A/N: Hello everyone.
Welcome to the second 'short story' I've written. I say 'short' like this because, despite my intentions, I just couldn't stop writing this thing and it ended up over 10k words long before I knew it. It should help to make up for the long gap between my previous two chapters.
Before I go on, however, I'd like to give a shout out to some people first. As some of you may have noticed, I've FINALLY got a cover for my story and I hope you guys love it as much as I do. My first shout-out needs to go to Nivek Beldo for noticing my issue and asked an artist to come up with a design for a cover. This is where my second shout-out comes in. I'd like to thank the wonderful artist Lacie-buncat for her beautiful work. I highly recommend checking out some of her artwork on DeviantArt.
Moving on to the chapter. I won't spoil the story that it is based on (though I believe a few readers may already know) but I need to let you all know that it, of course, won't be the same as the cartoon version of the story. It'll have a combination of my own spin and a necessary DxD motif to it. I hope you enjoy it just as much as my beta reader and I did.
Enjoy!
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"That certainly was a story to remember," Akeno giggled as she recalled the small adventure they had of rescuing Ben when his Big Chill form had entered its reproductive cycle.
"Not really for me, though. I wasn't aware for any of it," Ben muttered in response. All he had to go on for what happened was from he was told by the others…and he didn't come out well for most of it.
"I'll remember it for years to come…," Akeno chuckled, smiling at Ben mischievously. "…especially the awkward conversation we had with Lord and Lady Gremory after it was over. Did you see their faces when they heard about how Ben is now a parent, and not to a child between him and Rias?"
Ben's face paled as he recalled the look on Zeoticus and Venelana's face when they thought he was cheating on their daughter to have children with an ice demon. They were ok with him having relationships with other girls that wasn't their daughter, but even they drew the limit at having flings with demons.
Thankfully, though, Rias came to his rescue and explained to them exactly what it meant for a Necrofriggian to reproduce, namely the asexual part. This seemed to be enough for them and they immediately returned to their usual, hospitable selves.
"I can't get over how cute those babies were," Asia cooed as the images of Ben's Necrofriggian offspring ran through her mind. "They were so adorable!"
"They were adorable, weren't they?" Rias stated as she, too, recalled the images in her mind. "I'm honoured that we got to see such a rare sight in the Underworld. We are the only beings alive in the supernatural world that have, as far as we know, been present to witness such a rare spectacle. Even my grandfather never got the chance to see it, no matter how hard he tried.
"It's almost enough for me to forgive the fact that you are now a parent without me," she added with a chilling smile in Ben's direction.
"B-But you remember what Azmuth said…," Ben retorted weakly as she slowly approached him. "…I had no control over it. It was all Big Chill's fault."
"I know. That's why I'm willing to overlook it," she stated as she sat down in his lap and held his face in her soft hands. "But just as long as you know that, in future, the next child you have must be with me! Understood?"
Ben only nodded at her question, not willing to risk saying anything in response to her rhetorical question in case she got angry again.
"Good boy," she said sweetly, squeezing his cheeks slightly as her smile became sweeter at his correct response. She then turned to look at the others. "Is that clear with everyone else?"
"You've got nothing to worry about with me," Kiba chuckled as he watched the scene with amusement.
"N-Nor me!" Gasper whined, hiding under his mask and drawing a deadpan expression from Ben.
"As long as he can give me a child after you, I don't mind waiting in line," Xenovia shrugged and continued staring out the window of the train car.
Koneko didn't say anything in response to Rias' question but nodded her head after a noticeable pause. Ben couldn't help but notice a reddish tint in the small Nekomata's cheeks as she gave her answer.
Asia looked ready to object to Rias' statement, but she was too sweet and innocent to say no to Rias' declaration despite it being clear she really wanted to.
Akeno didn't have this problem.
"I don't know if I can promise that, Rias," Akeno sighed theatrically, an evil smirk adorning her lips. "When I successfully seduce Ben and he conquers me, I won't be able to help it if I become pregnant. It would just mean we were destined to be together."
"Well that won't matter, will it? I'm never going to let you have Ben. I'm only willing to share Ben with Asia, but I'm still going to be his first," Rias retorted hotly, burying Ben's face in her chest as she glared at her queen and best friend.
"Changing the subject again," Ben gasped, removing his face from the erotic embrace and eager to avoid a full-on fight between Rias and Akeno in the restricted space of the train car. "Akeno, what was your favourite part about our trip?"
Akeno broke off from the staring contest between herself and Rias and tapped her chin thoughtfully as she thought back on their trip. Her eyes lit up as she thought of something.
"Well, sticking to the baby theme, I would have to say my favourite part was our little adventure with the fountain," she said, her familiar smirk reappearing on her face as Ben groaned again at her choice of memory.
. . . . . . . . . .
The Fountain of Youth
During the last few days before their return from the Underworld, the girls all decided to do something that Ben thought only human teenage girls did – have a girls-only day of fun and relaxation. A day which involved going into the nearest town and browsing through the various shops and trying on different outfits. Once they'd had their fill of this, they would then return to the Gremory manor and take advantage of the extensive spa and trying out the treatments on offer; for Asia and Xenovia, it would be their first time doing such carefree, girly things and they were looking forward to it.
While this was what the girls had in store for the day, the same couldn't be said for Ben, Kiba and Gasper who were told they had to do their own thing.
As this whole 'girls day out' thing came as a surprise to the boys, they had no idea what to do with themselves for the day and were preparing to do some more training. This wasn't something they were particularly looking forward to considering that that was all they had done for most of their trip already.
As they resigned themselves to training again, Ben thought back on his own training and remembered the mountain range he had fought Tannin on and suggested to Kiba and Gasper that they explore the place a bit more. He didn't get to see a lot of it in his short time there that wasn't running for his life.
While this, admittedly, wasn't as exciting as what the girls had planned, it was still better than simply training again, and they quickly agreed.
This whole chain of events was how they now found themselves looking down the huge hole that Ben had fallen down in his Humongosaur form.
"Impressive," Kiba said as he looked back at the destroyed landscape behind them which lead to the hole, visualising the battle that took place to create such abrupt change to the mountainside.
"Wow!" Gasper whispered in amazement as he looked down the hole into the dark abyss. "You really are amazing, Ben. I would never have been able to survive the training you had."
As he had shown them around his training grounds, Ben had also told them everything he had to endure for the sake of getting stronger.
"I certainly won't forget what I learned anytime soon," Ben replied as he clearly remembered everything he learned during his training. "In fact, I think it's been burned into my brain forever."
Kiba chuckled at this and looked back down the hole. As he did so, he suddenly noted a strange presence from somewhere in the hole.
"Do you feel that?" he asked as he knelt down near the edge of the hole. "That magical presence?"
"I didn't at first, but now you mention it…," Ben said as he copied Kiba and knelt down beside him. "…I do sense something. I don't know what it is though."
"I don't either," Gasper mumbled as he stepped back from the hole. "Should we leave it alone?"
"I don't know," Kiba replied as he stood back up. "It doesn't feel evil or dangerous, just…strong and unique."
"Hey, Azmuth. Ddraig," Ben called to his dragon companions. "Do either of you recognise this magical presence?"
[Can't say that I do, partner. I've never felt anything like it before,] Ddraig admitted with intrigue.
"What about you, Azmuth?"
[I…I don't know,] Azmuth replied after a short while. [I can tell it's old. Very old. It's strange that I don't recognise it though.]
"We should investigate it then," Ben declared, standing up and unfurling his wings. "This is what we're here for, isn't it? To do a bit of exploring?"
"I-I guess so," Gasper muttered as he unfurled his own wings, Kiba doing the same as they took to the air and slowly descended into the hole. Even though the hole was in complete darkness, they could still see clearly through their enhanced eyesight and reached the bottom without issue.
As Ben landed on the floor of the hole in the small crater he had made when he landed here in his huge Vaxasaurian form he extended his senses out to locate the strange magic's origin. He walked towards the edge of the hole where his senses guided him and found the opening of a tunnel that appeared to have been opened up when he was last here.
"This looks like it," he announced as Kiba and Gasper joined him at the start of the tunnel.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Gasper whined from Ben's left.
Ben chuckled and patted Gasper's head lightly. "Let's be honest, Gasper; you have bad feelings about nearly everything."
The young dhampir whined again but was unable to refute Ben's statement.
"Come on, let's check it out." He motioned with his hand and the trio entered the tunnel and followed the tunnel to find whatever it was they could sense.
As they made their way through the tunnel they didn't see any end to after a few minutes, but they could all feel the magical aura getting stronger the further they went which told them they were getting close now.
As they turned a corner in the tunnel they were greeted by another bend further ahead, but this time it was accompanied by an inviting light. Seeing the end of their journey in sight, Ben and Kiba hurried ahead, Gasper trailing behind them, and rounded the corner to see they were now entering a large spacious cavern which housed the source of the light.
"What the…?" Ben muttered as he looked at their discovery.
It was a pool of water. A small pool of crystal-clear water, bubbling away like a Jacuzzi though he couldn't feel any heat coming from it.
Whatever it was though, one thing was absolutely clear from the intense magical aura he felt all around him: this was the source they were looking for.
"What is it?" Kiba wondered as he circled the edge of the pool, examining their surroundings.
"I've got absolutely no idea," Ben replied as he gazed down at the somewhat hypnotic patterns in the strange 'water'.
"It's really pretty," Gasper observed with wonder and Ben couldn't help but agree with him.
"You're about that, Gasper. It is rather beautiful," he mused as he knelt on the rim of the pool and gazed into the water, unable to look away from it easily.
"Careful, Ben," Kiba warned, noting how close his friend was getting to the edge of the strange water. While he had no idea what it was, he was certain that it would be unwise to let their guard down around it. "We don't know what this thing is. We don't want you falling in."
"You've got a point. Who knows what'll happen if…," Ben began to say just as the earth he was kneeling on suddenly gave way without warning.
"Shit!" he exclaimed as he fell into the bubbling liquid. Gasper cried out in shock as Ben was submerged under the water while Kiba sprinted back around the rim of the liquid to where Ben had fallen in and had yet to re-emerge.
"Argh! What do we do?! What do we do?!" Gasper cried as Ben still hadn't surfaced from the water.
Kiba waited a few seconds before unbuckling his sword belt and throwing it behind him. "I'm going in after him," he declared which made Gasper cry out in shock and fear.
The Gremory knight took a deep breath and was just about to dive in after Ben when the surface of the water broke abruptly and an arm reached up and flailed around in its search for a solid object to grab hold of. Kiba immediately discarded his plan to dive in and, instead, reached down and took a firm hold of the arm and pulled hard. He was taken by surprise by how little resistance there was when he dragged Ben out of the water and it caused him to lose his balance and fall backward as Ben was pulled out of the water.
Kiba groans at the dull throb from the back of his head, pressing a hand against it as he sat up to see Ben.
"Aw, crap!" he cursed, his eyes widening at the small baby sitting on his lap, wearing a shirt that was much too big for it but still, undoubtedly, the same one Ben wore as he fell in.
Ben looked at up at Kiba and, for a moment, Kiba thought that Ben still retained his mind. That hope was dashed instantly when Ben began making baby noises and playing with Kiba's jacket.
"We've got to get you back to Rias. Maybe she'll know what to do," Kiba stated as he picked himself off the ground, holding baby Ben in his arms. "Come on, Gasper. Let's get out of here."
With that he unfurled his black, skeletal wings and took off back through the tunnel they had come down, Gasper following close behind him as they quickly returned back to the cavern and shot out of the hole and heading back to Gremory manor as quick as their wings would let them.
. . . . . . . . . .
Later, back at Gremory Manor
"He's sooooo cuuuuuttttteeee!"
'Well, that wasn't the reaction I was expecting,' Kiba thought as he showed the girls Ben's new infant form. As he and Gasper flew back to get Ben help, the Gremory knight's head had been filled with visions of all sorts of punishments Rias would make him endure for allowing Ben to end up as he had.
For Rias – and the others for that matter – to immediately throw themselves at Ben and fawn over him like how they were currently doing was not even a consideration he had.
"I can't believe how adorable he is!" Akeno cooed as she pinched one of baby Ben's chubby little cheeks.
"He looks just like he did in those pictures we saw," Asia exclaimed with delight, remembering the numerous pictures of Ben she was shown by Ben's mother.
"Seeing the pictures is one thing. To see him like this in person is completely different. I never imagined he was this cute!" Rias cooed as she took Ben in her arms and tickled his tummy and causing him to laugh.
This nearly sent her over the edge.
"By the four Satans! I don't think I handle how adorable he is!" she exclaimed and none of the girls found they could argue with that statement. Even Koneko was unable to stop herself from stroking his arm. It was almost too much for her when his tiny fingers wrapped around hers and a small blush formed in her cheeks.
As the girls continued to fawn over and coddle baby Ben, they failed to notice the doors behind them open with Sirzechs and Azazel to walk in, mid-conversation.
"We'll need to discuss that plan further with Beelzebub if we…," Sirzechs said, stopping mid-sentence when he spotted Rias with her back to him. "…oh, hello, Rias. I wasn't expecting to see you here. I thought you were still enjoying the spa."
"We were…but there was a change of plan," Rias explained, turning to face her brother so he saw baby Ben playing with strands of her crimson hair as she held him in her arms.
Everyone in the room could almost see Sirzechs' brain fall out of his head as he gawped at Rias with the infant in her arms with his jaw nearly touching the floor.
He stood there for a few seconds as he struggled to come to terms with what he was seeing.
"Well, I never thought I'd see the day when a Satan was completely lost for words," Azazel noted with amusement as he observed Sirzechs' gobsmacked expression. "I'll remember this moment forever. Oh, and congratulations on the baby, Rias; it's yours and Ben's I presume?"
"Well, actually…," Rias began before Sirzechs suddenly cut in, turning to glare at Azazel comically.
"Of course it's hers and Ben's!" he exclaimed, offended of the idea of any other answer. "What are you trying to insinuate about my precious baby sister?! Besides, Ben is the only one I allow to be so familiar with her after all."
"Excuse me! What do you mean you 'allow'?" Rias demanded indignantly but Sirzechs didn't hear her as he hurried over to Rias and hugged her tightly though taking great care not to harm the baby. Rias' face turned red with embarrassment as she spluttered demands for him to let her go, unable to push him off her as she still held baby Ben in her arms.
"I can't begin to tell you how happy I am for you!" Sirzechs told her as he held her. I knew I'd be an uncle, but I never believed it would be this soon! Ben must have better genes than I imagined!"
"Enough!" Rias tried again, elbowing Lucifer in the ribs which gave her a small opening to escape his hold which she took instantly, escaping his overly affectionate embrace. "Listen to me, Sirzechs! He isn't actually…."
"So, what'd you name him?" Sirzechs continued, completely ignoring what Rias was trying to tell him. "Am I going to blush?"
"What!? No! He's not called 'Sirzechs' you idiot. He's…."
"Aww, you didn't have to say it that hurtfully," Sirzechs whined, his shoulders drooping theatrically. "I was only wondering what…."
"He's Ben!" Rias exclaimed abruptly, cutting her brother off before he began spouting more nonsense again.
Sirzechs stared between her and Ben before crossing his arms across his chest and sulking childishly. "Huh, so naming him after me is stupid, but naming him after Ben is fine? Well, I guess he is the father after all so it's acceptable. Have mother and father seen him yet? Speaking of which, where is Ben? I want to congratulate him."
"He's here!" she declared, gesturing to the baby in her arms.
"No, I mean, where is Ben, the father of your child?" Sirzechs explained, frustrating Rias with his inability to listen sometimes whenever he gets excited about something.
"He's here!" she repeated, continuing before he could respond and say something else stupid and embarrassing. "Listen to me clearly, moron: This isn't mine and Ben's child! This IS Ben! He was turned into this somehow!"
'Ben and I haven't even done it yet,' Rias thought to herself. There was absolutely no way in existence she was going to tell her brother that, though.
Azazel, having been stood the side, enjoying the amusing conversation between the two Gremory siblings, quickly appeared at Sirzechs' side at Rias statement and inspected baby Ben with an inquisitive eye.
"Fascinating. So, this is actually Ben?" he mused as he examined baby Ben.
"Yes," Rias sighed with relief, happy that someone was actually listening to her, glancing towards Sirzechs with a pointed look on her face.
"Hey! Can you blame me for acting like that?" he asked, pouting.
"Yes! We only saw each other the other day…and I certainly wasn't pregnant then! Between then and now, when was I supposed to get pregnant, carry the baby, and then give birth?"
Sirzechs didn't answer and continued to sulk, earning another heavy sigh of exasperation from Rias.
"Hmm," Azazel mused to himself as he continued his examination, returning everyone's attention back to him.
"Have you found anything?" Rias asked anxiously. As much as she adored seeing and holding Ben in his current, infant form, she adored him even more back in his normal self. She wanted her old Ben back.
"Well, I can definitely sense some strange magic emanating off of him. What happened to make him this way? Was he attacked?"
"No, he wasn't attacked. He was…, what did you say happened to him, Kiba?" Rias asked, turning back to look at her knight.
Kiba stood forward, bowed his head slightly at Sirzechs and began to explain. "We were exploring a strange passageway we found in the area Ben trained with Tannin. At the end of the tunnel we found a small basin of strange liquid. It looked like water, but there was something…off about it, something magical that we had felt before. Ben knelt down to get a closer look at it but the ground he knelt on broke and he fell in. I pulled him out but, by then, he had already…."
"…transformed into this, correct?" Azazel finished for Kiba who nodded in confirmation. Finishing his examination, he stood up and hummed under his breath, holding his chin as he put together all he had learned.
"Well?" Rias asked as she held baby Ben close to her bosom.
"There are some spells and rituals that exist which can reverse someone's age, though they are temperamental and nowhere near as perfectly cast as this," Azazel explained to everyone assembled around him. "I can only come to the conclusion that, what you three boys found in that cavern, was the fountain of youth."
"The fountain of youth?!" everyone gasped in shock.
"But I thought that was just a myth," Rias said, remembering the tales she was told about the legendary fountain which could return anyone, even someone on the verge of death, back to when they were in their physical prime.
"I thought so, too," Sirzechs added in agreement, a serious expression on his face, as he came forward and stood beside the Fallen Angel Governor-General and looked down at baby Ben. "Are you sure?"
"I don't know what else it could be," Azazel replied with a shrug. "I've never seen ageing magic this perfect before. I've dabbled a bit at it myself a long time ago but I never got anywhere close to it being this perfect and natural."
"What do you mean?" Rias asked.
"Any spell that can do something like this always leaves a trace behind, something that can't be hidden and never disappears while it's active," Azazel explained.
"Then how come you could sense it?" Sirzechs wondered with curiosity.
"I think it's perhaps because it happened so recently. If my hypothesis is correct then…," he mused as he leaned forward and examined baby Ben again. "…yes, as I thought. That magical presence has diminished slightly."
"And what happens when it disappears completely?" Rias asked, dreading the answer to her question.
"I can only assume it'll leave the change permanent," Azazel deduced, causing a gasp of shock from everyone in the room.
"Are you saying that…?"
"Yes. Unless we do something quickly, the change will be irreversible and Ben will have reverted back to when he was a baby."
There was another gasp of shock at Azazel's bombshell before their conversation was interrupted by wailing as baby Ben began to cry.
"There, there, it's going to be alright," Rias cooed soothingly, gently rocking baby Ben in her arms. When that failed to work, she sat down on the sofa and ignored everyone else around as she fully concentrated on calming the baby in her arms down, gently shushing him and continuing to rock him gently.
"We're very lucky that that is all we have to worry about," Azazel mused as a thought occurred to him. "If he'd been pulled out of the fountain any later and he could have been unborn, literally reverted back to before he was born. As I said, it's an incredibly powerful artefact that's meant to be used on creatures hundreds, if not thousands, of years old! Not a child who hasn't even turned twenty yet!"
"There's got to be something we can do, right?" Asia asked hopefully. She was willing to do whatever it took to help Ben, no matter the cost. It wasn't simply because he would be a baby (she loved him no matter what he looked like), it was because of what it would do to Ben and his family. How could they explain to Ben's parents that their son was a baby again?
"One idea does come to mind that could help us and return Ben back to normal but, of course, there's a chance it might not work," Azazel mused as he slowly paced back and forth, deep in thought.
"I don't care," Rias stated firmly from where she sat on the sofa. She was still cradling baby Ben in her arms and had managed to get him to go back to sleep by letting him use her index finger as a dummy. "I'm willing to do whatever it takes to help Ben. What do we have to do?"
Azazel stopped pacing and turned to face her as he answered. "We have to destroy the fountain. If we destroy the source of its magic before the spell is made permanent then there is a chance that its effects will disappear and Ben will return to normal."
"How long do we have?"
"A few hours, maybe less. It's impossible to be exact with this kind of magic."
"Well then, let's get going," Rias declared as she rose out of her seat.
"It's not quite that easy," Azazel warned, glancing over at Sirzechs who looked confused for a second before his eyes widened slightly in understanding.
"What are you talking about?" Rias demanded, unable to fathom any obstacle that could stop them in bringing her Ben back to her.
"The fountain of youth is an incredibly old and legendary relic. Under Devil law, a relic of such cultural and magical significance belongs to the Crown and is to be managed and protected at all costs by the noble who controls the territory the relic was rediscovered in."
"What does that mean?" Asia asked, confused by what was said and how dejected Rias looked at Sirzechs' response.
"It means that something as important as the Fountain of Youth needs to be protected and it's illegal for us to simply destroy it," Akeno answered, a similar, dejected, look to Rias on her face.
"Under normal circumstances," Sirzechs added, a sudden idea popping into his head. Rias and the others all looked at him hopefully. "There is a way around it. The Crown can relinquish control of the relic and hand ownership over to the noble whose land it falls under."
"I can handle the crown side of the problem but you'll need to handle the other side."
"You mean…?" Rias began to ask before Sirzechs cut her off.
"Yes, you'll have to speak to father."
. . . . . . . . . .
"So, let me get this straight…," Zeoticus began as he digested the fantastical tale that his daughter had just told him.
The two of them (three if you counted the infant Ben in Rias' arms and sucking on her finger again) were currently in his office where he was sat behind his desk, having been busy going through the mountain of paperwork he needed to get through before Rias had burst into the office, startling him; firstly from her abrupt appearance, and secondly, from the child fast asleep in her arms. Before he could ask anything about it though, she pre-empted him and sat down in the chair opposite him before telling him everything that had happened to Ben as well as everything that had been discussed with Sirzechs and Azazel.
"…you're telling me that some of your peerage members discovered the fabled Fountain of Youth. Ben got too close and fell into it, turning him into this state." He gestured towards Ben with a wave of his hand. "And this change will be permanent unless the source of the magic is destroyed; the source being the fountain itself, correct?"
"Yes," Rias responded urgently, not wanting to think about how little time Ben had.
"And this is the Fountain of Youth? The long-lost relic which would grant the Gremory family great prestige amongst the other noble families, more so given that Sirzechs has relinquished the Crown's right to it?"
"Yes!"
"Well…, that's certainly a story for the ages," Zeoticus mused as he leant back in his chair. "You know, I'd be a fool to not consider myself incredibly fortunate. A legendary relic suddenly dropped into my lap and I have complete control over it. If I were any other noble devil, I'd seize control of the fountain and protect it fiercely, using it however I saw fit, and simply just have Ben make up for the years he lost. Now that he's a devil, the years will pass in the blink of an eye."
Rias didn't say anything but stared at her father with a fearful expression on her face. Was her father about to prevent her from saving Ben?
"However…," Zeoticus added, the corner of his mouth turning upwards slightly as he smiled. "I'm not 'any other devil'. Ben has already done so much for our family that it would be unthinkable to simply abandon him for vain glory.
"And regardless of that If Ben stays like this then it'll cause trouble for you in the human world and for Ben's family. I really enjoyed meeting his mother and father and getting to know them better. They are such wonderful people."
"Does that mean?"
"Yes, Rias. If you believe that this will return Ben to normal then you have my permission, as the head of the House of Gremory, to destroy the fountain. The Underworld will hardly miss what it already considered a myth, will it?"
Rias let out the sigh of relief she didn't realise she was holding as she heard the good news.
"Thank you, father," she thanked as she rose out of her seat.
"Well, we can't really train him to be the next Lord Gremory if he's a baby, can we?" Zeoticus stated with a smile.
As Rias turned to leave his office, he called out to her.
"By the way, Rias. You look so natural holding Ben there. I have no doubt you'll be a wonderful mother when the time comes."
Rias tried to hide the small blush which crept up onto her face but failed, instead opting to leave the room before her father noticed and returned to her peerage who had been waiting for her at the end of the corridor. By the time she reached them, she'd gotten her blush under control.
As she reached them, they turned to look at her expectantly and sighed a similar sigh to her own, mere moments ago, when she smiled at them.
"So what's the plan?" Akeno inquired, eager to head off as quickly as possible.
"I want you to take everyone and head back to where Ben, Kiba and Gasper found the fountain. Once there, I want you to destroy it. Blow it up with magic if you have to."
"Aren't you coming with us? Your destruction magic would be really useful," the Gremory queen asked with confusion.
"I would, but I don't want to leave Ben on his own," Rias admitted as she looked down at the child in her arms who had woken up from his sleep and was staring up at everyone around him with curiosity in his eyes.
"You won't have to," a voice called out from behind Rias. Turning around, she saw that it was her mother walking towards them, flanked by two Gremory maids who stood silent behind their mistress.
"Mother? How did you…?" Rias began but her mother beat her to it.
"I passed Sirzechs and Azazel as they were leaving and they told me what was happening. I can look after him while you're gone. He'll be safe with me."
"Are you sure?"
"Rias, dear. You do realise I've actually raised children before, right?" Venelana retorted, enjoying the embarrassed look on her daughter's face and held out her hands. "He'll be perfectly safe with me. He is my future son-in-law after all."
Rias looked down at baby Ben's sleeping face once more before reluctantly passing him over to Venelana. He struggled and whined in protest as he left Rias' arms and was passed over before slowly settling down in Venelana's motherly arms and calming down again.
"There we go. Now off you go and do what you have to do," she ordered, gesturing for them to go with a nod of her head.
Rias softly stroked Ben's cheek which caused him to smile and giggle lightly at her. She took in one last image of him like this that she would cherish forever, before turning back to the rest of her peerage.
"Come on; the sooner we get there and destroy the fountain, the sooner we get Ben back to normal," she told them, making sure not to raise her voice and risk startling baby Ben, and took off down the corridor, leading her group as they headed to the courtyard and off to their target.
"My, my, she really is a character, isn't she?" Venelana cooed to baby Ben once her daughter had disappeared with her peerage. Tickling his belly which caused him to laugh happily. "You'd think you were her actual child by the way she was acting."
"Would you like us to hold him for you, Lady Gremory?" one of the maids asked with a respectful bow of her head.
"That won't be necessary, Mara," Venelana refused, turning to face the maid in question and smiling down at baby Ben who smiled back at her. "Just look at him. Isn't he just adorable? He won't be a bother, and besides…this will give me the chance to see what my future grandchildren will be like."
She touched his nose with her index finger and wiggled it teasingly, making him giggle harder and take hold of her finger with his hands.
"You're not going to be a handful, are you? No, you're not. You're not a little monster like Rias was when she was your age. Oh, I hope that your children together take after you when they're born. She was such a handful. Yes, she was," she cooed softly, revelling in the innocent childish laughter from him and suddenly missed when Sirzechs and Rias were babies and she held them in her arms.
"Let's get you out of this and into some proper clothes," she mused playfully, noting the much-to-big he still wore and headed off to the destination she had in mind, the two maids dutifully following behind her. "Let's see if we can't find Sirzechs old baby clothes for you to wear, shall we?"
. . . . . . . . . .
Later, near Mt Gremory
"Hold on, Ben. We're almost there," Rias muttered to herself as she soared through the air as fast as her wings would let her, the looming mountain before her quickly growing bigger as she neared it.
"Rias!" Akeno's voice called out from behind her.
Rias stopped, hovering mid-air, turning back to see Akeno coming to a stop in front of her.
"You need to slow down. Not everyone can move as quickly as you or I," the raven-haired queen explained, gesturing behind her to show the others trailing behind her, struggling to keep pace with the Gremory heiress.
"Shit," she cursed under her breath for failing to consider everyone else's flying abilities as she was too focussed on Ben. "Sorry. I wasn't thinking. I'm just…."
"We're all worried about Ben, Rias. We all want him back just as much as you do," Akeno told her while the two of them waited for the others to catch up.
"I know. I know. I don't want to think what about what'll happen if we fail and he's a baby again."
"Then don't think about it. We're going to find that fountain and blow it to smithereens. Then we're going to go back and find Ben waiting for us, open-armed and ready to hug us and thank us for saving him and stopping from having to go through puberty again!"
Rias couldn't help but laugh at that. No matter what was going on with her, Akeno was always there to cheer her up if she was down. It was one of the many reasons she was Rias' oldest friend and closest confidant. They had been through everything together and their bond was unbreakable.
"Thanks, Akeno," Rias thanked her as the others finally caught up. Once they were all together again, the group resumed their journey as one, ensuring nobody was left behind as they went on.
Once they were close enough, Rias turned to Kiba and Gasper and asked them to lead their group the rest of the way as they'd been there before. As they followed behind the two of them, the girls all noted the various debris and craters that littered the landscape below them and it slowly dawned on them just how intense Ben's training with Tannin.
A few of them had thought that he'd been exaggerating what he went through.
"It's down there," Kiba revealed after a few minutes of flying, pointing downward to the large hole they were looking for. They descended from the air, landing near the edge of the hole, though they kept their wings unfurled. They approached the edge of the hole and looked down, Kiba pointing to the start of the tunnel. "The fountain's down that tunnel."
"Good. Let's head down there and…shit!" Rias cursed as a large magic circle formed at the bottom of the hole near the tunnel and over two dozen hooded figures suddenly appeared, one of whom was wearing a cloak of extremely fine quality and magenta in colour. Whoever was under it was clearly the leader of the group of mysterious figures.
Through their enhanced hearing, the assembled devils could hear their conversation easily.
"This is it? Are you sure?" the one wearing the fine cloak asked, her voice distinctly female and accompanied with a tone of clear authority.
"Yes, my lady. This is where the scryers deduced was the source of the magical artefact," one of the other hooded figures, also a female by the sound of their voice, confirmed, bowing low as she spoke.
"Magicians! What are they doing here?!" Rias seethed under her breath. Furious that soldiers of the Khaos Brigade had the audacity to infiltrate her families land.
"It had better be. They have had more than enough time locating it. My uncle was beginning to run out of patience," the leader stated fiercely, causing the hooded magician beside her to visibly flinch.
"A-A thousand pardons, my lady," they stuttered fearfully, bowing lower and keeping her distance.
"Let's just get this over with quickly before any filthy devils locate us. Whose land are we in, anyway?"
Another hooded figure on the purple-hooded figure's right stumbled, unprepared for attention to fall on them and fumbled about in the bag hanging over their shoulder and pulled out a map of the Underworld. A quick spell was uttered and a point on the map lit up, highlighting their location.
"According to the map, we are currently in the lands of the Gremory family," the figure announced, another female by the sound of their voice.
The leader audibly sneered at this.
"All the more reason to get what we came for and leave. The Gremory family is the most despicable of the lot; especially the slutty, red-haired heiress and her pathetically obedient pet dragon. They completely ruined our ambush at the treaty signing, wasting the perfect opportunity to cut off the heads of our enemies."
Rias clenched her fists tightly at the figure's disrespect to her family but didn't move so as to preserve their element of surprise. Instead, she opted to watch from the shadows, with the others, and observe as seven of the figures headed into the tunnel, led by the one wearing the magenta-coloured robe, while the rest surrounded the tunnel entrance and took up defensive stances.
"I'm not waiting any longer," she declared in a hushed whisper to her friends and colleagues. "The longer we wait, the less time Ben has, and I certainly won't stand by and watch as the Khaos Brigade steals the Fountain of Youth from under my family's nose!"
"What's the plan then?" Akeno asked, keeping her own voice as a whisper.
"I don't want to waste any more time. Let's go straight through with the 'piercing spear' formation," Rias ordered. Akeno nodded in confirmation and passed the news to the others.
One of the tasks that Azazel had given Rias during her training period, as well as studying up on various tactics and strategies, was to come up with formations of her own that she could use for whatever circumstance they found themselves in that maximised their strengths and covered their weaknesses. 'Piercing spear' was one such strategy she had come up with as a result of her training. In essence, the manoeuvre was a wedge attack; a drive straight through the middle of their enemy from the first wave to clear a path for their group's heavy hitters to take down the enemies leadership as quickly as possible.
Quite simple in theory, it was one of the first formations Rias had explained and taught to her peerage in the build-up to their match against Sona.
When everyone was informed what the plan was, Akeno looked back at Rias and nodded her head slightly, letting her know they were ready.
"Go!" she ordered, taking to the air before diving into the hole with her peerage following after her. As they descended upon the magicians standing guard, Rias was suddenly overtaken by Kiba and Xenovia on either side of her as they surged forward, their swords unsheathed and ready for combat.
Their surprise attack took the assembled magicians completely by surprise, the only warning they got was when one magician happened to look upwards when they did, noticing the rapidly approaching devils. Even seeing them, though, they didn't have time to issue a warning to their comrades before it was already too late. Kiba and Xenovia had already made contact with them, cutting down three magicians before they knew they were under attack so soon after arriving, throwing them into complete chaos, more so due to Gasper having transformed into a swarm of bats and was harassing them, preventing them from organising a response and leaving the way clear open for Rias, Koneko, Asia and Akeno to fly past them and into the tunnel.
"No! They can't be allowed to reach the lady!" one shouted to no effect as their whole attention was being forced to concentrate on Kiba, Xenovia and Gasper's lightning-fast attack.
The remaining four flew down the tunnel, only coming to a stop and returning to the ground when they reached the sharp turn. They rushed forward, turning the corner to enter the spacious cavern where they saw they saw the small pool which was the fountain they were looking for. They also saw the remaining magicians stood around a large magical ring that ran around the pool and chanting a spell.
Across the pool from them stood the one in charge. She was also chanting, her hood fallen back to reveal her eyes glowing brightly as she fuelled the circle with magical power. As they entered the cavern, her eyes stopped glowing and refocused, homing in on Rias and her small group.
With her hood no longer covering her features, they could see her fully. Her eyes were a mixture of light purple and pink and she wore purple lipstick which complemented her overall beauty. She had long silver hair which she had tied into a low ponytail. She wore a beautiful magenta coat which hugged her body and had deep purple-coloured tips which trailed off at the end. Her footwear consisted of purple long boots with black straps wrapped around her legs and she had a small, light brown bag tied around her waist.
"Urgh! You're here, already? What a nuisance. I'd hoped we'd be done here and gone before you interfered, yet again, in our plans," she sneered.
"Well, I'm glad I disappointed you," Rias retorted as she approached the magic circle. "I don't know what you're planning to do with the fountain but you won't succeed…not after we destroy it!"
"Destroy it?" the silver-haired magician scoffed, offended at the very idea. "Of course that's what you miserable creatures want. You have no idea what it's capable of!"
'If only she knew,' Rias thought to herself.
"No matter. We're going to take it somewhere where its powers will be used properly…and seeing as I can't have you getting in our way again, I'm going to have to end you here and now," the magician declared as she pulled out three small totems and threw them onto the ground in front of her. She then muttered a spell, her eyes glowing again as she did so, and the totems quickly grew until they were the size of small humanoids. As if being given a telepathic command, the stone humanoids turned around in unison and ran around the edge of the pool and directly towards Rias and her group.
"They don't look like much of a threat," Akeno sighed, as if in disappointment. Rias would've shared her queen's opinion if the stone 'golems' abruptly started growing in size and bulk as they ran towards then, only stopping their growth when they stood nearly eight-foot-tall and built like Ben's Diamondhead form, if not bigger.
Before the three hulking rock creatures reached them though, Koneko leapt forward, cat ears and tail on full display as she delivered a powerful kick to the lead humanoid rock creature, knocking it back into the two right behind it, destroying their momentum and causing them to fall over backwards.
"Leave these to me," she told them as she took up a fighting stance she had learned during her training as the creatures picked themselves up again.
The silver-haired magician sneered at the sight of Koneko. "Just when I thought you devils couldn't be any worse. You have a filthy Nekomata working for you."
"Up yours," was Koneko drawl response as she delivered a powerful uppercut to the rock creature before her, knocking it back down again, giving the Gremory rook space to deal with the other two which had switched their attention onto her.
"Take care of that mangy cat," the leader ordered with a wave of her hand.
"At once, Lady Charmcaster!" the other magicians, all of them female, responded in unison and sprang into action to carry out their lady's order. Presenting their outstretched palms towards Koneko, they made to fire bolts of magic at her unprotected back when a bolt of electricity arced between them.
"Aww, don't leave me out. I want to play too!" Akeno chuckled as she unfurled her wings again and took to the air again, bombarding the scattering magicians with bolt after bolt of lightning. They tried returning fire but their attacks were easily deflected by her own and their defensive barriers barely protected them against her basic attacks.
As Akeno and Koneko dealt with the distractions, Rias stepped, her eyes fixed on the silver-haired magician now known as Charmcaster. She, in turn, sighed heavily at the glare directed her way.
"Urgh! I hate getting my hands dirty, especially against someone not worth my time. But, if that's what it takes to get rid of you then so be it."
Her hands glowed light pink as she suddenly launched numerous magic bolts towards Rias. Rias expected this and surrounded herself in crimson red magical energy, blocking and swiftly deflecting the bolts away from her and right back at Charmcaster who responded quickly, creating a magic shield just in time to stop the reflected bolts striking her.
"Such a nuisance!" she growled, lowering the shield and levitating into the air. Rias joined her, unfurling her wings and rising up until she was level with her opponent. Red energy engulfed her hands as she threw her own balls of destructive magic towards Charmcaster who blocked them with one hand which maintained her magical shield, though with some physical strain, while she fired a solid beam of magic which Rias didn't expect and was forced to divert her attention onto the incoming beam. Unable to block it completely, Rias only just managed to knock the beam away from her, causing it to continue on until it struck the cavern wall behind her, resulting in a large explosion.
This opening bombardment of magical attacks and responses told the two magic-users one thing: their opponent was an extremely skilled wielder of magic.
With their opening salvos setting the standard for their fight, the two of them unleashed the rest of their arsenals, launching attack after attack against each other and defending against whatever counterattack was returned.
This to-and-fro between the two opponents continued for several intense minutes as they tried and failed to gain the upper hand to the point that Rias created hundreds of tennis ball-sized crimson magic bullets and unleashed them upon Charmcaster with the hope that she wouldn't be able to block all of them.
To her dismay though, Charmcaster responded by clasping her hands together and releasing a tornado of pink-coloured magical flames which swallowed up the storm of bullets directed at her. As the bullets were swallowed by the small 'flamenado', they exploded simultaneously, causing the fiery vortex to vanish from the shockwave and force the two of them backwards.
The two of them were starting to sweat now from their intense battle, and they were equally frustrated that they hadn't broken the stalemate yet.
"You have some skill, I have to admit," Charmcaster admitted through heavy breathing. "As much as I may want to see the extent of your abilities, I'm afraid that I don't have the time to play around with you."
"Neither do I!" Rias retorted with frustration.
"I've got a job I need to do so let's put an end to this!" Charmcaster bellowed as her hands glowed bright pink again as she summoned up as much magic as she was able to.
"Yes, lets!" Rias shouted in response as she created a large ball of dark crimson energy in her own hands, crimson energy swirling around her body.
The two of them released their powerful attacks at the same time. They passed by each other mid-air as they sought out their targets. Charmcaster's energy bolt went on a path that would have struck Rias dead centre, causing serious damage if the Gremory heiress hadn't thrown up a hasty defensive barrier just in time to halt it. Despite stopping it entirely, though, Rias only had enough time to throw up an incomplete barrier which only protected most of her. When the bolt struck her, it grazed her arms, tearing her shirtsleeves to ribbons; her skin only protected due to her devil anatomy.
Rias' crimson bolt, on the other hand, sailed right past Charmcaster. She didn't have to do anything to stop it from hurting her.
"Perhaps I overestimated you," she sighed, shaking her head slightly. "How could you miss me with an attack that powerful?"
Rias covered her chest with her left arm as Charmcaster's attack had not only shredded her shirt, it had also vaporised her bra straps underneath. Even with this, though, it didn't wipe the victorious smirk she had on her face.
"Who said I was aiming for you?" she retorted.
Confused, Charmcaster looked over her shoulder just in time to see the crimson energy bolt impact the fountain dead centre.
"No!" she cried out as the pool of water along with the incomplete magic transportation circle was consumed by the crimson light which engulfed the area. She was forced to avert her gaze momentarily from the bright light, but when she looked again she could only see the smouldering crater where the fountain once was.
"No!" she cried again, descending down and landing in the middle of the crater where she tried to reach out and sense any lingering power that survived Rias' destructive magic attack. When she felt nothing she turned back to face Rias, now landing on the edge of the crater, and snarled at her, a livid expression on her face.
"Do you realise what you've done, you fucking bitch?! I'm going to fucking destroy you!"
The silver-haired magician began to collect all the magic power she had available to her when Akeno and Koneko appeared on either side of Rias. At the same time, she heard noises on either side of her. Looking, she saw it was the two Gremory knights as well as the cowardly dhampir who had appeared.
"You got here sooner than I expected," Rias noted, referring to the three new arrivals.
"The magicians standing guard proved easier to handle than we thought so we figured we'd come and help out where we can," Kiba stated, his eyes never leaving the foe before him.
Charmcaster cursed under her breath. Her guards had been slaughtered to the last, and by the fact that the Gremory queen and rook were also standing before her, that meant that the last magicians she had brought with her, as well as her rock creatures, had been destroyed; leaving her as the only one left alive in the disastrous expedition.
"I'd prefer it if you'd surrender peacefully. I'd hate for you to cause us any more trouble than you already have done," Rias announced, standing tall as she looked at Charmcaster.
Charmcaster sneered and glared up at Rias, furious at the spoilt devil princess for beating her today.
"This isn't over, Gremory! You haven't seen the last of me!" she bellowed as she quickly created a teleportation circle beneath her. Before Rias could order her peerage to do anything, Charmcaster disappeared in a flash of light, leaving no trace of her behind.
Though she was frustrated at failing to capture the magician for her brother and the alliance, she still released a sigh of relief, relieved that she managed to do what they came to this place for.
As Asia rushed over and attended to her wounds, Rias summoned another bra and shirt that materialised around her body, replacing the scorched remains. Now, fully clothed, Rias attracted the attention of her gathered peerage.
"We did it, everybody. There were some unexpected obstacles in our way, but we succeeded in destroying the fountain."
"Did we save Ben?" Xenovia wondered as she sheathed her blade.
Rias' face dropped slightly at Xenovia's question, unable to answer it. It was at this point that Akeno jumped into the conversation.
"I think we can presume so," she stated as she stood at the edge of the new crater where the fountain had once been. "I can't sense any remaining energy from the fountain. You completely destroyed the fountain, Rias, and, according to Azazel, that was what we needed to do to turn Ben back to normal."
"How will we know it worked though?" Asia asked with concern.
"I guess we'll have to return home and see if it worked," Rias replied before gesturing to the group to follow her. "Come on, let's get back and see how Ben's doing."
The group nodded in agreement as they followed Rias back into the tunnel and headed back to her parent's home.
. . . . . . . . . .
Gremory Manor
(Five minutes earlier)
"My, my. You're quite the little adventurer, aren't you?" the Matriarch of the Gremory clan, Venelana Gremory chuckled with amusement as she picked up the infant Ben from the edge of the bookcase before he fell off.
After Rias had departed with her peerage to destroy the Fountain of Youth, Venelana had taken her temporary charge and made her way through the long corridors of her home until she reached her destination.
The Gremory playroom.
It was a room that had been used to house the various toys and other playthings that Venelana's children used to play with when they were young. Millicas was the last one to use the room until he decided he was too old for such childish things, and now the room remains empty until another Gremory child is born to use it. Like the rest of the manor, the Gremory butlers and maids stove to keep it spotless and ready for use at any time…like today.
When they reached the playroom and deciding baby Ben couldn't stay in his current much-too-large clothing, Venelana had asked one of the maids accompanying her to fetch some of Sirzechs' old baby clothes that she treasured and kept, unable to get rid of them when Sirzechs outgrew them.
"Now, let's just sit you down here where I can keep an eye on you," she cooed as she sat down in the nearest armchair, placing baby Ben on her lap. He laughed at her, thoroughly enjoying himself while Venelana couldn't help but smile warmly at his antics which reminded her of a time, long ago, when she spent time like this with Rias and Sirzechs. She loved her children so much, but she also missed playing with them when they were babies. Playing with baby Ben brought out these memories she hadn't thought about in a long while.
Venelana was brought out of her fond memories when baby Ben abruptly began crawling up her as he tried to stand up on her lap. She chuckled lightly as he clambered over her, using her large breasts as a ledge to hold himself up.
"Oh my, should I be flattered?" she smiled, drawing another childish bout of laughter from the child on her lap as she tickled his sides. "I wonder how Rias would react if she saw us like this? I imagine she'd overreact as usual. Don't you agree?"
"Darling, are you around?" Zeoticus' voice called out from behind the door to the playroom.
"I'm in here, dear," Venelana replied in his direction while she held baby Ben under his arms to steady him.
At the same time, she saw the door handle begin to turn, baby Ben suddenly started glowing a pale blue which engulfed the pair of them.
"I've got a little problem I could use your…," Zeoticus began as he entered the room just in time for the light to disappear to reveal the very naked, fully grown form of her daughter's partner straddling his wife with both hands holding her breasts in his hands. The tattered remains of Sirzechs' old baby clothes scattered around them. Venelana had a surprised look on her face though there was a clear hint of amusement in her eyes at how the scene looked.
"…help with," he trailed off, taking in the absurd scene before him.
Ben, his eyes wide, looked from Rias' mother to her father with terror clear in his face as he realised the situation he found himself in.
"Uh, I can explain," he muttered feebly, quickly removing his hands from the Gremory matriarch's chest and getting off her lap, backing away and moving his hands to cover himself. His face burned bright red as he realised the situation he had suddenly found himself in.
"Did you hear that, dear, he can explain," Venelana told her husband, the amusement in her eyes spreading to the rest of her face, poorly hidden behind a stoic expression.
She nearly broke when she saw the exact same expression on Zeoticus' face.
"I heard. I can't wait to hear it," he replied as he crossed his arms across his chest.
Ben began to wonder if he would've been better off as a baby.
. . . . . . . . . .
Back on the Gremory train
(Present time)
"So come on, Ben. Tell us what happened after you turned back," Akeno asked from behind the seat Ben was sat on and leaned against its back as she looked down at him.
"Nothing special," Ben replied, perhaps a bit too quick a few of them noted, Rias included.
"Oh come on, Ben. It was clear something happened when we got back. You looked so nervous when we saw you and you were acting so strange for the rest of our stay, especially around mother and father," Rias declared as, still sat in his lap, she prodded his chest lightly, determined to find out what happened while she was gone.
"You must be imagining things, Rias," Ben stated quickly and unconvincingly. It was true that, after the incredibly embarrassing situation he found himself in, being naked in front of Rias' parents and straddling her mother, he had been acting strange the last day of the stay. There was no way in Heaven, Hell or Earth he was ever going to tell anyone what happened, even under the threat of torture. "Anyway, let's change the subject. How much homework does everyone still have to do before going back to school?"
Nobody was convinced by his attempt to steer the conversation, but they decided to drop it for now. They'd have another go at getting answers later.
Ben held Rias in his arms as the two of them watched the conversation switch to everybody getting lost in their own little conversations as they discussed their imminent return to school and the mountain of homework most of them still had to do.
"You know, Rias," he muttered quietly so that only Rias would hear him, leaning back against the chair and pulling her back with him so their heads were resting against each other. "I never got the chance to thank you."
"What are you talking about?" Rias asked, equally as quiet as she continued to watch her peerage discuss school. "There was no way I was going to let you get trapped as a baby. I would've found a way to destroy the fountain, even if father didn't allow it."
"I'm not talking about that," he replied, moving his mouth so that it was close to her ear. "I'm talking about how you looked after me when I was a baby. You were particularly protective I heard, and extremely reluctant to let anyone else hold me."
He didn't need to see her face to see the blush which suddenly appeared in her cheeks.
"Your dad was right. You'll make a wonderful mother one day," he added in a whisper, chuckling as Rias tried to wriggle her way out of his embrace and hide her embarrassment, holding her tighter and preventing her escape. He planted a tender kiss on her forehead and simply enjoyed the rest of the journey home.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A/N: And that's the fountain of youth story finished.
I felt it was about time I added Charmcaster into the story. It seemed rude not to, considering how magicians are a prevalent enemy in the DxD story. Don't worry about it being a 'filler' story though, she will make another appearance in future. I haven't decided yet whether I add her as a harem member or not yet.
Now that these two chapters have been finished and released, I'll finally return to the main story and get back to work on that. We're nearing the Juggernaut arc now and I've got some things planned for that, things that are my own addition to the story and, also, lead directly into the next arc which diverts from canon a bit and one I've been wanting to start writing for a long while. I don't know when it'll be ready but it won't be too long now that I'm able to write again.
Until the next chapter, stay safe and I'll see you next time.