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The following is a fan-based

FICTION

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Interlude - Familiarity (Ana)

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Something about what they have seen by the church felt oddly familiar.

Ana wasn't usually this forgetful of things such as 'something that was enough to scare three powerful Servants at once', but right now her mind was misbehaving in that regard. She tried to reason that it was something tied to a sight of the past and, as much as she forced her brain to recall that time, she just couldn't get much out of it.

It wasn't even a matter of hair as those were too peculiar to forget- no, it was something else entirely. It was... something more personal and closer. So, rather uncharacteristically for herself, she shied from her Senpai for the remainder of ther day, finding shelter in her temporary room as she quietly took the last few minutes of being awake to still ponder on the subject.

Where did she see this individual before?

The question fell flat and unanswered, forcing the girl to rule it as something to continue brainstorming over for the next day. A few yawns later, and Ana was slumbering in peace. Initially at least. What felt like the beginning of a happy memory within her childhood soon proved to be a bit more complicated than just that.

She was but a little toddler at that point, left to stroll freely in the garden in her current house, smiling eye-to-eye while chasing a pretty purple-winged butterfly. Her minders were taking a break, expecting for this break to not require an active patrol over her steps. What a cute insect, that's what her silly young mind thought at the time.

Yet, the chase found an unexpected ending in the form of the butterfly vanishing as she took a corner that led away from the garden and into a small outdoor hall near the house. There was a strange stench that filled her nostrils, quite the opposite of pleasant and not as flowery as the smells have been up to this point.

Something was rotting.

And yet not.

While she had never seen something rotting, the smell was nothing the child hadn't smelled before. It was horrid, it was unpleasant and it felt like the welcoming introduction to death. Lil' Ana paused, eyes widening as the child realized that the butterfly was gone... with another child sitting by the other side of the hall.

Quiet, hugging her knees and her face burrowed by her legs- the plum-haired girl with a pretty but simple dark-violet dress felt eerie. Many children would have shied away from the figure, the uneasy feeling shredding at any curiosity. That didn't stop Ana from approaching the child- a potential friend?

It wasn't like she was normal herself, so the hope of making a first friend was greater than any concern that her self-preservating nature could have in that regard. That hope didn't manifest as she finally got close enough and... in a blink, she had moved. She saw but just a glimpse of her face, but what drew her attention the most, the biggest detail of the scene was the soft hand pressing against her lips.

A bloodied hand.

No words were uttered as the ghostly figure left behind a bloodied imprint that drove her to lick. And lick. And lick some more. Then she nibbled at her lower lip as her stomach felt like opening- newfound hunger confusing her up until she heard footsteps coming from behind, the girl gone but her minders remaining.

They looked confused, then they panicked as they saw the blood by her lips. Two approached and Ana smelled them. It was... It was good. Their smell was good and, in a blur that her mind erased in a mixed compilation of red and screams, one thought persisted through the whole experience.

Yummy~.

The next moment was unpleasant. Cold was the bench she was resting on- no, it was not a bench, it was an operating table. Her limbs were sore and hurting, with her belly burning the worst as her body was paralyzed in pain and medicines. She heard voices, her parents and others, they were talking of something- an attack. Lil' Ana knew nothing at this point, while...

Current Ana freaked out and woke up with a start in her bed.

Her body was sweated up, jolts of uneasy twitching her awake and confused and... thirsty. Her Servant had a water bottle within reach, with the girl instantly chugging the fresh liquid down to sate her dry throat. One moment passed, then two- finally the bottle came down and Ana felt her panic subsizing.

W-What was that?

"You had a nightmare," Parvati explained, looking worried. "Are you alright, Master?"

"I-I think I am," The girl felt her breathing normalizing, yet her vigilant stare didn't cease as she caught a look of her Servant's face and felt the sense of familiarity kick stronger than before. "Say... Rider, you mentioned a while ago that... you're currently using a 'human body' as a means to be a Servant, right?"

Confusion flashed through the woman's eyes. She remember telling her Master this, but it felt a bit out of the blue. Could this be related to the nightmare? Could it be that, instead of the usual dreams Masters had from their Servants, Ana had one tied to the body she was inhabiting?

"Yes? Why do you ask?"

Hesitation manifested briefly on her Master's face, but Ana finally mustered the strength to provide the follow-up question to this circumstance.

"Do you... know her name? And how... she died?"

A reasonable question to an extent if not for the odd context it was brought up. Still, Parvati wasn't sure what to say in this regard. Were deities meant to know the lives of the corpse they inhabited in this circumstance? After all, she didn't know much of what her current body had gone through.

Yet, she could easily say that it was not a body left to perish with regrets. Content was the last feeling that the body felt, and, even though many could feel this was a red flag on why the body was this 'happy' with the passing of their original owner, it felt simple through their compatability to know why that was the case.

The body felt content... out of happiness. It had no guilt or regret despite having gone to die so young. The previous owner had experienced pain, yes, the lingering displeasure persisted through the years, but the love that she left with was nothing but the purest thing that made Parvati's own heart sing in praise. But that was not the point.

Who was the previous owner of this body?

"I don't know... actually," Parvati answered honestly. "I doubt we can determine the identity of those that perish as deities without an introduction. We only know this one was not a malicious being."

Ana nodded calmly, seemingly pleased by the answer yet not soothing any of Parvati's concerns.

Instead, the plum-haired girl realized that the ghost she found back then and her Servant did look similar to one another... and to the figure they had found by the church. Yet, it wasn't a perfect match and Ana didn't mean just by their appearance alone.

Something more sinister persisted within this other figure, and she knew, deep down, that it was like the ghost from her past. Waiting, lurking and clearly knowing her secret. A newfound fear found its way to her heart, now aware more than ever that she could easily turn into the worst enemy for her group if she was singled out.

And if her bloodthirst was awakened, then there was a chance her Senpai was going to get hurt too in the process.

AN

Ana's a ticking bomb.

Also, I recently posted a new story concept in the . Balor Over Hell is a DxD Fanfic with a SI!Gasper. It unfolds before the DxD plot and around Gasper's childhood. The MC goes Dio expy, but as a vampiric trap wanting a harem and having fun in the process.