The things you lose will always find its way back to you.

Devil Arms: ReturnerS

Amidst the eternal waves of time
From a ripple of change shall the storm rise
Out of the Abyss peer the eyes of a shadow
Behold the Devil, it's wings a black sheath

Chapter 2: Apparition of the Lost

A lone man drifted around in a dark and unknown place. There was no sky. There was no natural light. There was no earth. It was a place similar to dark space, but the surroundings were constantly moving. This was a pocket between dimensions, one of millions, accessible only by him.

In front of him was a single monitor, that remained in front of his masked face as he drifted. On the monitor was a small girl lying on a bed inside a place called the Saint Church.

"My king...my dear King Ixpellia," He spoke in a hollow voice that echoed throughout the dimension. "Centuries have passed since I was forced from thy side...since I failed to protect thee. The galaxy has changed. Our grand kingdom, reduced to sand and ruin...and thee...forcefully woken from thy slumber...to be used as a tool in war...then cast back to thy sleep. I should come for thee and protect thee from the foolish humans that continue to wage war...but...it's different now...thou hast found others...they can protect thee and fulfill thy wish. Thou dost not need only to rely on thy knight any longer..."

He raised his hand toward the screen, as if reaching out to the girl before letting it drop to his side, his glowing red eye floating in the socket of his skull half closed.

"Forgive thy knight...for he...shalt never again...be able to walk by thy side...for in order for thy to regain thy life...this one must..."

The screen vanished as the man disappeared through a portal that had appeared above his head.

"Hmmmmmm...finally done!"

Subaru Nakajima was lying down on her couch having just finished writing all of her reports. She stretched her limbs outward before letting them fall down as she tried to find a comfortable position to lie on, pushing her ponytail off her face.

"Uuu...I haven't been able to get a good night's sleep in days..." she grumbled as she rubbed her eyes against the couch cushion. She had been having the same recurring nightmares for weeks, involving the desert planet and the person she couldn't save back then, and now she was having one where her friend would never wake up again. "Sakura-chan's getting worried too...I wonder if I should get some professional help..."

As she straightened herself up, her device, Mach Caliber began beeping.

"You have a call, partner," it said. "It is Mister Aizawa. Would you like to accept?"

"Shou-san? What does he want? Accept the call."

The video call opened up and Subaru could see the bespectacled man on the other end.

"It's been a while, Subaru-san. Screening calls now?" he asked with a small laugh.

"Not at all, I was just in the middle of some work and didn't want to be distracted," she replied. "Did you need something? Where are you right now?"

"I actually just got back to Mid-Childa right now," he replied, rolling his shoulders. "I have something I wanted to talk to you about, so how about a date?"

"Adultery?"

"I won't tell if you won't, haha...but joking aside, this is important and I need your feedback on it. Normally I wouldn't discuss this over dinner but I haven't been able to eat on the flight back. Can you meet me at this restaurant in about an hour?"

Subaru took a quick look at the clock on the wall. It was a bit early but she was feeling a little hungry and it would be good to get some fresh air after spending all day working.

"Yes, I think I'll be able to make it."

"Excellent. I'll see you there. Oh, and feel free to dress casually."

He gave her a two fingered salute before ending the call.

"What exactly does he need my help with?" Subaru wondered. "Is it something he excavated? Wouldn't that be more of Scrya-san's field?"

Nevertheless she decided to get ready for the dinner "date."

She arrived at the destination, and found Shou sitting on the patio area, drinking coffee by himself. He set his cup down when he saw her and waved to her.

"Yo, glad to see you found the place okay," he said as she sat down in front of him.

"What happened to you?" she asked, eying his cast and sling.

"It's part of the reason I wanted to talk to you about. But first, how about ordering something? This place has an interesting automated system..."

The two of them ordered their food and spent a good amount of time with idle chatter, and were nearly finished with their main courses before Shou got down to business.

"Right...anyway, the reason I called you out here is because Kasumi and I believe we may have found something related to the Flame King Ixpellia," he said bluntly.

"Really? Subaru asked, setting down her utensils.

"Unfortunately, right after we did, our site was attacked and all our recorded findings were deleted and everything we excavated was destroyed."

"I-I see..." Subaru said as her shoulders dropped in disappointment. "So why did you think it was related to Ix?"

"That's because we were attacked a few days after the Mariage Incident, by this man."

He pulled out a small photograph containing the man from the security feed.

Subaru took the photo from him and looked at it. The man

"He was directly attacking the excavation site, and although he was using deadly force, he did incapacitated the entire team quickly and non-lethally. After that he proceeded to destroy everything, and then he left behind a message. 'Reconstruction. Rebirth. Return.' And we think the Rebirth part has to deal with Ixpellia's revival."

"I see...but Ix is..."

"Yes...she is currently in no condition to do anything...that is why I think she's part of the reason this man is here."

"What do you mean?"

"I didn't share this theory with the others but what if this man is kind of like the Mariage? That his appearance coincides with the rebirth of Ixpellia. Like a black knight seeking its master."

"But Ix never mentioned anything about that," Subaru replied, feeling more and more uncomfortable about the topic.

"Is that so...? I wonder if I'm on the wrong track," Shou said, folding his arms and leaning back on his chair. "Out of curiosity, you wouldn't happen to have a picture of her?"

"Ah, yes I do. Though you might be a little surprised."

Subaru reached into her bag and handed him a small photograph and smiled slightly as Shou's eyes widened.

"Since when did Sakura-chan have a twin?" he asked, shifting his glasses slightly and examining the picture more closely.

There were three girls in the picture. Subaru was in the middle and two near identical girls were standing by her side. One had short black hair and blue eyes, and the other had longer red hair and green eyes. Other than that, they were both identical.

"I thought that too," Subaru said, taking the photo back. "Though it did allow them to become fast friends..."

"How is she doing anyway, Sakura-chan I mean."

"Her grades are pretty good all things considered," Subaru said taking a sip of her drink. "Though she's taken an interest in martial arts recently. Especially ones where she can use her legs."

"Well they are cybernetic after all," Shou said, finishing off his steak. "She can do a lot of damage with them."

"Though it's amazing how much agility she has. It's like she was never confined to a wheelchair at all."

"Well...she's related to them after all," Shou said with a wry smile and Subrau couldn't help but giggle softly as well.

"Their family certainly is strange," she admitted. "Though not as strange as mine."

"Haha...well it's about time for me to leave. I'll take care of the check," Shou said as he grabbed the bill as he stood up. "You can go ahead and leave. I'm gonna think to myself for a bit."

"Okay," Subaru said as she stood up. "Are you going to be leaving again?"

"No, I think we're going to hang around for a bit. And I have this feeling we're going to be seeing each other again real soon. Take care now."

"Yeah, you too."

As Subaru left, Shou rested his forehead on the back of his hand and sighed.

"In the end, my theory was neither confirmed nor dismissed," he mumbled. "What I lack is information...perhaps a trip to the Infinite Library might do me some good..."

As he stood up, he got a call on his device from an unknown number.

"Hello?" he asked through the sound only call.

"Am I speaking to Professor Aizawa?" the speaker asked.

"Yeah, who is this?"

"My name is Nathaniel Duel," the man identified himself. "I am a member of the TSAB forces, currently assigned as a 'caretaker' of sorts to Mrs. Aoi Kimura. She has a request that she'd like you to hear."

Subaru wasn't exactly sure how she felt about Shou's questioning about Ix. To her it felt unemotional and ignorant of what the girl had experienced but that was because he had never got a chance to talk to her due to being off on an expedition.

"No...I can't be feeling like this!" she said as she slapped her cheeks. "I gotta stay focused. Vacation ends tomorrow after all."

As she walked down the crowded street, something on the opposite side caught her eye. Not that it was exactly flashy or anything..but that it was impossible for it to be there at all.

A man wearing a black business suit was leaning against the wall of the building, looking right at her. He had fairly long white hair that fell past his ears and green eyes. He was looking directly at her and gave her a small smile before getting off the wall and walking the other way down the street.

"It...can't be..." she muttered as she turned around and followed him. It was all she could to keep herself from running across the busy car filled street.. "Crosswalk...crosswalk...where's the crosswalk?"

She found came across one pretty quick and thankfully people were already crossing it. However, the man had turned down an alleyway a bit earlier and she had to run to catch up. When she reached the alleyway, the man had turned left down the path and out of her sight.

"It can't be...it can't be...could it? No...no...he would have let us known...he wouldn't be walking away from me like this!"

Subaru was running as fast as she could after the man, but even though the man was walking at a normal pace, every time Subaru turned a corner after him, he was already making his around another corner.

Finally, the path ended in a small alley in between several apartment complexes, with the man nowhere to be found.

"Ha...hahaha...what am I doing?" she asked herself as she brought a hand over her eyes. "I was just seeing things...there's nothing here..."

But as she turned to leave the air around her grew cold, and the dumpsters were rattling against each other. She turned around just in time for a black portal to rise up from the ground as a black wolf-like creature walked out of it. It was growling with its fangs bared at her.

It's head had a mask the shape of a skull on it where a red gem laid embedded at the very center. It had four eyes as deep red as the color of blood, and its legs and back had some kind of armor on them. Rather than a wolf, it was more like a war hound.

"W-what is that?" Subaru asked, stepping back slightly. The beast took notice of her and began growling as it inched closer toward her. "Is it attacking?"

Sure enough, the beast lunched at her, trying to sink either its fangs or claws into her. Subaru dived to the side as it crashed into a dumpster, leaving an indent that made it look like a truck had hit it. "This is bad...I can't let that thing out into the streets!" Subaru thought as she activated her device. "Let's go Mach Caliber!"

"Standby Ready!"

With her Barrier Jacket and device activated, Subaru was ready to deal with the beast. She pounded her Revolver Knuckle and Typhoon Knuckle against each other as their gears began to turn.

The moment she activated her device however, the beast suddenly became extremely agitated as it began snarling at her and slowly started to circle around her. Then it lunged at her left arm with its claws extended.

"Protection!" Mach Caliber said as Subaru used her left hand to create a barrier to stop it.

"Revolver..." Subaru began as Revolver Knuckle's gear began to rotate and fast speeds as she brought it up to the beast. "Cannon!"

She made contact with the beast's lower jaw, but it managed to lower the damage by somersaulting and putting some distance between them.

"It's like punching a concrete wall..." Subaru said as she shook her hand. "How can something so agile be so heavy?"

The beast shook its head and charged at her again, this time with its mouth open. Subaru tried to block it with a barrier again, but this time it broke through almost instantly.

"Oh no!" Ah cried as she used her arm to block the beast and it sank its teeth into her left device. Thankfully, the beast's teeth didn't reach her skin but she felt the metal device being crushed against her arm. "Ow ow ow! Let go darn you!"

"Divine Buster!" Mach Caliber said as a blue orb appeared over Subaru's Revolver Knuckle.

"Divine..." Subaru brought the orb next to the beast head and it seemed to rear its head back in fear before the orb exploded in a bright blue beam. "Busteeeeeerrr!"

The blast forced the beast off of her and into the ground. When the light cleared the beast lied their completely motionless. Subaru tried to catch her breath as she clutched her left arm in pain.

"Oh no...it's been totally wrecked," Subaru said looking at her Typhoon Knuckle. "At least I still can move my fing..."

Her eyes darted back at the beast who was slowly getting back onto its feet.

"No way! It was a direct hit at such close range!" Subaru said as she backed up. The beast was back on its feet and shook its head as if trying to throw the pain off of itself. There was no visible sign of damage as it began to creep up to her again.

"This is just like that time..." Subaru said as she raised her right arm up, ready to fight again. Her thoughts swiftly shifting from the battle on the desert planet back to the one right in front of her. But before the beast could leap again, a red blur rushed past her and collided with the beast, blowing it off its feet and into the wall.

"Subaru-san! Are you all right?"

It was Alexander Dalton, a fellow mage that specialized in dagger combat with ice elemental spells. He had the beast pinned to the wall with his dagger embedded into its neck.

"Alex-kun? What are you doing here?"

"You certainly weren't exactly subtle with your fight," he said as the beast threw him off, forcing him to leave his dagger in the beast's neck as he drew a second one out. "HQ noticed it right away and I was the closest one. So what is this thing?"

"I don't know, it just suddenly came out of nowhere and tried to eat me," Subaru said lifting her left arm slightly, showing Alex the damaged knuckle, who looked horrified.

The beast shook in pain trying to get the dagger out of its neck. What struck the two as strange, was that there was no blood coming out of it. It was clearly in great pain, so the cut was deep, and yet no blood was coming out. At least, not a liquid one.

Some kind of black particle was spilling out from the wound and floating up into the air before vanishing.

"This can't be a natural creature," Alex said as he tried to get on the creature's left as Subaru went to the right. "You don't think there are more of these things do you?"

"I hope not," Subaru replied as the creature decided that it was better off ignoring the dagger and had its eyes refocused on Subaru. "Just one of them is bad enough."

The beast lunched at Subaru once more, head first again. Subaru didn't bother putting up a barrier and dodged as Alex tried to get on top of it to stab its back but it wheeled around and took a swipe at his knees with its claws and he had to parry it instead.

"Subaru-san! Try punching the wound!" he called out.

"Roger!" she responded as Revolver Knuckle's gears started spinning again. "Knuckle...Duster!"

She managed to punch the end of the blade, causing it to shoot out through the beast's neck, causing it to howl and gargle in pain. The dagger kept on flying and would have probably flown through a building had Alex not grabbed it out of the air, and spun around, changing its directory and caused it to it the side of the beast's head, causing it to drop once again.

"Is...is it dead?" Alex asked as he slowly walked up to it.

"I don't know...it got up the last time," Subaru replied.

But it seems that this time it was dead as its body turned into the black particle it had been leaking and vanished.

"Yeah...that's definitely not natural..." Alex said picking up his discarded dagger, and examining it. "The blade is already dull...that thing has some thick skin...Subaru-san?"

Subaru had fallen to her knees and was panting and sweating heavily, clutching her left arm in pain. "You're injury must be worse than we thought," he said as he pulled her right arm around his neck and helped her up. "We need to get you some treatment."

"Alex! Onee-chan!"

A young girl came running up to them, her eyes widening when she saw them.

"Sakura, think you can call an ambulance?" Alex asked as Subaru was struggling to stay awake. "I think she's in a lot of pain."

"That's not necessary."

Sakura turned around and saw Shou walking up to them as well.

"My house is closer, we can take her there instead," he said.

"Shou-san?" Alex asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Well...your little scuffle was drawing a crowd and I was on the way home so I thought I'd rubberneck for a bit. We need to take a different route though."

"Right...come on..."

Shou led them through another path where his car was parked and helped Alex lift Subaru into the car before the other three climbed in as well, with Subaru resting her head on Sakura's lap in the back and the two men up front. As Shou started the car and drove as fast as he could without out right breaking any traffic laws, he chatted with Alex.

"So...why was a civilian like Sakura-chan at a fight involving two TSAB mages?"

"I...I had to answer the dispatch since there wasn't another mage around for a few miles."

"And Sakura-chan just happened to be next to you too?"

"We were...hanging out."

"Ah...that explains a lot..."

"What?"

"Why Ed always said 'That damn Lolicon' when he referred to you."

Alex was silent for the rest of the drive to Shou's house.

Author's Note:

So...yeah...

Way, way, way back when before I started writing StarS, i saw this picture with Subaru and Ix and thought it was just some random fanart, as I didn't know who Ix was at the time and so i started using her as a mental image for Sakura. Well there you go...Ix and Sakura look the same except for hair and eye color. Also somewhere in my head, the soft spoken childhood friend became a sarcastic crazy genius. Guess you have to be if you married someone like Kasumi.

I also listened to all of Sound Stage X before I wrote this, and my god it was depressing. I freaking love "My Friend." But nevertheless, I'll be the first to mention that I may not have the entire story perfectly understood. There may be one or two things that will seem wrong but I have two things to say to that.

1. It's a fanfic (yes i'm pulling the my universe my rules card.)

2. I don't care.

Nevertheless, I want to keep the Canon characters' personalities as close to the original as well. So if someone seems just a bit TOO OOC please do not hesitate to tell me and I'll do my best to rewrite it. Subaru doesn't count as she's already more of an OC stand in than anything else. There may be quite a few other things that are completely wrong so please tell me, NICELY, and I'll fix it.

Also...I gotta ask...you four Canadian readers...how many times were you gonna read the first chapter? 19 hits and only 4 Visitors? Was it really that interesting? If so, I'm flattered.

Gorgas: I thought about that, but writing an entire "where they are now" segment just felt extremely wordy and pointless at the time so i just felt it was unnecessary. Besides, they'll all show up in time.

Gureifox: Perhaps, but not all of Six will show up. A few will, but not all. They have their own lives and responsibilities after all.

Oh and the evil wolf thing. How about that evil wolf thing? Is it evil enough? Is it mysterious enough? How about the shadow man? Is he interesting enough?

No? Too bad. See ya in Chapter 3! And really...if you're following me to my third story, the least you could do is give a little review on how I'm doing. More reviews means more inspiration. More inspiration means faster updates! ? Faster Updates means you win!