'Looks like this is it… This world… everyone's world… it's time for it to move on without me,' Ragna the Bloodedge thought to himself as the gates to the Azure slowly began to open, the gateway to countless possibilities.
Anyone else thinking those words may have had a bleak and fearful outlook, but not he. His chaos filled path had been walked, his lifelong hunt for vengeance had been accomplished, and… now the future was left to the others who inhabited the world, now in a reality completely unaffected by the CentralFiction. He wouldn't be missed; no one would remember him anyways; he'd seen to that. At most they might remember what he stood for, what he might've meant in the world, but nothing more.
The traveling performer in front of him, Amane Nishiki, did nothing but keep the same small smile he'd had on his face for the last few moments. Currently he was the only person alive that remembered Ragna the Bloodedge, but even he would eventually forget. Ragna let out a soft and final breath of exasperation as the gates finally finished creaking open, light rushing from them and enveloping the Reaper.
When the light finally faded he was gone, vanished from existence and the memories of all who'd once known him whether they cursed him or cherished him. All that remained was his blade the Aramasa which remained impaled in the void, the last memento to the unremembered Reaper. It seemed like it was truly over, the finale of Ragna the Bloodedge… yet not even his curtain call would be that easy.
Original Protagonist by Toshimichi Mori
Story, Alternative World, and Character Designs by Storm VII
Rebirth of Azure
Blue Prologue: Another Possibility
'...My head…' Ragna groaned internally as he emerged from the deep void of unconsciousness. His eyes were squeezed shut and he felt chilled to the bone with his skin covered in a soaked… something. Whatever was covering him made him feel constrained; his arms couldn't move properly and his legs felt slightly curled in. He was already suffering from the pins and needles feeling covering his body as it emerged from sheer numbness, but then came the sudden rush of information to his head.
It was quite literally seeing his entire life flash before his eyes. He remembered the time he spent with Jin and Saya trapped inside the lab, Jubei's rescue, his time spent with Celica in her church, Terumi's attack, his training, receiving his cherished sword and coat, and beginning his revolution. He felt the fires he'd caused when he'd burned the Librarium's branches to the ground, the rage of reuniting with the little brother who'd severed his right arm, the fear he'd nearly been crushed by when first encountering Hakumen, and the pain he felt when he'd been impaled upon Nu's giant blade. He remembered facing the sadistic madman Terumi, the bloodthirsty Azrael, the colossal Takemikazuchi, the wise Sage Nine, the deadly Izanami, and of course the god Susanoo… He also remembered the people of that world, many of whom meant quiet a bit to him and who he'd wished he could see in happier circumstances if he hadn't needed to erase himself from their lives.
Ragna grimaced as he tried to retain the information of his life. Slowly, ever so slowly, he managed to open both of his eyes. His vision was blurred, he found it impossible to make anything out in the darkness, only managing to see that he was being carried by something wearing a hood, Whatever it was, it was much larger than he was and had a firm grip on him as they ran.
'Damn! Why can't I break free!?' Ragna internally cursed as he squirmed in the arms confining him with little success in his disoriented state. 'Let me go you-!'
"Wah!"
A cold chill crept down his spine at the cry of a young baby. Ragna wanted to deny it, he wanted to refuse it, but it was true; that cry was his. The person carrying him put a single finger to his lips. It was soft and warm, but it somehow felt… familiar.
"Hush my son… you won't have to be in this rain for much longer," the voice was also familiar and very warm in spirit.. It would have seemed calm and caring to Ragna had he not focused on the words spoken.
'Son!? Me!? I'm a baby and this is my mother!? What the hell happened!? I was supposed to have disappeared from the world after erasing myself from Amaterasu!' Ragna internally raged. 'Just what the hell's going on here? Is this a possibility of the Azure? ...Well either way I can't do shit now like this… Might as well see where this goes, like I got any other choice.'
In his current state Ragna just closed his eyes and tried to endure the rain for and the bumps he was experiencing as his unidentifiable mother carried him while keeping a very brisk pace in the rain. Eventually, she seemed to slow into a steady walk. She adjusted her hold on Ragna and brought him so he was facing her directly, but his eyes were still blurry and he still couldn't make any details out of his supposed mother through the darkness of her hood.
Save for her eyes; eyes whose colors mirrored his own. Green on her right and crimson red on the left.
"...Take care of yourself child… and find happiness," she said with a rather sad and tear filled tone as she slowly walked up a short set of steps to a doorway. "Y-You'll be much safer here than you'd be with me… I-It's for the best."
'So I'm being given away by my own mother,' Ragna thought glumly. 'Doesn't look like my second life is off to the best of starts.'
His mother then brought him forward and planted a gentle kiss on his forehead before setting him on the ground. Though he could still only see vague shadows in the darkness, he saw his mother reach her arm to grab some sort of large metal ring before rapping it against the door several times and hurrying off, vanishing from Ragna's sight. Luckily it didn't seem like Ragna was going to be waiting for long as he heard heavy footsteps on the other side of the door.
"I'm coming, I'm coming," came the grumpy and slightly drowsy voice of an old man. After struggling with the latches for a moment, the old man on the other side opened the door and peered out into the dark and rainy night while holding the lamp. "Hm? Where'd...?"
As he glanced downward, Ragna got a look at the man's face from the light the lamp was giving off. The man had wrinkled skin of a light brown hue and black shaggy hair with a just as shaggy beard. His eyes were a much darker brown as they looked down at him with something between a look of pity and a scowl. His clothes were brown robes with several stitches in them and gave off a dusty smell.
"A baby? ...Lady Reslavia, I thought I was done with this," the man said with a sigh before slowly kneeling to pick Ragna from the ground. with a single arm. "Just when I'd finally rid myself of the last batch…"
Taking Ragna inside and closing the door the man carried him to his study, set the lamp down on a wooden table and took a seat in a rocking chair. Glancing around the partially lit room, he could see a small wooden shelf of books, several trinkets which looked like they might've been considered religious, and a couple of rusty tools on a desk. Not a machine or other piece of technology anywhere in the mix, just a few archaic tools.
"Let's have a look at you," the man said as he undid the top of Ragna's swaddle. "You've got good eyes on you at least. Not much hair, but it looks like you might have it white at a young age. A rare color for us, but it doesn't look like you have anything other than regular ears."
'What kind of ears could there be besides regular?' Ragna thought to himself. 'Well, I guess I could've come back as a Beastkin… might've been kinda cool.' Ragna noticed that the man was starting to further undo the folds of the swaddle and started to squirm. 'Oi! A little privacy?!'
"Now don't fuss, I'm just making sure there's nothing wrong with you," the old man told him before raising an eyebrow when the child in his arms actually complied. "…Did you… listen to me?" That wasn't the only thing of note, for he also seemed to grow concerned when he saw Ragna's chest. "You've a mark on you… And that doesn't look like anything I've seen in the old or new scriptures." Undoing the folds a little more he came to Ragna's stomach and found himself looking at an umbilical cord. "Look like I'll be raising a boy with his mother's birth rope on him, freshly cut it seems… I suppose that explains the smell…"
'You don't smell great either old man,' the infant thought to himself as the man picked him up and carried him out of the room. After about a half hour later, Ragna was being washed in a copper basin of warm water by the old man that had brought him here.
"You're certainly not the fussy type, most kids and babes would have been screaming to get out of a bathing," the old man said as he washed Ragna's hair, taking note that it was almost like the child was listening to him.
'Dunno why, this feels pretty good,' Ragna thought with his eyes closed in relaxation before a thought occurred to him. 'Maybe I can get a peek of what I really look like, it'd make me feel a little easier at least.'
Ragna opened his eyes and glanced at the small mirror he'd noticed Aaron had left lying beside the basin earlier. He was startled by one peculiar detail in his appearance: his eyes. Being reborn into a new world and having so much about his previous body the same (though now he had natural arms) and his supposed mother's eye color, Ragna had expected he'd a have a red eye and green one, or maybe both green from before he'd received the BlazBlue. Instead, now both of his eyes were a very deep blue… an Azure blue.
'My eyes… does this mean I got some of the Azure in me now or something?' Ragna wondered. 'Doesn't really matter at the moment, I mean I'm a baby. How can I use it like this?'
After bathing him, the old man rewrapped Ragna in a fresh swaddle and carried him back to the study and sat back in the rocking chair where he slowly rocked back and forward. Despite Ragna's unfamiliarity, anxiety, and his strange new setting, he was eventually lulled into a deep sleep.
The Next Morning
When Ragna awakened with a soft yawn he saw that wasn't in the old man's study anymore. Now he was currently in a crib, with a soft blanket and pillow him as he lay in his swaddle. Not being able to move, Ragna stayed there for a few moment before the old man from the previous day came into the room and picked him up.
"You slept through the night, was worried something had happened with you and had to check every so often… You're a quiet one."
Glancing around the room, Ragna saw that there was a large set of beds, all of which were empty and looked like they hadn't been recently used, but they did look like they'd be the right size for children. The old man began applying a carrier to himself made from old but sturdy cloth and put Ragna in it so he'd be resting against his chest when he walked, assisted by a long wooden staff for balance.
Once they were outside, Ragna could see a small farming village down the hill. It had a few huts, a few houses, some farmland, and the occasional well. The sky was still cloudy, but it showed no explicit signs of raining any time soon. As the old man gave a quick glance back to the building, Ragna was sure that what he'd stayed in overnight was a church.
'Huh… well it fits given what happened last time,' Ragna thought to himself as his caretaker began walking down the hill and into the town. 'Though I kind of wish I could have Celica taking care of me again, this guy seems kind of old to be doing this.'
There were several puddles on the ground from the rain last night and the old man made an obvious effort to avoid them as he made his way into town. The town itself was of a dark ages setting and several men were heading out to work on the fields, woman cleaning their homes, or other tasks. When they passed by several of them gave a nod and said 'Father.' Eventually the two made it to one of the town wells where they found two women talking to each other.
"Oh, Father Aaron, it's been a while since we've seen you," a young brown haired woman said to the old man with a smile, finally giving Ragna a name to the caretaker. He noticed the obvious bulge in her stomach, making it clear she was well into her pregnancy. She then took notice of Ragna. "Oh, and who's the little one?"
"A new arrival to the church, Isabelle," Aaron said to her gruffly. "'Found him left on the steps in the middle of the night. No sign of the mother or father anywhere, not even a note. The guards should have at least reported someone passing through, but it seems like they let whoever left him here slip through."
"It was a stormy night, I doubt they were walking in plain sight if they wouldn't even stop to talk to you," the second woman with raven hair told him. "It's not like the child will be lonely, in fact he'll be the oldest of this generation; a few of the women in the village are finally pregnant now that we have the supplies to take care of a growing village. Are you going to be alright raising him yourself? I don't think you've ever taken in a child this young before."
"I may be old, but I'm not helpless," the old man muttered. "It's only one child and he's at the very least quiet enough. Much less of a challenge than when I had to manage 15 whelps at a time… Shame that I've only had a month of peace since then."
"Try to make it seem like a chore or an annoyance Aaron, we both know how happy it makes you when you finally manage to get the children into good homes," Isabelle said with a smile which the Priest didn't seem to acknowledge. "Speaking of which, what's this one's name?"
"He doesn't have one, first whelp I've raised that doesn't," the old man said as he glanced down at Ragna. "Reslavia permitting, I'll let the boy choose his own name when he's older. Fitting for a child raised in a Church of choices."
"That just sounds like an excuse to get out of naming him yourself," Isabelle said with a small scowl. Aaron didn't deny the accusation. "Sorry to leave you, but I'm going to get things ready for breakfast; my husband ran the nightshift as a guard last night and he hasn't eaten a thing yet. Would you care to join us?"
"I'm perfectly capable of cooking my own food," the Priest said. "However… I don't believe I'll be able to feed the boy properly for some time."
"Oh?" Isabelle said with curiosity before glancing at Ragna. "Oh I see, not a problem." Gently taking Ragna from Aaron, the youth's eye went wide as he started to realize what this meant for him.
'Is she going to-?!' Seeing her start to undo her blouse as she carried him towards one of the houses, he had all of the confirmation he needed. He also knew he needed food but… 'Dammit… This sucks...'
Ragna's second childhood was quite a bit different than the first. For one thing he didn't have Jin or Saya to take care of while he was growing up, it was just him and Aaron in that church. The second difference was that Aaron didn't have a name to call him by; most of the time when he was addressing Ragna he'd simply call him boy, which the reborn youth dealt with as he knew eventually he'd have a chance to choose his own name. He'd indeed continued to grow as Aaron had expected; white hair, Azure blue eyes, and that mark on his chest still remained. He'd since strated dressing in proper clothes made of linen, giving him brown linen pants, a slightly tanned linen shirt, and shoes made out of a thin brown leather.
"Boy, it's time to get started with the chores," Aaron had said one morning after serving the two breakfast. Since Ragna wasn't too old, his chores mainly included sweeping, washing clothes, and generally staying out of trouble.
"Ragna," he'd said as he finished his breakfast. Aaron raised a black eyebrow at what the child in his care had said. "You said I could pick a name when I got older; I want to be called Ragna."
"...I see… And just how did you come up with that name?" Aaron asked with a steady tone. Ragna simply gave a casual shrug to which the old man muttered, "Give him a choice and he chooses an absurd name like that. You try me great Lady Reslavia, you truly try me…"
That was another thing different about growing up with Aaron in place of Celica, their attitudes. Whilst Celica had been very involved, warm, and cheery when she was raising Ragna and his siblings, Aaron tended to be standoffish, cold, and rather grumpy. This didn't make him a bad guardian though and was never abusive, but Aaron had a way of teaching rules and responsibility closer to what Ragna had learned from Jubei and he tended to always be ready for a town emergency; like the time Isabelle's child had been born and the midwife fell ill at the worst time, Aaron had helped without a moment's hesitation to deliver a healthy baby girl into the world.
While the village had a small school that they would use, Aaron had begun teaching Ragna other subjects before his school life would begin, namely the religion of the church.
"Reslavia is the choice of worship for our church," he told Ragna one night as they sat before a small tome with illustrations in it. "She's one of the seven deities in our kingdom of Trudarian and is the goddess embodying Choice and Determination. It was through her and Vinaria, the goddess of Intellect and Understanding, that mortals gained self-awareness. She's the very embodiment of the choices we make and the conviction we need to carry our choices out."
'I've never really had much choice in either of my lives,' Ragna admitted internally as he thought about the hardships that had been thrust upon him… Still, the patron of the church at least seemed appealing enough. "So what are the other gods?"
"There's Stroloth, the god of Strength and Endurance, who was said to have created the very bones and flesh of man itself. Vizacis, the god of Crafting and Agriculture, who gave mortals the first tools of smithing and farming before blessing us with the knowledge of fire. Tessial, the god of Love and Compassion, who gave man the joys and curses emotions carry. Fatalicee, the goddess of Death and the Eclipse, who guides us to our final rest when our time is right. Very important beings indeed."
"But that's only six," Ragna said, making Aaron raise his brow. "Who's the seventh?"
"Good at counting are you?" the Priest said before shaking his head. "Last is Genreckor, the God of Dawn who created the world which we inhabit and the so called king of the gods as instructed by his church. I'll admit he has the largest following, but that doesn't justify rewriting the scriptures to put him above the other gods. Might does not always make right, never forget that."
Ragna wouldn't forget it and looked over the book very closely. Aaron had thought that Ragna was simply looking at the pictures and seeing the writing next to it as chicken scrawl, but the truth was Ragna could easily read what the messages were saying. Even if it was using a different set of symbols than he was used to, Ragna figured the Azure must've done something to his brain because he could understand it easily.
Eventually came the day that Aaron finally allowed him to attend the little community run school. The school only lasted about three hours so that kids could do the chores that were required of them. Ragna hadn't spent any time with the other kids of the village with his own responsibilities to take care of, so this would be a new experience for him.
He entered the building where lessons would take place, the town elder's house. The Elder taught the children in his own home because he had little else to do and was arguably the wisest of the village (and because Aaron didn't want to do it). Despite being the last one into the village's classes, Ragna was the oldest kid in the village and received several stares as he approached the town elder with his bizarre white hair.
"So you're the one staying with Aaron?" the elder asked from his chair and Ragna nodded. "Very well, take a seat anywhere you'd like and we'll get started."
Ragna took his place a ways away from any of the other kids and noticed that several of them were looking over at him and whispering to each other. He didn't pay them any mind (not that he was old enough to start cussing any of them out). A dozen other kids in the class were all around the same age as him, but the range varied with Ragna again being the oldest at seven while the youngest seemed barely four.
"I'll give you an easier problem to start," the elder said to everyone as the kids slowly calmed down and stopped their whispering. "If I had three apples and gave two away how many would I have left?"
"One," the class said as a whole, except for Ragna who didn't know what to expect.
"Good. And if I bought four more apples? How many would I have then?"
"Five," the class said, causing Ragna to raise an eyebrow before shaking his head, actions that were clearly seen by the teacher.
"Oh, and I suppose you know the answers?" the elder said though he didn't seem cross or unhappy. He knew this was just another lesson to teach, one of humility. "If I had four groups of fruit and each of the groups had nine apples and a fig in them, what would I have?"
'The shits?' the former Reaper thought with a smirk. Even still, he didn't answer immediately and he noticed the groups of children all muttering to each other, all of them trying to figure the answer because this was a hard one for them.
"Perhaps you'll see a little wisdom of listening then?" the teacher said with a friendly chuckle at him. "Not to worry, all lessons-"
"36 apples, 4 figs, 40 pieces of fruit in total," Ragna stated plainly causing all of the students to look at him with dumbstruck faces. "...Oi, eyes to yourselves."
"C-Correct…" the elder said with surprise before deciding to question Ragna further. "And if I added four fruits to each group? How many would I have in total?"
"56," Ragna said with a shrug causing the teacher to raise an eyebrow once more.
"I-Is he right?" one of the kids demanded, the elder only nodded.
"Still… I'd like if you participated in the lessons with the rest of us."
'Might as well,' he conceded, not wanting to cause further trouble for himself or Aaron.
That was when the kids truly started paying attention to the stranger staying in the town's church, and not just in the classroom. Now they were watching him from afar when he went to gather supplies, draw water, and other tasks that he did for Aaron around the village. Truthfully it got on his nerves, but he didn't feel like doing anything to address it.
When Ragna wasn't in school or doing chores he was working on his personal training. While he was far too young to wield a sword, he was certainly old enough to run, so he ran. Running around the town was a good way to train himself so that he'd be able to have the physique he once had in his own world. Every day he could run a little faster, a little farther, a little easier. He didn't know what he'd do with his strength at the moment… but that's when he decided to begin reading.
Aaron had never forbidden him from entering the study so he began using it and taking books out of them. His guardian was fine with it as long as Ragna returned whatever material he took to their proper place on the shelves. Ragna read about the kingdom's history, the founding of its many orders including a Mage's Guild (leaving a bit of relief to Ragna), and the discovery of the different monsters, and the threats they each had to each corner of the kingdom.
"You seem to be reading quite a bit," Aaron said as Ragna continued to study from the book in front of him. "How did you ever learn to?"
"Sorta just… went with it," Ragna said casually. It was late at night, almost time for Ragna to go to sleep. The two then heard a knock coming from the doorway. "Want me to get that?" He asked this mostly to change subjects, but he also knew that Aaron wouldn't want to be bothered in the first place.
"If you're offering… we may as well both do it," Aaron told him and Ragna nodded as he marked his page before standing. They went and opened the front door, seeing the young woman and her daughter waiting for them on the other side. "Isabelle…"
"Hey there Aaron," Isabelle said with a friendly smile. Despite her very sociable tone, Ragna couldn't look at her directly and averted his gaze, trying not to remember when he'd been an infant and she'd breastfed him. "We just finished making some strawberry jam and we thought we'd offer you some."
"Oh... thank you," Aaron said simply as the daughter walked forward and handed him the jar. "I take it you helped with this, Emily?"
"Yep!" Emily said as she gave him a jar filled with red paste. "I hope you like it!" She then glanced at Ragna who was refusing to look at either of them. "You're that really smart kid from the elder's lessons."
"Really smart kid?" Ragna repeated as he finally looked Emily directly. Her face wasn't that much like her mother who had a slightly more rounded face while her own had more narrow details. She had green eyes and long crimson hair instead of dark brown eyes and brown hair like her mother, a sign she was taking after her father.
"Oh, so he's the one you were talking about," Isabelle said with a smile that caused a shiver to go do Ragna's spine. "My daughter's said a lot about you, in fact I think a lot of the kids have been gossiping about you. Some of the parents too even."
"Really?" Aaron said as he glanced at Ragna with slight perplexity. "I never knew he was so... popular."
"News to me too," the child admitted bluntly.
"Well we've got to get going," Isabelle said before softly stroking her stomach with a smile, Ragna only now realizing that she was once again pregnant. "I should head home before the bun in the oven starts kicking again."
"...Will you need my help when it's time?" Aaron offered, remembering when she'd given birth to Emily and he'd had to act in place of the midwife.
"You're sweet, but I think we'll be fine; we're hiring a different midwife after that last incident. Even still be sure to be there afterwards. I want you to give the new little one your blessings."
"The blessings of Reslavia are generally given much later into a child's life," Aaron explained. "We give them when the blessed can properly make their first decisions for themselves and know enough to accept them, as is befitting for the goddess of choices."
"Silly, I don't want Reslavia's blessings, I want yours. You who helped to deliver my first daughter, I want you to give my next child your blessings."
"...If it really matters that much to you then I shall once the baby is born. I swear it." Ragna had known Aaron for long enough that he never made a promise lightly, he always answered whatever duty he was called to.
"C'mon, a blessing's a good thing, no need to be so serious about it," Isabelle said before turning to Ragna with her smile. "Try not to end up as moody as him, he means well, but he's always such a stick in the mud."
"You're telling me…" Ragna muttered, earning him well deserved scowl and a mild slap on the back of his head from his bearded caretaker.
The Next Morning
Ragna awoke at his proper time for breakfast and hurried downstairs to see Aaron sitting down at the table enjoying a cut piece of bread with some of the jam from yesterday spread on it. The Priest took a small bite of the bread before chewing it thoughtfully.
"The jam decent?" Ragna questioned. Aaron nodded so Ragna carved himself a piece of bread for himself and added some jam to it. It was good; the perfect blend of tarty flavor and sweetness to make for a balanced spread. It even brought back a few of his memories to boot; back when he and his siblings had tried to make jam with Celica.
Later that day at the elder's place, all of the students had gathered and were sitting as they waited for the lesson to get underway. As Ragna walked inside he caught a glance of Emily, sitting and talking with some of the other girls as they waited for the lesson to begin. Shrugging at what he'd just considered doing, he made his way over to them.
"Hey Emily," he said coolly to her. Immediately her entire group of girls became quiet as they stared up at Ragna, who had never been known for saying hello to anyone at this point. "Just wanted to say thanks for the jam that you and your mom brought over last night, it was nice to have this morning."
"You're welcome," she said to him with a bright smile. "We'll have to bring you some more next time some."
"If you want to…" Ragna said passively before scratching the back of his head. "I dunno, I guess I'd eat it."
"Do you want to sit with us today?" Emily asked cheerfully causing Ragna to take a single step back in surprise. "You always sit by yourself in that corner anyways."
"Um, I-" he was about to protest, but he noticed that everyone's eyes were on him (the elder's as well). He then remembered Isabelle saying that he shouldn't act like his caretaker and should try opening to others… was there any harm in trying? "Suuuuure?" he awkwardly conceded before sitting beside them with embarrassment, a few of the girls giggling from odd look on his face as he tried to be social.
"Ah, reminds me of myself in my youth," the old man said with whimsey. Ragna internally called bullshit on that statement. "Now then, let's begin our lesson."
All throughout the class Emily and her friends tried to get Ragna's help so that they'd get the right answers to the questions. Ragna didn't let up much, he figured they'd need to learn the lessons themselves eventually. Besides, this information was nothing new to him; he wanted to learn about what people could do with magic. When the class was finally over the kids all began to pile out, but Ragna stayed behind despite Emily's invitation to play.
"Hey Elder," Ragna said as he approached the teacher who gazed at the youth with tired eyes. "I was sort of just wondering… are we ever going to look at magic here? I mean I know we've got Mage's Guilds in the kingdom, so wouldn't magic be a good lesson?"
"Oh? You haven't seen the end of your seventh year and you're already bored of the fields before you've tended them?" the elder asked with a small hint of whimsey. "I take it you think you're meant for more than just a simple farmer's life?"
"Maybe," Ragna admitted as he crossed his arms. "So, have anything for us?"
"I'm afraid I don't, magic takes years and years to get a grasp of and I grew up in this village as a simple farmer… I was the best looking farmer however, so it wasn't that boring for me," the elder said, smiling at that last part while Ragna rolled his eyes. "But how did you know about the existence of the guilds? Did Aaron tell you about them?"
"'Course he didn't, I had to read about them in those books he keeps in his office," the youth grunted, surprising the elder. "Guy never tells me anything."
"That's not surprising, but you claim to be able to read at your age?" he asked. Ragna slowly nodded, not exactly sure what the big deal was about it. "Aside from you, Aaron, and myself there may be as few as four people in this little farming village who are truly literate and they are all adults. Perhaps you are meant for the Mage's Guild then… but that won't be for some time. Keep your eyes on the present, not on the horizon."
"The present's boring; I want to be ready for when that horizon finally gets here," Ragna said as he headed for the door. "See you elder…"
"Oh, and one other thing," the elder called to him. Ragna paused. "Go play with the others."
"Huh? Where'd that come from?"
"I can't let a young boy like squander the better years of his life simply going from my classes that he's already bored with to the church atop the hill with an unsociable Arron. That's your assignment for the day… and any other times your invited."
"But-"
"Go, and don't worry. I'll let Aaron know where you are," the elder said to him with a smile.
Yet another change to the young man's life, and a significant one at that. Back in his first childhood Ragna only had Saya and the ever clingy Jin to play with outside of any chores he did, but now he had an entire village to play with in their games. He was still fairly awkward around most of the other kids, but that wouldn't last long as he quickly became a favorite amongst them for his unique appearance, being the oldest of them, and being byfar the most coordinated for any of their games.
This wasn't all Ragna tended to do between his lessons with the village Elder and his chores at the church. Most days after playing he'd head to the edge of town to run around it a couple of times before heading to the woods to conduct the rest of his exercises. Parents had often told their children that they needed to mind their distance from the woods for feral animals and other dangers that slept deep within, but Ragna often used it to secretly train himself. As long as he got his chores done and didn't cause trouble, Aaron was rather lax on what Ragna chose to do with his time… even if he didn't know where his charge was during those times.
One particular day as the youth walked through the streets of the small village after playing with some of the other kids with a small ball made of tightened and hardened leather. They'd run around the village grounds and to kick it just for the purpose of having something to play with, not even an established game with any rules.
'What's wrong, they finally got smart and decided to kick you out?" Ragna groaned as he recognized that voice; it belonged to Ruth, the third oldest of their generation in the village behind Ragna and Emily. His father ran the affairs of the village so he tended to the throw his weight around and was never seen without his lackeys. "What's wrong? Too scared to answer?"
"Why the hell would I be scared of a moron like you?" Ragna spat with a scowl as he turned to face Ruth. Ruth's hair was a dirty shade of blonde that was tied behind him in a ponytail, he'd seemed to have gained a little weight since the last time Ragna had been pestered by him. The clothes that he'd been given were well crafted cotton purchased from merchants which had exhibited much more quality than Ragna's linen made apparel. His three lacky were among the older kids in the village and while their clothes weren't as form, they were still of higher quality thanks to their 'friendship' with the would be lordling.
"I was hoping you'd finally learned something from pissing in those idiotic classes, but it looks like you're still the same idiot you were last time I saw you," Ruth said with an ugly and smug grin. He was personally homeschooled by his mother and father and he'd often bragged to his cronies (who were almost as big and ugly as he was) that he'd be getting out of the crummy village to become a king's advisor before long… maybe he'd be a King's fool if he were lucky. "Yep... still just a bumbling idiot whose own mother didn't want him."
In his previous life Ragna would have gone berserk from those words alone and knocked the crap out of the guy in front of him, but after everything he'd been through with Terumi and the sadistic ways he'd been insulted by the madman he barely felt the impact of the insult. He just let out an exasperated sigh and shook his head with disdain before turning to walk away.
"I'm not done with you yet! Are you running away?!" Ruth shouted at Ragna as his flunkies made rude calls and shouted insults at him. "You'll never amount to anything you idiot! That's the difference between us! I'm meant for greatness and you're meant for nothing! You'll never do a thing worth history! NOTHING!"
"You done yet?" Ragna muttered as he kept his back turned. "If I'm not meant for anything, then it'll be even better when I go and show you up." He ran off and the bullies didn't even try to pursue him; they already knew full well that none of them would be able to catch him after their last dozen chases. They figured he was only so good at running because he was a coward who couldn't even throw a single punch… at least that's what they told themselves to cope.
Later -The Woods-
Ragna let out a yell as he powerfully swung his leg through the air sending green leaves sailing around him. He'd already run around the village several times before heading to the woods to complete his sets of push-ups, sit-ups, and arm reps using a fair sized logs. He'd been adding different types of workouts as he grew so he could tone his body to what he once had earlier. Progress on that had been slow, but with only a child's body to work with that was no big surprise.
That left him to train his fighting style which (without the proper body to use) had lost its edge. He was getting back his form little by little despite not having Jubei to train him and relying solely on his own memories. He was currently focusing on his unarmed strikes, since he didn't currently own a sword and he didn't have any of his Ars Magus based techniques. Ragna sent a quick jab out before spinning into a roundhouse kick and finished with a downward haymaker. He followed that with a quick one-two with his before lunging forward with his knee and performing another roundhouse kick.
'And now for the final touch!' Ragna thought as he rushed his fist forward. In his early days this would have carried him forward with a black flame around it, courtesy of his BlazBlue's power. Without it, he fully expected to merely perform a powerful punch that would have caused considerable damage by hitting his opponent's diaphragm (or groin if he was facing a much taller adult), but instead he seemed to unintentionally tap into a latent power; his arm became engulfed in Azure flames as he completed the attack, the force of which was enough to carry him forward and leave behind a trail of the blue aura from his fist.
"What the-!?" Ragna exclaimed in amazement as he forced his power off and skidded on the ground for a moment before he finally managed to come to a stop. He gave a glance to arm which still had wisps of the blue flames from earlier circling around it.
'This is the Azure… so I really have some in me after all,' Ragna thought to himself as the flames slowly faded. 'There's no way I could've managed to get the full thing, but I still got at least a piece of it… The problem is what's going to happen if this gets out of control? My BlazBlue was turning me into the Black Beast when I was using it as my arm, but what about this power?"
As Ragna pondered the power he had and whether or not he should use it, he thought back to his time spent in his own world, where abusing his arm often lead to causing pain to him and those he loved. 'Don't treat the Azure as your own just cause it's cozying up to your arm,' his teacher Jubei had said to him. The power of the Azure hadn't been his… but then again...
'Noel has been chosen to be the eye,' Rachel Alucard had told him in Kagutsuchi. 'She is to become the true successor to the True Azure. Not that pathetic fake you use.'
"So if this really is the real thing..." Ragna began aloud as he let his power flow into his right hand again and allow his arm to be coated in the blue flames. The Azure felt much different than it had with his BlazBlue, this felt much more natural, like it really was his power and his alone. Ragna continued to gaze at his arm for a moment before smirking.
"SAPPHIRE SPIKE!"
The youth flung his arm upwards, causing a burst of Azure energy to emerged from the ground which flew forward a bit as it tore up the ground. The attack didn't completely carry the form or size of a Black Beast's head and looked more like a large rush of energy, but it behaved in a similar manner and continued forward until it slammed into a tree's base and unleashed a powerful explosion of energy.
"Feels off, but I think I'll get the hang of it," Ragna declared cockily to himself before letting the power flow into his arm once more. Ragna figured that if he had the real Azure then maybe his own time wouldn't be quite as limited when he used it. Not wanting to let this great rush of adrenaline go to waste, he performed his next attack, shouting whatever name as it came to mind.
"BLUE FANG!" Ragna shouted as he coated his right arm in Azure Flames a rushed forward with a power punch. He then allowed himself to come to a stop before sending his other hand upwards and creating another wave of Azure energy from the ground that flew forward a short distance.
"GAUNTLET COBALT!" He leapt into the air and twisted his body to create a devastating spinning kick to the tree branches, his legs leaving behind a trail of Azure energy as he did so. Ragna then twisted his body midair and sent out a second kick that continued to devastate the above branches. He eyed a good sized branch falling in the air nearby and shot his arm out to grab it out of the air. He channeled a little of his Azure into the branch and caused it to gain a flaming blue glow.
"CERULEAN EDGE!" Ragna bellowed as he drove the makeshift weapon downwards and cut through anything in its way like a hot knife through butter, making clean cuts through the branches and leaves on his quickened descent to the ground as his sword to the ground. Upon landing Ragna further channeled his Azure into the branch and swung it around before bringing it to the ground again, slamming down a much large wave of Azure which tore the falling debris to shreds and sent out a large cloud of dust from the ground.
"AZURE DIVIDER!" came the shout as Ragna pulled off a new variation of his signature move and swung his makeshift sword upwards through the cloud he'd created. Time seemed to slow as the branch traveled in a skyward arc with enough force to carry Ragna off the ground. It left a visible cut in its wake as it sliced cloud before Ragna finished the move smirked for a brief moment the cloud violently dissipated in a dusty burst.
"Hell yeah!" Ragna shouted as he again landed on the floor. His cocky smirk from earlier hadn't vanished, if anything it had grown with how great he was feeling… but that was before he turned and noticed the damage he'd caused to the forest area. The branches above had been destroyed, the ground had been terribly torn, and one of the trees finally fell from the damaged it had taken from Ragna's newly named Sapphire Spike.
"Looks like I got a bit carried away," he admitted before the branch he'd been using as a sword finally turned to wood dust in his hands after the abuse it'd gotten. "...Make that very carried away."
Deciding that he'd caused enough damage in his training for one day, the current holder of the Azure began his walk back to the village. During his short jaunt, he came across the main path inside the village and saw the it looked like it had been recently traveled upon by a wagon.
"That's weird; I thought the merchants weren't due for another month at least," Ragna muttered. The traveling caravans of merchants were some of the few regular visitors to the small farming village and they could be considered something of lifeline, willing to pay for the food the village produced in order to satisfy their own customers while the money they gave helped the village with taxes and paying for other goods. They were also known for coming at a very consistent point of the summer, hence Ragna's comment.
He was put off ease by this observation. Any slight event that happened outside normal circumstances generally led to nothing but trouble for him throughout his last life. Glancing towards the village he could clearly see that it wasn't in flames, nor did he hear any sounds of fighting, so why did he feel so uneasy?
"Well, I might as well see what's going on," Ragna said casually as he began a slow paced walk back to the village. He tried to keep that pace for as long as he could, but his nerves eventually took over and he began speed walking back which eventually turned into a run before becoming a full on sprint… like it had on that day so long ago.
It didn't take him long before he reached the village. At first glance he didn't see anything unusual as he walked through the streets, he did see a few of the village's women already beginning to cook the dinners which was odd since the men wouldn't even be back from the fields for another two hours. Narrowing his eyes at the oddity, Ragna continued to travel further into the village. Eventually he came across the wagon that had entered the village, but instead of seeing it loaded with gold, silks, and various other goods he found it loaded with children.
'What the hell is going on?' Ragna demanded internally as he looked at the arriving children.
There appeared to be around fifteen of them and they were all wearing linen like he was, though many of them appeared to be dirty and covered in grime with tears in their clothes, a few showed cases of injury, though nothing appeared to be serious. He saw Aaron near the wagon talking with a grown man that didn't look like a merchant due to their plain clothing and dirty appearance; most merchants tried to seem at least a little appeasing to look at. Eventually, the priest finished talking to the traveler and turned to acknowledge Ragna.
"Back from the woods?" Aaron asked calmly. Despite being found out Ragna managed to keep a straight face. "I don't know what it is you do there and above all else it's your choice to do so, but make sure you approach that place with at least a hint of caution."
"Yeah, yeah, I got it…" Ragna responded uncaringly; if it was Aaron that found out he didn't expect any form of punishment. "So what happened?"
"Bandits," Aaron explained, causing Ranga's eyes to narrow. "They attacked a larger village on the other side of the Bailio town. Five of the children here are the only survivors from that city. When they were on the road here they passed through Bailio town and the owners of the city's Orphanage not only refused them but decided they'd try to see if they could have a few less mouths to feed and loaded them on this man's wagon."
"I saw a couple of the moms in town making food on my way here," Ragna decided to inform. "Pretty sure they were making it to bring over for these guys, so that's some good news. The question is what do we do now?"
"For now I'm going to inform Elder and our Town's leader of the situation," Aaron said before turning to the wagon of children. "Who among you is the oldest?"
A boy near the wagon's entrance stood and made his way to the ground. He had brown ratty hair, slightly tanned skin, and dull grey eyes. His body was slightly toned and he stood just a few centimeters shorter than Ragna. He looked pretty dirty and was wearing linens like the rest of the children as well as a slightly torn traveling cloak.
"I am by a year; I'll be seven at the end of summer," the boy told him. "Call me Eric; I was the mayor's son of the village that was attacked… well the youngest son."
"I see, though that still leaves you as only the second oldest by a few months," Aaron said before addressing the both of them. "I want both of you to bring the others up to the church and help each of them find beds and tend to their wounds. The others will look to you for guidance and as examples in the coming days so you'll both have great responsibilities. Understood?"
"Understood," Eric said in acknowledgement while Ragna simply nodded his head. As Aaron left to spread the message, the new boy turned to the children in the wagon. "Alright everyone, we're going to be heading to our new home now. This guy uh…"
"Ragna," he introduced himself. "I'll lead the way and I want the rest of you follow close behind, got it?"
"But my leg hurts," one of the children whined from the front of the wagon. Ragna made his way over to the young boy and indeed saw that his ankle was swollen in painful color after it had been twisted.
"We've got medicine at the church; think you can make it there?" Ragna asked, but the child just shook his head. Knowing what needed to be done, Ragna turned around and kneeled in front of the boy. "Grab on."
They did as he instructed and Ragna stood while holding him in a piggyback carry. The rest of the kids started to get out of the wagon and followed Ragna as he led them from the wagon to the church they'd be staying at. While walking he noticed that Eric was at the back of the group, most likely to make sure that no one feel behind, but when he got the rest of the group to the church's entrance Ragna noticed that he was leaning against a shady tree a good distance from the church and appeared to be sweating in great pain. After bringing the kid he was carrying to one of the open beds, grabbing the medicine, and instructing the other orphans on how to apply it to his ankle, Ragna headed over to where Eric was still trying to rest while gripping his right shoulder.
"You don't look great," Ragna said in mild observation as Eric glanced at him.
"I'm fine," he tried to insist though strained breaths. "Just a scratch…"
"You're hurt and there's no point in hiding it," Ragna told him. "We've got medicine at the church; but you might as well let me take a look at the wound now so I know how bad it is."
"Forget it, it's nothing," Eric tried to insist before Ragna eyes narrowed in a glare.
"Look, I'm responsible for looking out for the smaller ones just like you are. If you want to keep a strong image I don't have a problem with that, but you better make sure that it's not a corpse they need to look up to."
"...Fine," Eric relented before taking his travelling cloak off, wincing as he did so.
As Ragna had expected, the wound beneath didn't look fatal, but it looked like it was going to cause Eric some serious problems already. It was a deep gash along his shoulder that looked like it cut all the way to the bone. It was poorly treated with old, blood soaked bandages and the surrounding skin even gave off this sickly mix of red and green.
"Damn, that looks bad," Ragna said as he slowly removed the covering bandages. "Why the hell didn't you let someone know about this earlier?"
"They didn't have enough medicine for everyone's injuries and mine would have taken almost all of it," he tried to defend while wincing. "It's not too bad, I mean I'll heal eventually, right?"
"No you idiot! That wound is infected! Honestly, what made you think that this would be a good idea? This could kill you!"
"Maybe because it was either me or five others would have had to go through this?" Eric tried to defend himself while he continued to wince. "Just promise me you won't let the others know. I don't want them to feel guilty for this."
Ragna didn't answer right away, he instead glanced around and saw that the two were alone. There was no one within view to see the two. What he was about to try was a longshot, but it could work. "Fine, I'll keep your secret, but I need you to keep mine in exchange."
"Deal, but what secret do you have?" Eric asked, right before Ragna's right hand was encompassed in a powerful blue flame. His eye grew wide at the display, but before he could comment or question it, Ragna forcefully grabbed the wound with his flame covered arm. Eric gritted his teeth and hissed at the pain emanating from the wound… or he would have, if there had been any pain to begin with.
"There," Ragna said as he finally pulled his arm away and let the flames he'd been giving off finally dissolve. Eric glanced at where his wound had been and saw that it had been completely healed; the flesh had grown back and closed leaving no scar marks, the infected flesh had returned to completely normal color, and even the traces of dried blood were gone.
'Guess I'd been healed enough by Celica to pick up a thing or two along the way,' Ragna thought before realizing it had worked in front of the church. 'Fitting… and my old Azure sure as hell couldn't do that without souls to work off of, so I guess this new stuff is far more flexible.
"How did you-? Was that magic?" he demanded from Ragna who then realized how winded he was by the large amounts of energy he'd put into his Azure healing technique.
"Something like that," Ragna answered vaguely before reminding Eric, "Remember, our secret; no one else finds out about this."
"If that's what you want then fine, but that looked a lot different than the magic I've seen," Eric told Ragna as the two started to walk towards the church. "Then again, what do I know; I mean I've only seen magic twice maybe from performers. You must be pretty good at it if you could heal my arm like that."
"I don't even know how good or bad I am," Ragna told him passively, knowing that he'd just managed to start channeling the Azure barely ten minutes ago and using it to heal Eric's wound had been based more on a hunch than anything else.
The two then made their way to the church, where they found the children sitting on the beds not really saying much as he walked in. They all had kind of a sad look in their eyes and many of them looked pretty hungry.
"It won't take long for some food to get here," Ragna told all of them, trying to get their spirits up. "I saw some of the people in town making dinners for you guys. You'll be alright."
"Where are the rest of the orphans?" one of the young boys asked Ragna.
"Before you all came in it was just me and the old man," Ragna explained before crossing his arms. "Aaron's not exactly a people person, but he took care of me and raised me since I was old enough to remember. There's a lot of kids in the village so you won't be lonely and the elder teaches lessons to the other kids… It's not a big town, but it's a nice enough one." As he finished he heard a series of knocks coming from the front door. "See? That's probably someone bringing dinner for us now."
Heading to the front door and opening it, Ragna found a familiar smiling face of the redhead waiting for him. "Hey Ragna," Emily said to him with a smile. She was holding a good sized pot of some stew that looked like it was piping hot. "My mom just wanted to send me over with some of this stew for the new arrivals."
"Thanks, come on inside," Ragna invited her in before coming to the small dining area where Emily set down the pot while Ragna began to retrieve bowls and spoons from the cupboards. "You're here pretty early, I wasn't expecting people to start sending food for a while."
"Well my mom was going to send food over for you and Aaron anyways, something about trying to convince both of you to be a bit more friendly," she explained.
"Hey, I've been hanging around with the rest of the kids after the elders lessons, I've been doing it every day."
"Yeah, but are you doing it because you want to or because the elder's making you? And even if you come out to play with all of us, who's always the first one to leave?"
"'Cause I know better than to waste times trying to skip out on chores! I've got the strictest caretaker in the village and somehow I've never gotten in trouble. What's tell you all?" Emily couldn't come up with an argument for that, so Ragna decided to walk with his win. "Food's here! Everyone wash up and grab a bowl!"
As Ragna did his part to help the newcomers get ready for dinner, Emily let out a forlorn sigh as she started to head through the entrance. "Why can't he just join in with the rest of us and actually mean it for once? …I swear, if we didn't know he was adopted I'd say that he was Father Aaron's own son."
"Why do you say that?" came Aaron's voice from behind Emily. The young girl let out a shriek as she quickly turned and saw the priest in the doorway behind her. "Good evening," he said simply.
"I-I didn't see you there," Emily said nervously.
"Given your reaction, that seems rather obvious," Aaron said before Ragna came back through the open doorway after hearing the caretaker return. "How are they?"
"They don't seem too happy, but at least they're eating," Ragna told his caretaker. "So… any idea on what's going to happen with the bandits now?"
"The call of help has already been heard by the closest authorities. It appears that the bandits will be taken care of by Sir Nil…" Aaron said, though something in his expression seemed to darken as he said the name. "I suppose we should consider the case closed already."
"Nil?" Emily asked in confusion before turning to Ranga who she knew was more well read, but he only shook his head for not recognizing it.
"Nil is a knight of the kingdom, undisputedly our strongest warrior," Aaron explained. "He's known for his mastery of arcane arts that exceeds beyond all previous knowledge. His true mastery however has been the art of the sword; not a man has ever faced his blade on the battlefield and lived to tell of it… Or so I've heard."
"You've never met him?" Ragna questioned.
"How could I have? I've been a priest my entire life," Aaron said before heading towards the kitchen. "My thanks to you and your mother for the food Emily, but I'm afraid I have children to attend to."
Once Aaron was gone, Ragna simply crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. "You're acting all moody again," Emily teased him. Ragna only grunted in response. "Aren't you going to head inside and grab some food?"
"I'll eat when I'm sure everyone else has had their fill," he promised, not bothering to look at Emily while he talked to her. "I already ate today anyways, they're the ones that look that they haven't eaten in days… I can wait."
"You know, some of the kids in the village says that you act like everyone's older brother. Maybe now we'll finally know for sure," Emily giggled.
"Well better me than Ruth," Ragna retorted, no argument was heard from that. "I probably won't see you at the Elder's tomorrow. In fact I probably won't show for at least a few days."
"Well it's not like you need to show up for those lessons anyways, right?" Emily asked him smugly, which the ex-Reaper actually managed to smirk at. "Take care of yourself, I'll see you around Ragna."
"Yeah, take care yourself," Ragna said as she walked out of the church. He thought about her words, about how this almost made him everyone's eldest sibling, just like things had been in the last church he'd grown in. He shuddered for a moment before trying to shake off the feeling of nostalgia and the darker memories that came with it.
Eventually some of the town's mothers started showing up, delivering food for the arriving children to eat and leaving plenty of leftovers for Aaron to give them at later times. Ragna eventually went into the kitchen to eat his share of food and had just finished when Aaron called him and Eric forward.
"I want the two of you to start getting everyone ready to get some sleep," Aaron instructed. "Tomorrow is going to be a busy day getting everyone properly adjusted to the village and we're going to need everyone to be well rested."
"We can do that," Eric assured, before looking back to the table with was littered with dirty dishes and food stains. "But what about the dishes?"
"…Just this once I'll handle them myself," the priest told them. "They'll start handling their own messes tomorrow, but for now I think the children have been through enough."
"Gotcha, I'll make sure they clean after themselves moving forward," Ragna said as he headed into the bedroom and started laying out nightclothes for the children to put on while Eric called everyone forward. It didn't take the kids long to be ready and many of them were happier than anything to have somewhere to sleep that was more comfortable than the wagon they'd been brought here on. Ragna was just about finished when he heard one of the children scream. He quickly turned his head to see one of the smaller girls crying as she held a doll in her hand. "What's wrong?" he asked as he made his way over.
"My dolly's head came off!" she told him with tear filled eyes.
Ragna looked at the torn and dusty body of the doll in her hands and saw that the head was resting at her feet. Judging from the condition as a whole, it would be better if he made her a new one. He was about to tell her that it was time she got rid of it, but he also realized this thing might be all she'd have to remember her home by. Gently taking the doll's body from her and grabbing the head from the floor, he took a needle with some string and proceeded to sow the head back onto the body at a nearby night table he'd often used for reading.
"It's not the best patch job, but it'll hold it together," he told the little girl as he handed the doll back to her. "Just make sure you don't play too rough with it, otherwise the seams will undo. Got it?"
"Okay," the girl told him looking much happier now her doll had been repaired. She started to head off back to her bed, but turned and tackled Ragna with a rather forceful hug, causing him to grunt when she made contact. "Thanks!"
"Rgh… Welcome," he muttered as he waited until she let go of him. He was about to head over to his regular bed and flop into it, but another girl approached him in her new nightclothes. "Yeah?"
"I was hoping that you could fix my clothes…" she said meekly. What she'd worn when she ridden into town was little more than rags that were filthy and badly torn. It'd take a lot of work to repair them and even then they wouldn't last long. Aaron could make her new clothes or buy some from the traders when they came around, but she still needed something to wear until then.
"Sure, but can I look at it in the morning? I gotta… sleep," Ragna said, finishing his sentence slowly as he looked to the rest of the children. Almost all of them were holding raggedy clothing that looked about as torn as the girl's dress in front of him. "...Alright, alright, I'll get started tonight. Bring 'em forward."
As the kids started bringing their clothes for him to fix, Ragna let out an inaudible groan. 'This is gonna be such a pain in the a-' He couldn't finish that thought without remembering the last life; the hell that had been the church's fire, the suffering and agony he'd felt courtesy of Terumi, and all of the fights he'd had to suffer through until he'd erased himself by his own choice… At least here he had a fresh start away from all of that.
'...Jeeze Ragna, be a little thankful, eh?' he chided himself before giving a small smile. Grabbing the nearby pin and needle once more he began his work on the clothing, knowing it'd be a long night…
But he was starting to become content all the same.