Hello everyone and welcome back! Sorry if this is a bit late, but I'm a busy person. I'm going to be practically unavailable for around the next month and a half too, but I'll try my best to get the next chapter done. Enough about my problems, enjoy the story!

Chapter 2:

New Life

(Issei's room):

Issei's eyes snapped open as he jolted up from his bed, breathing heavily. His hand instinctively went to his gut, finding it perfectly intact. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He could have sworn he'd been stabbed by some kind of light spear only last night, how was there no trace of the injury at all?

Furthermore, he felt an unusual drain on his mind and body. Issei had never exactly been a morning person, but he was never this exhausted when he woke up. It was as though the morning sun's rays were sapping him of his strength.

He cautiously got out of the covers and exited his room. Yukina was already standing in the hallway, looking just as bewildered as him. Issei slowly walked over to her.

"Hey, Yukina. You remember what happened last night, right?" he asked tentatively.

"I think," she replied, sounding confused and slightly apprehensive. "Were the two of us really stabbed last night? How are we still even alive?"

The elder sibling sighed. "I honestly don't know. If it weren't for you confirming all this right now, I'd probably think everything that happened last night was all some kind of seriously screwed up nightmare."

"Do you think Yuma-san is alright?"

"Can't say. The only thing I know is that she was literally dragged away. It scares me."

(Late afternoon: Kuoh academy gates):

Both Hyodous crossed the threshold, school being complete for the day. Something was different, besides them feeling as though the sun had a grudge to settle with them. For one thing, nobody else seemed to remember anything about Yuma, at all. That didn't make any sense, especially considering that the info somehow got leaked (M&M) and became the hot topic of the entire campus. Not even Issei's twin friends Matsuda and Motohama could recall anything pertaining her, despite them having been extremely jealous over everything and cursing Issei's name.

Also, each of them felt as though something major about them had changed, but were unable to determine what exactly. Mostly, everything felt and happened the same as it always did, except at the same time it was also somewhat unfamiliar. It was like they were strangers in their own bodies.

"I can't think of what's wrong," Issei quietly complained as they walked homewards. "It's driving me crazy. Something definitely changed last night, but what? How are we different from before?"

Yukina looked down a little sadly. "I don't know Onii-san. I feel different as well, like I'm not even myself anymore. It doesn't make sense."

Suddenly, they heard the sound of a child complaining, followed by his mother scolding him and telling him to not be greedy. Only when they looked in the direction the noise had come from did the siblings realise how far away the two actually were from what they had heard. To be honest, they shouldn't have even been able to hear the mother and son from that distance. Similarly, their ears suddenly began picking up sounds and conversations from all around, except that the vast majority of them should have been well outside of their normal hearing range.

Confused and more than a little spooked, Issei and Yukina started rapidly moving away on autopilot. Their bodies instinctively moved in the direction of the one place they felt that they could get away from whatever was happening and be safe: home.

(Later that evening: Hyodou residence):

Issei was helping Yukina with some of her homework, both of them sitting down in the living room. Thankfully, their hearing had returned back to more normal levels after the two of them had all but run to the house. Unfortunately, the sensation that something unexplainable was amiss still remained.

Earlier, Issei received a call from his two fellow perverts. They asked if he wanted to join them for a 'marathon'. Since he was still freaked out from the unexpected bout of enhanced hearing, as well as the feeling of something being wrong or different, he turned them down. They were disappointed, but didn't prod him any further.

It was odd, but both brother and sister felt as though they'd been slightly refreshed after night had fallen. They felt unhindered and free, even weirdly natural. That only served to reinforce their belief that something had changed about them.

Issei abruptly stood up whilst releasing an aggravated sigh. "I can't take this anymore!" He ran a hand through his brown hair. "I need to get outside and clear my head. Actually, everything went crazy after last night." The teen began striding over to the door. "I'm going back to the park. I don't know what to find there, but that's where everything happened."

"Onii-chan wait!" Yukina called, rushing over to his side. "I'm coming too. You're not the only one having a hard time coping with all this. I'd like some answers too you know?"

Issei smiled at his younger sister. "Sure. Sorry I didn't consider you."

"It's okay." She sent him a teasing smirk. "Besides, who knows what you might get up to with no one watching?"

Her brother looked at her in a mix of irritation and hurt. "Hey! I'm not that bad!"

(Park: Fountain):

The brown-haired teens approached the fountain at the centre, Issei slightly leading. He absent mindedly ran hand across the stone construct's rim. He'd been hoping that maybe through returning here he could gain some answers or at least some sort of explanation. Now that he was here though, nothing was coming to him. There was no sudden burst of insight, nobody waiting there for him, and no clue of any kind. However, he felt a strange calmness. The previously violent swarm of questions plaguing his mind had settled down.

"I suppose it would be too good to be true," Issei sighed. "To find something here that would just answer all of our questions. Would have been nice though."

"Onii-chan, I don't think you should push yourself into this so much," Yukina consoled. "I know that you're worried and I understand perfectly why, but you can't expect to always get to the bottom of things."

"I know Yukina. Really, I do… I just can't help it with this situation."

Any further words that they may have exchanged were suddenly cut off by an unknown voice.

"Well well, what do we have here?" The tone was deep and masculine, along with being a little rough and gravelly. "Two devils all alone. I can't seem to sense your master anywhere nearby, so perhaps you're both strays?" Issei and Yukina turned to face the newcomer. It was an adult man dressed in a dark blue trench coat and fedora. A sense of danger washed over the pair, their instincts screaming at them to get away from him. "I suppose in that case, there won't be a problem if I dispose of you."

The elder sibling took a step back, only that it ended up somehow turning into a leap. His sister looked at him in surprise, matching his own. Clicking his tongue in irritation, the stranger generated a light spear in his hand. An unexplainable fear welled up in both Hyodous, coursing through every fibre of their being alongside the adrenaline. Their minds were screaming at them to stay away from the ethereal weapon at all costs.

Without a word between them, Issei and Yukina took off, trying to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the dangerous man. A bunch of black feathers gently floating down in front of him brought Issei to a halt. Yukina stopped as well, standing at her brother's left side. The spear-wielding stranger descended to the ground before them, a pair of black wings sprouting from his back.

"This is why I hate weak grunts like you," the fallen angel remarked in a disappointed and bored tone. "Just do everybody a favour and die quickly."

Issei pushed his younger sister to the side out of harm's way before swiftly ducking down, narrowly evading the thrown spear. Seizing the chance, the brown-haired teen sprinted forward while their assailant was redrawing his outstretched arm. Issei leaped at the fedora wearing man. The moment he was within range, he sent a right hook to the side of his opponent's face, then hastily hopped back to a relatively safe distance.

The winged adult turned his head back to facing Issei. "So you can throw a decent punch, boy," he complimented. There was a tinge of delight in his eyes. Another spear of light materialised in his hand. "You seem to have some potential. But in the end, you're still an amateur!" He all but lunged at Issei, driving the point of his weapon towards the youth's head. Issei sidestepped the attack and tried to counter with a sucker punch to the gut. The stranger dodged it by shifting his footing and taking a step back, but Issei quickly altered the angle of his punch to turn it into an uppercut that successfully connected with his foe's chin. However, the fallen angel recovered so quickly it was as if he'd simply shrugged off the damage. He slashed the spear in Issei's direction. The brown-haired boy attempted to catch the light construct with his hands, only for a searing pain to shoot up his arms the moment they made contact, causing him to shout out and yank them back.

"Ha! How pathetic, you don't even know that light is toxic to your kind!" the man bellowed. Capitalising on Issei's disorientated state, he drove the light spear into the teen's gut, producing another scream of agony from his mouth. The weapon then vanished, letting the blood flow out unobstructed while Issei collapsed to the floor.

"Onii-chan!" Yukina screamed, rushing over to the pair. The man in the trench coat didn't get to even look towards her, since she delivered a swift and brutal roundhouse kick to his head. The unforeseen attack effectively knocked him away from her brother, and by extension herself. His fedora had fallen off too.

"Yukina, run away," Issei rasped as she took a hold of him. "Don't worry about me… keep yourself… safe."

"No!" she rebuked fiercely, despite the tears welling up in her eyes. "How can you say something like that?! Why did you even have to be so reckless, you selfish dummy!?"

Before the enraged man could retaliate, a blast of black energy outlined by red flew right past him, missing his face by mere inches. "I would suggest that you leave my peerage members alone, especially in my own territory, Mr fallen angel," stated a new voice. While the tone had been polite and even, there was a definite hint of a threat mixed in. Craning her head, Yukina caught sight of a familiar redhead with emerald eyes, none other than Rias Gremory. Standing next to her was another third year, one with long black hair.

The fallen angel gave a dark chuckle as he bent down to pick up his fedora hat. "I take it that you're the devil in charge of this territory? I'd advise that you don't allow your servants to wander around so late by themselves, they may run into someone like me who will mistake them for strays." He took to the air. "My name is Dohnaseek. I hope our paths never cross again, crimson heiress." He flew away and out of sight.

"Oh dear, that looks quite serious," Rias observed, approaching the siblings and kneeling down next to them. By this point, Issei had fainted from blood loss. "He's going to need immediate treatment."

"Gremory-senpai? What's going on? Where did the two of you even come from?" Yukina tightened her grip on her elder brother ever so slightly, as though trying to protect him somehow.

"I understand that you're confused," said Rias. "And I promise to answer your questions, but please trust me for now, for your brother's sake at least."

The brown-haired girl looked at her seniors apprehensively, but relented after a few seconds. "Okay… what do you need to do, and how can I help?"

(Next morning: Issei's room):

Issei woke with a start, gasping deeply the moment his eyes opened. He blinked in confusion at seeing the familiar scenery of his room. When he tried to get out of bed, he found himself unable to do so. It was then that he finally registered the slender pair of arms wrapped around his abdomen, as well as the extra weight and heat against his back. He also noticed that he was completely naked for some reason. He felt whoever was behind him shift slightly, essentially rubbing against him.

He released a startled yelp as he frantically scrambled out of the bed, pulling the blanket with him. Hastily using the loose cloth to cover himself, he looked back towards the bed, eyes widening in shock when they perceived the Rias Gremory, in nothing but her birthday suit. Almost immediately, his mind went into (a somewhat perverted) overdrive, trying to remember exactly what had happened last night in order for it to result in a morning like this.

She stirred a bit before sitting up, giving a light yawn while she did so. Issei's brown oculars almost bulged out of their sockets as he was shown a completely uncensored view. The redhead's eyes opened and she smiled at Issei when she saw him sitting against the wall, mouth agape.

"Good morning," she greeted politely, still not bothering to cover up. "You're surprisingly comfortable as a hugging pillow."

The brown-haired teen swallowed the lump in his throat. "Um, I can see… pretty much everything really."

Rias continued smiling. "I don't mind. You can continue looking."

'I never knew such beautiful words even existed!' Issei thought happily.

However, he was brought back to reality, and put into a slight panic, when he heard footsteps approaching his room, followed by the voice of his younger sister.

"Onii-chan, are you alright?" Yukina asked, an undertone of worry present. "I heard you shouting earlier."

Issei looked at the door in alarm. He definitely couldn't let his sister see him and Rias as they currently were, there was no telling how she'd react, but it sure wouldn't be positive. "W-wait a minute Yukina! Don't come in!"

"Don't come in?" she repeated in confusion. "Are you alright?" Her tone then turned somewhat suspicious. "Or are you doing something questionable?"

"No! Well, not really… but don't worry, I'll come out in a sec!"

"That's it, I'm coming in!"

The door was flung open, revealing an irate Yukina. Issei paled as her doe eyes speedily scanned the room. Upon seeing the two elder teens in the state that they were in, her face morphed to one of utter shock. It was only for a moment though, since a second later she was red faced with a mix of fury and embarrassment.

"It's not what it looks like?" Issei voiced weakly.

"What the hell!?" she all but screamed, levelling an accusatory finger at Rias. "You said that you were only going to heal my brother! Not, not, not whatever the heck this was going to lead to!"

The voluptuous redhead never lost her smiling, pleasant demeanour. "Sorry for the misunderstanding, I should have explained things to you more clearly. In any case, I assure you that the only thing I did was heal him from his injury. I'll fully explain everything to both of you after school, okay?"

Yukina pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "Whatever, just get changed before any more misunderstandings happen. I don't want to have to deal with our parents seeing this."

(Kuoh Academy gates):

The Hyodou siblings walked alongside the crimson-haired beauty, heading towards the school's entrance. Issei was holding her school bag. As expected, the moment people saw them, whispers started going around furiously. Various students were calling for Issei's death, because of the fact that an infamous pervert like him was so close to the school's top idol. The trio ignored it (or rather tried to) and simply went on undeterred.

Just before they parted ways at the main building entrance, Rias turned to face the other two.

"I'll send someone for each of you later," she informed. "They'll take you to our clubroom in the old school building and we'll sort everything out properly." The brown-haired teens nodded in understanding before Issei handed her bag back to her and she walked off.

Issei sighed, practically able to feel the glares boring into him. "Well, I'll see you later at lunch time Yukina."

"Okay Onii-san."

(Issei's classroom):

The infamous youth was sitting at his desk with his head resting on top of it. The bell signalling the end of the school day had rang a while ago. Issei was waiting for whoever it was that Rias had sent to get him.

More or less his entire class had started interrogating him earlier in the day the moment he walked into the room, demanding to know why he'd arrived with the one and only Rias Gremory. All the guys had been crying tears of jealous fury whilst the girls gave off an aura of anger and disgust.

He was brought out of his musings by a sudden squeal of happiness sounding through the classroom. There was only one person in the entire academy who got a reaction like that from the girls, and Issei would rather not deal with him if he could help it. He kept his face down, ignoring the commotion.

"Excuse me, you're Issei Hyodou right?" Kiba asked politely.

The brown-haired teen quirked an eyebrow and sat up to look at the school's blond prince charming. "Yeah, I am. What do you want pretty boy?" In the background, all the girls started wailing in despair, stating how their pure prince was going to be "corrupted" by the "perverted beast".

Kiba maintained his friendly air and neutral smile, seemingly ignoring the comments and whispers. "Buchou asked me to come and collect you."

"Right, you're in the same club," Issei muttered as he stood up. "Well, lead the way."

(Yukina's classroom):

Yukina sat patiently at her desk, waiting for whoever it was that Rias would send to pick her up. She was lightly drumming her fingers on the wood, partially out of boredom and partially out of anticipation.

"Excuse me…" came a monotone voice from her side. She turned her head to face a petite girl with snow coloured hair and light hazel eyes. The unofficial school mascot, Koneko Toujo. "Yukina-san, Buchou has asked me to take you to the clubroom."

"Oh, okay." The brown-haired girl stood up with a slightly nervous smile. "So, shall we get going?"

(ORC clubroom):

The clubroom's door opened, soon followed by four people entering. Kiba, Issei, Yukina and Koneko. The two siblings took a moment to glance around at the room's expensive-looking furniture. The sound of running water, the type usually associated with a shower, was present as well.

"Oh, welcome," said a beautiful third year girl with long black hair done up in a high ponytail, aka another idol of the school, Akeno Himejima. "You must be the two that Buchou said would come by later." She had a warm smile gracing her face

"Yeah, that's us," Issei replied cheerfully, a somewhat lopsided grin on his countenance. Both Yukina and Koneko narrowed their eyes at him, but he didn't notice. "By the way, is that a shower we can hear?"

Kiba was the one who answered them. "Yes it is. Buchou is currently taking a quick wash." A few seconds after he said that, the water cut off. A couple of moments later, Rias walked out, already completely dry and dressed.

"Oh, you're all here," she observed. "That's good. Sorry for being late, I wasn't able to take a shower earlier at your house."

"That's fine," Yukina assured. "But you said you'd give us answers if we came here. Can you please explain to us what's been going on for the past few days?"

The crimson-haired girl took a seat behind the large wooden desk, smiling warmly. "Of course. After all, I did promise you, didn't I? Please, sit down and make yourselves comfortable." Everyone else did just that, besides Akeno who stood next to Rias. "I'll cut straight to the point. All of us here… are devils."

Issei and Yukina gave a simultaneous "huh?", wondering if they'd actually heard that statement correctly.

The next few minutes were spent with the ORC members convincing the brown-haired brother and sister that they were telling the truth. It ultimately ended when everyone released black, bat-like wings from their back, including an identical pair erupting from both Issei and Yukina's backs as well in response to everyone else's.

After calming the pair down and explaining that devils weren't necessarily 'evil' as they were often portrayed to be, Rias informed them how she saved their lives by reincarnating them as members of her peerage. She also filled them in on the three factions and sacred gears, as well as how they had been initially attacked by fallen angels due to them possessing sacred gears themselves. When Issei asked if they knew anything regarding Yuma's state, Rias said that they didn't have any information regarding after she was dragged away by their killer.

The final explanations were in regards to how their lives would now be different since they were members of Rias' peerage, what duties that entailed, and a few other details.

"Anything else that you'd like to know?" Rias inquired.

Issei scratched the back of his head. "Not that I can think of, no."

"Same here," Yukina seconded. "We're still trying to take in everything that you've just told us. I mean, you did pretty much turn all that we thought about the world on its head."

Rias smiled at the pair. "Well, in that case, allow me to officially welcome you to the Occult Research Club, my adorable new peerage members. I look forward to getting to know the two of you better."

The siblings settled for nodding back in response. One thing was for sure, things would never be the same again. Although, maybe that wasn't such a bad thing.

And that's a wrap. As usual, please comment/review. The next chapter will involve Issei awakening his initial Twice Critical. Yukina may or may not awaken hear sacred gear too, which is a custom one that I came up with.