Epic II: Honor Thy Family

Ragna awoke from his slumber to the sun's rays and the slight sounds of clanking metal in the yard below. He groggily got out of bed and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes before checking his wounds from yesterday. Kokonoe's medicine had done the job better than he thought it would've, leaving behind no trace that he'd ever been injured in the first place. Ragna decided he'd thank the Grimalkin later, but that was when he'd heard voices coming from below.

"You know it wasn't the kid's fault!" Jubei's voice. "His wounds might've healed overnight, but he was injured from his brawl against those thugs! Can't we just let this slide?"

"You know I can't do that, it goes against both my code and my position, Jubei." Ragna didn't recognize that voice, but he knew that it was a good chance that this person knew the recruits that he'd beaten the previous day.

"But Ragna's innocent! I don't reckon to know what your recruits told you, but I can vouch for him!"

"Jubei," the voice said with a patient tone. "I'm not here to make an arrest or to make judgment. I just want to see the child and hear his side to the story, that's all."

Deciding he'd heard enough, Ragna quickly threw some clothing on and headed downstairs. Once he'd descended the steps, he saw Jubei standing and talking to what had to be the largest man Ragna had ever seen. He stood at close to ten feet tall, so he had to slouch over slightly with the lower ceiling, wore a set of full plate armor, and had massive gauntlets. He didn't seem to have a weapon on him, but Ragna could see two oversized metal tower shields on the giant's back. Though he could only see the man's face, his skin seemed to have a strange deep red tint to it, his hair spiky and black, two fangs from the underside of his mouth, and his eyes stayed behind yellow glasses, observing Ragna.

"Who the hell are you?" Ragna asked curtly, though the giant of a man didn't seemed fazed by his vulgar mouth.

"So you're the one that managed to hospitalize five of our greatest second year Reapers, Ragnarok they called you," he said observantly. "They had quite a few other things to say about you, none of them pleasant."

"I'll bet," Ragna said uncaringly. "Kind of surprised you're not trying to beat me into submission or kill me yet."

"Even if you're the so-called 'Devil of Rendul' I have a strict code that I follow and attacking youths unprovoked clearly goes against it." The man adjusted his spectacles, an odd accomplishment given the size of his gauntlets. "If you wouldn't mind though, I'd like to hear your side of what happened yesterday."

"Simple," Ragna said, resting a hand on his hip. "Couple of those bastards started trouble, called my dead little sister a whore; I kicked the crap out of them. End of story." Ragna noticed the disgust in his foster father's eyes, it gave him confidence know that he had Jubei on his side.

"That's… rather blunt," the man said. "But perhaps you could stand being a little more specific, maybe tell me exactly was said?"

"Well I think they also were also about to ask me how many times I'd raped Saya, but I could be wrong; sorta broke the guy's nose before he could finish." Jubei's face quickly went from disgusted to full on enraged. "I don't really have to say anything else, do I?"

"No, you don't," the giant told him. "I don't know how meaningless these words are to you now, but I'm sorry for the trouble they gave you and the things they'd said. And I know I'm seven years late, but I'm sorry for the hell you must have been through."

"First time anyone beside Jubei's apologized to me," Ragna said, somewhat bitterly. "Apology accepted, I guess. But what the hell's your name?"

"Call me Tager; I'm currently a commander in the Reapers, which is why those instigators came to me after the beating they'd gotten from you… Speaking of that, how did you manage to beat them?"

"It's kinda a blur," Ragna said, scratching the hair on the back of his head. "Everything between breaking that guy's nose and seeing the Reaper's after I beat the crap out of them is blank."

For a moment, Tager said nothing, appearing to be deep in thought. When he finally spoke, he seemed unsure. "As you know, Rendul's a warrior kingdom. And our kingdom's main army, the Reaper's, get the highest honors."

"I figured as much," Ragna replied with little interest. "What's that got to do with me?"

"I want you to join the Reapers."

Ragna looked at Tager like the man had just told him he was going to marry off his youngest daughter to a travelling cultist group. "You want me, the Devil, to join the Reapers, the guys who'd been giving me crap all of my life? The bastards who hit me in the back with practice swords when I was a kid for shits and giggles? You're out of your damn mind if you think I would! The Reaper's are a bunch of pathetic bastards who can't even tell what end to hold a sword… not saying you are."

"...I can understand where you're coming from," Tager told him. "You've little guarantee that anyone would treat you differently if you did join, and even less of one that they would let you join at all, but you should know that the Reapers are not all bad. They gave a so called 'half-breed monster' like me a chance when no one else was willing to." Tager opened the door to leave. "Training begins tomorrow an hour before dawn. Show up if you want to join."

"I never said I'd join," Ragna retorted with a defying glare. "And I probably won't show up tomorrow."

"Just think on it," Tager requested as he took a step outside before pausing as he seemed to remember something. "Oh, and Jubei? Please thank Kokonoe for the work she'd done on my armor; it's even more protective than I'd thought."

"I'll be sure to pass the message along," Jubei assured him. "Until next time, Tager." Once he was gone Jubei turned his attention back to Ragna. "You shoulda told me what happened kid, coulda helped you."

"I didn't want to drag you into this; my fight, my problem," Ragna told him before noticing the thoughtful gaze Jubei had on him. "Don't tell me you actually think I should try joining, they'd never go for it!"

"It's actually a lot more complicated than yer thinkin'," Jubei told him. "If Tager gave you a recommendation and you pass the instructor's entry exam, then they're honor bound to train you as a Reaper."

"Then they'll just try to butcher me in the exam," Ragna told him. "They'd try to do whatever they could to make a fool out of me."

"Tager's going to be there, I think he'll be sure that they don't do anything too strict to ya." Jubei hesitated for a second as he tried to come up with a good reason for Ragna. "Look kid, this town's full of bastards who aren't going to give you table scraps if you beg 'em. You might not be able to get any of them to respect you, but show what you can do at the Reapers and they'll at least leave ya be."

"I guess…" Ragna admitted in reluctance. The mistreated youth didn't really care about joining the Reaper's, but he figured if Jubei thought it'd be a good idea, he'd go along with it for now. "Alright, so what do I need to do to get ready for the exam?"

"You're going to need to know how to handle a blade and I think I can help you there. Head downstairs to the cellar, grab one of the old practice swords, and come outside to meet me in the yard. I might be old, but the thing about learning sword work is the basics never go away."

Ragna nodded and headed down the steps of the cellar where Jubei kept most of the food and other supplies. He'd been down here pretty regularly since he'd had to clean this level out before and he'd needed to grab supplies when he made meals. He headed right over to the weapon rack and looked at the wooden practice swords he had to work with. These swords were all carved from hardened hickory and set with leather grips, this gave the swords both the proper weight and the proper feel needed for practice. Jubei claimed to have owned an impressive collection of steel swords, but he most likely kept those upstairs in the chest in his bedroom, snapped shut with a lock that looked like it hadn't been opened in ages.

Even though the hickory blades were only practice swords, they were each carved a very specific way to reflect the sword the wielder would be practicing with. The first sword Ragna grabbed was styled after a traditional longsword, but after taking a few swings with it he realized that it was way too light for his liking and he didn't really like the balance. The next weapon he grabbed out was a two-handed blade which according to the tag on the rack was called a Claymore, but the balance was still off and the length was too long for Ragna's liking. In the end he decided on a two-handed curved blade called a Falchion because the balance and length seemed to suit him better. He still didn't like how light the sword was, but he found a couple of stone and rope weights to add to the weapon.

When he made it to the yard, he noticed Jubei waiting for him carrying the walking stick he never seemed to use. When Jubei saw the weapon Ragna had chosen he narrowed his eyes.

"What? Bad choice?" Ragna asked as he examined his practice sword.

"It's not that, just… trying to figure out your decision," Jubei said as he continued to observe the set up. 'A curved two-handed sword with extra weight on the blade, it's almost like he's wielding-" Jubei pushed the thought out of his head. "Enough yappin', let's get down to training."

"Let's," Ragna agreed simply as he brought the blade in front of him.

Meanwhile *Rendul Castle*

Kokonoe was busy researching in the castle library, attempting to research and uncover some of the ancient secrets of enchanting weapons with powerful magic. Even in the more restricted texts, next to nothing was known about the techniques. Even when Nine had become the top royal adviser she'd only managed to enchant a little over a hundred sets of weapons of armor, and none of it was a fraction of Blood-Scythe's power. A prospect like that enticed her, it was a chance for her to become more than just her mother's prodigy. If she could find something to mirror or even surpass the king's sacred sword, she'd be the one in the history books, right next to Nine.

"Hey are you sure you want to ask her?" Kokonoe's cat ears perked up at the voice of a young witch apprentice that came from behind a bookshelf.

"You know what the rumors are saying, how can you not be curious about it?" Another witch apprentice, this one slightly older.

"Maybe because the person we're asking can roast us with a fireball if we say the wrong thing and piss her off!"

"You both realize I can hear you?" Kokonoe called out, somewhat satisfied as she heard the small shriek that came from the two. Eventually the young witches in training came out from behind the bookcase. "What do you want?"

"Well, uh…" the first witch was pushing her fingers together nervously. "H-Have you heard anything about the rumors going around?"

"No. Why is some asshole spewing nonsense behind my back again?"

Kokonoe had experience dealing with rumors regarding her before. About a month after she started training to become a king's assistant, someone had started claiming that she'd been sleeping around with the teachers in order to receive special treatment. While it wasn't the first time someone had made a claim against her maidenhood (which she still had) but this was by far the worst of insults. She'd eventually hunted down the source of the rumor, a young up and coming squire who was jealous of her accomplishments. She'd ended up castrating him in his sleep and… to be honest, doing it with magic can be even more painful than with regular means, ESPECIALLY when pain was the end goal.

"Well, we heard a couple of the Reaper's talking and they mentioned that our local Devil is living with you," the second one told her.

'Those bastards again,' Kokonoe thought to herself. 'Knowing them they're probably trying to butcher Ragna's reputation worse than even after he managed to beat them in a fight, but I can't really try to get payback on the king's own army…' The Grimalkin gave a cocky grin. 'Not openly anyways.'

"So is it true?" the first one asked meekly, still hoping for an answer.

"So what if it is?" Kokonoe asked, her yellow cat eyes narrowing into a glare. "You got a problem with that?"

"Don't you know what he's done?" the second one disdainfully. "He's attacked the town guards, tried to burn down his own orphanage, and even harassed women around the village! I even heard that he killed his own sister just so he could-!"

The young witches stopped talking as they felt a blinding light in their eyes and wave of intense heat. When the spots from their eyes managed to fade from their eyes, they noticed the book that Kokonoe had been reading had been disintegrated by a fire spell from the Grimalkin. The look upon her face was one the young witches had never seen her use before. How could someone who had always seemed so calm and composed despite her cynical side become so enraged?

"Who the hell said that!?" Her yell could have been heard throughout the entire library and it was obvious that she wanted to get even on whoever was spreading the rumor about Ragna.

"I-It was S-Seno," the first which stuttered out in fear. "W-We overheard him saying it when he was t-talking to some of the m-maids."

"That asshole!" Kokonoe shouted before forcefully standing up and sending the chair she'd been sitting in scooting back. She was far beyond the point of rationality, she wanted blood and she wanted it now. Kokonoe stormed out of the library and slammed the door behind her with force.

Since the Reaper's had their barracks inside Rendul Castle along with the royal library, Kokonoe did not have to travel far to find her target. Seno was with his little crew of flunkies in their resting room, laughing at obnoxious jokes and drinking the mead they'd been hiding from their instructors. After Seno managed to catch his breath after one of his mates described their most recent venture to one of Rendul's brothels, he caught sight of Kokonoe.

"Well look what we have here boys," he said, even more of a confident asshole with his slight intoxication. "Looks like a little cat's come to play with us." Kokonoe was already fuming at this point as the group of Reaper's gave a loud laugh. "Aw, what's wrong? Does the puddy tat want some milk?"

"You…" Kokonoe said while clenching her fists so hard a small trickle of blood emerged from each of them. She then strode up to Seno and grabbed him by that collar. "What the hell have you been telling everyone!?"

"Aw look, she's angry," Seno said, not dropping his cocky grin. "That's actually a less ugly look for you. Pity you're still a filthy animal, otherwise I'd enjoy fu-" Kokonoe made to slap the man with enough force to sending him flying, but Seno was used to fighting drunk already. He caught her arm and held it painfully tight. "Stupid cat bitch. Like anyone would let you live if you actually managed to hurt us."

Kokonoe felt the painful blow to her eye as she was forced to the floor. She slowly tried to make her way up, but Seno planted his boot on the back of her head and kept her pinned to the ground. The other recruits gave some mocking laughter and one of them spit in Kokonoe's exposed face.

"Seriously hairball, what's got you in such a ruckus?" Seno asked before he realized a second later. "Oh I get it, you're mad because of those things we said about the Devil you're living with aren't you? Why the hell do you care?"

"Don't you realize the hell he's already going through!?" Kokonoe shouted, though it was muffled by the floor. "He just lost his sister! He was right with her when she died!"

"Probably snapped her neck himself," Seno said uncaringly. "But that's nothing compared to the beating he's going to get from Tager. He went into town this morning to see him and I wouldn't surprised if our town's deviless after today." He then gave a sadistic smile as he looked down on Kokonoe. "I can only imagine how mangled up his body's going to be once Tager's through with him."

Despite where she found herself, Kokonoe chuckled. "You really are an idiot. You think Tager actually listened to the bullshit that came out of your mouth?"

Kokonoe's feeling of cockiness only lasted for a few sweet seconds before it was replaced with pain as Seno pushed his boot down on her head as hard as he could. Unable to endure it anymore Kokonoe cried out in pain. Seno proved to be unrelenting as he continued to push down as hard as he could.

"Who the hell asked you?" He questioned as Kokonoe continued to cry out. A few more minutes of grinding her skull beneath his boot while his mates continued to insult her, he stopped crushing, but left his boot where it was. "Since you're a filthy freak I don't think the boys and I can give you any of the 'special treatment'..." He then hoisted Kokonoe up as she continued to struggle in vain. "But I'll just settle for drowning you!"

As Seno tossed her out of the window, as she sailed through the air, as the disgusting murk of the moat below rushed to meet her, Kokonoe screamed. She screamed in hatred, she screamed because she wanted to hill Seno, but for the first time in her life… she also screamed because she was scared.

Jubei's House

Ragna was sweating heavily as he continued to swing his sword, practicing the cleaving technique Jubei had just taught him. He'd been train with Jubei since they'd started that morning, only stopping briefly to add additional weight to his sword. While he was required to wield it with two hands Ragna was able to complete the techniques properly and long periods of time. Hearing Jubei tap his cane, Ragna caught his sword swing, stopping it quickly.

"Let's call that good for now," Jubei told him. "Don't want you too tuckered out for tomorrow."

"I can still keep going," Ragna muttered under his breath, but he headed Jubei's words and headed back inside the house. Jubei had told him to put his practice sword back in his room for easy retrieval, so Ragna headed upstairs to his own room. On his way there he passed by Kokonoe's room and smelled a pungent odor. "Good god, what is that?"

Peering inside Kokonoe's door slightly, Ragna saw that Kokonoe's let some of her potions shatter and the smell that they produced after mixing was one that could be compared to privy houses. He remembered Kokonoe's warning about stepping inside her room again, but he couldn't stand the smell any longer. Besides, it wasn't that late. Kokonoe wouldn't be back for another hour and he'd be finished with the mess long before that. Holding his nose, Ragna grabbed a rag off of Kokonoe's desk and proceeded to wipe up the mess as best he could.

"Kokonoe!?" Ragna heard Jubei call from below. He froze when he realized that misfortune had once again decided to shove its ugly ass in his face. "What the hell happened!?"

"Shut up! Just shut the hell up!" Kokonoe yelled from below as Ragna heard her storm upstairs.

She entered the room, slammed her door and locked the deadbolt. When she turned to glare at Ragna once she noticed him, he caught his breath. Having her being pissed off at him was the LAST thing he was worried about; Kokonoe was drenched from head to toe and dripping filthy water. Her glasses were broken and her right eye was swollen shut. A horrible bruise marked the side of her cheek. Ragna might've been through worse, but seeing this on someone who he was beginning to acknowledge as family was horrifying.

"What the hell are you still doing here!?" Kokonoe yelled before grabbing a book off the bookcase and chucking at Ragna. He dodged the book, but Kokonoe did not cease her assault of literary projectiles there. "Get out of my room!"

"Not until you tell me who decided to beat you up," Ragna said, straining to stay calm though he was clearly enraged.

"It doesn't matter!" Kokonoe yelled at him. "I picked a fight with an asshole and lost! Just leave it at that!"

"Okay, that really doesn't sound like you Kokonoe, what the hell's going on?" A thought struck Ragna. "Did it have something to do with me?" No response. "Shit Kokonoe, I told you I could handle myself."

"Those bastards were shouting that you'd snapped your sister's neck and killed her!" Kokonoe didn't understand why Ragna was acting as casual about it as she continued to throw books.

"Yeah, and yesterday they asked how many times I raped her," Ragna said in an uncaring tone. Kokonoe was clearly aghast as the tome she'd been holding and preparing to hurl at Ragna. He took that opportunity to slowly approach the Grimalkin and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Look, they ain't gonna stop this shit, so it's not worth it to get yourself beat up over it. I can't stand seeing you hurt this bad."

Then it happened. For the first time in years, for the first time since anyone could remember, for the first time since even before she'd heard about her mother's demise; Kokonoe started crying. Slightly unsure, of what to do Ragna brought her in for comforting embrace.

"S-Stop it," she ordered through her tears. "Y-you smell like sweat."

Ragna gave a small grin. "Well you still smell worse."

"Not my fault," Kokonoe grumbled, calming down slightly. "Those assholes threw me into the moat, and right after the servants had finished getting rid of the waste from the castle."

"Sounds like hell," Ragna said, gently rocking on the balls of his feet as he held Kokonoe.

"You have no idea," Kokonoe agreed, resting her head on Ragna's chest. "It brought back memories of…"

"Of what?" Ragna asked.

"Some of the nightmares I had as a kid," Kokonoe admitted after a few moments of silence. "It was just after I heard about my mom dying on a sea voyage. Before she left, she promised the family she'd come back, but from what I hear, the crew got shipwrecked and were stranded on an island for a few months. When they came back, they told us that my mom had drowned when the ship went down and I… I started having nightmares of her, myself, or both of us drowning for a while. Most people think I hate water because I'm part cat, but it's much worse than that."

'She's got nightmares too then,' Ragna thought to himself. 'That explains how she knew about the tea when we first met.' "So it was the group of Reapers from yesterday that did this to you?"

"Well it was mainly Seno, but yeah. If you go after them to get even, they're going to bring hell down on you. None of those bastards are as forgiving as Tager."

"Then I'll get even while I'm in the Reaper's," Ragna told her. Noticing Kokonoe's surprise as she shifted slightly, Ragna decided to elaborate. "Tager's going to give me a referral, so tomorrow I'll take my entrance test. I'm not going to get any respect out of it, but least they should leave me alone after that."

"Taking safety in a den of beast?" Kokonoe asked. "Sounds crazy, like something you'd do."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Ragna said with a chuckle as he let go of Kokonoe. "Go ahead and wash up, I'll get out of here."

"Wait," Kokonoe said softly. Ragna picked up on it a stood patiently. "C-could you help me first, put the ointment on my face? If I do it on myself it'll smear everywhere."

"Fine, it's just in the bag right?" Ragna said as he got up and got the ointment out of Kokonoe's medicine bag. He then got a large glob in his hand a slowly brought it towards Kokonoe's face.

"Wait, that's too much!" Kokonoe yelled at him, before she noticed the grin Ragna was giving.

"Well I want to make sure it's healed by tomorrow right? You said it yourself to be sure about applying enough yesterday."

"...You're evil," Kokonoe said, finally relenting.

"I'm not evil, karma's just a bitch," Ragna said cockily as he started applying the ointment, smirking slightly as Kokonoe hissed from the sting.

Down below, Jubei chuckled to himself, able to have heard the entire conversation due to his enhanced hearing. He'd hated seeing the condition his daughter had come home in, but there was definitely a silver lining in seeing her open up for the first time since she was kid.

"Those kids...:" he muttered to himself with a smile. "Looks like they'll do alright."

Author's Note: BlazBlue belongs to Mori and Arc Systems. I am just a pitiful (not really) fanfiction writer.

Again, a regular length chapter instead of one of my longer ones, but I enjoyed writing this one. Needless to say Seno's basically a less cool, dipshit version of Terumi. Well, on to the review... Reviews.

Yuuki Terumi ect: Sorry, I had an issue uploading the entire story for some reason. It's all there now, but I'm not really sure what happened.

Ragna king ex: ...A pairing with Ragna and Hades… I could see the potential drama that would unleash, but that might take some planning out. Thanks for putting such faith in me.

Animeandgamerlover2: If I had to pick my top three girls to be paired with Ragna I'd go with Nu, Makoto, and Bullet. But honestly, Ragna can be paired well with almost every female character. I just haven't seen a fic of him and Litchi yet.

Guest42: *Grins* Maybe it'll be Ragna x Kokonoe, maybe it won't be. I'll never tell. (Munch Munch) Thanks for the cookie.

Savage theron: I'll still give Ragna and Nu some dialogue, but I don't know how far it's going to go right now. Guess we'll see. And marriage is going to play a large part of this story.

Paladin9800: Bedroom scene… If you ever let me live that down I'll be surprised…

Ragna fan ex: Good reason.

Adv: Here's another set of moments for ya.

Guest: wait no further.

Guest (2): I already have an outsider planned. He's not an OC so to speak, but you'll love him.

Guest (3): Good advice, but I've already got plans… many plans.

Guest (4): Most of the characters are going to have an entire Arc of epics dedicated to them. Ragna's is just taking longer than I thought. Terumi will certainly get his own arc.

Until next time guys. Next up will probably be a Reaper's Awakening. Until Next time! Ciao!