a message for you from the president of the Occult Research Club, Rias Gremory."

Ben looked up at Kiba with confusion. He had heard the name Rias Gremory mentioned a few times around the school yet he couldn't put a face to the name.

"What could the Occult Research Club president want with me?" he asked, vocalising his confusion as he leant back against the bench's back.

"She requests that you come to the clubroom at the end of the day if possible. She has something of yours that she would like to return," Kiba explained to him.

Kiba's response may have answered his question as to why he was being requested, yet it also raised another, rather important, question: what had he lost that she had found for him? He couldn't think of anything he was missing from his schoolbag.

"Uh, I guess I can head to your clubroom." He abruptly remembered something. "Oh, I can't come today unfortunately. I've got plans with my parents after school. I can go on Monday, though, if that's alright?"

By the expression on Kiba's face, it wasn't the answer he was looking for. The expression quickly disappeared though, replaced by a smile again as he nodded his head slightly in acknowledgement.

"I'll let the president know then. Thank you for hearing me out. We'll see you on Monday," Kiba stated before turning away from Ben and heading off into the school, the group of girls quickly following after him. As they left he heard several of them whispering about him, mainly discussing how rude he was for not meeting with Rias straight away when she asked to see him.

He simply sighed at the gossip glanced up at the clear sky as he, again, tried to think about what he could have possibly lost that this Rias Gremory had found for him.

"What did you mean before?"

Ben jumped a little as he remembered Julie sitting next to him, staring at him with a weird expression on her face.

"What?" Ben replied with confusion.

"Before, when you said, "speak of the devil" when Kiba showed up," she clarified for him.

"Oh, that. That's just an expression. "Speak of the Devil and he shall appear." It's something people say when the person they're talking about turns up unexpectedly," Ben explained for her. He had forgotten that most phrases he uses may be unusual and might not translate well to Japanese.

"Oh," Julie replied simply before staring down at her shoes for a few seconds before speaking again. "If you don't mind me asking; what plans did you have with your parents?"

"Ah, my mum wanted to celebrate my dad finishing his first week at his new job and my first week at my new school. She ordered me to head straight home after school was finished and help her out before dad gets back," Ben revealed, a little embarrassed at how his mother acted sometimes.

"I understand," Julie replied. She then looked like she wanted to say something else but appeared unable to. He caught sight of the early stages of a blush on her cheeks before she lowered her head and fidgeted in her seat, her legs crossing and uncrossing.

"What's wrong?" he asked her, unsure of what brought on her sudden change.

"Um, I uh, I was just wondering if you were doing anything Saturday," she mumbled under her breath, fighting through a wall of embarrassment.

Ben thought for a second before replying. "Nothing really, why?"

"I-I was wondering if you'd like to meet up somewhere in town. It's my last day guiding you around the school and I was thinking that I could do something more to help. If you don't want to, though, I understand."

"Hey, come on, now. Don't be like that. We can still hang out if you want. In fact, I wouldn't mind taking you up on your offer. I've only explored a little of Kuoh and could do with another tour. One of yours to be specific; who knows where I'd end up if I asked the headmistress?" Ben stated, chuckling a little to lighten the awkward mood between them.

His plan appeared to work as Julie also chuckled at his bad attempt at humour. "Ufufufu. Where should we meet up tomorrow?"

"How about in front of the bus station? I think I can find my way there without any issues," Ben stated just as the bell signifying the end of lunch started ringing.

"Alright then, I can't wait. I've got some council work I need to do before I leave today so I'll see you Saturday?"

"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow, around midday," Ben stated as he slung his school bag across his back, waved a final goodbye to Julie as he headed back into the school towards his classroom.

. . . . .

Tennyson household

(That evening)

Sandra Tennyson had really outdone herself with the celebratory meal that she had prepared for them. She wasn't kidding when she told Ben before he went to school that day that she needed his help as soon as school was over. As soon as he came home, he was immediately pressed into service by his mother who was fully in her 'demon' work-mode; a term that his dad had told him about after making him swear never to let his mother hear him call her that. She had earned this title, he had been told, because of how she could get when she really concentrated on a task. His dad even admitted that she had lost some of her previous intensity in recent days, something which only made Ben feel all the sorrier for her work colleagues.

As soon he had returned home, he had been put to work immediately in assisting his mother while she made the finishing touches to the meal for the Tennyson patriarch's return. She dealt with the cooking in the kitchen while Ben was put to work with doing the various other jobs she wanted done around the house. While he would've helped out in the kitchen, his mother had kindly rejected his help when he offered. The reason for this decision stemmed from the simple fact that Ben had absolutely no cooking skills…like none whatsoever. He had tried, on multiple occasions, to get better at cooking but everything always seemed to go wrong for him and he couldn't cook more than an omelette…and even that wasn't without its issues the first few times he tried.

Almost as soon as Ben's dad finally came home, Sandra was just about finished with her creation and the three of them soon found themselves sat around the dining table and digging into the feast before them.

Ben dug into the meal while he listened to his dad, sat beside him, tell them about his day at work, answering the questions that his mum asked him every now and then through his recollection.

He was brought out of his thoughts when his dad had finished talking about his own day and turned towards his son.

"So, Ben, how was your first week at your new school?" he asked him with interest.

"It was interesting," Ben admitted with a shrug of his shoulders. "I mean, aside from a few differences, it's pretty much the same as my last school."

"Did you make any new friends?"

"No…well, I don't know, actually," Ben replied as he leant back in his chair to look at his parents. "I had someone acting as my guide this week who showed me around the school grounds and helped me adjust to attending a Japanese school. I don't really know anything about them really but we got along well and I found they were easy to talk to. I'm actually meeting them tomorrow so I can get a tour of the town."

"What a wonderful idea!" his mother exclaimed, glad that Ben appeared to have made a friend so quickly. "What a thoughtful boy he is to help out a new student like that."

"It's a girl actually," Ben corrected her without thinking, missing the look that crossed his parents faces.

"Ooh, is that so?" his dad mused teasingly, nudging Ben with his elbow.

"It only been a week and he's already got a date," his mum sighed theatrically, shaking her head disbelievingly. "You really are your father's son."

"It's not like that," Ben stated firmly, instantly regretting saying what he just said, his cheeks reddening slightly at his parent's antics.

"Whatever you say, kid," his dad replied in a manner that told Ben that he didn't believe him.

While his dad appeared to have the decency to pretend to hear what Ben was trying to tell them, his mum chose to outright ignore his plea.

"You're growing up so fast," she sniffled, pretending to wipe a tear from the corner of her eye. "It feels like it was only yesterday that you were my precious little boy."

"For crying out loud!" Ben grumbled as he pushed away his empty plate and stood up. "I'll be in my room."

"Probably for the best, Ben. You don't want to late for your date tomorrow!" his dad called after him as he reached the staircase leading upstairs.

"I'm not listening!" Ben shouted back, hurrying up the stairs before either his mum or dad said anything else embarrassing.

'Why did I say anything? They're never going to drop this now?' he thought to himself, annoyed at himself for his carelessness as he closed his bedroom door, almost certain he could hear his parents laughing at his expense from downstairs.

. . . . .

Kuoh bus station, the next day

It was a beautiful Saturday morning Ben thought as he stood just outside the bus station where he had agreed to meet up with Julie before they made their way into town.

As he leant against a wall, hiding in the shade from the blazing sun above him, he gave himself another quick check, straightening out the green jacket he now wore. Forgoing his uniform as it was the weekend, as well as the jacket, he also wore a plain black shirt with blue jeans and a pair of black and white trainers.

It wasn't much but Ben wasn't one for flashy clothes. He preferred comfort over flashy, designer clothes.

The conversation he had with his parents the night before suddenly played out in his mind and he shook his head in an attempt to stop hearing their voices.

'Why am I acting like this? It's not a date! I've got nothing to be nervous about' Ben mused internally as he stopped checking himself out and pushed off of the wall.

The gentle breeze blowing through suddenly picked up abruptly for a second and a piece of paper flew into Ben's face, taking him completely by surprise.

"What the shit?!" he gaped as he reached up and pulled the paper away from his face. He looked down at what had just struck him and examined it.

It was flyer, that much was clear from its design, but he had no clue what it was trying to advertise. Etched into it, taking up most of the flyer, was an intricately drawn red circle with strange language he had never seen before scrawled within its lines and patterns. The only other words he could see, written in Japanese this time, were scrawled underneath the circle.

We grant your wish

"The fuck?" he muttered as he looked down at the strange flyer. He flipped it over briefly to see if there was anything written on the back to explain what it was but was only met by a blank.

"What is this trying to sell?" he muttered to himself as he flipped it back. He stared at it for a few seconds but nothing new came to him.

'Must be a dud,' he thought as he scrunched up the paper in his hands and looked around for a bin to chuck it in.

"Hey there, Ben," a voice called out behind him.

Ben turned around, stuffing the crumpled flyer in his jacket pocket as he did so, and saw Julie approaching him.

"Hey," he replied with a friendly wave as he saw what she was wearing for their day out together, a bright pink jacket that covered the plain black shirt she wore underneath. Accompanying this, she wore a white miniskirt and a pair of white tennis shoes. "You look nice."

Julie brushed a lock of hair back behind her left ear while her cheeks reddened slightly at his comment.

"Thanks. You look nice too," she replied shyly. "I didn't keep you waiting long, did I?"

"Nah, it's fine. I came here a little early anyway because it was a nice day," Ben replied, waving off her concern.

"That's good," Julie sighed in relief.

"So, where should we go first?" Ben asked, looking around at the different buildings around them and the throng of people milling around to their various destinations.

"Uh…," Julie trailed off, staring at Ben as her cheeks reddened further and forced her head downwards in embarrassment.

"What's wrong?" Ben asked, confused by her strange reaction.

"I've…uh…I've got a confession to make…," she admitted, unable to raise her head to meet his gaze. "I kinda forgot to come up with a plan for today. I was just so glad when you said you'd meet me here today."

Ben couldn't help but chuckle at Julie's revelation. At the sound of his laughter, Julie looked up at him with a slight glare for laughing at her. However, this didn't last long and she soon found herself joining in with him and giggling at her mistake.

"Not to worry, we can still have fun today," Ben stated as he recovered from his brief bout of chuckling. He quickly glanced down at his watch, noting the time.

"It's just gone past midday. I haven't eaten yet, have you?" he asked her with a smile.

Julie shook her head slightly.

"Not yet," she replied quietly.

"Well, why don't we start off our day with stopping off somewhere and having something to eat?" he suggested.

"Sounds like a good idea," Julie agreed with a smile and small nod of her head.

"Great. I saw a place that looks good on the way here. Why don't we try that?" Ben suggested, indicating the street behind him where he had come from. Julie agreed to his plan and followed beside him as he headed back down the street in search of the small restaurant he had passed when he arrived.

They found it pretty quickly and went inside, Ben holding the door open for Julie as she entered, finding an empty table by the window and sitting down opposite each other. After they gave their drink order to the waitress who came to serve them, they had a glance through the menus lying on the table. As he looked through it, he was pleasantly surprised to see a few special items on it that he never thought he'd see again when he left America; smoothies and chilli fries. They were, hands down, his favourite food and drink and had been ever since he was first introduced to them while on a RV trip with his grandpa a few years ago while they were living in Bellwood.

After placing their orders, they spent their waiting time drinking their chosen drinks and chatting, mainly about school and questions each of them had about homework they'd been given for the weekend. Their chat eventually ended up with Ben telling Julie more about his life. He had no idea how he was able to be so open with her; he had never opened up this much to anyone other than his family yet, for some reason, he felt like he could tell her anything.

Their brief conversation was put on pause when their food orders had finally arrived. Ben had, of course, chosen a portion of chilli fries for his lunch while Julie had opted for a small burger as her choice.

They thanked the waitress for bringing their meals and slowly began to dig in. As it was only midday and they expected to be walking around for a few hours, they didn't want to fill themselves up on food before they even started.

"So what was it you ordered again?" Julie asked as she tucked into her burger.

Ben swallowed the mouthful he had before answering her.

"Chilli fries," he declared plainly, taking a large sip from his smoothie. "I've loved them since I was about ten years old, not long after I started living in Bellwood."

"Are they good?" she asked curiously, looking down at the plate before him.

"They're delicious. Want to try some?" he asked, pushing the plate towards her a little.

"Are you sure?" she asked tentatively. When he nodded at her in invitation, she took some from his plate and ate it. She chewed it for a while as she took in its unique combination of tastes before her face changed from a look of curiosity to one of poorly hidden distaste and quickly took a large gulp of her drink to wash away the taste.

"They're not for everyone though I guess," Ben sighed with some disappointment in his voice, a little put down that she had reacted that way to his favourite food. The two of them went back to their own meal and continued chatting, putting the chilli fries incident behind them.

. . . . .

(Sometime later)

Once they were finally finished with their meals, they paid for their food, thanked the waitress again for the service and left the restaurant in good spirits, heading off in a random direction. While they had brought the subject up again during their meal, they still hadn't come up with a plan as to how Julie would show him what Kuoh had to offer. Instead, they came up with a simple remedy for their little problem, and that was to just walk around town and see the sights with Julie pointing out anything of interest on their walk.

This proved to be the best idea for them as they slowly made their way around town with no destination in mind. They quickly lost track of time as they walked together, lost in conversation except for times where they would reach a place of interest where Julie would then start giving a detailed background of the building or site, regaling him with interesting facts about each place they came across.

Before they knew it, the sun had already started to set on them when they found themselves walking through Kuoh park, the huge enclosure that encompassed a great deal of the centre of Kuoh, filled vast areas of grass and trees as well as a large, ornate fountain that they were currently walking towards.

They stopped when they reached the fountain and Ben simply stood and watched the cascade of water spurt out of the intricately carved statues residing in the fountain's centre. He found the sight oddly tranquil and became lost in the simple action of the water display before him.

He didn't have a clue how long he'd been staring at the fountain, but he was brought out of it when Julie gently tugged on his jacket sleeve, attracting his attention. He turned his head to see her smiling warmly up at him.

"Thank you, Ben," she said timidly, her cheeks reddening ever so slightly.

"What for?" Ben asked as he turned to face her properly.

"For agreeing to spend the day with me today. It means a lot that you did that."

"Don't mention it," Ben waved her off with a smile of his own. "I had fun today. Thank you for inviting me out today. I learned a lot about this town and I reckon I can find my way around most of it now, and that's all thanks to you."

Julie blushed at this.

"D-Don't mention it," she mumbled cutely, hiding her face from him by looking towards the ground again. "It wasn't much."

"Don't belittle yourself. The council is lucky to have you," Ben told her kindly, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Thank you, Ben," she murmured so quietly that Ben almost missed it.

"Is there something I can do for you to say thanks for today?" Ben asked honestly. If there was something he could do for her to say thanks for what she did then he'd do it if he could.

"Well, there is something you could do…but only if you really want to," she conceded, shuffling her feet timidly and backing away a few steps from the fountain.

"If it's something I can do, I'll do it. Just tell me what you want," Ben told her as he turned around to face her.

Julie whispered something under her breath so quietly this time that he missed it entirely.

Ben leaned a little closer so as to hear her better.

"I didn't catch that. What did you say?" he asked, completely missing how the sun had departed behind the high buildings and how the darkness had begun to engulf the entire park.

Julie moved closer to him, raising her head and positioning her lips against his ear closely. Like the darkness, Ben completely missed the sinister, manic and sadistic smile now adorning her face, but he didn't miss the hostility nor the venom now in her voice.

"Would you please die for me?"

Time seemed to slow down to a crawl as his brain processed what he heard Julie say.

He must've misheard her. He must have; that was the only reasonable explanation.

'I must be imagining things,' he thought before he suddenly noticed how quiet the park had become and how deserted it was with the two of the being the only people around.

"I think I misheard you there. "What did you s–."

*THUNK!*

Ben was abruptly cut off from what he was trying to say when he felt something strike his chest with great force that caused him to grunt in shocked pain before he was knocked to the floor with such force that it caused him to hit the concrete pathway with the back of his head, dazing him.

"By the Dark God, that felt sooooo fucking good!"

It took Ben a few seconds before his dizziness ceased and his vision stopped spinning. When it did, he tried to pick himself up off the ground but found himself unable to move for two reasons. The first reason was the white-hot pain that abruptly coursed through his entire body and almost knocked him unconscious. He immediately started coughing, covering his mouth with his hand on instinct, and it was only after drawing his hand away to see the spatter of blood in his hand that he finally noticed the second reason he couldn't get up.

A large spear that seemed to be entirely made of light protruding from his stomach, pinning his body to the floor.

The sound of sadistic laughter attracted his diminishing attention and he looked up to see a figure floating above him – yes, floating. Julie had disappeared completely, having been replaced by a taller, attractive young woman with a slender body, silky black hair which came down to her curvaceous hips, a set of two black feathered wings and a pair of violet eyes which looked down on him with triumph in them.

While her physical appearance was incredibly striking, it was her attire that also drew the eye. It was composed of black, strap-like leather objects that secured around and under her large breasts, a thong-like piece of similar material which was held around her hips by three more thin straps, black gloves that ran up her arms, secured around her forearms with small lengths of chains dangling from them, shoulder guards with three large spikes protruding from them adorning her shoulders, and black thigh-high heel boots.

Ben coughed up more blood as the figure landed beside him and stood beside him, looking down at him while he got a view right up at her thong. If it weren't for the fact that he was coughing up blood and his stomach had just been impaled, he would have been reacting very differently to the sight before him, a sight which only got more intense when she crouched down so speak to him.

"Fucking hell, kid!" 'Julie' exclaimed with a manic grin on her face. "You no idea how hard it was to stay in character for so long! I almost lost it a few times today, just so I could get over this farce and deal with you sooner.

Ben may have answered her, had his mouth not been slowly filling up with blood that trickled out from the corner of his mouth. Instead, he slowly brought his left arm up and took a weak hold of the spear protruding out from him.

"I mean, fucking hell, kid! I didn't realise how tedious humans were, and your life was sooooo…fucking boring! I must commend myself on how well I was able to stay in cover with just listening to your bloody life story."

She pulled out a talisman from between her large breasts and examined it. Ben strained his eyes to look at it as well. He could vaguely make out that the jewel had lost its shine, as if it were empty or hollow.

"And this? I can't fucking believe how well this thing worked either. Those dumb fucking Gremory and Sitri bitches could sense me at all, nor their weak servants; not even when I right in front of them!"

Ben tried to fight through the pain and say something but found all he could do was cough violently. 'Julie' sneered and tilted his head away from her as he released the pool of blood in his mouth. Once he had finished his coughing fit, she turned his head back to look at her.

"You wanted to say something?" she scoffed, her smile broadening at the sight of him.

"W-w-w-why?" he gurgled as his mouth began to quickly fill up again.

"You want to know why I did this? Well, at first, it was because my master ordered me to kill you, and I will always carry out His will and do whatever He commands. After today, though, I would've gladly killed you even if nobody ordered me to."

Ben couldn't stop the tear that trickled down his cheek at her words. 'Julie' noticed this and captured the tear with her index finger, catching it midway down his cheek and sticking her finger in her mouth and chuckling sadistically.

"Ahh, what a delicacy. I'll be sure to remember this kill for a long time," she chortled venomously as she stood up and unfurled her black wings.

"See ya, kid," she laughed as she took off into the night sky and disappeared into the darkness. As soon as she disappeared out of sight, the pressure around the park seemed to instantly dissipate and the darkness became more…natural, if that made any sense.

"*cough* *cough* *cough*" Ben blurted out as more blood was projected out from his mouth as he felt his body start to die. He tried in vain to tug at the spear lodged in his intestines to no avail.

'This…fucking…hurts…so…much!'

As his strength continued to leave him, Ben found himself unable to lift his arm anymore and, unable to move his head anymore, felt his hand slide across his chest and fall to his side. As it slid off his chest, it dropped on the strange flyer that had fallen out of his jacket pocket and lay in his blood which continue to pool out of him, though he didn't register it from the loss of feeling in his arm.

As his number of breaths remaining dwindled, Ben could only look up at the darkening sky as his thoughts inadvertently turned to his family: his mother, his father and his sister. He was never going to see them again.

He didn't want to die! He wanted to live!

"Please *cough* *cough* help me! *cough* I don't *cough* want to die!" Ben pleaded desperately, his voice barely rising above a whisper. These were the last, blood-soaked words he uttered before his vision darkened and he lost consciousness.

. . . . .

As Ben lost consciousness, a crimson-red magic circle formed a few feet from his body and a bright red light suddenly illuminated the surrounding area of the park. From the centre of the circle, a female figure materialised from their teleportation spell, their back facing him.

The crimson-red hair which cascaded down the new arrival's back and stopping at her waist revealed her identity; Rias Gremory.

"I have answered your summons," she declared formally, placing her hands on her hips as she announced her arrival. Confusion adorned her face when she saw where she had been summoned and looked around the deserted park that seemed unnaturally quiet.

As she looked around to see who had summoned her, her defences were up in preparation for an attack. She considered teleporting away when nobody announced themselves but stopped when she looked behind her and saw the body of the boy who had been such a mystery to her.

The thing that stuck out to her at first glance was the Light spear that was protruding from his stomach, watching it as it vanished, leaving a gaping hole in his stomach. The blood that had been pooling around him had slowed down a lot, highlighting how close he was to death.

She scowled at what it meant seeing the Light spear. While technically both Angels and Fallen Angels could use Light weapons, Angels hadn't left Heaven for a long while and wouldn't bother coming to a small town like Kuoh. That meant only one thing; Fallen Angels were in her territory.

Anger brewed inside her, both at the notion that there were fallen angels wondering around freely in her territory, and that neither she nor Sona were able to sense them.

She knelt down by Ben's head and placed her hand on his shoulder as she felt his lifeforce diminish. She felt sorrow that he had been murdered in such a manner and left to die alone.

A thought crossed her mind as she looked down at Ben's bloody body.

'They must have killed him for a reason. What was it, though?' she wondered. From her investigation she had been led to conclude that Ben had nothing to do with the supernatural world.

Were they wrong? It was possible. If fallen angels were able to sneak around Kuoh completely undetected then it was possible that there was something about him they missed. Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do to find out now except for one thing and it caused her to hesitate.

Should she risk using one of her precious Evil Pieces to resurrect him? If she were wrong, she would've wasted a piece at a time when she couldn't afford to be wasteful.

She looked back down at Ben and, perhaps in a moment of weakness or instinct – she wasn't sure which – she made her decision.

"Don't worry. I'll grant your wish," she stated to his corpse as she prepared herself for the resurrection ritual she was about to perform.

"I will save you."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .