Blood 1.5

"She's a hot little piece of ass isn't she?" Freed looked over at me smiling. I stopped walking. My right hand clenched into a fist. Why was he like this? I tried to stay silent. It was just one thing after another from him. He just kept talking. Was he trying to get a reaction out of me? Hopefully, if I ignored him, he'd just leave me alone.

The freak continued, "Little Nun looks like a smaller version of Raynare from behind." He stopped, grasping both of his shoulders. Freed shivered from head to toe, a perverse smile on his face. I was grinding my teeth. I wish he would just shut up. Of all the people in the world, why did I have to be left with him? "I bet she'd be tighter too. What I wouldn't give to be locked in a room with her."

What the fuck man!

I finally opened my mouth shouting, "Would you just shut up already?"

Clueless, Asia stood up from the flower bed. She held a small yellow daffodil in her hand, a large smile on her face. The color matched her hair. I could practically see the question marks around her head as she turned to face us. As we were walking around town, Asia was stopping to look at everything. It was like everything we saw was brand new to the girl. She acted like a lost puppy, tilting her head to me and back out towards the town. I hope she couldn't understand him.

I halfway wondered if she had met Issei yet. I thought he'd shown her around town on their first meeting. Actually, on second thought, that might've just been when he brought her to the church. The exact details from the show were hard to remember. It had been years ago when I watched it, and I wasn't even that into it in the first place. Now, I wished I was.

After a quick conversation at the church, Freed rushed to get us moving. He'd pulled me into a side room and handed me a gun, a sword, and some gray robes. He didn't even teach me how to use any of it. Freed just simply tossed me them in a small wooden crate. Then, we were on our way back into the main room of the church. I looked like a wannabe exorcist at the end of it. My unkempt brown hair must've looked like a mop coming out atop the sea of gray. It was better than walking around in blood-stained rags at least.

I was confused at him just ignoring the fact that I broke his finger. I was still quite pissed that he'd shot me, but I didn't think bringing it up would be a good idea. I also learned that I'd been out for longer than I thought. Three days. I was out for three whole days. Asia was awake for most of the first two trying to heal me. On the third, I was stabilized. My wounds must've been worse than I thought. I felt like I owed her. Without her, I would've died. We also grabbed some of their "rations" on the way out. It was old bread, almost completely stale. It tasted like flavorless mush in my mouth, but my growling stomach made me eat it anyways.

"What?" He drawled, a confused look on his face. Freed laughed and brought a hand up to his chin. There was mirth in his eyes. Asia started pacing towards us. "You'd enjoy it too."

"No, I wouldn't," I growled back. She was basically a kid and acted like one too. How old was she anyway, fifteen? Sixteen, maybe? I only had to put up with this freak for a little bit longer. I gave Freed another look, and continued, "I'm twenty. She looks like she'd barely be in high school."

Freed laughed, his tongue lolling out of his mouth. He bent over, his hands on his knees. Why did everything about him have to be so unnecessarily over the top and creepy? The man stopped laughing and looked over at me. Were those tears in his eyes? Really? Giving out a few more quiet chuckles, the stray exorcist said, "First off, you're a liar. Second, you've never been to Japan before have you?"

"Fuck you."

Freed laughed like a hyena.

In Italian, Asia asked, "What are you talking about?"

The girl looked worried. I could see a small frown on her face as her green eyes drifted between me and Freed. Right, she couldn't speak English could she? At least the language barrier saved me from her pouting. Speaking of that, I'd need to either pick up on some Japanese or find a way around that eventually. Learning it naturally would take years of study. I didn't have that time. It could be a future project I guess.

"Are you ignoring me?" She questioned. I could see her lips start to pull down into a quiver. I couldn't do this, not again. Damn it. I couldn't tell if the girl was doing this on accident or not. I hoped it wasn't on purpose.

Freed called out, "Yeah Jack, are you ignoring her?"

It was in Italian this time. I could see bits of his teeth peaking out between his lips. The asshole was smiling. I wanted to knock the stupid look off his face. I really wanted to, but at the same time, I knew I couldn't. I don't want to take my chances in an upfront fight with Freed. I'd rather not take my chances in a fight with anybody, but I think the universe was conspiring against me on that one.

"I was just-" I paused, thinking. It'd be best to just tell a bit of the truth, nothing like what came out of Freed's mouth though. Looking at her, I continued, "We were talking about your age. You're in high school right?"

She looked downtrodden. I could see her entire face droop towards the ground as she said, "No, I've never been in a school. I was always with the church...until recently"

Looks like that was the wrong subject. I thought. Quickly, I tried to change it.

"I don't think, I ever asked. How old are you anyway?"

I heard a snort from Freed behind me. Quickly, I turned and glared at him. Asia put a single finger up to her lip in thought. I wanted to punch the man next to me so much that it hurt.

"A little over eighteen, why?"

I could see Asia watching me, questioningly tilting her head. There's no way. Without thinking much of it, I replied, "Oh, wow. You look pretty young for your age then."

She frowned. I could see her trying to put something together in her head. Very slowly, words came out, "Young. Is there something wrong with that?"

Shit. I thought. I could already see a bit of hurt in her eyes. How did she take that so wrong? It's a compliment if anything! Come on, Jack. It shouldn't be this hard to talk to a girl.

"No, no. There's nothing wrong with it at all! In fact, I'd say it makes you look cute." I explained.

"Cute?" she questioned, staring at my face. Her lip warbled. I stammered in an attempt to save myself.

"Yeah, cute! It's a compliment. I thought you wouldn't mind. We're friends after all, right? I-I mean you did save my life."

What am I saying? I thought in horror. I shouldn't have said that. I shouldn't have said any of it. I was acting like I was close to her. She probably wouldn't like that. Most girls wouldn't, at least without me actually knowing them for a while. I felt like I was suddenly back in my freshman year in high school, embarrassed. I stared down at the girl in front of me. Her eyes didn't meet my own. Crap. Her golden locks covered her face. Her whole head was pointed toward the ground below. Nervously, I waited.

Then, I noticed something. The tips of her ears were red. Quickly, I said, "Asia?"

She looked up. The girl was red from the roots of her hair down to her neck. I stared. I could see something of a giddy smile on her face. Asia stuttered, "A compliment? Friends? T-That was very sweet of you."

Huh...I numbly thought.

Quickly, the girl turned around and rapid footsteps echoed over the sidewalk. Freed followed after her. I stood there watching as she gained more distance. Smirking, Freed turned his head over his shoulder.

In English, he chuckled, "Smooth, lover boy."

"Piss off."

-|-]=[-|-

I think I should've just run away after Dohnaseek left me and Asia at the church. It might've been the smarter choice. I gulped down a bit of saliva as I put a death grip on the hilt in my hand. It was rough and worn, the handle being mostly made of wood with small leather strips put on it to support the wielder's grip. It wasn't even one of the cool lightsaber ones either.

It'll have to do. I thought. The sword was in a small sheath on my hip, just a metal tip of the handle peeking through my robes. It felt odd in my hands. Everything about this felt odd.

I died. Then, I woke up to a massacre. Broke a shitty exorcist's finger. I got shot. Almost died, again. Met a fallen angel. Got threatened by a fallen angel. Met Asia. And now I was gallivanting around a small Japanese town with said exorcist to hunt down a stray devil, which would probably try to kill me again. The whole thing was stupid, but yet here I was.

I shrugged, looking out into the spotted lights decorating the night of Kuoh town. I was taking it considerably well. I couldn't tell if I was just compartmentalizing it all, or if I just didn't have it in me to care anymore. I don't know which would be worse either. Watching a few of the lights blink out, I thought, This is just my life now I guess...

Earlier, we'd left the church almost at dusk. Freed had given me and Asia a run down on what we'd be doing. Stray devil hunting. The thing had killed a few too many people I guess. One dead person was too many for me. I had no idea how often those things showed up, but from how Freed and Asia talked about it, it must be a reoccurring problem. I couldn't believe that there weren't people out there constantly hunting the things. I also couldn't believe that humanity as a whole wasn't at least semi-aware of the supernatural if that many monsters went around killing people in the night.

It didn't make sense. Things not making sense were starting to be my new normal. It probably just came down to some magic mumbo jumbo anyway.

Freed was going to be the heavier hitter. I was there on support. The freak had told me to think of it as a trial run and to feel free to jump in whenever. He also threatened to shove his lightsaber in my eye if I hit him in the back. Fun times. Asia was there in case either of us got hurt. She was supposed to stay outside and only enter once we'd cleared the place.

Freed seemed excited as we stood outside the shop. He carried his revolver in his left hand. Earlier, the stray exorcist had given me a simple explanation of how light-based weaponry could destroy stray devils for good. The sword I had was blessed by a priest. To me, it just looked like an old English longsword, but I had no way to tell the difference. The bullets looked like normal pistol rounds, if a bit large. The only thing making them seem odd was the small cross carved into their tip. His only other advice was simply, "Don't die."

Great, that was great.

Supposedly, the beast was held up in some old home improvement store. I could see it. The place was broken and decayed. It looked like a building from Detroit. It was fairly large sure, but it was all but destroyed. The paint was long chipped and faded. The windows were either broken or boarded up. I could barely make out the outline of some Japanese text on its front. It looked like a place that a movie monster would be hiding out in.

From the front, the only viable entrance I could see was its main doors. Theoretically, something could go through one of the destroyed windows, but it wouldn't be fun. I don't know how much a monstrosity like the one I'd seen once I first arrived would care about that. It hadn't really set in that there was actually a monster in that building. Something alive. With claws. And Teeth. That probably wanted to kill and eat me. Not necessarily in that order either. Weirdly enough, I didn't feel nervous.

A finger poked my back.

I turned around. It was Asia. She looked up at me. Quietly, she mumbled, "Be careful."

"I'll try," I said. Asia didn't exactly look happy at my words, but she didn't say anything. I steeled myself. The gun and sword on my hip felt heavy. It wasn't very reassuring. This was such a stupid idea. Unfortunately, I didn't have any better ones.

The devils were a complete no-go.

I already lost my first chance to just run.

I quietly looked back at Asia, I couldn't just leave her here either. Not with Freed. I thought about it before, trying to do mental gymnastics and assure myself that she'd be perfectly fine if I just left. I mostly remembered what happened to her in canon. All it would take would be for Issei to be a couple of minutes late, and she'd experience horrors I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. Hell, I didn't even know if she'd met Issei yet.

I think they meet up a couple of times before everything goes to shit, but I couldn't remember for sure. I couldn't risk it. I knew of the butterfly effect. My being here had already put things in motion. This world was going to be totally different now. It was only a matter of time. Even if I were to go hold up under a rock somewhere, it wouldn't matter. I'd already acted. I sent out small ripples into the pond. Whether I wanted it or not, they would eventually turn into waves. Nothing was certain anymore.

Asia let out a small hum behind me.

She wasn't just a character on a screen. She was right there. I could see her in front of me. I couldn't just put it up to chance. If I just up and left, if I ran away, what would happen? Would things be worse? Better maybe? I didn't know. There was one thing I knew. I wouldn't let such an innocent person get hurt, not if I could help it.

In English, Freed called out from in front of me, "You coming shithead?"

I drew the sword.

AN: Double Whammy for today folks! That'll be all for chapter five. Please let me know what you think down below. I made this one a double today as it had a lot of setup for the future. I don't particularly like reading setup just to leave it on something so open-ended, so I thought I might as well tie up the intro to this with the last chapter, and get things rolling in this one.

If you notice any errors, I'd greatly appreciate it if you point them out. I try to fix any I catch after my first round of editing. The next chapter will be up within the next couple of days. It just depends on when I'd have some time to sit down and write.

I think I'll recommend the story Science and Madness by The Blight. It's an Overlord fic where a man is summoned to the new world where only science is his ally. Check it out, it's pretty good.

We're almost completely done with the first little arc of this fic. I'll probably jump on here tomorrow and give this chapter a second round of editing. I'm tired and probably missed something. Welp, I'll see you all next time. Until then...

~ciao