Author's Notes: Sorry for the long wait, I know I said that the chapter would be coming sooner but I've been very busy and it also doesn't help that I've gotten a lot of writer's block while writing this chapter. Originally this chapter was going to be a lot shorter but I decided against it, I wanted to add more stuff in it. Nevertheless I finished the chapter. Now on to the reviews.
Stratos263: Pretty much.
Cobalt Striker Gundam: Thanks and you'll see at the end of the chapter.
NERO TOVACK: It depends if enough people ask for it. Though personally, I prefer to have it off screen.
ZeroSaga: Maybe it all depends on how it goes.
Guest: Last time I checked it was natural and it's not like I went into a in-depth description of it.
zero kazama: Ah, I see.
ASTROFOX: That seems like a bit much. Besides, Vince's mother would reject the offer.
Guest 2: I have to admit, it amused me too when I read it again.
The Storm Master 567: No, his devil trigger will look similar to another devil trigger. But it won't be Dante's.
Blitzenf'n: Well, what happened was off-screen but it did happen. You'll see at the end of the chapter.
Soren Alba: It depends on how everything else goes.
CrazyCriticer46: Glad you liked it.
betinlara897: Thanks.
That's it for the reviews. Again, I apologize for taking so long but it's been near impossible for me as of late to just sit down and focus on the chapter. I've only been able to write in small bits each day until it was finished. I will try to get more time to get the next chapter out more earlier.
Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD or any other references or elements I may put in the story. They all belong to their respective owners I only own my OCs.
xXxXxXxXxX
The garage opened up and just near the driveway was a somewhat outdated old car, colored white. An old man ranging in his mid-sixties came out, wearing a white cap, a casual shirt colored red with some stripes, a pair of beige pants and a pair of expensive looking black colored shoes. He looked at the garage and his eyes widen when he saw Vince there. A large grin appeared on his face as he went towards him. "Hey Vince, I didn't know you were here. How are you doing?"
"I'm ok, grandpa. How are you?" Vince asked, slightly surprised at his greeting.
"Oh, I'm doing fine. So how's everything in school? Did ya get any cute girls?" The old man asked with a grin.
A small blush appeared on Vince's face as he shook his head. (That perverted prick hasn't changed a bit!)
"D-Dad!" Elena spoke looking at him in disbelief.
"Look at that blush. I guess you did find someone after all, did you do it?" He asked, ignoring his Elena shaking her head.
(Ugh. Why did I agree to see him? I should try to finish this conversation quickly.) Vince thought to himself.
Suddenly a ringtone sounded off gaining everyone's attention. Vince dug into his pocket and pulled out his cellphone, looking at the caller I.D. a look relief appeared on his face. "Yasaka."
"Yasaka? Is that your girlfriend Vince?" The old man asked chuckling a bit.
"...Yeah, close enough. I gotta take this call." Vince answered as he hurried back into the house.
"Close enough?" He asked curiously, turning towards his daughter.
A sweatdrop appeared on the side of her head as she shook her head. "It's very complicated dad."
He seemingly ignored that last part and grinned. "This is pretty funny. Back then when Vince was a little kid he said that he didn't like girls."
"Probably paid her." The older man mumbled, finally speaking.
Elena glared at her brother for the comment, however her eyes slightly widen when she a small hand made out of water materialized underneath his feet. The water hand violently shoved him into the wooden wall.
"Fuck!" He held his face in pain from the force of the shove. Not being finished yet, the water hand then swept his feet, causing him to fall into the cement floor.
A loud banging noise was heard as he clutched the back of his head in pain. "Aaaaaaah!"
Upon closer inspection, one could see the nasty looking bruise on his forehead, while the back of his head looked noticeably swollen.
Elena winced at the injury while her father let out a curse. "Damn. I'll have to take him the hospital to get it checked out. Why didn't you watch were you were going? Are you stupid?!"
"Shut up! I don't need to go to the hospital." He yelled as he rubbed his head in pain.
"I don't want to hear that from you! Shut up and get in the car, NOW!" He shouted, his voice overpowering his son's.
Elena winced at the volume of the two, but mentally sighed in relief as she saw his brother putting his luggage into her father's car, albeit stumbling a bit. Upon seeing the two enter the car, she sighed and closed the garage door as the two left, speeding away.
"Dad is just as loud and demanding as ever. I almost feel sorry for my brother... almost." She commented.
The water hand dissipated as Vince, watched everything from behind a wall with a smirk, satisfied he started walking to the living room in the house. (I don't regret doing that.)
xXxXxXxXxX
Vince answered the call and breathed a sigh of relief. "Yasaka?"
"Hello Vince. Did something happen?" Yasaka asked sounding slightly confused.
"You called at a perfect time. If you were close by, I would kiss you." He admitted bluntly.
"Oh? Then maybe you should do that the next time we see each other in person Vince." She commented with an amused tone.
"Fine by me. ...Not to be rude, but why did you call me?" He asked raising an eyebrow.
"Kunou and I are worried about you Vince." Yasaka answered calmly.
"I see." Vince leaned against the wall in the middle of the living room. "I've finished one of the things I needed to do. So I can tell you about what happened if you want me to."
"If you have no trouble in doing so, then please tell me." She said.
"Ok." Vince then went into an explanation explaining to Yasaka about the events of what happened a few years ago and of what happened yesterday, with the exception of one or two private details. "-That's pretty much what I've been doing."
"Oh my. I didn't know something like that happened to you." Yasaka spoke sounding surprised.
"I tired ignoring it so I could move on but... I couldn't. The guilt was eating me alive and I couldn't take it anymore. I wanted to make up for my mistake in the past." Vince admitted solemnly.
"Vince..."
"It's not perfect though. She has to go through physical therapy while getting caught up on the changes that happened over the past two years." He explained shaking his head a bit.
"But that's not your fault Vince. You even went out of your way to ensure that your friend would be healed." Yasaka stated, trying to console him.
"I suppose so. Moving on, how are things on your side Yasaka?" He asked trying to change the subject.
"Things have been relatively normal here with the exception of the incoming information about the Khaos Brigade that the Three Factions disclosed. Kunou has been doing well, though she still pulls pranks on the other youkai thanks to that book you bought her." She explained, sighing a bit.
"I guess buying her a book about pranks wasn't a good idea. Though, it's funny. Kitsune's love to prank and cause mischief. You kind of a prime example of that." Vince admitted.
"And what is that supposed to mean Vince?" Yasaka asked raising an eyebrow.
A playful smirk appeared on his face as he lightly tapped his forehead with his index finger. "Simple, remember the times you teased me when we were alone in your house? Like that time you wrapped your tails around my-"
She then cleared her throat loudly, interrupting him. "I understand your point. But please refrain speaking of our intimate encounters in detail."
"Yes, yes." Vince waved his hand in a nonchalant tone.
"I have to go now, I have a meeting with the other youkai soon." Yasaka spoke.
"Alright then. Take care Yasaka." He said smiling a little.
"You too Vince, and please refrain from doing anything outrageous." She stated, in a teasing tone.
His lips curled up into a playful smirk. "No promises Yasaka. Later."
He closed his cellphone and pocketed, ending the call. Turning around, he saw his mother sitting at a table, drinking from a glass of water. "Was that really necessary Vince?"
"I don't care what he says about me, but I cross the line when he insults my friends, plain and simple." Vince retorted frowning a bit.
To his surprise an amused smile appeared on her face. "Friends? You could have fooled me. You treat her more like a lover than a friend."
A small blush appeared on his face as she shook her head. "My brother most likely has more than one concussion."
"He should be grateful that was all he got. I was getting tired of his crap, that and you know he and I always bad blood with each other." Vince answered.
"I know. Though, I do believe I know the reason why. It made sense when he asked me to drive him to a restaurant. It was very embarrassing, I just wanted to leave him in the restaurant and drive away in my car." Elena spoke sighing a bit.
"What did he do?" He asked sounding slightly annoyed.
"My brother didn't want to tip the waitress because her nationality. I had to tip her myself and listen to him nagging in the car on why I shouldn't have tipped her." She explained.
Vince paused for a minute before blinking twice. "I see. So he's been to treating me like crap because of my "father" being a different nationality, that and I have some traits of my "father" who pretty much everyone in your family hates."
"Pretty much."
"...I don't regret giving him those concussions. In fact, I probably should do that again when I have the chance." Vince spoke with a smirk.
"Please don't Vince. He's not worth the effort, besides-" Elena shook her head as she turned towards him. "Lately, my brother pissing off a lot of people in the family, especially your grandma and grandpa. At this rate, he won't have any to help him out when he really needs it."
"I guess so..." He trailed off, hesitantly.
Elena finished drinking her cup of water as a magic circle appeared in the living room, Vince quickly jumped back and with a small flash of light, the Totsuka-no-Tsurugi appeared in his hands. He gripped it, ready to attack as a figure appeared on the magic circle.
A young woman appeared from the magic circle with brown hair and purple eyes, bearing a striking resemblance to Rias, albeit her hair being much shorter in comparison. Wearing an elegant dress with a pendant around her neck with a jewel and a pearl necklace with three jewels in the center that closely resembled the jewel on her necklace. She blinked twice as soon as she saw Vince, holding the holy-sword in hand, ready to strike. "Why hello, Vince."
Next to her was a woman in her early twenties with silver hair and matching eyes. Her hair, which flows all the way down to her back, with a long braid on each side with small blue bows at the ends, while the rest is let down, in twin braids. She wore a blue and white French maid outfit with long sleeves and a white maid headband over her head, wearing red lipstick. She currently stood in between Vince and the woman in a defensive stance. "Vince-sama, I would advise you not to attack."
"What ever happened to knocking on the door? And Vince put away your weapon." Elena spoke shaking her head.
"I know." The katana disappeared in a small flash of light as he glanced at the woman and walked towards a wall to lean against. (Grayfia and Venelana. Huh, for me to get this worked up over a magic circle... I've really been on edge ever since the Jeanne and Hercules' ambush.)
A small smile appeared on Elena's face as she turned to Venelana and Grayfia. "It's nice to see you two again. How are you doing?"
"Oh you know, the usual." Venelana stated with a small smile.
"I am doing well, Elena-sama." Grayfia said, nodding a little.
"I thought I told you not to call me that Grayfia." Elena commented frowning a little.
(Damn. Deja vu...) Vince thought looking slightly surprised.
"Vince did something happen? You were cautious even more than usual." Venelana commented.
"A magic circle appearing in the middle of a living room in a place where magic is very scarce is pretty suspicious. I thought it was another attack." Vince replied.
"Attack? What attack?" Elena asked, looking at her son with both Grayfia and Venelana doing the same.
Vince blinked twice before nearly palmed his face. (Crap. I forgot mom was here. ...Great.)
A frown appeared on her face as expression turned serious. "Vince. What attack?"
"Tch. Remember the Khaos Brigade that raided the treaty? Another branch of their group attacked me yesterday, they were trying to abduct me." He answered causing everyone's eyes to widen.
"Who attacked you?" Venelana asked seriously.
"The descendant of Hercules and Joan of Arc. I was able to defeat both them... albeit barely." Vince explained.
Venelana's eyes widen in surprise as Grayfia looked slightly surprised but remained her composure. "That's quite a feat to do, your opponents are very powerful on their own, to be able to defeat them on your own is quite remarkable."
"Why were they trying to abduct you?" Elena questioned, her eyes narrowing.
"Why do you want to know mom?" He asked crossing his arms.
"What kind of question is that? I'm your mother Vince, I need to know these type of things." She answered sternly.
Seeing the look of pure determination in her eyes, he shook his head. "Sheesh, your stubborn. They wanted me to join their organization, or rather their branch because of my Sacred Gears along with my holy-sword and demon-sword. I turned down their offer and they just couldn't no for an answer. After that it erupted into a fight. I guess they thought that ganging up on me would work."
Venelana saw Elena clenching her fist in anger and placed a hand on her shoulder. "It'll be ok, Elena. Vince is a lot stronger than what he seems and I'll make sure someone watches over him."
This statement however made Vince frown. "I don't need a babysitter. I can take care of myself."
"Then what will you do when they come after you again?" Elena asked, challenging him.
"Simple. They usually come after me when I'm alone-" In a small burst of light, the Totsuka-no-Tsurugi appeared in his hand, emitting a small holy aura. "I'll use that chance to take them out if they get in my way."
The katana disappeared in a small burst of light as Elena shook her head. "I hope you're right." She then took a deep breath to calm down, after taking a few moments to calm down she sighed and turned towards Venelana and Grayfia. "So what brings you two here?"
"Well, I wanted drop by to see how you were doing before I visited Vince, thankfully both of you are together which makes things easier." Venelana replied.
"What? Why me? He questioned, crossing his arms.
"Azazel told Sirzechs about where the Devil's DNA on your Sacred Gear comes from, whom in turn told the rest of us." She answered, causing his eyes to widen in surprise.
"That son of a-"
He was immediately interrupted as Elena covered his mouth, much to his ire. Venelana thanked her and continued. "After much discussion, the four great Maou would like for you the attend meeting for the young Devils and in addition claim the house of Valefor as it's heir."
Elena's eyes widen while Vince frowned upon hearing that. "I refuse. I don't want to be the heir of the Valefor clan, much less be in a meeting that'll a waste of my summer vacation."
Grayfia frowned at the harsh way he rejected the invitation while Venelana sighed and rubbed her temples with her fingers. "Vince, the Valefor clan has access to some of the most valuable treasures and medicine in the world and in addition was one of the most powerful clans back then. Having a member of that clan, an heir would be greatly beneficial to the Underworld."
"So? I'm not going to take someone's responsibilities just because I have some clan member's DNA lodged in my Sacred Gear. Besides if the treasures and the medicines are so valuable why doesn't anyone else goes to their place and get it themselves?" He questioned, crossing his arms.
"Many have tried that Vince-sama. However the Valefor clan's manor has a powerful barrier protecting it. Only another member of the Valefor clan may go through it." Grayfia answered.
"What about the Power of Destruction? Shouldn't that basically destroy anything without leaving a trace?" Vince asked raising an eyebrow.
"Yes. However the barrier regenerates when it's attacked and during that time the barrier's defense increases as a result, no one has been able to completely get rid of it. It's quite the unique barrier." Venelana mused.
"Sirzechs-sama and the other three Maou had to order the rest of the Devils not to attack the barrier when it started to get out of hand. Many of the Devils that knew about the barrier tried to destroy it daily." Grayfia added.
"And that cause the Maou to ban attacking it? There's gotta be more to it than that." He commented.
Grayfia nodded in response as she continued. "If the barrier gets attacked after a certain amount of time, the barrier retaliates with a powerful attack. That attack sent a majority of the Devils that attacked the barrier into the hospital with noticeable injuries."
(I guess that's what they get for being so greedy.) He thought to himself.
"Vince, at the very least could you at least go to the meeting for the Young Devils?" Venelana asked, looking at him.
"That depends. Why do you, or rather the other Maou want me to attend in the first place?" Vince questioned in a suspicious tone.
"Sirzechs informed everyone beforehand that you would attend the meeting in addition he also talked about you having the DNA of a member from the Valefor clan in your Sacred Gear." She explained, shaking her head a bit.
Vince's eye twitched violently as a large amount of lightning gathered in his hand. "That asshole-"
Elena quickly went to Vince and gripped his hand, nullifying the lightning in a instant. "Vince, that's enough. Anymore lightning and you'll destroy the appliances in my house."
"I see you've gotten better with your Magic Cancel, Elena." Venelana stated, looking a little surprised.
"Well, back then Vince's outbursts in magic happened so often that I just got used to it just like that." Elena said as she snapped one of her fingers.
A confused expression appeared on Vince's face as he got his hand away from his mother's grip. "Magic Cancel?"
Venelana raised an eyebrow. "You didn't tell Vince yet?"
Elena however shrugged, in a manner similar to Vince. "I wanted to wait until he was a bit older at the time he wasn't mature enough."
"Gee, thanks." He mumbled.
"Though, I guess explaining it now is the best thing to do." She commented thoughtfully.
"Magic Cancel is an ability that nullifies magic. It's a very rare ability that humans can be born with. Not much is known about it however, it appears to be a rare genetic trait and even then only a few certain humans are even able to use it. Currently your mother, Elena-sama is the only known human that's currently alive to have this ability." Grayfia informed, causing Vince's eyes to widen.
"So... in comparison Magic Cancel is more rare to get due to it probably being a genetic trait, as supposed to a Sacred Gear that back then before was bestowed to by God before he died. Am I right so far?" Vince asked as he crossed his arms.
"That seems to be the case, Vince-sama." Grayfia confirmed with a small nod.
(Damn. And here I thought I was the only one that's been getting involved in some weird stuff. But mom's been doing it for a long time, what a surprise. But it does explain why she can nullify my magic. I've always wondered about that, asking her wouldn't have gotten me anymore, I felt like she wouldn't have answer me if I did ask.) He thought to himself, before turning to Grayfia after hearing her. "Stop using that honorific on me."
"To me, Magic Cancel acts like a protective field that surrounds my body nullifying, any magic from making an effect on me, also just like you saw earlier I can use it as an augment to cancel out your magic Vince. However, it's not perfect. I can still be affected by anything magic related that's internal. Like for example, if I drink something that has magical properties it'll still take effect." Elena explained, changing the topic.
Vince paused for a few minutes trying to compose himself, at a complete loss for words. He shook his head and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "...I never expected that. I guess that explains why you've always been able to stop my magic outbursts."
"Even without your magic outbursts, you're still a handful, Vince." She commented with a small grin, causing Venelana to place a hand on her mouth and giggle lightly.
"Hey!"
"Moving on-" Elena spoke, casually waving off Vince's indignant response. She looked at him and crossed her arms. "I think there's a possibility you inherited my Magic Cancel, Vince."
"...Me?"
"Yeah. I think there's a possibility you inherited Magic Cancel." She commented.
"Huh... so, is this basically how you completed your contracts by using Magic Cancel?" Vince asked curiously.
"Yeah. Whenever, I needed something or Venelana needed help I would either use my Magic Cancel, to nullify whatever magic's was causing trouble or I would explain to her about how Magic Cancel feels or reacts so she can take notes." Elena spoke, with Venelana nodding in agreement.
"Elena's Magic Cancel has been useful in nullifying certain magic that has been troubling to deal with in the past and her insight on Magic Cancel has been very helpful on documenting the ability." She replied.
A sudden look of realization appeared on Vince's face, turning to Venelana. "Does anybody else know about mom's Magic Cancel?"
"The only ones that know are my husband, Sirzechs, Grayfia and myself. Elena requested that we would keep her ability a secret, so she doesn't draw any attention towards you or herself." She answered, causing him to breathe a sigh of relief.
Venelana then cleared her throat and turned to him. "Would you at least consider coming to the meeting of the young devils, Vince? It would be beneficial for you to go there and meet the other young devils that are attending."
"Not interested. It'll put me on the spotlight which is what I want to AVOID." Vince said emphasizing on his last word.
She sighed and shook her head before turning to Elena. "Do you mind giving some assistance please? Things will look bad for Sirzechs if Vince doesn't attend."
Elena rubbed her temples in annoyance. "Fine, but I'm not going to help convince Vince to be the head of the Valefor clan. That's his choice."
Venelana nodded in response as Elena turned to her son. "Vince, if you attend the meeting, I'll buy you a video game. Any game you want."
This immediately perked his interest, raising his eyebrow he looked at her. "Any game?"
"Any game." She repeated.
"Deal." Vince said quickly, surprising both Venelana and even Grayfia.
Venelana blinked twice, not expecting the quick agreement. "That was... fast."
"Indeed." Grayfia spoke slowly.
He however shrugged. "What? I'm a sucker for new video games."
"I see. Then would you care to join Rias' peerage for a video game then?" She asked curiously.
"I said I'm a sucker for video games, not an idiot." He said deadpanning.
"Rias will be disappointed when she hears that." Venelana commented, giggling a little.
Elena then turned to her friend. "You'll be paying up for the new game by the way, Venelana."
"Eh?"
A small smirk appeared on her face as she showed everyone a checkbook. "I'm poor remember? As you can see, I only have sixty nine cents in my account and with the problem Sirzechs got him self into..."
"Perhaps, I'll have Sirzechs pay the bill for the video game as soon as I see him." She said jokingly.
"Vince can you write down the game on a piece of paper along with the price?" Elena asked turning to him.
(I'm going to go to that meeting, I better write down a game that's worth it.) He thought, grabbing a piece of paper along with a pen.
After writing down on the small piece of paper, Vince gave it to his mother, who read it and blinked owlishly. She then handed it to Venelana. "You might want to have Sirzechs pay for that instead. It's a pretty pricy game."
Venelana took the paper and read it. Immediately upon reading it, her eyes widened greatly and she almost dropped the paper from her hands. "One hundred and twenty-nine dollars..."
"It's the collector's edition." Vince spoke, inwardly laughing at her reaction.
"A video game not should be this expensive." Venelana spoke shaking her head, with Grayfia and Elena both nodding in agreement.
"Why are you surprised? You're pretty much loaded." He asked bluntly, making Elena palm her face.
"I never knew video games could come at such a high price. I suppose I should be a little relieved that Rias preferred buying manga over video games." Venelana commented.
Vince chuckled a little and leaned against the wall while Venelana turned to Elena. "Will you be visiting the Gremory manor, again Elena?"
Elena however shook her head. "Not unless it's for a contract. I don't want to impose."
"Nonsense, you won't be imposing Elena. You and Vince are welcome at the Gremory manor anytime." She replied smiling.
A confused expression appeared on Vince's face as he turned to them. "We've been there before?"
"Yes Vince, we've been there before. You still don't remember?" Elena asked raising an eyebrow.
Vince shook his head in response. "No, I don't remember anything."
"It was during a New Years Party, that was hosted six years ago. You even met Rias back then." She spoke, crossing her arms.
"...I what? I met Rias in Kuoh, not at a party." He frowned a bit, as he tried to recall the memory.
Elena blinked owlishly. "Wow, you still don't remember."
"That would explain why Vince acts like he doesn't know Rias..." Venelana mused as she got out a photo from a pocket on the side of her dress.
"Here Vince. I think this might make you remember." She said handing him the photo.
He took the photo and closely examined it. The photo showed a young boy with black hair, wearing a small black suit around the age of nine years smiling widely, his cheeks being slightly red. Right next to him was a girl that seemed eleven years of age, wearing a luxurious red dress. Just like the boy, she smiled widely but had her arm wrapped around his waist, holding him closely to her.
Suddenly, Vince's eyes widened greatly as he stared at the photo. "I'm starting to remember. It was-"
(Flashback)
"But mom! I don't wanna go. I want to stay here and play my video games!" A little boy whined as a woman in her mid-thirties, wearing a silky dark purple dress with a black floral pattern, tied a black bow tie on his white dress shirt.
The young woman sighed as she finished prepping the bow tie on his dress shirt. "Vince, it's not healthy to stay locked up in your room playing video games. Besides, I want to go out and get some fresh air. That and I want you to meet my friend, she has a daughter around your age and I think you two might get along."
"Can I just stay here in the house instead?" He asked hopefully.
"No." She answered quickly, shutting him down.
"...Fine but I'm taking my other video game, I don't wanna get bored along the way." Vince said, stuffing a handheld game system in his pocket.
"Fair enough. Though the ride won't take long, it'll take a few seconds." Elena spoke.
Vince looked a little confused and shrugged off the thought before taking out the black bow tie from his dress shirt. He blasted through the bow tie with a vicious torrent of water, ripping it to shreds. "I'm not wearing that crap. I don't wanna look like a dork."
"That's coming out of your allowance, also clean up the mess you made with your water magic. You have ten minutes to finish and get ready, that's when we leave." Elena said as she walked out of the room.
Vince slowly turned around and saw the floor drenched with water while the pieces of the shredded bow tie were scattered all over the floor. He clenched his fist in anger and shouted. "Old hag!"
Elena promptly opened the door and glared at him a little for the comment. "That comment is coming out of your allowance too, young man. Also you have nine minutes left to clean it up."
She closed the door as Vince palmed his face. "Me and my big mouth..."
xXxXxXxXxX
Elena sat down on a chair, reading a magazine. A loud knock was then heard, coming from the front door. Getting up from her seat, she went towards the door and looked at the peephole. Seeing that it was Venelana and Grayfia, she smiled a little and opened the door. "Hey."
"Why hello Elena. Are you and Vince ready to go?" Venelana asked curiously.
"Almost. Just waiting for Vince to finish, he made a mess again and now he's cleaning it up." She answered, letting the two in.
Elena then turned to Grayfia with a smile. "So, how are you and your kid doing Grayfia?"
Grayfia smiled a little and placed a hand on her stomach. "We're doing well, Elena-sama."
She pinched the bridge of her nose upon hearing that. "Stop calling me that, Grayfia. It's not like I'm royalty or anything."
"Even so. You are a friend of Ojou-sama, Elena-sama." Grayfia replied, causing Elena to sigh a bit.
"Now that I think about it. This'll be the first time I'll meet Vince since he was born." Venelana commented, trying to change the topic.
"Yeah. Sorry about that... Vince is shy and usually likes to stay in his room playing video games. Especially after his two friends just left." Elena replied sighing a bit.
Venelana pursed her lips a little. "I see. Well then, this should be a good experience for Vince then. Who knows? Maybe he'll get along with Rias, does he like manga or anime?"
"Manga and Anime?" She questioned, looking confused.
"Manga's are Japanese comic books, while Anime's are television animations of manga." Venelana answered simply.
"Yeah. Vince likes them almost as much as he does his video games." Elena commented, chuckling a little.
"Then Rias and Vince will get along just fine." She replied with a smile.
Vince grumbled a little as he walked out of his room and closed the door behind him. "I'm done."
"Vince. These are my friends, Venalana Gremory and Grayfia Lucifuge." Elena spoke, introducing him.
(Some spoiled looking rich girl and a pregnant maid with white hair...?) He thought, looking confused.
The atmosphere in the air immediately turned awkward as Vince remained quiet, looking confused.
"It's nice to see you again, Vince. Though, I doubt you remember me. The last time I saw you in person was when you were born." Venelana spoke after a few moments of awkward silence.
"It's nice to meet you in person, Vince-sama." Grayfia bowed as she introduced herself. "I've heard many things from Ojou-sama and Elena-sama."
"R-Right... it's nice to meet you two." Vince spoke, awkwardly introducing himself to the two.
"Are you ready to go Vince?" Elena questioned, turning towards her son.
He sighed but nodded. "Yeah, yeah..."
Elena shook her head as Venelana clasped her hands together and smiled. "Let's be on our way."
xXxXxXxXxX
Vince looked around a massive castle with his eyes widening. "Wow..."
"It's really big, isn't it?" Venelana asked as she smiled a bit.
"Yeah, but it's kinda old. I mean a castle in this year?" He commented, causing some of the maids that walked by looked at him in surprise at his blunt answer.
Venelana held a hand to her mouth and lightly giggled. "He sure takes after you Elena."
A small smile appeared on her face as she lightly ruffled her son's hair. "Yeah. He sure does."
After putting her hand away Vince quickly fixed his ruffled hair with a slightly annoyed look. (Troublesome...)
Just then a girl with crimson red hair that appeared two years older then Vince, walked towards her mother, wearing a luxurious red dress. "Hello Mother, Grayfia."
"Hello Rias." Venelana spoke with a smile.
"Greetings, Ojou-sama." Grayfia greeted with a bow.
She then blinked in confusion upon seeing both Elena and Vince, Venelana then cleared her throat gaining her attention. "This is Elena Reinhart and her son, Vince Reinhart. I've invited them to the party."
Rias nodded and did a curtsy. "It's nice to meet you two, I am Rias Gremory."
Elena greeted her in response with a small smile while Vince did a small wave and looked the other way.
Seeing the awkward atmosphere that started to develop between the two, Venelana turned to her daughter."Rias, could show Vince around the manor? Elena and I have a few matters to discuss with Grayfia."
Rias nodded as Elena turned to her son. "Vince, be sure to follow Rias and don't wander off. Okay?"
Vince yawned a little but nodded. "Yes, yes."
Without a moment's notice Rias led him down the long hallway, talking about the manor's rooms in detail. Vince on the other hand, looked bored and seemed to mostly tune out what she said.
"...Will they really get along well?" Elena asked, sweatdropping a bit.
"I'm positive they will. They just need to spend some time together." Venelana said encouragingly.
xXxXxXxXxX
"And right over here is the training grounds where the others-" Rias paused for a moment after noticing that Vince was no where in sight. "Geez. Vince, where are you?"
"Behind you." He said appearing from behind, tapping her shoulder.
"Kyaa!" Rias practically jumped back as far as she could.
"So... are we almost done yet? We've been walking around this place for a long time. It's getting pretty boring." Vince commented as he leaned against the wall, not caring much for her being startled.
"How rude of you! And just where did you get that piece of grilled beef rolls?!" She exclaimed pointing a finger at him.
"A maid with a pair of big boobs, gave me two beef rolls." He said, taking a bite of the beef roll.
Rias shook her head in disbelief as Vince went to her and showed her another grilled beef roll. "Want one?"
"No. I do not wish to spoil my appetite for dinner-" Rias' stomach growled loudly, causing her to blush in embarrassment.
"I asked the maid and she said it was going to be for at least half an hour before dinner is ready and you're being stubborn. So..." Vince practically shoved the beef roll into her mouth.
Her eyes widened at his boldness, seeing no other option Rias ate the beef roll and swallowed it. She then glared at him. "What was that for!?"
"You were hungry and I was a little bit bored." He replied simply.
"And that's why you did that?!" She asked looking at him in disbelief.
"Yep."
Rias pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration as Vince finished his beef roll and tossed a wooden skewer that was holding the beef in a garbage can. "Why are you acting like this?"
"I'm not acting like anything. You're the one acting all stuck up." Vince answered bluntly.
"Excuse me? I am not stuck up!" She said, her eye twitching.
"Let's see here... demanding attitude, tries to be sophisticated ends up looking like a spoiled brat. Yeah, I'd say you're stuck up." He pointed out, listing his reasons.
"Do you even care that you're talking to me like that? I'm the heir to the Gremory clan!" Rias exclaimed as she glared at him.
Feeling annoyed, he turned the other way and passed a hand through his hair. "No. I don't care who you are. Tch, coming here was a waste of time. I can't believe I listened to my mom."
"...You didn't want to come here?" She asked hesitantly.
"No! This place is weird. The sky is purple and there's a fake moon in the sky I mean come on! There's an old fashioned castle and you're talking about some clan I never even heard of!" Vince pinched the bridge of his nose and took out a small manga book from the pocket of his black tuxedo.
Rias blinked owlishly, not expecting his outburst. She closely examined the book in his hand and her eyes lit up. "Is that what I think it is?"
"What?"
"That's the first edition manga! There's only a number of them printed, and it's in English too..." She said looking at the manga closely.
Vince's eyes widened at her enthusiastic tone. "...You like reading manga?"
"Of course I do! I try to get them whenever I had the chance. Where did you by that volume?" Rias asked smiling a bit.
"...I bought it at a book fair from my school. It usually comes once a year." He answered in a slightly hesitant tone.
"Just once a year? That's kind of far. Isn't there any stores that sells manga where you live at?" She questioned, tilting her head cutely.
"Not that I know of. I usually see manga at a store when I'm looking around at the magazine section or at that school fair." Vince said shrugging.
"Oh. Well, let's go then. I want to take you to my room. I have a bunch of manga in my room that follows the events of what happens with the manga you have." Rias stated as she grabbed his arm.
"What about the rest of the manor?" He questioned curiously.
"The only thing I had to show you left was my room. Now come on, let's go!" She said dragging him.
Vince struggled to get out of her hold as he was dragged by her. "W-Wait! I can walk by myself, you don't need to drag me!"
However in Rias' excitement she ignored his pleas and continued to drag him across the manor, much to his dismay.
xXxXxXxXxX
Rias finally stopped running as she gestured towards a door in the middle of a long hallway. "This is my room."
"Vince...?" Turning around she saw him breathing slightly ragged.
"Tch." He promptly took his arm out of her grip rather forcefully and lightly bonked her on the head.
"Ow!" Rias rubbed her head as she turned to glare at him. "What was that for!?"
"You dragged me across the manor by my arm. That HURTS!" He exclaimed, his eye twitching violently.
"It wasn't that bad and you didn't have to do that!" She replied stubbornly.
"Oh bite me, you tomato." Vince said rudely.
"I am not a tomato!" Rias yelled, unconsciously holding placing a hand on her crimson hair.
"Your hair is a red as a tomato." He pointed out.
Rias glared at him for a few moments before pouting, she then opened the door to her room. "Here's my room."
She walked into her room along with Vince. He looked around and blinked owlishly upon seeing it.
The room itself was large and had numerous anime or manga posters on the wall. Turning to the left, he saw a large shelf, each section filled to the brim with manga. Right next to the shelf was a large desk with a large leather chair near it. Turning to the right he saw another shelf identical to the one on the left, however it was filled with dvds, each feature a character from an anime. In the middle of the bed room was a large and an expensive looking queen's bed, covered in a luxurious looking bed comforter with a cherry blossom design.
Looking around, Vince saw a large tv, a few feet away from her bed. While on each side of her room there was a door. "...This place is really big."
"Is this your first time seeing a large room?" Rias asked, with him nodding in response.
"Yeah... My room is no where near this big." He commented, still looking around the room with a dumbfounded look.
"Ok. Well, then take a seat." Rias went to the shelf on the left and grabbed a few volumes of manga as Vince grabbed the chair next to her desk and sat on it. She placed the manga on her bed while he scooted the chair more closely to her bed. "This is what happened so far in the series. Do you have any of these volumes?"
"Nope. This is the only volume I got of the manga." He said shaking his head.
"Really? Well, how come?" She asked raising an eyebrow.
"I rarely get manga or anime. I like video games more. Vince answered simply.
"I see... I didn't know that." Rias blinked twice, not expecting the answer before looking at the manga on her bed. "Want to read the other volumes?"
"Sure. So did you ever read the volume I have?" Vince asked curiously.
"No, I was supposed to get that volume this week but I hadn't got the chance to." She said shaking her head.
Vince nodded and tossed her the manga while he picked one up from the earliest volume. "Then let's read each other's volumes until dinner."
Rias's eyes lit up as she nodded enthusiastically. "Ok! Since dinner won't be finished for at least half an hour we have plenty of time."
"Perfect."
Within twenty minutes of their time, the two read through their respective manga quite easily. However Rias started to re-read the manga Vince lent her.
After finishing she closed the manga and smiled. "That was a good read. Are you finished Vince?"
Looking down she saw Vince, playing on a small hand held system. He gave her a small wave before going back to playing on the system. "You finished now?"
"Yes. I was re-reading it though. You already finished reading the other volumes?" She asked looking a bit surprised.
"Yeah. I don't need to read it again, I already have it memorized." Vince said, not taking his eyes of his game.
"I see... so what game are you playing?" Rias questioned in a curious tone.
"An RPG game, their one of my favorite genres." He commented with a small grin.
"I meant the name of the game." She said deadpanning.
Vince said nothing but instead raised the volume on his game. "I think you'll recognize this song."
A familiar tune rang out from the game system, despite it being somewhat muddled, causing Rias blink twice. "Dancing Mad. But the sound quality is a bit muffled."
"That's because the handheld game I have kinda messes up the music. But on the upside the game has a lot of extra features and they fixed a lot of glitches that were in the original game." He explained with a small shrug.
"I see..."
Vince continued to play his game with Rias watching him from behind, after a few minutes of silence between the two, she spoke up. "Vince?"
"Yeah?"
"Did you really mean what you said earlier? You really don't care that I'm the heir to the Gremory Clan?" Rias asked looking at him.
"Nope. I don't see what big deal about being an heir is either, you look like a regular girl to me." He spoke with a small shrug.
Her eyes widened at his answer, before lips curled up into a smile. "Say Vince, how would you like to join my peerage when we're older? You'll be the first one to join."
"No thanks."
"B-But why?" She asked in a surprised tone.
"I don't know what a peerage is, but it sounds stupid." Vince said bluntly.
Rias puffed her cheeks and swatted his arm, making him wince slightly. "A peerage isn't stupid! It's-"
A knock on the door suddenly interrupted her potential rant. Opening the door, Grayfia cleared her throat. "Ojou-sama, Vince-sama. Dinner is ready."
"Really? Thanks Grayfia." Vince stuffed his manga in his large pocket along with his video game and left the room with Rias following suite.
Before she could continue Grayfia turned towards her. "Ojou-sama, please refrain from explaining to Vince-sama about peerages."
"Why is that Grayfia?" She asked looking confused.
"Vince-sama is not aware of the fact that we are devils, it will make the situation complicated if you explain to him about peerages." Grayfia answered.
"But why can't I tell him?" Rias questioned, trying to find out more.
"Vince-sama is not ready for such a revelation, he is only nine years old. Vince-sama will learn about everything when he is older, rest assured, Ojou-sama." Grayfia spoke simply.
Rias nodded as a small smile appeared on her face. "Okay, and when we're both older, I'll try to have Vince join my peerage."
xXxXxXxXxX
"Vince, it's time to go. Say goodbye to Rias." Elena spoke as she watched Rias and Vince with Venelana.
"Sure." He turned to Rias, who looked sad.
"Do you have to go so soon Vince? We only just met." She said sadly.
"Don't worry, will see each other again." Vince spoke with a small nod.
"Really?"
"Yeah, of course." He said, smiling a little.
Venelana still saw the sad expression on her daughter's face and clasped her hands together. "Why not take a photo to remember this day by?"
Rias perked up and nodded at the suggestion. "That's a great idea mother!"
Vince shook his head and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "No thanks. I don't like taking pictures."
"Please Vince, can we take a picture together? I want remember this day." She pleaded, looking into his eyes.
After a few moments of looking into her eyes he grumbled and kicked the air around him. "Fine... Just one photo."
Rias smiled and pulled him into a hug. "Thank you, Vince!"
He said nothing but turning around, Elena and Venelana giggled when she saw Vince's face turning beet red.
Venelana took out a camera and smiled. "Are you two ready?"
Vince took a deep breath and calmed the blush on his face, however a small blush quickly came up as Rias smiled widely, wrapping her arms around his waist. (This is too close for my comfort!)
"Come on Vince, smile for the camera!" Elena said in an encouraging tone.
(Easy for you to say...) He grumbled in response but nodded, smiling widely.
"Perfect." Venelana positioned the camera at the perfect angle and took a several shots.
After finishing Vince got away from Rias' grip and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Can you send my some copies later, Venelana?" Elena asked, turning towards her.
"Of course."
Rias smiled sadly and hugged Vince. "Take care Vince."
He blinked owlishly and awkwardly wrapped his arms around her waist, causing her to lightly blush. "Y-Yeah, you two Rias."
(Flashback: End)
(I remember now... I also met the rest of Rias' family during dinner too. I can't believe I completely forgot about that. Then again, I was swamped with a bunch of other things like schoolwork. It was also around the time where I met Gabriel and Shura. After I started training under Shura, that was when I started forgetting. Her training method was really strict.) Vince thought, shaking his head.
"It looks like you remember everything Vince." Elena commented.
"Why didn't you, or the others tell me?" He asked, frowning a bit.
"It was really hard to tell you with everything else happening. Remember, we had to move three times in a year before we finally settled on this place. It also didn't help that I lost my copy of the photo while we were moving." She replied calmly.
(Ugh. It was hell moving from place to place like that. It didn't help that I was transferring between two schools back and forth at the time. This was all before I met Rena and Chloe too. It was a few months after Shura and Gabriel left, that I met Rena and Chloe.) Vince thought shaking his head in disbelief.
His eyes then darted towards Venelana and Grayfia momentarily before looking at the photo. "How come you or the others didn't come out and tell me about this?"
"You didn't really trust us at the time and I'm pretty sure you wouldn't believed us even if we told you. That and Rias wanted to have you remember everything on your own." Venelana explained calmly.
"Tch." Vince ran a hand through his hair and sighed, knowing she was right. (Either way, it does explain why they weren't hostile, or at the very least wary about me when I saw them in Kuoh. It does also explain why Rias wants to get close to me. Sheesh, and all this time I didn't even get a clue...)
"Is everything okay, Vince-sama?" Grayfia asked, noting his annoyed expression.
"I'll be fine. And stop using that honorfic Grayfia." Vince then turned to Venelana. "Is it alright for me hold on to this? I want to show it to Rias."
"You can go ahead and keep it Vince. I have other copies of it." Venelana spoke as she handed Elena a copy of the photo. "Here's the copy you asked for Elena."
"Thanks Venelana." She took the photo and gently placed it on the table. "I looked everywhere in this house twice and I still couldn't find it."
"It's no problem Elena." She said with a smile.
Vince then turned to his mother. "Mom, I'll be leaving now."
"Okay. Where are you going Vince?" Elena asked curiously.
"I'm going to visit Chloe in the hospital." He said simply, making Grayfia and Venelana raise an eyebrow.
Elena nodded as Vince walked towards the door. He opened the door and paused for a moment. "Mom, I don't mind if you talk about what happened to Chloe. It's behind me now."
He closed the door behind him and left as her eyes widened.
"...Did something happen?" Venelana asked looking concerned.
"You could say that." Elena sighed a bit as she went towards the kitchen. "I'll prepare some tea for us, it's one hell of an incident."
"There is no need for that Elena-sama. I have tea already prepared for us." Grayfia said as a magic circle appeared next to the table in the living room.
Elena sweatdropped as an antique tea cart appeared from the magic circle. "You sure are prepared Grayfia, and please don't use that honorific on me."
A small smile appeared on her face as Venelana giggled. "Like mother, like son..."
xXxXxXxXxX
Walking down on a sidewalk, Vince sighed as he looked up the sky with a contemplative look. "...Yume, you there?"
[Yes, Vince. I'm right here.] She saw the look on his face and saddened a little. [Still thinking about what happened earlier?]
"Yeah. Still can't believe I actually knew Rias back then. Looking back at it, it felt like it never happened." He said shaking his head.
[It does, but it did happen Vince. But it's not your fault, you were swamped with so much stuff afterwards, between moving to different houses, schoolwork and then Shura training it's not a surprise that you would forget so easily.] Yume replied, trying reassure him.
"I guess. Though it does explain why Rias was so pushy on finding out more about me." Vince mused.
[What are you going to do?] She asked curiously.
"I'm going to apologize to her and try to make it up to her. However, I want to stay as friends. Rias is hot, don't get me wrong, but I'm not going to do something hasty. I don't want to be tied down in a relationship and be forced to take responsibility." He stated, looking at his Sacred Gears.
[Why? You were in a relationship with Rena.] Yume spoke with a small frown.
"I know." Vince scratched his cheek a little with his index finger, feeling a bit bashful. "I just want to have some time alone to be single for a bit. 'Sides, I can't choose to be with someone, I'll hurt the others if I do. I'd rather be alone than to hurt them."
[What about a harem? Pologamy is accepted nowadays, not in the human world but in Devil culture...] She trailed off, with a hesitant tone.
"No."
[Eh?]
"Harems, are just another form of cheating. As you already know, that "father" of mine cheated on my mom. I refuse to do anything that'll have me follow in his footsteps." Vince said bitterly.
[I see... so what are you going to do for training? You have a few months before summer vacation starts?] Yume asked, trying to change the topic.
"I'll find out when I visit Chloe." He spoke, sounding a bit distracted.
[What do you mean by that?] She questioned, sounding a bit confused.
"I want ask Chloe if those two spells I created can be fixed or adjusted. She's really good with magic so she might know something. If the spells can't be fixed then I'll focus on creating on another two spells to replace it. If not then I'll spend the months trying to fix it, while training with the angel DNA in my Sacred Gear." Vince answered with a small shrug.
Yume nodded in response, until she paused for a minute and spoke up. [Is that why you're visiting her?]
"Half of the reason. I want to see how she's doing after waking up knowing her, she's probably reading a book about magical equations or something." He stated.
xXxXxXxXxX
Walking near a room inside of a luxurious hospital, filled with the latest equipment, Vince knocked on the door, holding a small vase of red roses in his left hand. (Good think there was a florist near the hospital. I think the shop being there was intentional though.)
"Come in!" A feminine voice sounded off.
Vince opened the door and his eyes widened. The room itself was a large room, kept neatly clean with two small sofa's, a large hospital bed, a table with a fresh vases of flowers. Next to the fresh vases of flowers were two more vases, one filled with red and blue colored daisies while the other vase was filled with pink lilies.
To the left of him was a door. (Never been to this type of hospital before. I guess being rich as it's perks.)
A young woman with long, auburn hair tied into a ponytail with a red ribbon, pale skin and bright brown eyes, walked out of said door, wearing only a white hospital gown. "Hello Vince, it's nice to see you."
A small smile appeared on his face. "It's nice to see you too, Chloe."
She saw the small vase filled with red roses. "Is that for me?"
"Yeah-" Vince placed them on the table next to the other flowers. "I hope you feel better soon Chloe."
"Thank you, you're so sweet Vince." Chloe smiled and pulled him in close to her and embraced him.
However this act made him slightly blush as his face was currently in between her modest bust while he got a clear view of her long legs and her well developed rear. "C-Chloe, you mind letting go of me?!"
Chloe saw the him struggling to breathe and quickly let him go. "Sorry Vince, are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine-" Vince then paused for a moment and examined her.
"I-Is something wrong?" She asked, blushing slightly underneath his gaze.
"How can you walk so soon? You just woke up from a two year coma yesterday. Your bones should be too brittle for that." He questioned, crossing his arms.
"Hm? Oh... well... let's just say, I cheated." Chloe spoke smiling a bit as she went to her bed.
"Cheated?"
"When I had the chance, I placed a spell on my body to accelerate the recovery process for my body. That and the spell Gondul and my parents placed on me stopped any further deterioration from both the curse and the coma. Though, the curse went far enough up to the point where I need physical therapy." She explained with a small sigh.
"Oh... so how are you adjusting to everything else?" Vince asked curiously.
"Believe it or not, not much as changed in two years Vince. Aside from what happened with the small advances in technology and some other trivial news. It only took around four hours looking at the internet for me to catch up." Chloe answered simply.
"O-Oh. I was just wondering how you were doing... How you were adjusting to everything. You know, you're surprisingly very normal." He said casually, taking a glance at her.
Chloe however saw this and frowned. "Hmph. What's that supposed to mean? Sure I might not be the same like my sister or my mom... but it's important to seek balance in proportions, you know? And I'm still above average. A man might not really understand this concept, but size isn't everything you know?"
Vince blinked owlishly, not expecting the outburst. "...What you I and were just thinking are two completely different subjects. ...I was just worried you might be frustrated or a little down because of you trying to catch up. I was checking up on you. You know, 'cause of you just waking up yesterday and all."
He brought a hand through his hair and sighed. "Despite all of everything that's happened to you, you're very relaxed, which is why I said "normal."
Her expression visibly brightened. "So you were worried about me?"
"You're thinking way too much into this..." He replied deadpanning.
"You still haven't changed Vince, you don't have to be that shy. I know you're a really nice person!" She exclaimed cheerfully.
"As if. So what are you going to do after you recover?" Vince asked changing the subject.
Chloe nodded her head without a look of doubt. "I'm going to move to where you and Rena are at."
"...Huh?"
"I want to be there with you and Rena. After what I heard on what happened, I'm really worried about you two. I want to make sure you two are safe and at the same time I could also get a job there." Chloe explained simply.
"...I see." He shook his head but had a small smirk. "Well, if you decided that's what you're going to do, then there's no helping it. It's hard to change your mind once you set yourself on a goal. You are really stubborn after all."
Chloe however pouted. "Hey! I'm not that bad compared to Rena!"
Vince chuckled a bit as she cleared her throat, trying to change the topic. "Still, I have to admit though, it was surprising to hear that you and Rena got dragged into that situation with the treaty. I was not expecting that."
"Yeah, that was a pain in the ass to go through." He said shaking his head.
"Still. I'm proud of you two, because of both of you working hard the treaty was able to be signed and potential war was avoided between the Three Factions." She praised.
Vince rolled his eyes in response. "Pfft. I didn't help out to be noble. I was pretty much dragged in by all three leaders. If it was my choice, I would have not attended. It was a waste of my time. Besides, who's to say this treaty isn't just a cover up for one of the factions to backstab each another and possibly cause another war?"
Chloe nodded, listening to him. "Well, to be perfectly honest, I don't blame you for not trusting the Three Factions. They've been at war for so long and with the treaty just signed, the tensions between them will be high for a while. However, I do believe that they're trying to learn from their mistakes so they don't repeat another Great War. I think that deserves a chance to be trusted. Don't you?"
"...Maybe. I think the Three Factions have a better chance. During the war, the original Maou, along with the God and with most of the Fallen Angels that were hungry for a fight were all killed. I think it's safe to say that all of them needed to be killed in order for there to be some sort of peace or at the very least a cease fire." Vince stated bluntly.
Chloe's eyes widened at his reasoning, not expecting him to say that. "That's a really cruel thing to say Vince. So many people died in that war..."
Vince however shrugged. "I know it's a cruel. But hey, that was their fault for starting the war in the first place. Besides, that war started long before we were even born. What happened to them is just simply the end result."
"While that's true it's still wrong..." She said shaking her head.
"Probably. By the way Chloe, there's something I've been meaning to ask you for a long time." He said looking at her.
"What is it Vince?" Chloe questioned, looking slightly confused.
"I have two spells that I created when you were in a coma. I was wondering if I could have your advice on them." Vince spoke as he sat down on the sofa.
"Sure, I don't mind. What's the problem?" She asked taking out a small notepad and a pen from underneath her pillow.
He nodded and crossed his arms, looking pensive. "Well, both of them are powerful spells but they drain too much energy from me and it takes a while to execute the spell. To be exact, each spell takes out fifty percent just for using them once. I asked your dad about this and he said that it's not good in combat and that it would be better to forget them and create new spells."
"I see... Well dad has the right idea. Spells like that aren't going to be much help, however you can try adjusting the magic formula for those spells." Chloe stated.
"Adjust them?"
"Yeah. Though, it's normally an advance thing to do for magicians that usually takes a few months to get a grasp on the concept. It's actually really easy once you get a good handle on it-" She started twirling her pen as she started to write down on her notepad. "And there you go. That should give you a good idea on how to adjust it to your liking."
Looking at the notepad, Vince slowly nodded as he read through the instructions. "I see. I can do this."
"However, if you want to, you can probably do something like chanting the spell in your head or give yourself a mental cue to give more energy to the spell at a certain interval. Doing that should lessen the amount of energy the spell would normally consume. I wrote that down on the paper too." Chloe explained with a smile.
"Hmm... and that would fix the problems with those spells I created?" He asked, looking a bit skeptical.
"Yes. Given by your description of it and dad's wording, I would say that the formula needs to be adjusted. But can you write down the formula of the spells on the notepad so I can see for myself?" Chloe questioned with a smile.
"I don't know how to write a magic formula." Vince spoke shaking his head.
"I forgot. You're not trained to be a magician, sorry. Just write down what you do and think when you're making the spell and I'll look at it." She explained to him.
Vince nodded and wrote down what she requested on another piece of paper on the notepad, handing it to her, he leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. Seeing her write again on another piece of paper he raised an eyebrow. "So, what are you doing...?"
"Translating your description into a magic formula." Chloe replied as she continued to jot down notes on the paper.
Looking over the what he wrote along with what she wrote, Her eyes widened a bit before she regained her composure she placed the notepad down and sighed. "No wonder you've had so much trouble. Vince, after reading over what you wrote me and translating that into a magic formula, I can definitely say that the reason why it's dangerous is because it's incomplete."
"Incomplete...?"
"Yes. You're missing a key component to finishing the spells properly, you can still execute the spell, however you're replacing the missing component with more of your energy which is the reason why you waste half of it casting those two spells. In addition to that, the reason why the spells are so slow is because of the missing component." Chloe explained, sighing a bit.
"Oh. So if I put in that missing component, then the spell will not only waste less energy, it'll be faster too?" Vince asked, trying to confirm what she said.
"Exactly." Chloe turned to another page and started to write down on the notepad.
He stood there patiently as she continued writing on the notepad, after a few more moments passed by she smiled and handed the notepad to him. "Here you go, Vince. Be sure to look over it carefully before attempting to fix those spells."
Vince nodded and looked over the notepad, he then sweatdropped upon seeing multiple complicated magical formulas. "...The hell?"
"Those are magic formulas for your spell that I translated two of them are incomplete while the other two are the spells with completed formulas, look at the bottom of the page and it'll show you how to do that much more easily." She answered, seeing his confused look.
"It's times like these that makes me glad I'm not a magician." He muttered as he started reading the bottom of the page.
"It's not that bad Vince, once you get the hang of it, it's really easy to use." Chloe reassured him.
Vince rolled his eyes in response. "Easy for you to say, you're a prodigy in magic like Rena."
"Rena can outdo me in wind magic. I really don't think I'm a prodigy in magic like you say." She spoke with a small wave of her hand.
"Says the one that skipped several grades in magic, besides you've even skipped grades in regular school too." He said deadpanning.
Chloe sweatdropped and laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head with her hand. "I just got ahead of everyone else, that's all. I can assure I'm not perfect."
"I guess so. I mean you are stubborn as hell and you're annoyingly optimistic." Vince spoke with a small shrug.
Her eye slightly twitched as she turned to him. "I see you still like to be abrasive as possible, Vince."
"Meh."
Chloe sighed and took a box from underneath her bed. She opened and took a small assortment of mechanical tools, right next to the tools was a futuristic looking handheld gun that was colored mostly white, with what appeared to be a slot on the top of the gun, around the gun barrel was colored black as was the trigger along with the backstrap of the gun and the bottom of the gun. Right next to it were four black metallic rectangles. Expertly twirling the screwdriver in hand, she began working on the gun.
"...How did you sneak a gun in a hospital?" He questioned, looking a bit surprised.
"I asked my mom to bring it by, she was hesitant but I wanted something to do in my spare time. The gun here is actually a controller, dismantled the gun from two years ago and modified a new one with some parts from it." Chloe explained as she twisted a screw with her screwdriver.
Vince blinked owlishly. "A controller... For what? And how did you get a chance to do all of this?"
"I didn't do all of this. My mom took care of most of the stuff, she just left the technical parts and the customization for me to do. As for the controller, it's for this-" Just finishing tightening the screw, Chloe aimed the gun. A small screen came out from a slot that's on top of the gun. Pressing the trigger, the four metallic rectangles flew up and gather right next to each other and fired a beam of pure light.
Vince's eyes widen as he quickly rolled out of the way of the beam, after realizing it was headed right for him. However, doing this caused him to bang his skull into the wall. "Aarrgh!"
The light beam pierced right through the window, shattering it and pierced right through a tree leaving a noticeable hole in the middle of the tree trunk.
Seeing this, Chloe hastily turned off the gun along with the metallic rectangles, causing them to fall on to her bed. "Oh god, Vince are you okay?!"
"I banged my head into a wall after dodging a light beam that would have put a hole in me, what do you think?" He asked sarcastically.
"I'm sorry. I still need to make some adjustments on it. I didn't expect for it to fire like that, I just wanted it to move." Chloe said, apologizing sincerely.
"Right... so what was that anyway?" He asked rubbing his head in pain.
"It's a remote gun and those things are actually flying turrets. The gun is used to control the turrets, the turrets themselves gathers together and attacks with a highly dense and concentrated beam of light. However, I'm working on adjusting them and adding a few other things to them..." Chloe commented as she started unscrewing one of the turrets with her screwdriver.
"I think it would be best if you did the test runs outside of the hospital." Vince said deadpanning a bit.
"Yes, and I'm sorry Vince." She said apologizing again.
"Don't worry about it."
Vince sat down on the small sofa and sighed. (Yeesh. That's a really potent weapon. I'm pretty sure it would kill a devil quickly, if not that the light poisoning will. Her most dangerous weapon is definitely her mind...)
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Author's Notes: That's it for the chapter. A lot of stuff has happened and a chunk of Vince and Elena's past were revealed. I did the best I could with fleshing out everything and I think it came out okay. I certainly hope that it did. Also since almost everybody did not comment on it, I decided not to show a lemon between Vince and Rena. Personally, I prefer for it to happen off-screen. Not to say that I will never write one again, it's just my preference.
The thing with Vince and Elena's family is this, not everyone hates Vince but they are either indifferent towards him or are just plain out rude or nosy. I didn't want every family member to hate on Vince because that would be boring. Vince doesn't like his family members very much, with the exception of his mother but he will have different types of interactions with his family members as you saw with Vince's grandfather and uncle.
For those of you that watch or read the manga/anime Negima, you already know about Magic Cancel. The reason why I decided for Vince's mother to have this ability is quite simple, I wanted to explain how she could have dealt with Vince in the past with his magic outbursts from his Sacred Gear without her being hurt in the process. I hope that I was able to properly explain about the ability though.
As you can see, Vince has a fun quirk for video games their his motivation for doing something he doesn't like doing.
The flashback between Vince and Rias was planned for a while and I wanted to show it off in this chapter. Though, I wanted it to be a fleshed out flashback and paid as much detail into it as I could that and to show that not everything is not how it seems.
The scene with Chloe was a fun one, there were so many options I could choose for her and it was fun doing it. I wanted to do a scene to touch on what happened afterwards, since I did not want to leave it untouched. Just to note, Chloe is by all means not a perfect person.
That's all I have to say for now, though I would like to ask everyone a question. Would you like to see Vince learning more spells or abilities with his lightning and water magic? Let me know what you think in the reviews and take care.