Note: A late happy holidays to all. A nightmarish year aside, I hope that anyone reading this had a good time celebrating. Seems my update schedule has not gotten any better. Once again, I apologize. Thank you all for your extended support and I hope the next note I write won't have to include an apology for the delay. -End.

Without hesitation, Akeno threw a bag at him with a slight smirk. "So you're just gonna leave me to pick out everything for dinner? Fine then you can carry all of the bags home."

"Sure, I mean how many can there be." Regret piled onto him faster than the bags that she managed to teleport into his arms. The instant they fell onto his hand, friction from the plastic burned into the forearms. She chuckled as he fought to lift his slumped arms up. "What did you put in these?" He grit his teeth and she placed her arms behind her back before walking off.

"Oh well, there's some training equipment mixed in there too. Did I forget to mention that?" Her genuine smile was no more, and she was gaining a different kind of enjoyment from watching him struggle. "Get used to having at least some sort of weight on your body. We told you," She took the time out to fix her dark hair out of her purple eyes. "Training's going to be a lot harder after today."

"You heard that?" He inhaled sharply.

"Didn't need to, I know the way Rias thinks."

With a defeated exhale, he walked his way to the training site. Akeno had an obviously quicker pace than before, and as such, his feet were out for revenge by the time they returned. Had they gained sentience, they would have detached themselves and smacked him across the face for the disrespect he had given them on the journey. "I hate these things." Naegi's face froze up after he heard cracks after the bags slipped from his hands.

"Those better not be the eggs." A brown haired demon's voice nearly broke his eardrums. "I was planning on making omelettes."

"Y-you're the cook?"

"Of course, do you think any of these wo-" Akeno gave him a stare that showed she was slowly killing him in her head. Hanzo cleared his throat and laughed. "I have to make it easier on the other pieces. A Knight takes initiative, and as such, helps out the King and Queen."

"My my, you really pulled that answer out quickly." She chuckled at him, walking past him and tapping his shoulder.

Naegi looked through the bags as fast as he could. "There's a lot of random weights… no sign of the eggs."

"Better hurry and find those, Boy." He towered over the darker haired one, glaring down at the bags. "Here they are." He swiped a bag from one of the lower ones, inspecting a carton inside of it. "Lucky, only half of them broke."

"Yeah great. Guess that means half of me will be broken?"

"Relax, what kind of psychos do you think we are? We only try to kill you every few days to make you stronger."

"Comforting." Naegi groaned and softly slid over to the table. Resting his head on a palm, Naegi blew his hair out of his face. With an exhausted look, he tapped on the table with his other hand.

"Get the hell over here and help me with the cooking. You're not eating for free!" The titan bellows.

Naegi's teeth grit for a second and then he stood up. "Sorry, I'm not in a walking mood. There was this giant who decided to give me internal bleeding and was nearly killed by this…" Purple eyes rested on him from behind, causing his fingers to tremble. "This uhh… perfectly kind person weeding out weakness in the group." His voice cracked viciously and he flinched at her hand.

"Akeno… stop scaring the new one." Her kind voice rang in his ears, leading his heart to jump. Hairs were poking out of everywhere on her head and her eyes showed no signs of rest. She yawned and walked between the queen and pawn. Red hair was all he could see, yet that only made him more anxious. That meant he could not see what Akeno was doing. While those two were staring at each other, Hanzo grabbed his collar and dragged him over to the kitchen.

"Those two will probably be making your training schedule. Don't want your sneaky ass finding that out." He smiled deeply.

"And what makes you think I'd do somethin-"

"The blood thing. You tried blinding me in our fight. You aren't afraid to get dirty. Also I heard about your little attempted escape."

"How the hell?"

"We have our secrets. Don't think Akeno just so happened to be walking by. I'm sure you'll get one of your own eventually."

Naegi's left eye shut slightly as the realization that he didn't have a chance to escape hit. "My own what?"

With a small shake of the head, Hanzo started picking out ingredients. "Our King really sent you into this life blind. Remember that person that handed you our flier."

"Nope. The flier kinda just appeared on me. It felt like someone slipped it in but I never saw who."

"Damn you're hopeless. Well that's what we call a familiar." He cracked an egg gently into a sizzling pot. The butter melted away rapidly, and the egg didn't stay there too long. He grew preoccupied with the cooking. "Do me a favor and make some pancake batter."

"And how ex-"

"Instructions are on the box kid. Come on, I thought you could read." He started moving pans around rapidly, making 3 different egg courses at once. "Anyway… a familiar is like. A small pet? That kind of grows along with you. There's a bunch of them that do different things."

Too embarrassed to hear the speech given to him, Naegi's arm shook with ferocity while trying to pick up a whisk. "I swear to G-" His teeth grit more and his grip loosened.

"That sneaky…" Hanzo crossed his arms and smiled. "Put a bit of magic into it. Physical strength won't move an object like that."

"I thought she said training was over."

Hanzo laughed again. "Sorry man, Akeno thinks otherwise. Honestly, I'd do it myself but I'd rather not get struck by lightning tonight."

"So… magic. How does that work? Like how do you feel it through your body?"

Hanzo shook his head. "Damn impressive. You shot that huge ass dragon with magic and dont understand how it works. Think of your veins as… parts of a river. There are blockages all over people's veins stopping the river from flowing."

"And this river carries… magic?"

"Exactly. Awakening a gear breaks a few of these blockages, it depends on where the gear is. For you, your hands have small pools of the stuff, letting you do that light trick."

Still struggling, Naegi groaned. "Then why can't I lift this? I'm using the magic in my hands."

"Your hands are your biggest pool of magic right now. That means it'll be slower to reach different parts of your body. Your legs will respond less to your strength unless we divert the pool. But for now, just focus on getting the strength to move up your arm."

Gritting his teeth and straining as much as he could, Naegi heaved and fell backwards. "Dammit. Little help here?" He scrambled to his feet, dusting himself off.

"Calm down, get your p-"

"Power to move up my arm, I know. But what does that even mean? It's not like I can really do anything about those blockages. I don't understand this whole magic stuff and my only experience with it is getting struck by lightning."

Hanzo crossed his arms. "Shut up for once and listen. Stop mumbling and interrupting. Focus on the flow. Imagine your body as a big pool of energy."

"Alright, alright." Naegi closed his eyes, picturing tight chains wrapping around his arm. They coiled and slithered like a serpent and rattled under his pulsating arms. Despite their restraint, he could feel a monster within, wishing to burst. His eyes shut tighter and he imagined a dragon crawling out of the back of his hand, fighting the chains and burning them down. He strained slightly less and lifted the whisk up. "Time to start making pancakes I guess." He smiled widely, brandishing the whisk.

"Look at you, finally figured it out. Hopefully that means you'll teleport soon." Hanzo tied his hair back and then tapped his foot. "The eggs might get cold. That lesson should not have taken that long." After that, he heard a glass bowl break. When he turned his head, he found Naegi's palm slammed down into the bowl with the whisk weighing him down again. "No stamina, boy your exes must be disappointed in you."

"Nah she seemed pleased after stabbing me a lot." Naegi grumbled and brought the whisk up again and placed it into a new bowl, ignoring the small shards in his hand.

Hanzo stared in disbelief before shrugging and getting back to his cooking. It wasn't long before the two had finished and the monstrous demon was gently placing the steaming food onto plates. "Not much of a talker are you?"

"Hmm? I feel like I've spoken a lot with you all."

"You've responded, not spoken. You never start the conversation. It's fine, I won't take it personally, just wondering when you'll open up more." He was plating the food to everyone's preferences, taking extra care not to break the black haired one's yolk.

"Well I mean, everyone's so close here. Feel like I'm out of the dynamic and-"

"No long rant needed man. Just relax for now and eat with us. Promise we aren't as scary as you think." Naegi turned his head slightly to the side and felt his lips shake a little. "That scared of talking huh? You'll get used to us."

"No, just thanks. It's been years since I've gotten to eat with people." Hiding an odd look in his eyes, he turned his glance away and rubbed the back of his head. Hanzo gave a knowing look to the boy and switched to a wide grin.

"Then don't look so glum about it. Come on, I'll even teach you how to set the plates." After a gentle tap on the shoulder, Hanzo picked up 3 plates on one arm while Naegi meekly carried his own plate to the table. Hanzo brought a vibrant flare to the table while setting it. Streaks of white light emanated from him while he moved around. His hands were flinging plates masterfully to the sides of the table and then catching them before any of the food could drop.

"Got it, you're way faster than when we had our match." He chuckled and set his plate down carefully near the front of the table.

Hanzo raised a slight eyebrow then walked over. "Bold of you to think you can immediately sit near the King." He whispered softly.

"Well I'm a pawn right? I protect our King, so I need to be nearby in case."

With a heavy heart and closed eyes, Hanzo hung his head and grabbed his shoulders. "You're far too young to take a smite. Not even I at your age was allowed to sit that close. The pawn may protect, but the Queen will kill for her leader."

"She wouldn't… over a seat?"

With the shake of his head, he quickly slid the plate down. "Not for the seat. For the power dynamic." Hanzo swallowed down as he heard a door open near them. Chatter filled the room quickly as the two demons walked in and took their respective seats.

Rias looked over at the plate placement and felt a wave of nostalgia. "Look at you, looking out for the new one." With a scoff, Akeno took her seat. Hanzo pulled out his chair, taking extra care to not scratch the floor. Naegi's chair screeched as he yanked it back.

"Sorry. Used to the whisk." He turned a garish color of red as he sat down. His plate looked like a beautiful landscape shot of a farm. Bright yellow eggs, mimicking fields of golden wheat. Breakfast sausages looking like logs of lumber near the tower of pancakes. The exterior of the sausage crunched under the weight of his fork. Every now and then, he felt nudged at his side by a large elbow. Finally understanding what was happening, he opened his mouth. "D-do." Heads turned to him and he shut down a little. "Uhh do you eat like this every day?"

Biting down slightly, the brown haired one turned to the other two and shrugged. Akeno spoke first. "Depends on where we are. If we come here, we get stressed and treat ourselves a little more. We usually don't go above and beyond like this."

"Oh yeah, guess that makes sense." His eyes lost themselves in the fluffy fields of wheat.

Rias gazed at him then spoke up. "How's your leg treating you?"

"Just fine actually. It doesn't hurt as much as it should."

A voice full of joy rang. "He's acting tough. You should have seen him walking to town. He could barely move his legs at all. I felt so bad for him."

"No, honest." He slid out of his chair and started jumping and moving around. "See, just fine."

Sliding into the indent on her thumb yet again, her teeth clamped down. "Interesting how you healed so fast."

"Now that you mention it, he did have an easier time walking back, and that's going uphill."

"And while cooking his arms were the only thing bothering him." He glanced down at the small red spots on his hand where the shards of glass used to be. "No accelerated healing there."

Looking at them all, he came to a sudden realization but hid it down. "Maybe my gear can only help heal combat wounds? Stuff it sees as more threatening."

With a voice muffled by a thumb, Rias' hair followed her head. "Not from anything I've read. Akeno, did you heal him at all?"

"Not at all." Purple eyes pierced perfect holes into Hanzo.

"Don't look at me. I'm nowhere near you two with healing."

Finally admitting defeat, he spoke up. "Promise you won't laugh at me." Intrigued eyes darted to him immediately. "Someone prayed for me then the pain went away." Awaiting an eruption of ecstatic laughter, he was surprised to find out they brushed him off. Quickly, the topic shifted as though it was a rampaging storm. The other three were caught in the eye, unaware of what they caused. The gale force winds of their storm pierced into him and sliced his vocal chords. He dared not to speak when they were in such a mood. A fragment of the morning returned to him though and a glorious luminescent orb healed his damaged voice. "There was a green light."

"What?" Hanzo was the first to turn at him.

Naegi gripped his pants. "The girl who prayed for me. She had this green light near my leg while doing it."

"You sure you aren't imagining things Kid?"

"I know what I saw. She tried closing her hands, but it shone through her fingers. There was a green light and my leg started feeling better afterwards."

"This girl. What did she look like?" Rias began tapping her hands on the table.

Thinking for a second, he responded, "Long blonde hair, green eyes and very short. She dressed like a nun."

Blue eyes switched from the boy to Akeno. "Don't look at me. I didn't see him with a girl. She doesn't sound like anyone who goes to the market either. All I saw was him looking down like some lost puppy."

"I was scared of the feather. The black one that appeared after she left. Turns out it was just a crow flying above though."

Rias sighed and started tapping once more. "We can't take any chances though. The crow could be an ominous coincidence, or it could have been used for cover. Either a fallen angel watching you or her. Either way, you can't go to that town anymore. For groceries, Hanzo and Akeno will go. In fact, they'll go every morning to track that girl down."

"Looks like this kid just keeps getting himself into trouble. Can we go one day without a fallen angel."

Rias looked at him sternly. "The girl is of more concern. If Naegi's right, and this girl used a gear, then she's either made herself a target or is in league with the enemies." Naegi remained silent, still gripping at his pants. Any words would be futile at this point. Rejecting such an order would only endanger himself and the others more.

The next morning, the two set out together. Not wanting to miss the girl, they set out as soon as the sun properly illuminated the Earth. "Slow down," Hanzo commented, nearly slipping on the way down the hill.

"We never know when she'll be at the marketplace." Her voice remained low and cool. "Also keep your voice down."

Hanzo sharply inhaled and slowed his breathing. "If we're going to be silent and fast." The same white streaks enveloped him and suddenly his footsteps made absolutely no sound. "Then we might as well let me handle this one."

She brought her finger to her lips and smirked. "I'll watch from above. Be careful." The wind beneath them picked up and gently carried her into the sky. Instead of the heavy clouds that once disguised her on the field, perfect bright ones surrounded her. No water or lightning could be channeled through them, but they masked her figure perfectly. Like a carnivore hunting their prey, he practically disappeared into the woods. Squatting in a wooded area with a clear vantage point, his gear slowly crept up onto his face and affected his eyes. People were moving slower than usual, making it far easier to find the person that he was looking for. Hours dragged on and he didn't move an inch. Just like a spiritual raccoon turning into a statue, he steeled his body and disposition. The slightest sound brought his head to the side. Upon seeing storm clouds forming on the eastern horizon, his eyes began looking down. Walking away was a girl that matched the exact description. Her dark blouse nearly dragged against the floor as she walked. She kept her head low and nestled a bag in between her arms. She put a white hood above her head with a bright blue cross in the middle of it. Her pace was just rapid enough to arouse suspicion from the two. Dropping down, Hanzo crept and began trailing the girl from far away. Taking the care to keep enough distance between the two that she wouldn't be suspicious, he followed her all the way to a church.

Biting down, he decided to fall back for a second. Noticing Akeno within a cloud, he twitched his fingers to bring her down. She descended next to him and cursed lightly while staring at the building. "If you flew too close, I'd have to run in. We can't have that." His eyes narrowed and he grabbed her and brought her into the forest.

"Being a little cautious." She chuckled. "We could take them out from here."

"We wait here until the rest of them come out. We see their faces and report them back to those two. She's working for someone and I doubt any of the big leaders will show their faces. All we know right now is that she definitely isn't working with demons otherwise she wouldn't be in there."

Her purple eyes glanced at him for a second before focusing on the house. Blood-curdling screams came from the inside. "We were told we'd be hunting monsters. I'm so tired of waiting around in this shitty church."

"Hear any of that?" She glanced at him. "I couldn't get it all." Hanzo brought his hand to his face and narrowed down.

"I'll tell you later." His eyes fell to the ground and he looked over at the house. "Apparently one of them is pretty impulsive."

The door to the church swung open and a man with long white hair and red eyes stepped out. He licked his lips lightly and stared up. "Dohnaseek said he saw one of those disgusting animals near here. He didn't have what it takes to kill, but I've been itching for it for so long."

Arms from a raven haired woman grabbed his shoulders and pulled him in. "You'll get to kill eventually. Just relax until the time is right. I promise plenty of demon blood will shed with the two of you attacking." She smiled and shut the door again.

Hanzo shook his head and smiled. "So that's who she's working with. Looks like the kid might get a shot at her way earlier than we thought. Let's get home, we have to tell Rias to put him through hell."

"He really is a magnet for fallen angels isn't he?" There was the slightest bit of concern in her voice. "It's not natural…"

"It almost sounds like you don't think he can do it." A snide voice came from the larger one. "Like you're scared for your junior."

Her eyes tore through him once again. "Not scared, just curious what he'll do, once he comes face to face with Raynare again."