To Issei, there were an infinite number of universes. There were countless possibilities, an endless amount of lives where things could have been different. There was many universes that were created due to him having toast for breakfast instead of cereal. There were countless possibilities that could have stemmed from that.

Yet he couldn't shake off this feeling of insecurity he had. Thinking about it, he didn't even know why he felt insecure. Was it because he realised he was weak? Was it because of the Issei that had managed to travel through universes? He didn't know why, but he knew that it was an uncomfortable feeling that planted a small seed of fear in his heart.

That fear was why he had dragged himself to this forest in the middle of nowhere.

He wanted to become stronger. He wanted to figure out how to travel through universes as that other Issei had. He wanted to be able to defeat him, save Rias for the sake of it and prove that his fear was pointless, that his fear was an unnecessary feeling that was a creation of his mind.

But he wasn't able to. No matter how much he tried, no matter how much he strained his body, he knew that it was pointless. He wasn't becoming stronger. He was just wasting his time.

For the first time in this universe, Issei felt truly hopeless.

He didn't know what to do, he had no tricks up his sleeve and there was nothing his almost infinite amount of knowledge could think of.

Issei sighed and fell onto his back, staring up at the night sky.

If it wasn't for the fact that he wasn't able to, he would have returned to his gaseous dimension in a heartbeat. This whole situation was too much for him to handle and he knew it. He covered up his powerlessness by telling himself that he was only bored and had nothing to do, but he knew that, deep down in the bottom of his heart, he was being overwhelmed.

All he could do was click his tongue and roll onto his side, staring at Raynare's immobile body with a frown as the realisation hit him harder than he thought it would. But staring at Raynare's milky face, her soft, red lips and her long, silky black hair, he thought that he could crawl over there and…

He rapidly shook his head to dispel that thought, telling himself that that was just a way he'd cope with his complicated feelings. He told himself that he didn't love Raynare, that he didn't care for her, but in the end he knew it was all pointless.

Issei knew that he cared for her because he wouldn't have done all that's he done for her. He wouldn't have brought her home when he tore her wings off and sealed her magic, he wouldn't have saved her from Kokabiel, he wouldn't have bought her all of the clothes and shoes she needed to survive, he wouldn't have enrolled her at Kuoh Academy and he wouldn't have brought her body back to life if he didn't care for her.

His chest felt all warm and fuzzy at the thought of being in a relationship with someone, let alone the person he had undoubtedly hurt.

"What the hell am I doing…?" Issei mumbled as he rolled onto his other side.

When I was an Angel, I lived an undesirable life.

I wasn't really created to do anything. I was weak. I couldn't control my magic. I blindly and innocently listened to and agreed with everything I was told. I thought everyone was my friend. I wasn't jealous of anything. I didn't love anything. I didn't feel anything.

Now, though…now that I'm a Fallen Angel, I'm feeling hatred and anger, whimpering as a thin strip of leather cracked against my skin every so often. If I was an Angel, I would smile and pray for forgiveness, hoping that my worthless God would save me from such a fate.

However, all I could do was grit my teeth and endure the pain as I knew that God was as good as dead. He answered no one's prayers, he listened to no one and he did nothing, simply because he had stopped existing.

And for what? What was all of this for? Why did he create this cruel world, this broken me, this sinister demon that relentlessly struck me with his whip? Why did he suddenly decide that it was a good idea to create such an elaborate world where everyone had their own thoughts and feelings? Why did he do such a thing when he knew he would die halfway through?

"Scream for me, Raynare!" A soft whimper escaped me as a patch of pale skin became a hot, burning red, many imaginary knives stabbing the affected area over and over with no signs of stopping.

The one thing I've noticed during these few days I've been conscious is that this Issei doesn't touch me with his own hands. Whether it be out of fear or disgust or hatred, he has not touched a single strand of my oily hair with the tip of his finger.

Instead, he's been using his toys.

It's a brutal and disheartening way to put it, but the way he cherishes that whip and the knives he's used to carve up my body is almost childlike, kind of like he's a young kid playing with his playthings.

But these weapons are not playthings. They're weapons and they should be used to hurt people with the intent to punish or kill, not to play. But this is what this Issei enjoys the most. He likes to play with me. He likes to play games with me.

He once told me he'd give me an arm back if I told him a few secrets of mine. I unwillingly told him and my right arm grew back over the period of twenty-four hours. I was ecstatic to have received the sensations of a limb once more, even if it was sluggish and numb.

However…

However, he cut it off as soon as he saw the happiness on my face.

He grabbed a hacksaw from a hook on the wall, lined it up above the elbow joint on the arm and got to work, pulling and pushing on the saw as it easily slid through the bone, muscle and flesh. All I could do then was scream as he had strapped me down onto a bloodied surgical table faster than I could realise.

Afterwards, he waved the hand around in front of my face as I lay in a daze, staring up at the mouldy ceiling as I struggled to stay conscious. I had lost too much blood and feared I would die if I fell asleep, so I painstakingly watched as his joy slowly turned to disappointment in the blink of an eye, the arm flying through the air towards the floor with a spin.

"I never said you could keep the arm." He said with a frown as he affectionately stared at my new stump. His eyes made me feel uncomfortable, made me squirm and turn away from him, and all he could do was chuckle as he turned to walk away, turned to leave me in this cold, lifeless room.

All I could do was release a shaky sigh as I recalled that unpleasant memory, that unpleasant fragment of what I wanted to be my imagination as I wished that I was dead. Whether it be when I fell, when my Issei broke me or when I was in that street days ago, I wanted to feel nothing more than the quiet void of death.

However, dying would mean I had given this Issei what he wanted and I couldn't do that. I had to patiently wait to be saved, if my saviour was ever going to come, and hope that I'd see the light of day again.

But…even if I was saved, I fear that I would not be who I once was. This pain has already broken me in several ways that have not manifested yet, so who's to say I won't change upon my release?

Yes, I feared that I'd change. I feared that I wouldn't be normal anymore, wouldn't be the person that Issei had come to know. Just like that time he had destroyed my world and had rebuilt it, I feared that my personality would shift too quickly, simply because of the mental stress and trauma I am enduring.

Nay, I mustn't give up hope, I suppose. It's a cliché thing to say, but as soon as I lose hope I lose my livelihood and will to live. I'll scream, I'll shout, I'll cry and beg for mercy and then I'll be dead. I'll stop existing simply because I had been consumed by despair.

I guess I'm a bit special, though. Any normal person would have given up quite a while ago. In fact, I think that as soon as someone had realised they had no limbs they'd instantly ask for their death. I had an inkling of a suspicion that this Issei would grant them their death as soon as they wished it, so it wouldn't be too farfetched to say that I could die if I wanted to.

But I couldn't. For the sake of the man that had saved me in my darkest time and for the sake of the human that had fixed me, I couldn't.

I honestly couldn't bring myself to crack and crumble like an ancient machine that had been left to rust.

So, uhh, this chapter's short. It also took a while to write. Why is it short and why did it take a while to write? I was busy trying to think of what to put past Raynare's section and couldn't think of anything to put here. So, uhh, yeah. That's not because I'm running out of ideas for this. In fact, I'm thinking of more and more things every day. It's just that we're officially up to the second part of this story where things get messy and it would seem out of place to start the new arc in this chapter.

Thank you for reading World's End.