"While I leave the reasoning up to Rias, I still wonder what you were doing at the chapel, late that night."
The Council had decided to allow Tristan a day from schooling, on account of a special request made by Rias herself.
On the catch that he would answer questions by the prying Sona.
The Sona, who had gone and saw the scene after the prisoners were free. The Sona, who had seen the lacerated, or burned bodies of devils and fallen angels with her own eyes to clarify the evidence.
He could not fault her for her curiosity.
The student council's room definitely felt a little colder once he sat in the chair in front of her.
He would much prefer the rays of the sun, after that ordeal.
"Friday evening, I was in the forest."
"And what were you doing in there?"
He was put off by the presence of the one standing by the doorway, but he guessed it would be strange to see one without the other.
"Nothing relevant, but. I was subjugated and taken to that church."
He began to lean forward from his seat, since he saw unfavourable things from that incident.
From behind bars, he was helpless as he watched the prisoners be taken away by those cruel people.
He felt deeply for the child, who returned with sniffles when she was taken.
She covered her arms while she did.
His blood surged with hatred, and his eyes would conform to a look of intense loathing whenever they returned with something like that. It made him tightly grasp
It was nothing but justice to depart them from this world in the way that he did.
Tristan felt true ecstasy as their lives slipped, knowing it was rightful judgement.
But he believed that simply killing them would be too short and respectful.
He wanted to deform them further, until they were but unrecognisable flesh strewn across the hard floor.
The Lordranite attributed these darker thoughts to a sinister, surreptitious side that Asane showed to him shortly before departing, when she spilt blood from their hands and shook. According to her, it was so that they 'could be together'.
"Tristan."
He emerged from his thoughts when the Student Council leader called his assigned name.
The bespectacled leader's thoughts went like this:
Having taken part in a battle so bloodshot, he must be suffering from those memories, along with the ones that came with his time in captivity.
"Are you alright?"
Sona had never dealt with a student who had been in such a situation, as they never happened in the academy. But now that it had, she walked the safer side and showed compassion, halting her questioning for now.
"Sparing thought for me? Hm-hm." He made a reserved chuckle.
"Be grateful." Her compassion became playful, before he returned to the important question.
"But I'd rather you ask me your questions, then the incident repeat itself." He spoke what was on his heart, truly he wished that no person should have to endure what they made him endure.
When they called for him, they tried to remove specific parts of his body, that they called 'scales'. First, with their magic, then with tools.
He became much more grateful to the two that broke them out of their cages.
"I completely agree, Tristan." The peerage King lowered her head in approval while fixing her glasses.
"Alright, if you wish to continue, then..." Sona looked from him, to her look-alike, requesting Tsubaki to make tea.
Although she had the idea that Tristan was not a tea kind of person.
She asked another question.
"Do you have an idea of why they would capture you?"
She put her smile away, now that she began to question him again.
"Tristan. I was bored waiting with Quelaag, so I came to see the place you learn at."
He was about to leave the school grounds, when he saw someone from the dark cages lean on a wall with her arms folded and face tilted in a show of companionship.
"Oh?"
"It doesn't look like much, what do you learn here?"
"What we learn here? Even though it's called a school, I'm not so sure if anything learnt here will be of use in our lives. Theirs, maybe. But not me..." He trailed off, feeling himself being watched.
He slightly turned his head to a stare from one of the students. Specifically, two of the three troublesome 'pervs' as the female majority labeled them.
Unconsciously, Maria turned to see as well.
As he could feel the watchful eyes turn into scornful eyes, he listened in, and so did Maria.
"Damn it! How is it that he can be around such beautiful girls! I'll bet that's his girlfriend."
"You're right! The amount of times I've seen him called to the occult club, is too high! And, you know? Every so often he is asked for at the student council room, but I don't hear him getting berated through the door!"
Maria scoffed at a conversation that was not worth the time, especially after hearing the sounds of lightly grinding teeth.
"If there really is nothing left here, we should leave." Now that she thought for a moment, she felt like being around small animals in the shared apartment.
Her friend sighed.
"We should."
The two began to walk through the school gate, wondering what to do in their time in this town.
One was here for a royal duty - even if he was not privy to the knowledge of what that duty was. The other, who had been freed from a nightmare, had no place to go in the true world.
She was very weak at the time of her capture. But it was also the capture thal led her to her first friend in years.
"Please wait a moment, Tristan." A strong, young voice stopped him in his tracks.
"Yes, please wait." And a soft, small voice came with it.
When he looked to see who it was, it was the female rook and male knight he had seen some nights ago. The two of them were often seen together.
"Ah, you really are expectant, aren't you?"
"So expectant..."
He and his ally shared the same look of discontent at being halted.
The people in this school, these two especially, knew not to be wasteful of his time, as they knew nothing will come from it.
After feeling uncomfortable, Kiba remembered why he was to see this person.
"Actually, there is something that we wanted to speak to you about." He noticed the presence of the other female with white hair, but didn't remember her from the death-filled night.
"Uhm, privately, if possible, hehe." He let out a fake laugh that Tristan disliked.
"Yes, privately." A white-haired parrot imitated his words.
Right. These two wouldn't have known his relations with Maria.
"She is trust-worthy, and she will come with me."
"Aha, very well then." Kiba complied with his condition, answering politely. But the small rook stared intently at her taller, more womanly counterpart, not an ounce of shame as she walked beside Kiba, while wondering if that is what she will appear as in her future.
'breasts'
The taller woman kept one eye on her childish actions.
"Look! He's going over again!"
"That bastard!"
"Welcome back, you two."
"Afternoon, Tristan. And...?" Waiting in Rias' office, was the king herself, in the uniform of the Academy, waiting with the rest of her peerage. She was apparently confused as to who had come along.
"Do not mind her." Tristan quickly addressed her worry.
Rias submitted them, trusting the Lordranite in his judgement.
"Alright."
"But, I've brought you here, since this matter...involves something I believe you would be experiened in."
He was very quick to jump towards conclusions.
"Is it that Riser again? If so, allow me to deal with him personally." Deep hate ran through his voice upon even thinking of that devil.
Rias was taken aback at something she didn't expect from him, but breathed a sigh of relief at knowing she had him as an ally if that Phenex came for her again.
It was a feeling shared across her underlings.
"I will commit his soul to a more grand duty." He stretched the hands at his sides, remembering how he writhed under the Blackflame. Of course, he was speaking of condemning his soul to the Legacy of The Lords, The First Flame.
However, in this expression of extreme distaste, the president remained as collected as ever.
But she really was relieved to find that like her and her peerage, Tristan despised the man who tried to take her away from her family.
"Thank you, really. But that's not why I called you here-" She looked at her assistant, and queen Himejima, who stepped forward with a kind face, reminding Tristan of one of his siblings.
"Ever since the Great War, we've not had a dragon sighting." Worry began to plaster over her facials.
"But recently, we've been contacted by the Underworld, of dragon sightings. From what we have learned, they don't seem to bother us unless provoked-" Akeno began to look downcast.
"Someone tried to capture one, but was killed and mangled beyond recognition. So we thought that by leaving them alone, they wouldn't do anything to us, and that's worked."
"Except for one dragon." Fretting, Himejima pursed her lips.
"This dragon has been attacking devils constantly since it's been discovered, and is on a path that suggests it will come in our direction." She continued, even after her companion called her name in soft concern.
If it was one of Lordran's dragons, then there should already be someone taking care of that problem. He never knew them to be naturally aggressive creatures, but from the description Akeno had given, however vague, he began to create an idea in his head.
There was one that was known for her aggressive nature.
Meanwhile, Maria leaned coolly on a wall and folded her arms. She had no clue if this was a play or not. She just wanted to return to the small cat, but had already come this far to retrieve her friend from school.
Akeno stepped back, and let Rias finish for her.
"If that dragon really does come here, then we'll need your help in destroying it." She didn't know how much of an ask that was.
If it really is that dragon, then getting her to stop fighting will be more than a mild task.
His dream might have been to become a dragonslayer, but wasn't this too early for him?
And that rowdy one, of all things.
If that was the case, he hoped that whomever Anor Londo had dispatched for this issue would come quick, he didn't want to deal with her on his own.
As far as on his own, and devils who seemed to have virtually no experience in dragon-slaying could go.
He spoke up, voicing thoughts.
"When the dragon arrives, don't aggravate it on your own." He started, placing a thoughtful hand on his chin.
He had a habit of biting on his index whenever he did that.
"What do you mean?" The leader beckoned an answer, but never expected the one she got.
...
"I might know this dragon..." He looked towards the floor, lost in thought.
He might have meant to think that to himself, but instead the words formed themselves and escaped his mouth. Though he didn't seem to mind.
Rias suddenly opened her eyes.
"What?" Issei said in shock.
"Fufu...interesting." A womanly tone was heard, belonging to seductive chuckles.
"Ehh?" A small, innocent cry was also there.
In Lordran, dragons were a common sight, as it was often possible to see one perched on top of a tall building, or flying about. Therefore, relations between the gods and dragons were like that of neighbours, you could say.
But there was one particular dragon that had always associated with Tristan's family, even back to his oldest ancestor.
If this dragon felt the need, it would always, and only go to one particular line of citizens in Lordran for whatever reason.
One of Tristan's ancestors was in fact the first person the dragon saw, who is said to have raised her from an egg after a promise made with it's mother.
Actually, that might have been the reason it only went to his line.
The second time, it stayed with a woman who traveled the world, and rarely left her side.
Next time it associated, it was alongside a champion in the Great War, who served the Firstborn as a Dragonrider.
All the good stories shared in his family and relatives, involved the dragon. Whether it was recounting the struggles of having to raise a dragon-child despite having no experience with their kin at all, or the days of the ever-quick winds as the champion rained lightning on devil kind, while trailing the Firstborn himself.
Suddenly Tristan felt the dream of dragon-slaying fade from within him, and became much more appreciative of the giant creatures.
He decided that the first thing to do once he returns home, will be to appeal to a dragon, to share trust and earn companionship.
Xenovia, Kiba and Maria, all looked at him with lowered brows.
"Tristan is lying." A blank tone of what could be more accurately described as a whisper came through a flat line of speech, stemming from Koneko's refusal to believe him.
"Well, I don't sense a Sacred Gear on him, but there is also so little we know of Tristan, before he came to Kuoh, so I guess it is possible." Rias already started to speculate on him.
"I'm sure we'll find out once the dragon arrives." Himejima bounced back from her solemn self from a few moments ago, now looking intently at the taller student, who had just become more mysterious.
"Also, there is a chance that there is already a person trailing the dragon." Tristan informed them.
"Hm? Explain that." Rias was curious as to whom the person that was chasing the dragon was.
"If it hails from Lordran, then surely someone has been sent to subdue it. I am unsure of whom." There was two people in his head that could appear to capture the dragon, and was more likely to have been sent than the other.
It appears that Rias will not have the answer to that question just yet.
"Regardless, I will fight against it, should it come this way."
The leader behind the desk smiled to herself, satisfied with his statement.
"We will appreciate that. Once again, I thank you..." She met his eyes, as was etiquette.
"If you don't mind, would you like to stay here for a while? I'm sure you will like the tea that Akeno makes...and socialising with others is one of the greatest things about school life." The lady curled her eyes to a friendly expression, surprising most in the room.
Maria sighed quietly to herself in disappointment, as she felt her time being wasted by people she didn't much care for.
"Rather, we're interested in getting to know about you before you arrived in Kuoh, as you do come from a place that is closed off to devil kind. Don't be shy, come and sit down..." Akeno lowered her voice to a lustrous tone, to entice him closer to her presence while she sat on the couch, patting the empty seat beside her.
Off to the side of the room, Maria tilted her head upwards at the time that could have been spent travelling home.
"It's best that we return home." He flatly rejected them, more interested in spending time with Quelaag than with these people.
Given the status of the occult club, and how the school's most, it should be impossible for a person to deny an invitation, confusing the rest of the devils.
Then, they realized what kind of person the invitation was for.
"Are you sure? Not for just a little? You might like it..." Rias' intent was to coax him into a friendship, to learn a little more of what the devils knew as the 'Land Beyond Veils', simply for the fact that there was no trace of it to be found on surface Earth, and no known magic that could take them at least close to it.
"No, I'm quite fine."
"As you'll have it, then."
Akeno, being the assistant of the king, led the two out of the building and saw them off.
When she returned to the room the meeting took place in, she came back to a surprising conversation. There was a claim made about Tristan's personality type, with evidence to both refute, and support it.
"Really? He doesn't seem like the type to secretly be a tsundere."
"Eh?"
Tristan closed the door behind him and Maria.
And instantly, something warm jumped up into his chest.
"Nyau-nyau!~"
The expressive kitten started to push his cheeks with a large smile and great affection.
"She loves you..." The white-haired lady stroked the cat's tail, which wagged like a dog's, making it difficult to do so.