After the battle , Julian stood there , watching quite lost across the battlefield . He saw destruction everywhere he looked . Amidst the flames and debris from the bears , he saw Shiki lying on the ground . with a considerable speed , Julian walked towards her resting body . Her eyes were closed .
'Shiki ?' she opened her eyes .
'What ? I was , like , waiting for help …'
'Waiting ? And no one comes ? … Sigh … Come on , hop on my back .'
Shiki's eyes flickered with a hint of amusement and wierdely , some friendship ?
'I on your back ? But but you are our leader…' Her face looked unsure .
'So ? a leader has to look out for his crew , right ?' Julian smiled a carefree smile .
Shiki's cheeks got a rosy colour when she looked in his shining eyes.
She slowly crawled vertically , and shakily grabbed his shoulders . Suprisingly , Julian grabbed her shapely legs . Shiki shrieked a little .
'Oh sorry !'
'No it's … it's nothing . It's just , I've never touched a boy like this before …'
'Well Like I say , There's a first for everything !' Shiki leaned towards his back, and Julian felt her soft breasts touch him .
'Euhm , Shiki … Your … things are touching me …'
'Well ,as they say , like , there's a first for everything !' Shiki apparently enjoyed the attention she got from her leader .
'Touché! Now , where's the infirmary ?'
After crossing several corridors and some hot springs , Julian and the piggy- back riding Shiki arrived at the infirmary . A blonde busty girl had a list in her hands and checked the wounded. When she saw the duo , she walked towards them .
'Team?' the woman sounded quite stern .
'Team Julian , Shiki…' Shiki replied from Julian's back.
'Hmmmm… Fourth bed , second column.' The woman made a gesture towards the beds behind her .
'Thanks Glinda' Shiki sounded quite tired. Julian moved towards the bed , and dropped Shiki gently onto the bed . Just when Julian was about to check upon the others , he heard something behind his head.
'Thanks , boss . You're different !' Shiki's face got a smile plastered across it.
With a happy feeling in his chest , Julian walked back to his room . When he arrived there , he found the rest of his team , waiting for him.
'Hey , guys!' His team looked at him with strange faces.
'What are you doing here?' Vert asked him quite harsh.
'I came to check upon you all !' The girls slowly got a rosy colour across their faces .
'That's good , but Kotori had a meeting planned with all team leaders !' Grayfia bowed politely.
'What?!' When and where ?!' Julian practically runned out the room when he heard the location.
He ran all the way tot he top of the airship , and that went on a long time .
After a good time, Julian arrived at Kotori's workplace . Through the windows , he saw a dozen of people , sitting around a round table . They were watching some kind of footage from the earlier battle. Julian bocked politely on the door.
'Come in!' Kotori's voice sounded loud , for some reason.
When Julian walked into the spacious room. Arpund the table were some figues seated . Because it was dark for the recording.
'You are late …' Kotori's voice was complemented by the stereo's that stood beside her.
'Sorry. I had something to take care off…' While Julian walked to a free place , he heard a light snicker behind his back. He ignored it. He watched together with the other people ,and what he saw didn't please him in the least.
From the beginning of the battle , it was everyone for themselves , nobody looked out for someone else .
Kotori talked through the video , while the other people wrote something down . When all that was done , Kotori said something before everyone left .
'You'll get new missions , gentlemen and ladies so be ready at every moment ! Dismissed !'
When Julian wanted to return to his room , Kotori called him to her office , that was located behind the film room .
When she sat , she gave a brown envelope to Julian .He first asked a question.
'About the battle earlier … Who was that ?'
'They were part of an organisation that seperated with us quite some time ago . They call themselves ' the saviors'.They want to do something with the old gods . what exactly ? We don't know …'
'And why were they after me ? '
'Such a great power like yours will definitely help them , with whatever they're trying to do …' Julian's curiousity shifted to the brown envelope.
'What's this ?' Julian looked at the brown material with curiosity.
'That's your new mission !' Kotori said it like it was the most common thing in the world .
'My new mission ? And what do we do ?'
'sigh … In the envelope is a brief description for the mission but I'll have to warn you…'
'I'm listening …' Julian felt something was on .
'We've already send a group to that dimension—'
'Ho Ho, Stop right there ! Dimension ?'
'Ugh … dumbass ! There are more worlds out there than the one you knew ! Each where history took another turn on a certain moment.'
'O…Kay…. That's new … to say the … least …' Julian just got mindf*cked.
' Well , continuing… We've already send a team tot hat dimension but we've lost contact with them some time ago . Their leader returned without them , and said that he lost them some time ago.'
'And that's just okay . Their leader came back , without them , with a smile on his face ?'
'… You can see the details of your mission insi—'
'Don't need that , I take that mission . I'm not going to let someone die ! Not again ! Not if I can help it !' Julian's nails digged in his wrist and a droplet of blood trickled slowly towards the floor .
'Okay , I expect you to come tommorow morning . Your teacher will be waiting for you on the upper !' Kotori sighed and took a bunch of papers from her bureau.
'Now, How are we going to explain this tot he higher ups ?'
Julian walked with a double feeling back to his room . On the one side , he wants to save those other teammembers . On the other hand , he was afraid of failing .
When he arrived at his room , he heard a faint crying sound . Whe he stepped through the door , he saw Grayfia crying her heart out , surrounded by the others .
'What has happened here ?' Julian asked Vert.
'She has some …wedding problems. Her husband broke up with her .'
Julian's face darkened while he walked towards the crying woman .
To everyone's suprise , he gently hugged Grayfia . She looked with a confused look into her leader's eyes . They shone with comforting gentleness.
'Don't cry . It'll ruin your beautiful eyes !' Julian decided some compliments would cheer her up .
Grayfia's cheeks got a slight rosy colour while she grabbed a handkerchief and wiped her face.
'Thanks …' Grayfia smiled a little .
'You should rest a bit ; We've got something to do starting tommorow.' The girls looked at Julian with curious eyes .
'Kotori proposed a mission and I accepted . Apparently , there already was a team but they lost contact a while ago …'
Rias' face suddenly got stern .
'Give me the file !' She almost grabbed the envelope out of Julian's hands . with a face filled of fear , she started to look for something .
She abruptly stopped on a particular page and gasped a bit . Julian looked over her back . On it , there was a photo from a girl and a name : Akeno Himejima .
'Oh , Akeno , What did you get yourself into ? ' She seemed lost in thought .
'Uhm … Rias ? What's the matter ?' Julian was confused at her reaction .
'Akeno was a good friend of mine , and we messaged each other for fun . But that stopped a while ago …'
'Let's save her .'
'Huh?' Rias looked confused .
'Let's go save her . Together . All those girls .' Julian's eyes shone with a healthy fire that burned into all the girls' hearts , in the good way .
'Dismissed ! Rest a lot ladies !'
'Yeah!' Everyone was feeling pumped and rearing to go.
After everyone returned to their room , julian saw Rias and Grayfia talking to each other .
'Girls , aren't you going to sleep?' Julian walked towards them .
'Yeah , in a moment . We were discussing how different you are …' A blush coloured the two gorgeous faces of the two mature women.
'Different ? in what way ?'
'You actually care about you crew !' Grayfia answered this one.
'Well , yeah , It's normal for a leader to care about his crew , isn't it ?'
'Normally yeah , but most of them don't really care about their crew , they're only in it for the money and fame…'
'Well , I'm not like that , i think …'
'Well , I'm going to sleep ladies , good night !' Julian slowly walked towards his room .
'Hey wait ! ' Rias' voice sounded behind him .
'Can we sleep with you ?' Julian turned around fast.
'Why ?'
'Well … We have our reasons …' Rias was apparently the boldest of the two .
'Hmmmm , If we hadn't a mission , then yes. But I like to be fully rested for my first mission . '
Rias' pouting face looked very cute .
'How about this ? You can't sleep with me now , but I promise when we arrive at our destination , you can sleep with me ! Sounds good ?'
'Awwww … But okay !' Rias and Grayfia found it a good deal and went to bed .
'Good grief , this is gonna be a harsh mission .'
'Backing out ?' The voice appeared again in Julian's head .
'Hell no !'
'Sigh … I shouldn't swear with hell or any other place like that , boy !'
'Why not ?'
'Let's just say you can command those places but that's for later ! Good night !'
And with those words , Julian went to bed .
