The Dim Star: Magic X Myth

by greenarrow679

After an encounter with a stray devil awakens new powers and another set of memories, Caelum Seren finds himself lost in a world that is much more different than he had been led to believe. Follow his journey into the world hidden behind the curtain, where the supernatural meets the divine. Where fantasy meets reality. Where magic meets myth.

2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: A Twinkling Star

-Monday, August 27th, 2007-

"...and why can't you accept that? He's gone! He's not coming back for you! All because you were weak! He threw his life, his family away for a weak little brat who can't even accept reality! You're worthless, you know that?You're a burden! I wish Dad had left you behind instead!"

SLAP

I looked up at her in shock. The stinging sensation on my cheek only solidified the weight of her words. Dozens of thoughts ran through my mind, but all I could feel now was a void of emotion. The surprise had drained away, and I only felt empty instead.

She was right, in a way. Everything she said had been something I had thought to myself over the past years, and increasingly over the past few months.

"Hmm? A snack presents itself?"

I looked up to see that I had wandered away in my trance, just to meet a face straight out of my own nightmares. An open maw filled with hundreds of teeth surrounded my body, and the darkness inside of the creature's mouth quickly closed in.

"You should have died in his place, but don't worry, you'll see him soon." My sister's voice echoed around me as the jaws closed in, and yet, the emptiness remained.

I calmly opened my eyes, slowly blinking away the exhaustion that stuck to me. Before, those nightmares used to send me reeling. I would spend hours in a bad mood trying to invalidate my own demons, but now they were like old friends. They were just another sign of my nervousness in the face of potentially meeting my wayward sister again.

"Heh, she would be surprised to see me acting so mature, even if the sentiment wouldn't last for long." I muttered to myself, but moved to get out of bed.

No matter how tiring it was to face my internal fears, it didn't mean I could delay in moving forward. Especially on such an important day. It had been a rough weekend, but the time had finally come for me to take my first step towards reconciliation, and my next step towards becoming a better man.

'If only they both didn't involve going to school…'

-1 Hour Later-

"Do you have all of your stuff? Your extra pencils? Your IDs? Your wallet? Oh, let me help you fix your tie…"

I sighed at my mom's rambling, but let her do as she pleased. Ever since the memories of standing over her gravesite had hit me, I had found myself gaining a new appreciation for some of the simple things she did for me. Even if I wanted to snap when she asked me about my wallet for the 4th time.

At that point, it was easy to tell that our nerves were just getting to the both of us. It still wouldn't do for me to take out my own feelings on my mother, especially after all the times I know she probably wanted to do the same to me. So I smiled and nodded along, answering all the questions she had and promising to keep her appraised of the situation.

After giving her one last hug, I waved goodbye and teleported to the outskirts of Kuoh Town. I smiled at the scenery, already feeling nostalgic over the times my mother had teleported me to the same place to come pickup my sister after school. Though back then I was usually being too much of a moody brat to appreciate the beautiful scenery.

The reminder made me even more appreciative of my mother's seemingly endless sense of patience. To manage homeschooling a bratty teen, arranging things for her other child to get the education she wanted in another ward across the country, then dragging herself to night shifts throughout the week?

'If I didn't know any better, I would have thought she was some sort of Holy Maiden. That, or one of Goddess' Seraphim in disguise.' I thought in amusement as I looked around the clearing.

It was a few meters away from a road that led out of the city. A bus stop was about a minute down the road, which fit with my disguise of being someone who caught the bus into the city. It would probably be easier to just move closer, but I preferred leaving my mother back in Kyoto rather than uprooting her to come to what would quickly become a hotspot for multiple factions. I would just need to be careful about who I told what. Though I could just claim that I lived in an apartment nearby.

'Maybe I can just ask Kunou what they decided for her to do, and piggy-back off of that? Speaking of, I should probably convince her to get a phone.' I thought to myself as I pulled mine out to shoot my mother a quick text. I was lucky that we no longer lived in America, otherwise I wouldn't be able to use a phone in the middle of the wilderness. Not unless I had a deathwish.

'Though, nowadays I could put up a much better fight than I had back then. No more running, right Caelum?' I mentally affirmed. I slowly maneuvered through the foliage and over to the road, then made my way into the town.

It didn't take long for me to reach the outskirts of what I mentally recategorized as a small city. I was surprised to see that the road I had followed ended up leading me to the edge of the park, and I could spot a fountain off in the distance to my left. I continued down the road, passing along the outer edge of the park and heading deeper into the city.

I passed a few other notable places, like a large mall, the town plaza, and a side street that led to what I assumed was the pleasure district. At least, it seemed like it was based on some of the seedy posters along the route.

For a moment I thought I was heading in the wrong direction, but I relaxed when I spotted a familiar large gate up the street. It looked just like it did in his memories, but I ignored the dread that rose up at the reminder in favor of checking out the premises of the academy. I was surprised to see how empty it was at the front of the gate, but my question was answered for me when I stepped inside of it.

The first thing that caught my attention was the size of the school's campus. I knew the place was huge, considering it served to teach students across a wide range of grade levels, but to see it in person was something else. Yet what really drew my eye was the massive crowd waiting outside of the main building. It was mostly composed of boys, but I could spot more than a few girls waiting as well.

'Oh yeah, this used to be an all girls school. Still, to have this many still wanting to transfer? Especially considering it was halfway through the school year?' I thought in disbelief.

'If this is the competition, then this might be easier than I expected.' I could only wonder how many were there just to try and up their abysmal chance at getting a girlfriend, and considering how many boys were eyeing up the few girls around them I was comfortable in assuming it was most of them.

"Hey, Seren, over here!"

I turned around to see Kunou waving at me from the front of the crowd. Most of the kids were arrayed around the stairs to the front of the building, but Kunou was directly in front of the doors. There was a small gap between her and the rest of the group, except for three other girls standing next to her.

I slowly made my way through the crowd, excusing myself when things began to get a little tight. More than a few people turned to give me angry looks, but I ignored them in favor of continuing along. As I reached the front of the crowd I had a tough time pushing down my amusement at the small group that greeted me.

Kunou seemed to be in her element, but was also showing clear signs of suppressed nervousness. I had only been there a few moments and she had already flip-flopped between excitement, fear, and worry as she rambled about her preparations for the test. Next to her was a clearly bored out of her mind Shirone, who was being entertained by an unfamiliar girl.

She had vermillion hair, bright eyes, and an odd necklace that seemed to be made from small ceramic skulls. It reminded me of some of the cartoony Day of the Dead decorations I had seen growing up in America. The girl was currently talking Shirone's ear off, but Shirone didn't seem to mind all that much since she was clearly continuing to listen.

Behind them was the most amusing sight. Glaring at me with her arms crossed in a pout was Kuroka, and while it was odd to see her there I pushed that aside and focused on her hilarious outfit. She was currently dressed in a pants suit, but where I would have expected her to purposely wear everything a size too small, instead it was a size too big. She looked like a kid wearing their parent's clothes. Apparently, I was terrible at hiding my amusement, since her glare intensified after I took in her outfit.

"Why doesn't she just magic her clothes right, or something?" I asked Kunou, interrupting her in the middle of her rambling.

"Magari forced her to wear it because of a small disagreement they had, and did something so she couldn't take it off or change it." She reflexively explained, then levied me with an envious look.

"How are you so nonchalant about this? Shouldn't you be worried about passing the test?" She asked with an intense look in her eye.

"Me? Shouldn't you guys be the ones acting nonchalant? I thought your entry was practically guaranteed?" I asked in disbelief. She winced at my question and, sensing another amusing story, I stared at her until she finally cracked.

"My mom made a bet with Satan Leviathan as part of the amendments to our agreement." She quietly whispered, but didn't elaborate. Seeing how she didn't want to say more, I decided to leave things as they were in favor of finding out who her friend was.

"Oh! She is my newly assigned bodyguard, Sha Wujing. She'll be attending the middle division with Shirone, if I pass that is…" She trailed off for a moment, clearly caught up in her pre-test jitters again, so I let her be in favor of heading over to introduce myself to Sha Wujing.

"Students! Please check in and report straight to your assigned testing centers! Middle Division through the left entrance, High Division through the middle entrance, and Upper Division through the right entrance!" A melodic voice said over the intercom.

'Well, there goes that plan.' I thought in irritation, but let it go in favor of following the ordered instructions.

I immediately turned and headed straight through the middle doors, taking note of how Shirone and Sha Wujing headed towards the left entrance, while Kuroka angrily stomped through the right. Kunou had stuck to me like glue, shadowing me as if she was my bodyguard. I gave her an amused smile, but frowned when she barely registered it.

"Hey, calm down. You have this in the bag! If I can be confident in passing then you should too, right? You helped me get up to speed, so have a little faith in yourself, Princess." I finished by patting her on her head, hoping that it would be enough to shake her out of her funk.

She reacted just as I hoped, slapping my hand away and huffing in irritation at how I almost messed up her hair. I laughed to myself when she took the lead, holding her nose up high and straightening her posture. I followed her to our assigned check in desk, and after a smooth check in process we were both seated inside of our examination room.

We spent the next few hours taking various tests, with small breaks in between. The proctor told us that each test would help demonstrate our proficiency in classes available at Kuoh Academy, including ones that weren't required. Unlike normal entrance exams, we were being tested on how easily we would fit into the ongoing classes at our relevant grade levels.

Japan's school system worked differently than America's, in that the school year stretched across a different time period. Part of the reason why I was homeschooled for so long, aside from my issues due to my father's death, was because of the adjustment needed to go from an American style education to a Japanese one. Of course, my sister had easily made the adjustment, which only led to more arguments between us over time.

'No, the past is behind you. Remember it, regret it, and use it to look towards the future.' I thought to myself as I walked out of the exam room. I took a moment to stretch, popping my back and arms instead of using my normal method of circulating my physical energy to warm myself up. I stiffened at the feeling of a pair of arms wrapping around me, and chuckled when I spotted a blonde head slamming into my chest.

"That was much easier than I expected it to be! I can't believe I was so worried! You were right, Seren!"

I smirked at the angry glares that were levied at us. Some of them were from nervous students who clearly had a rough time, while others were from guys who seemed incensed by my luck at having a girl pressing herself into me. I just brushed them off, since I never put much stock into that sort of stuff anyway.

"That's because I forgot that the transfer exams are different from the entrance exams, so we ended up over studying. My bad." I apologized with a smirk. She glanced up from my chest and gave me a sharp look.

"And what if we had been underprepared because of your oversight?" She frowned when I shrugged at her question, and she pulled away to pout at me in turn. I could tell that she was more than dissatisfied with me finding amusement in how my mistake caused her unneeded duress.

She had a point, but hey, thankfully things hadn't turned out that way. There was no need to cry over spilled milk, but I knew not to say that unless I wanted to get smacked upside the head. For being such a well-mannered and proper princess, she was extremely comfortable in taking me to task over my 'bouts of idiocy' as she called them.

"So, since it seems like you're so sure about your chances in passing, how about we go celebrate our eventual acceptance?" I offered, knowing that she was going to try and trick me into making up for my mistake anyway. Seeing how quickly her demeanor switched, I knew my instincts were right.

She excitedly dragged me through the hallway, pulling me outside of the building and towards the gate in a hurry to get her promised peace offering. Though I knew that she would just end up dragging me to yet another bakery. Still, I had to stop her before she left the school, considering that she was leaving her actual guard detail behind.

"Hey, Kunou, wait up! What about the others?" I asked as I pulled back on my arm to slow her down. She looked surprised, but then for a moment an uncaring look crossed her face. I was taken aback, since it almost seemed like she was going to brush them off. After another moment, she sighed to herself and turned back around.

"Fine, but I will decide where we go to eat," She said as she dragged me back towards the entrance of the building.

She eventually let go of my arm as I went to sit down on the stairs, while she continued to pace around. I amused myself by guessing how well other prospective students did on the exam based on how they left the grounds.

Some of them were bragging about how easy the tests were, but I could tell a few of them were lying. Others were too nervous to even try talking, with a few flat out running through the gates as if they were embarrassed by their failure. It was interesting to see the difference between American and Japanese school kids, though I was relying on his memories for the comparison.

I was distracted from my people watching when the rest of Kunou's group exited the building. Kuroka was talking Shirone's ear off, loudly complaining about her clothes and why she had to take some dumb tests. Shirone was nodding along every now and then, but I could tell that she had totally checked out of the conversation.

They were followed by Sha Wujing, who seemed to be nervous over her own results. I remembered that before the test she had been eagerly talking at Shirone, similar to what Kuroka was doing now, but now she was almost dragging her feet in defeat.

"Over here! Seren said he was going to treat us to lunch!" Kunou called out from the bottom of the stairs. I rolled my eyes, but said nothing to correct her.

"Really?!" Sha Wujing called back as she ran down the stairs, perking right up at the news of free food.

"Oh! Can we get those cupcakes you brought back last time?" She asked Kunou, who seemed to be considering her words.

"Sweets shop." Shirone simply said as she walked closer, giving me a nod in greeting. Kuroka seemed incensed at being ignored by her sister and turned to glare at me, but I just winked and turned to address the others.

"Well, I could always take us over to the bakery outside of Urakyoto. Unless you guys want to explore the town a bit and see what's good here instead?" I offered.

Sha Wujing rapidly nodded her head as she jumped up and down. I almost regretted funding her inevitable sugar rush, but relaxed when I remembered she would be Kunou's problem. Shirone gave a thumbs up, which seemed oddly expressive for her, while Kunou just nodded and motioned for us to follow her.

"Wait! Don't I get to vote?" Kuroka yelled.

"Nope!" I replied over my shoulder as we followed Kunou out of the gate and down the street. It didn't take long for me to realize we were heading towards the residential part of Kuoh, but I was surprised to see her stop at a large manor, which was across from another large manor.

"Courtesy of the town's overseers." Kunou explained, having seen my surprised expression, as she pointed at the other manor across the street. She pressed her palm against the door, and a small magic circle appeared. It glowed and dissipated after a moment, after which Kunou opened the door and led us in.

"This is where we'll be staying during the school year. It'll be easier to just teleport us from here instead of trying to find somewhere discreet," Kunou said. I decided to ignore the proud look on her face, knowing that she mainly wanted to show off the place where they would be staying.

"Nice! Do you need to key me into the wards or anything?" I asked, but Kunou just shook her head.

"Good, then everyone please gather around me! Next stop, the bakery!" I quipped as I pulled on some of my physical energy and wrapped it around our group. With a thought, we reappeared in the alley next to Kunou's favorite bakery.

It didn't take us long to get settled, with our food being brought out in no time. Of course, it took longer for conversation to start flowing. Considering that Kuroka still seemed to dislike me for whatever reason, while Sha Wujing, Kunou, and Shirone were a little busy stuffing their faces with assorted slices of cake, cookies, and cupcakes. Still, I was surprised to hear the first topic brought up.

"So you're Seren, huh? You know, Kunou loves to talk about you. Its always 'Seren this' and 'Seren that.'" Sha Wujing mimed with a mischievous look. Kunou was waving her hands, but Sha Wujing continued to bring up more examples. I tuned out a few of them, but my attention was pulled back in when she mentioned their training sessions.

"Yeah, and she was even trying to convince Magari to help her copy some illusion technique you did, though Kuroka refused to explain more about it. Then she tried to copy some fancy thing you did with your sword to cut through Kuroka's claws, but ended up melting her sword instead!" Sha Wujing laughed, slamming her hand on the table as she wiped tears out of her eyes.

"While I'm glad to hear you're finally taking your training seriously, Princess, copying me is probably one of the worst places you could start," I said and, having seen the indignant look in her eye, I decided to explain.

"My powers are a bit unusual compared to most of the common abilities you can find in some factions. Why, some might even call me an abomination!" I cheerily said, mentally laughing to myself at her confusion. Deciding to have some mercy on them, I turned to Kuroka to get some help in my explanation.

"Kuroka, you can use senjutsu right?"

"And how do you know what that is?" She responded with a narrow eyed gaze. I just waved her off and continued.

"Reasons. Anyway, what did my power feel like when we fought? Hell, try and get a read on me now if you want." I nonchalantly offered. I was surprised to see her narrow her eyes even further.

"What, trying to trick me again?" She angrily asked.

I was taken aback for a moment, then remembered the odd occurrences I always had with nekomata. I realized that she had probably asked Magari about me after our fight and had gotten the rundown on their people's odd reactions around me.

There was that incident with her smelling me, her inability to shake off my reversal of her illusions, and even her odd reaction to my physical energy at the end of our little fight. Even worse, her reactions were much tamer than what used to happen.

"My bad, I forgot about that stuff. I usually keep a tight grip on my power anyway, so the worst that would have happened is what you experienced when we first met outside the bakery." I explained, then turned towards the others to elaborate.

"Anyway, my powers are a bit different than what normally comes from my mom's clan. Mom says it has something to do with my dad's genetics, but never fully explained it. For some reason, my life energy mutated into two new forms of energy that I can manipulate in a bunch of interesting ways. It lets me to do more than a few things thought impossible, yet at the same time I can no longer do some of the things the average person can," I said, leaving out my own realizations concerning my dad's heritage and how it interacted with my clan heritage.

"So that's why your energy felt so familiar, but wonky at the same time…" Kuroka muttered to herself, but I answered as if she was talking to everyone.

"Yup. It's also why the Youkai Factions are pretty hands off with me, outside of the debt they owe me and my mom. Magari even likes to try and send nekomata to seduce me. She said something about how your species can create offspring with the powers of both sides of their parent's lineage, and how you guys can sniff out strong partners." I said nonchalantly.

I ignored how Kuroka's face turned red at the unsaid insinuation, along with how Kunou glared at Kuroka. She was always pretty defensive of me when it came to Magari's tricks.

"But yeah, the downsides are that I don't have any capacity for some of the more traditional techniques. Things like Touki, or any sort of magic are completely out of my reach. That doesn't mean that I can't emulate or reinvent them utilizing my powers, but it makes copying anything I do extremely hard since I'm working under different rules than you guys." I explained.

"Is that also why I have never seen you utilize magic circles?" Kunou asked. I nodded in response, ignoring Kuroka's muttered curses as I continued my explanation.

"Take the illusion I cast on Kuroka as an example. She wasn't able to break out of it due to the unique properties of my own powers. The density of my energy turns even the lowest rank of my illusions into the equivalent of a high tier illusion cast by another species," I said before I held up my hand.

Everyone watched as a yellow aura manifested around my hand, then they flinched back as a burst of heat filled the room. Before anyone could panic, the flames shifted as a loud crackling filled the air. An electric aura replaced the flames, before it shifted again. The electricity slowly coalesced, steadily flowing as a current of water replaced the electricity.

"Even the trick I pulled with my sword is something that is most likely beyond your current capabilities. I can almost instinctively manipulate and control my power, and can easily shift it across a wide variety of forms. Using the elements to enhance my sword's cutting potential, or my other capabilities is practically child's play. While you would still need to account for things like the durability of the weapon, all the while maintaining a tight control over your chosen element and how it affects not only your weapon but also your environment." I explained, leaving out how those things were only easy for me in small amounts.

With a flick of my wrist, the water disappeared from around my hand. I glanced back at the others to see Sha Wuijing and Shirone giving me looks of respect, Kunou pouting at my display, and Kuroka giving me an oddly blank look. An awkward silence began to fill the air, and I stepped in before things could get weird.

"But enough about me. I already know Princess from our own encounters and misadventures, but I don't know much about the rest of you guys. So, Sha Wujing, how'd you get roped into this?" I asked, smiling when the younger girl eagerly began to ramble herself.

She talked about her time spent training to join Urakyoto's defense garrison, and how she was approached by Yasaka to help guard Kunou. Apparently she was the next inheritor of the title Sha Wujing, one of those who journeyed with the original Sun Wukong. She also put a lot of emphasis on how Sha Wujing wasn't a kappa.

Shirone wasn't as easy to get to talk, but she chimed in every now and then to comment on something or volunteer bits of information about herself. Things like how her favorite type of music was heavy metal, or her favorite sweet was a rare brand of lollipop.

After a while, even Kuroka began to relax and join in the fun. She told more than a few stories about her and Shirone's time spent training under Magari, along with some of the missions they've completed. Eventually, our conversation circled back around to the last elephant in the room.

"I still don't get why I needed to enroll in that stupid academy! I would prefer to just be a maid rather than be forced to go to some stuffy school!" Of course, Kuroka was the first one to complain about it, considering she never wanted to join us at Kuoh Academy in the first place.

"You. Promised. Go. Together!" Shirone angrily bit out, glaring at Kuroka with an intensity I hadn't seen from her. Kuroka flinched at the harsh look her sister gave her, but continued to whine all the same.

"I don't know. That test was pretty hard." Sha Wujing admitted, giving Kuroka a commiserating look.

"Don't worry. I'm sure if you pay attention in class, do your best on assignments, and spend some extra time studying, you will have no problem with your school work!" Kunou promised.

"Work hard. More time for fun." Shirone added in, which immediately swayed Sha Wujing. Seeing Kuroka was still pouting, I couldn't pass up the chance to taunt her.

"You hear that, Kuroka? Maybe school won't be as boring as you think!" I teased with a wide grin, taking delight in the angry look she shot me.

- Monday, September 3rd, 2007-

'This is way more boring than I thought it would be…' I thought in exasperation. I couldn't believe I had ever thought this would be a good idea. I groaned to myself at the sound of the teacher droning on and on about another subject I couldn't be bothered to remember, and suppressed the desire to just cut and leave.

'Just tough it out, Caelum. You're here to rebuild your relationship with your sister, and to get back to having some semblance of a life. You can't do that if you're just going to wimp out at the first sign of adversity!' I thought to myself, but my motivation instantly drained away at the sound of the teacher's mind numbing voice.

'Forget it, I'm going to sleep.' I eagerly laid my head down, and let the teacher's drowning lull me to sleep. Yet just when I started to drift off, a finger poked me in my side. I glanced up to see Kunou giving me an angry look, but I just turned the other way and scooted my chair a bit further away from her.

It hadn't taken long for Kuoh Academy to send us our results, and I was happy to see that I had done well enough to be placed in an advanced class alongside Kunou. That happiness had been dulled now, since I realized what type of student Kunou was.

She spent the few days we had left before the first day dragging me around to buy things in preparation for class. New uniforms, school supplies, various backpacks to match with small alterations in her outfit, and everything else she could think of.

When it came time for our first day of class, Kunou hadn't even waited until after we finished introducing ourselves to make herself at home as the new resident teacher's pet. She volunteered to hand out assignments, raised her hand for practically every question, and was the first to turn in work. And all of that was within the span of our first few classes!

Even worse, everytime I started to zone out, or tried to go to sleep, she would do her best to stop me. From poking me in my side, to loudly asking questions before I could drift off, to even bumping into my desk as she got up to hand in work.

Thankfully, the bell chimed just as I heard Kunou's chair shift. I eagerly rose from my desk, packing up the few things I had out as I went, and made my way out of the classroom. I moved to follow the flow of students heading toward the cafeteria, but was stopped by an expectant cough. I turned to see an incensed Kunou giving me an angry look

"Ahem. Why were you sleeping in class? What if you missed something the teacher said? Or you…" I tuned out her rambling as I continued towards the cafeteria.

She spent the whole walk there talking my ear off about school regulations and potential punishments for breaking the rules, and for a moment I was overwhelmed by nostalgia. Memories of a character he had liked filled my mind, and I could almost see a bushy haired girl rambling about being killed or, even worse, expelled overshadowing Kunou.

"...and you could be given detention, or even be suspended if you don't pay attention!" Kunou finished. I just nodded along like I had been listening the entire time, but she frowned at me.

"Seren, were you listening to a word I said?! This is serious!" She stressed, but I just rolled my eyes at her.

"Kunou, relax. This is all just part of the student experience. It's just highschool, not a university or a military school," I said as we approached the cafeteria doors.

As I held the door open for Kunou, I was surprised to see a certain someone walking past with a large group of students. They filed one by one into an office at the end of the hallway, but I only had eyes for one of the people in that group.

"...seriously, Seren, you don't need to be kicked out on your first da-"

"Hey, Kunou, head in without me. I need to talk to someone really quickly!" I interjected, and let go of the door to take off back down the hallway. I could hear Kunou yelling something from behind me, but ignored her in favor of slipping past a few lingering groups of students.

As I reached the office I had seen them enter, my hand stalled before it could touch the door. A thousand different thoughts ran through my mind of how this could potentially go wrong, but before I could wimp out I was surprised to see the door open for me. A short brown haired girl with twin ponytails peeked up at me and offered me a wide smile.

"Hello, how may the Student Council help you? Oh, you're one of the new transfer students, right? Are you having trouble navigating the school? I could always help lead you to your next cla-"

"Is Tsubaki inside? May I speak with her, please?" I asked, trying my best to suppress my nervousness. I could tell I failed from the odd look the girl gave me. Her tone shifted, going from happily playful to wary and professional.

"Vice President Shinra is here, but she's also very busy. If you're here to make some kind of confession or-"

"No! It's not like that!" I yelled, waving my hands in a panic. The smirk on her face told me how amusing she found my floundering, so I took a deep breath and tried to compose myself.

"Look, this is serious. I just need to speak with Tsubaki really quickly. Is she free?" I asked again, suppressing the urge to look over her head and glance around the office area myself.

"Nimura, please let our guest in." A soft voice chimed in from behind me. I looked behind myself to see the one person I should probably be avoiding had arrived. Sona Sitri, the heiress of the Sitri Clan and one of the overseers of Kuoh.

'Atleast, based on his memories she is.' I thought to myself as the brown haired girl, Nimura apparently, pouted but stepped out of the way for us to enter.

"After you." I offered Sona, who swept past me like she owned the place, which admittedly she probably did.

She headed straight towards the desk at the center of the room and calmly took her seat in the comfy looking chair behind it. Nimura continued to hold the door open for me to enter, which I thanked her for as I took in the rest of the room. The office was a decent size, with a few other rooms attached. There were other people inside the main office, but I didn't spot Tsubaki nearby.

"Good Afternoon, Seren. My name is Shitori Souna, President of the Student Council. How may we help you?" She calmly asked as she shuffled a few papers around her desk. I tried to ignore the pit in my stomach that rose at her using the same false name he remembered.

"I was looking to talk to Tsubaki. Is she around?" I asked as I continued to look around the room.

"May I ask exactly what it is which you needed to speak with my Vice President about? If you require assistance, then I would be happy to help you in her stead." She offered, but I shook my head.

"Sorry, but it's kind of-"

"I found the documents you were looking for, Kaichou."

I turned around at the sound of her voice, and couldn't help but freeze up at the sight of her. She looked different than before. Her skin was clearer, some of her features had sharpened, and she looked happier. Even still, the rest of her features were the same as I remembered them to be.

She had on the same half-frames of glasses that slipped down her nose as she moved her head, the same long black hair which she used to spend hours combing through, and the same heterochromatic eyes that made it difficult for me to hold her gaze. She calmly walked up past me and set a small stack of papers down on the desk, but I noticed her tense up when her eyes finally drifted towards me.

"Tsubaki! You don't call, you don't write, it's almost like you were avoiding me." I teased. The corner of her lips quirked upward, and I took that as a small victory, but then she glared at me with the same look of distaste that she always did.

"What exactly are you doing here? How are you here?" She demanded, but I wasn't going for it.

"Shouldn't I be asking you the same thing? It's been months, Tsubaki. You didn't leave a message or anything! Do you know how worried we were?" I retorted. Her eyes widened, and for a split second I thought I saw a flash of guilt across her face. Then she grit her teeth and stepped forward into my space.

"Like you have the right to even think of judging me!" She forcefully said as she poked me in the chest. Her eyes widened when I didn't even stumble back a step, but before I could respond someone else interrupted us.

"Enough."

I glanced back towards Sona, who was giving us both harsh looks. Tsubaki instantly spun around, standing with her back straight and giving Sona a look of deference. My stomach dropped at the sight of her bowing her head, and I frowned as my worst nightmare was slowly being proven true. I had hoped that, in this case, the memories I received would be wrong. They had been incorrect more than a few times, and this was something I just wasn't ready to accept.

I knew my sister, and beyond the differences between her and the other version he had seen, I had faith in her to make the right decisions. Falling into the trap of selling her soul for power wasn't something I had wanted to believe she was feasible of.

So I quickly pulled on some of my spiritual energy, and used it to enhance my senses. I ignored the emotions I could pick up, like Sona's irritation along with my sister's shame, in favor of checking on my sister's life force. I could feel my patience snap at the confirmation I had found.

"You left for this?! Really Tsubaki?! Have you lost your mind?!" I angrily asked. She flinched at my words, but refused to turn away from her mistress. I couldn't help the disgust that filled me when I focused on the connection I felt between Sona and my sister. It was beyond sickening to me.

"I said enough, Seren. If the only reason you are here is to argue with my subordinate, then I will have to ask you to leave." Sona requested, but I could tell that she meant that as an order. Sadly for her, I was no longer in the mood to care.

"I understand you're confused, but I'm going to have to ask you to butt out for the moment. I think you've done enough," I said as I turned back to my sister.

"E-Excuse me?" Sona stuttered out, but I ignored her in favor of addressing my sister.

"You need to come back home and explain this to her. I'm not going to be the one to inform her that her daughter is a slave," I angrily said, trying my best to hold back my own frustration at what she had done.

"Like you could ever understand! Mom did the same thing to provide for us, so how is it a problem when I made a similar choice?" Tsubaki said, but her voice wavered.

"Don't you dare try using her sacrifice as an excuse for your selfishness, recklessness, and pure idiocy! You did this to yourself, and for what?! You had a mother doing her best to provide for you! You had a home to rest your head. You had a family, and you gave it all up to bind yourself to a stranger? Do you understand what you've done?! You enslaved yourself to the will of someone you barely know for the rest of your life! Do you know what she could do to you?! What her people do to others like you?!" I demanded, but she still refused to look at me.

The room was silent as I glared at Tsubaki, but that only reminded me of the others in the room. Of the deceitful bitch who stole my sister's freedom, and the slaves who probably did their best to encourage her to join them. A cabal of lost souls forever damned to hell because of the idiocy of their progenitor, and now my own sister had been dragged down with them.

Now Tsubaki was cursed to live the rest of her life as a piece on someone else's board. A pawn in the sinister game played between idiotic immortals who couldn't handle the loss of their Father. She would be forced to defend a spoiled brat who was arguably the weakest of her generation. A lost child stuck in the shadow of her older sister. A walking target for any who would move against their faction.

"C-Caelum. You need to calm down. Y-Your eyes…" I heard Tsubaki stutter.

My head began to ache and my thoughts continued to race as his memories flashed through my mind. Example after example of the fall out from Tsubaki's asinine decision to give up her freedom played before my eyes.

Even worse, I could feel the pathetic levels of strength that filled the room. I could see the lack of calluses on their skin. I could feel the slight sluggishness in the way their energy moved through their bodies. I could feel the weak resolve that filled my sister, along with the guilt she tried to hide behind her facade.

"...having another… trance… can't break him out…"

Her guilt had traces of a multitude of emotions attached to it, and I could practically see her thought process in relation to those emotions. The same emotions that were behind the motivation that fueled her to join Sona's peerage at any means necessary. Anger towards the faction she blamed for constantly monopolizing our mother's time. Irritation and annoyance towards me for wasting the rest of it with my own issues. Hatred towards me for taking our dad away. Pride in the opportunity that was given to her, and in being recognized for her potential. Eagerness at getting the chance to grow strong enough that something like what happened to me would never happen to her. Happiness at successfully pulling off her plan to get away.

"...you hear me… Caelum, please…"

Even worse, the other's emotions only made me angrier. I could feel Sona's indignation from my words. Her anger at implying that Tsubaki was wrong for joining her peerage. Her slaves' anger at how my words pertained to their own choices. I just couldn't handle it. The pure lack of forethought, and the naivety filling the room made me sick. Yet the images only got worse.

Endless situations of how things could go wrong for them. Of Sona being put in a position where she would have to choose herself over them. Of ways in which my sister would be forced to take the fall because she sold herself to a weak master. Of my sister being used to strike at the sister of one of the Satans. Having enough of being bombarded by their thoughts and my own continuously manifesting internal fears, I turned to walk out of the room.

"So you're just going to turn your back? Run away like you always did?" Tsubaki said, but I could feel her underlying terror.

"You're a grown woman, Tsubaki. You made your choice, and now you'll have to live with it," I said as I continued to leave, having said my piece, but a hand gripped my shoulder.

"If you think you can waltz into my territory, verbally attack my servants, and walk away as if nothing is wrong, then you're as foolish as you are naive. Who are you, who sent you, and what relationship do you have with my pawn that makes you think you can verbally abuse her in front of me without repercussions!" Sona demanded as she gripped my shoulder, but I wasn't in the mood to humor her power trip.

"Fuck you," I simply said as I shrugged her hand off my arm and went to leave.

I was surprised to see the rest of the girls had lined up to block the door. All of them gave me blank looks, and while none of them had taken aggressive stances I could see how tense they were. They were all prepared to fight me if need be.

"Move, or I'll move you." I threatened, wanting to avoid a physical confrontation if I could since I wasn't in the mood to play around like I did with Kuroka.

Nimura smirked at me and stepped forward from the group, but before she could say anything my patience slipped. My tight grip on my powers frayed, and in my annoyance at Sona and her peerage I unconsciously projected it onto them. The girls blocking the door collapsed in terror, but I took the opportunity for what it was.

As I walked over to the door and opened it, I found myself glancing down at the girls scattered about the floor. I felt bad seeing the look of fear in their eyes, but my irritation at them for taking advantage of my foolish older sister balanced out my guilt. I muttered an apology as I left, heading straight towards my next class instead of the cafeteria.

I couldn't stomach the thought of eating at the moment. I knew there was a chance that Tsubaki had followed the same path of the other version he knew of, but I hadn't wanted to believe it. My extra memories had been wrong multiple times before, and I hoped that I was wrong this time. I could only imagine the look in my mother's eyes when she found out what Tsubaki had done. Especially when she realized her own daughter's motivation behind her choice.

Worse still, I had felt Tsubaki's motivations through her attached emotions. I had never delved that deep into someone's emotions, hell, I thought I couldn't! Yet back then it was as if I was reading her mind. I could feel her frustration with our family, the pride and happiness she felt from Sona's manipulations. My love starved sister had collared herself to the heiress' whims and traded us away like yesterday's trash in the process. Tears brimmed in my eyes as I remembered the worst part.

For months I had blamed myself for Tsubaki's disappearance. That because of my own delusions and problems, I had pushed Tsubaki away to the point where she couldn't bear our broken family anymore. That if I had been more well adjusted then I would have been able to stop her before she disappeared. That if I wasn't so weak and used to running away from my problems I could have been there for her when she was clearly suffering.

It was the whole reason I waited so long to go after her. I wanted to show her that I was different, and that things had changed. I wanted to speak with my actions rather than my words, and prove to her that the days of the past were behind us. I thought she wanted space, and so I gave it to her. I even convinced our mother to do that same, and yet it turns out that she usedme and my mental weakness. She manipulated me into running off as part of her plan to abandon us, her own family.

'And she was proud of it. Happily laughing along with those bitches as if all is right in the world. Her little brother was almost left to rot in the stomach of a monster, and her twice widowed mother would have been left to mourn the loss of her only children, and all the while she's happily living it up in the service of a fucking devil!' I clenched my fists so tight that I could feel my nails digging into my palms.

The pain brought a sense of clarity, as I realized that my energy was starting to run loose again. I hurried to bring it back under control, and resigned myself to a long training session after school to work things out. Just as I reached the classroom, the bell to signal that lunch was over had finished. I took my seat and prayed that school would be over quickly so I could go anywhere but here. I considered just skipping for the rest of the day, but knew I would come to regret the decision if something happened in the aftermath.

No matter how angry I was at Tsubaki at the moment, that didn't mean that I didn't want to work something out. It was why I still offered her the chance to come home. She owed our mother an explanation, or a goodbye at the least. That, and I still owed it to myself and my mother to attempt to go to school. I couldn't just be a shutaway loner for the rest of my life. While I could copy my dad and journey the world, I still owed my mother a few years before I could even think of leaving.

So I reluctantly stayed in my seat. The other kids slowly filed back into class, and Kunou pouted at me from the door. As she came closer, I could see a look of concern bloom across her face. She went to say something, but then the teacher came into the room. I groaned to myself when this one was just as boring as the last one, and settled in for what I knew was going to be a long class.

-Sona Sitri-

"W-Who was that?"

"What terrible power!"

"I thought he was going to kill us!"

Sona subtly wiped her forehead as she watched her peerage get themselves together. She was proud of them for recovering as fast as they did, even if she was suspicious as to why her newest pawn was rubbing her thighs together.

The power the transfer student, Seren, had let slip was beyond horrifying. Just the density of it shocked her, but the intent it contained was terror inducing. Even when she had convinced her sister to give her a taste of the power a Super Devil wielded, she hadn't been as terrified as she had been when she felt Seren's anger brought to bear. Even now her legs still trembled in remembrance of it.

It was as if he was projecting his intentions to them. His hatred towards her and her peerage. His need to harm them. To hurt them. To kill them. For a moment, she considered hitting her panic button. Thankfully, he vacated the room before a confrontation could break out. While she was confident in her peerage's chances of inevitably overwhelming him, she wouldn't want to risk any of her dear friend's lives in the process.

Sona glanced up at her Queen, and was surprised to see that she was on the verge of crying. She had known Tsubaki for almost three years, and she had never seen her friend as torn up as she was now. Not even during the rough training session she had been subjected to after she finally joined her peerage had Tsubaki even begun to shed a tear. Yet now, her friend was clearly holding back sobs as tears began to flow down her face.

"Tsubaki, are you alright?" Sona hesitantly asked, and wasn't ready for her Queen to drop to her knees in front of her desk. Sona glanced at the others in the room in surprise, and didn't know whether to be saddened or relieved that they seemed just as baffled as she was. As the room quieted down, Sona relaxed at the sight of her Bishop moving forward to comfort Tsubaki.

"Don't worry, Tsu. We're here for you." Momo whispered into Tsubaki's ear as she leaned down to embrace her.

Sona turned away to give her Queen some privacy, but as she went to address her peerage the door slammed open. Sona glanced up to see her friend, Rias, standing at the door with some of her own peerage members.

"Sona, are you alright?! We felt that all the way in the Club building! Did someone try to attack you?!" Rias rambled as she ran into the room.

'And she thinks shares no commonalities with her brother.' Sona thought in amusement. She could tell that Akeno was thinking the same thing from the way the young woman laughed behind her hand. Sona could tell that Rias' Queen was taking delight in her Mistress' worrying. Rias' knight, on the other hand…

"Thank Goddess you are alright! I thought someone from the Church came to attack us!" Yummi exclaimed.

Sona winced at the mention of the leader of Heaven's faction, and rolled her eyes at Yuumi's words. Ignoring her for the moment, Sona turned back towards Rias to explain the situation.

"We are fine. It was only a false alarm. One of the new transfer students had a minor disagreement with my Queen, and expressed a modicum of their dissatisfaction before vacating the area." Sona calmly explained.

"Amazing! A student did that? Was it the Princess? Please, don't tell me it was the Princess." Rias begged, but relaxed when Sona shook her head.

"No, it was-" Sona began, but was cut off by her Queen.

"Seren. My brother, Seren Caelum." Tsubaki muttered, but her voice carried throughout the suddenly quiet room.

"Seren, huh? Maybe he would be open to joining my peerage?" Rias wondered aloud. Sona glared at her airheaded friend, but could see the desperation underneath Rias' facade. Still, she knew that her friend would only find herself neck deep in trouble if she attempted to bark up that horrifying tree.

'I need to speak with Serafall.' Sona thought in determination.

-A few hours later, Caelum Seren-

As soon as the last bell rang I hurried out of class, ignoring the sounds of Kunou calling my name. I had too much on my mind, and needed to have a long conversation with my mom. So I continued to walk through the front gate, but I was surprised to feel a hand on my shoulder.

"Sorry, Kunou, right now just isn't a good tim- huh?" I was rendered speechless by who I turned around to see.

She was a little shorter than me, with dark hair and violet eyes. A nervous smile greeted me, but I could see the immediate cracks in her facade. Her eyes were slightly tight, and her body was tense in a way that made it obvious how she was ready to pounce on me rather than actually feeling nervous. On top of all that, she had reached out to grab me. Someone who was actually shy, or nervous, probably would have let me go. Even worse, I recognized her from his memories.

"H-Hello! My name is Amano Yuuma. Would you please go on a date with me?!" She practically screamed the words at me as she bowed her head.

I took advantage of her bowed form to glance around the area as I racked my memories of the school day. I could see Kunou angrily pouting as she glared at Amano, Tsubaki arguing with Sona at the front entrance of the school, and dozens of other small groups of students milling about. It wasn't until I glanced at the side of the building that I spotted the trio I was looking for, and I felt my stomach drop by the sight of Saji Genshrou standing in place of who I was looking for.

'Well, shit,' I thought in frustration, 'This changes everything.'

A/N: Anyone from the PJO Fandom might get a little hint as to where this fic is going from the date I used at the beginning of the chapter. Sorry to anyone who hoped this would start at a different point, but come on now, most Percy Jackson fics start here for a reason. Plus it's my favorite book out of the series!

Foreshadowing aside, I hope you guys enjoyed that! So to explain some things you guys may have missed, or may not have been clear, that first part was a nightmare, not a 1 to 1 recounting of what actually happened. Part of it was things Tsubaki had genuinely said to him, other parts were generated by his own fears of why she left.

Caelum's exam was a transfer exam, not an entrance exam, due to the Japanese school year operating off of a different schedule than the American school year. Back in good ole 'murica he would've caught the beginning of the school year, but in Japan he missed the first few months/term and was testing to transfer in post summer vacation.

Summer vacation ends at the end of August, so he had like a week until school starts, which I thought was a good time if anything. I wanted to at least try to match things up with how they should be, even if I cut corners in other places. It's good practice for trying to get my mind around the UA school year in MHA at the least…

When Caelum was having little mental freakout and mentioned God, yet throughout the fic I mentioned Goddess, wasn't a spelling error. In that moment, he was experiencing a recurring issue which was part of why he became a traumatized and depressed runaway after his dad's death. It all relates to his dad's side of the family, specifically his exact heritage.

The clues are there to guess it, and I'm sure people will. Anyway, he was seeing his other set of memories and was relating his Tsubaki to that one. Almost disassociating in a way. He was mixing up his Tsubaki with the other one because the image he had of his Tsubaki was shattered by what he saw as her out of character and idiotic decision to become a devil. On top of that, his issue went on to give him visions of scenarios in which things could go horribly wrong for Tsubaki.

Which seems like it would be easy to just say, no? But remember that it's in Caelum's POV. I can't just explain what's happening if he doesn't realize that something is going on, doesn't know what exactly is going on, doesn't know why it's going on, etc. He could organically realize what was happening, but in the moment he was a little preoccupied with being in denial.

Anyway, I was actually having some trouble with how I wanted to do things because of my selected timeline, then I realized the easy solution. So instead of wasting time deciding how I was going to deal with Issei, I deleted him XD. Which is funny, since now that I'm reading the reviews to the first chapter it seems some people liked the expressed sentiment of canon being dead, and one person even commented about removing Issei.

Originally, as in when I was first planning out this fic, I was undecided between making Issei a girl, completely changing Issei due to the fall out of his encounter with Raynare, or just having Caelum beat some sense into him as he takes him under his wing because he wants to leave all of the DxD plot stuff to the guy who's apparently already dealt with it.

I decided against making him a girl because I'm already using that tactic elsewhere , case in point: Yuumi, and I decided to leave the second plan for a future fic. Why waste a good plot on a side character, you know? And for the last point, I realized the scope of the story I wanted to tell, and that I didn't want to deal with the headaches that came from having Issei around.

Now before anyone gets the wrong idea, no, Caelum is not about to get backdoored by plot and turned into a Devil to replace Issei. It's just not happening. Like I said before, canon is dead. Mostly. One of my primary motivations behind writing this fic is to subvert expectations generated by the familiar characters and surroundings. It's a theme that will appear multiple times down the line, and I'm sure many of you will even find yourself relating to Caelum in how he reacts to changes. Of course that also can fall into the trope of becoming predictable, but thats something I'll just have to watch out for.

Of course there's some differences, since Caelum is actually living in the world and has connections with some of the people that he has seen in his memories. Like how he was in denial over his sister falling in with the devils. It's just another example of the difference between a normal self/oc insert, and what happened to Caelum.

On top of that, I hope to make a cascading amount of small changes that generate into bigger ones, and bigger changes that ripple into smaller ones. The first case is my approach to the 'DxD' side of Caelum's world, while the second case will be in the 'PJO' elements of the world. Seriously, I have so many ideas when it comes to making changes to the PJO world, and how it connects to the mythological theme park that is DxD. I could spend the next 20 pages gushing about the countless opportunities, or I could just stfu and get to writing chapters XD.

That's it for now, head on over to the next chapter!