Chapter 3: A New Constellation
"Sure. Are you free right now?" I offered with a forced smile.
'Hello, misplaced aggression.' I thought to myself, enjoying her shocked expression at my acceptance.
"H-Huh?" Amano stuttered, but I kept the pressure on.
"Are you free right now? I'm sort of new to the area and I've been meaning to check out a few places anyway, so how about it?" I continued to smile down at her, but I was also keeping a close eye on her ki, or life energy.
I could sense her surprise, and the slight relief she had. I assumed it was because of how easy I was making it for her. It didn't take long for her malice to spike either, probably in anticipation for what she had planned. She eagerly nodded her head, and I decided to have some fun. I grabbed her hand and pulled her down the street, internally laughing to myself at the spike of anger she had when I touched her.
"Then come on! First stop is the mall!" I cheered as I dragged her along. She tried to stay silent for most of the walk there, but I was able to tease a few small details out of her. Nothing serious, just small things like her favorite color, food, type of music, and even her hobbies.
"Come on, there has to be something you do on your own time, right? I don't know, maybe something like playing an instrument? You said you like metal music, so have you tried playing the guitar?" I asked, genuinely curious.
Mainly because I had loosened up a bit because of the hilarious mental image I had of her and Shirone bonding over metal music. Amano gave me an odd look, but took a second to think about it. I was surprised to see that she genuinely seemed stumped by question, as if she never considered the possibility of learning to play an instrument.
'She probably thinks it's below someone like her.' I thought in amusement.
"W-Well, I guess I never had the time to try it," Amano eventually said. Seeing her indecision, I decided to tease her a little more.
"Then I know exactly where our first stop should be!" I grabbed her hand again and pulled her along, rushing into the mall past another group who was leaving.
Amano apologized to them as we passed by, and I almost tripped at the notion of her even acknowledging normal humans. Still, I filed the moment away in favor of rushing towards a nearby display. I glanced over the map of the mall, nodding to myself once I ascertained the location of where I was planning on taking her.
"W-Wait!" She sputtered as I started dragging her over to the escalator. Thankfully, it was empty, so I was free to run all the way up the moving stairs to the next floor. Amano was forced to keep pace with me, and I could hear her short heels clacking against the stairs.
'Wow, she really sucks at disguising herself. What type of school student wears heels?' I thought to myself as we made it to the top. Luckily, the store I was looking for was located right in front of the escalator.
"A music store?" Amano muttered. I could feel her interest spike, and this time she pulled me along into the store. The shop wasn't that large, but the place was packed from wall to wall with shelves. A short haired girl with two triangle shaped tattoos under her eyes manned the register, otherwise the place was totally empty.
Amano pulled me into the records section, and finally let go of my hands so she could grab record after record. She seemed to be in her element, mumbling various band names, members, songs, and album release dates as she searched for something. I was surprised to hear her squeal at an album on display, and she began muttering to herself at a pace I could barely understand.
"Debut album… Japanese edition… three extra songs… never found it before!" She rambled.
"Beartooth huh? I'm more of a Neck Deep type of guy, but to each their own. Oh! Speak of the devil!" I said as I walked past her to pick out my own album.
It was always weird when I found things that matched up with his memories. Still, I took it as a blessing. Imagine hearing a song in a dream that gets stuck in your head, but then you wake up just to find out it never existed. That was the case for a lot of things he had grown up with, but thankfully there was more than a few overlaps. Even if a few things didn't match up.
'Like how this was supposed to have been released in 2015! What a steal!' I thought in satisfaction. I turned back to see if Amano had picked something out, and was surprised to see her giving the record a forlorn look.
"Something wrong?" I asked as I placed my selection under my arm. She glanced over at me, as if she was just remembering that I was there, and tensed up. Her face heated up, and for a moment I thought she was going to lash out at me. Instead, I was baffled to only feel her embarrassment.
"I didn't bring any money with me. And I wouldn't be surprised if someone else bought it before I came back." She whispered.
"What are you talking about? You don't need any money? I was the one who brought you out here, so why wouldn't I pay for your stuff?" I said as I glanced down at her in confusion.
She blankly stared at me, so I took the opportunity to grab the record from the shelf, also recognizing it as one he enjoyed listening to. I didn't voice my other thoughts of how I would enjoy keeping the stuff if she tried to kill me at the end of our little date like I was expecting. Instead, I grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the instruments section.
"Hey, that one matches your eyes!" I pointed out, gesturing towards the violet and brown guitar hanging on the wall. Funnily enough, I was actually reminded of my sister's heterochromatic eyes, but Amano shared the same shade of violet that my sister's left eye held. I let go of Amano's hand to gently pull the guitar down from the shelf, and handed it over to her.
She hesitantly held onto it and played with the strings. She seemed at a loss as to what she was supposed to do, and nervously looked up at me. I nodded encouragingly at her, and was taken aback by how innocent she looked in the moment. If I had been a random passerby, I would have written her off as a normal teenage girl.
'Which just hammers in how dangerous she can be, and here I am playing around with her.' I grimly thought to myself. Feeling my mood starting to sour, especially at the reminder of my sister whenever I glanced back down at the guitar, I decided to hurry us along to our next stop.
"Here, let me ring up this stuff and we can see about going somewhere for food." I said, gently prying the guitar from her fingers and leading her towards the lady manning the register.
The tattooed woman had on a large pair of headphones, and was nodding her head to a catchy song I remember hearing from a commercial for some weird anime. Seeing how her eyes were closed, I leaned over and tapped the woman on her shoulder. She glanced up at me, seeming completely and utterly relaxed, and I held up the two records and the guitar.
It didn't take her long to ring us up, after I ran back to grab a case for the guitar first at least. With the case slung over my shoulder, and all of our purchases placed inside it, I guided her down the escalator and towards the food section of the mall.
"So, what do you want to eat? Oh, and would you prefer to grab something and eat it somewhere else?" I asked her. She blinked and looked around, but was clearly undecided. Seeing an opportunity to get things rolling, I came up with a quick plan.
"Hey, how about we just grab something and go eat somewhere less crowded? We could head over to the park, if you wanted? Like a picnic." I offered. She thought for a moment, but I could feel the relief that flooded her from my suggestion. She eventually agreed to my suggestion, which only cemented what I already knew.
We stood in line, then ordered our food to go and headed out of the mall. Yet as we approached the front entrance, I was surprised to see a dark haired woman in a red dress standing at the front door. As we approached, she seemed to brighten up and moved directly towards me.
"Make a wish today!" She said, then handed me a flier. I felt my already lowering mood plummet as I glanced over the flier, recognizing the magic circle placed on it for what it was.
"Sorry ma'am, but I don't believe in wishes. I put my faith in hard work and its results." I dryly said as I tore up the flier and walked past her to toss the remains in the trash. I walked over to open the door, and saw Amano stuck in a staring contest with the woman who handed me the flier.
"Hey, Amano, come on! The food is getting cold!" I called out as I held up the bag of food for emphasis. She gave one last glare at the other woman, then followed me out of the mall. The rest of our journey was made in silence, and I could feel her anxiety raise as we closed in on the park. It was as we approached the fountain at the center of the park that she made her move.
'The more things change, the more they also stay the same.' I thought in amusement as she glanced around the empty park. She nodded to herself, then grabbed my hand.
"Hey, Seren, could you wait just a moment? I wanted to ask you something?" She said while nervously shifting in place. I nodded my head, and turned to give her my full attention. I had been on guard the entire walk over, not wanting to be caught out because I wrote her off due to a budding sense of arrogance.
"I, um, well…" She hesitantly stuttered, but I wasn't going to be fooled by her act.
"Well?" I repeated and gestured for her to come out with it.
"Um, it would be better if I showed you first?" She nervously asked. I waved her on, and prepared myself for what I knew was coming next.
'If she dives in with a light spear, I'll dodge and make some space first. I'll need to be careful, since I plan on capturing her rather than outright killing her. Lets see if an illusion is enough to- huh?' I paused in my planning when a flash of light went off and Amano was in an entirely different outfit than what I expected.
Instead of a set of leather strips that would have done better as bondage gear rather than a combat outfit, she was instead dressed in dark brown form fitting robes. If anything, she looked like a nun-turned monk, except for the large set of black wings that stuck out the back of her robe. She pulled off the hood that covered her head and offered me a small smile.
"Forgive my deception, but I wanted to get a measure of your character before I made my decision. Normally I wouldn't be so hurried, but the presence of another faction complicates things. Nevertheless, my true name is Raynare, and I am a fallen angel. On behalf of Grigori, I would like to offer you the chance to join our faction, and learn to harness the blessing Goddess has gifted you."
'Huh?' I thought in surprise. I channeled some of my spiritual energy to get a better read of what was going on, but was surprised to see that she was genuine in what she was saying.
I couldn't sense any maliciousness, and while her anxiety could be from fear of a coming conflict, if anything it aligned with her being scared of my potential reaction. I stared at her for a few moments in complete disbelief, wondering why so many things were going off the rails.
'So the one time I hope something doesn't happen, it happens, but whenever I prepare for something that should happen, it doesn't?! What kind of bullshit was he watching?!' I thought in annoyance, but decided to just roll with whatever the hell was going on.
"Alright, clearly I misunderstood your intentions." I admitted as I set the guitar case and food down.
I opened the case and pulled out my record, along with taking my food out of the bag, and summoned my gauntlet. I ignored the gasp of surprise from Raynare, and stored my stuff in the gauntlet so I could focus on the coming discussion. That, and to help prove a point before I began to pump her for information.
"Y-You can already summon your sacred gear?" She sputtered, but I waved her off before she could ask anything else.
"So you're just here to recruit people for Grigori? Not to kill sacred gear users, or something?" I bluntly asked. Seeing her wince and the panic in her eyes, I realized that this was another situation where reality trumped fantasy.
"No! Grigori's purpose is to continue Goddess' mission of-" She started to say, but I reflexively cut her off in surprise from what she seemed to be getting at.
"Wait, what do you mean by, 'continue Goddess' mission,' you're saying that as if she's no longer around to do it herself?" I pointed out, and seeing her wince again I knew this was another point of divergence. The whole idea of Big G, his version at least, supposedly being gone wasn't supposed to be common knowledge, yet here she was practically telling during her attempted recruitment.
'Bloody hell, did that guy get anything right? Other than my stupid sister being an idiot, of course.' I thought in irritation.
"W-Well, normally this wouldn't come up so soon, but part of the reason why Grigori has taken up this mission is because of the indisposition of our former leader. She, um, passed away…" Raynare trailed off and looked away, but I wasn't just going to let her slide that under the radar.
"You're saying Goddess, leader of Heaven, is dead?" I asked in amusement, not able to hide my true thoughts on the matter. I hadn't believed it when I first obtained his memories, and I wouldn't believe it now.
Raynare's head snapped back towards me, and she gave me a surprisingly heated look. Her fists were clenched in anger, and I could feel the same spike of malice that I had felt when we first met.
"Don't mock her, or her sacrifice! Especially since without her you would never have the power to protect yourself!" Raynare angrily said, waving her fist at me like an old nanny.
"Easy there. I wasn't making fun of her, only you and whoever fed you that load of crap," I said, keeping the correction I wanted to add over the last part of her accusation to myself. There was no point in informing of my abilities when I had barely gotten a read on her, so I let her think my sacred gear was all I had for now.
"Huh?" She eloquently said, and I couldn't help but continue.
"Look, there's no way Goddess is gone. It's impossible. There's just too many things that both depended on her, or that she left behind that still work in her supposed absence," I said, letting out a bit of the thoughts I had been harboring since I had first received his memories.
"I appreciate your faith, but I'm sorry to tell you that it is misplaced. She's gone, Seren, but her teachings live on, and as long as Grigori is around to keep an eye on things, we will be sure that her will continues to be upheld!" Raynare promised.
I rolled my eyes at her words and decided to keep my conspiracy theories to myself. Most of it was based on knowledge that I wasn't supposed to have, and could potentially be wrong based on how many other things had changed. Still, I knew I was right.
'Yeah, this changes everything. Damnit, I thought I had more time!' I thought in irritation.
Not only was Issei missing in action, but my sister had thrown herself directly into the line of fire, and now the political landscape between the three factions that made up the so-called Enochian Pantheon could be completely different than what I was expecting.
Still, I continued before I could get too caught up in my thoughts. Now wasn't the time to start planning. I needed to get all the information I could out of her before jumping to any more conclusions.
"Agree to disagree. Anyway, you were saying something about this Grigori and its mission?" I asked in an attempt to get us back on track.
"Oh! Yes, well, I guess I should start at the beginning. How much do you know about the supernatural?" She asked with a tilt of her head.
"Lets just pretend I was brand new. Gimme your spiel from the top. Anddd go!" I ignored the frown on her face in favor of keeping up my fake eager expression. It was hard to suppress the laughter that bubbled up from her annoyance, but I managed.
"Well, many centuries ago, Goddess saw that humanity was caught between the crosshairs of the endless squabbling between pantheons. So she came up with an idea to give humanity a fighting chance, though it was mainly aimed to assist those who were not affiliated with Heaven or the Church. In the end, she came up with two systems, which were the Sacred Gear System and the Heroic Spirit System. Sacred gears were items in which powerful spirits and creatures were sealed, and as part of their cycle would attach themselves to a newborn human's soul. In times of duress, the sacred gear would awaken, allowing them the opportunity to protect themselves. The Heroic Spirit System was a reincarnation cycle, where artificial spirits created from the collective belief humanity had in the heroes of their various mythos would manifest in newborn humans, in which case the humans would grow to possess similar traits to the spirits that lay dormant in their souls." Raynare confidently explained, yet I could tell that she was reciting the spiel from memory.
'Interesting.' I thought to myself, since the Heroic Spirit System reminded me of a game that he used to play. 'I think it even got adapted into a show or something, right? What was it called?' I was distracted from my attempts to remember the origin of the familiarity when Raynare continued to elaborate.
"Sadly, these systems instead made humanity a target of those who scorned them for possessing Goddess' favor, or for being blessed with versions of their own pantheon's heroes. In the absence of Goddess' protection, humans who have been gifted with these blessings have become targets of those who would want to use them. To combat this, the Grigori sends out scouts, like me, to find sacred gear users or heroic spirit possessors and offer them our protection in her stead." Raynare finished with a wide smile, clearly having no small amount of pride in her faction and their mission.
"So what's the catch?" I asked. She looked up at me in confusion, so I restated my question.
"What's the catch? What's your faction's angle here? Because there is no way you guys are doing all of that without some sort of ulterior motive or benefit. You said you were a fallen angel, which means you aren't backed by Heaven's resources. So how can you all afford to freely help random humans without getting something in return?" I pointed out. She winced at my words and seemed reluctant to speak, but sighed and continued in an exhausted voice.
"You would be correct in your words. Grigori is stretched pretty thin across the world, and we do have a tough time in completing our side of the deal. Especially since most of our potential recruits aren't all that comfortable in coming to the Underworld to stay in our territory. That, and our leader is obsessed with sacred gears to the point where he would gladly waste every resource we had in the pursuit of investigating more about them. To make matters worse, he's a massive pervert who scares away all of the women…" Raynare nervously admitted, but continued before I could say anything.
"Still, we've continued to hold to our mission! In return for our protection and assistance, we only ask that those we recruit are open to working with other fallen on assigned missions. N-Not anything like mercenary work! Just assigned tasks that our sponsors give to us in exchange for partnering with our faction! Things like collecting rare materials, hunting for lost items, or patrolling their territories." She hurriedly explained.
"Can I get the name of these mysterious sponsors? The jobs sound like they're on the level, but the people you're doing them for could be a problem." I pressed. Surprisingly, she nodded and went along with my question.
'Either this is all just publicly available information, or she really isn't cut out for this type of work.' I thought in exasperation.
Seriously, I expected things to have gone to shit by now. With everything going so well, I found myself even more stressed. If there was one thing I knew, it's that there is no such thing as free. There is always some sort of cost, no matter how small it may seem. Or maybe I was just overreacting, and this information wasn't as serious as I thought.
"Our biggest sponsors are currently Lord Hades of the Greek faction, and Lord Odin of the Norse, which funnels most of our tasks around the borders of the Greek Underworld, along with various Norse territories. We also have an agreement with Lord Tsukuyomi, through which we work to assist Lady Izanami in managing Yomi." Raynare rambled, but she had my attention at the mention of two Shinto deities.
"Interesting. You mentioned Tsukuyomi and Izanami, so does that mean you also have ties to the East Youkai Faction?" I asked. She tilted her hand from side to side, giving me a so-so gesture.
"Sort of. The youkai are very insular, and haven't been open to dealing with us directly. We only work with them through Lord Tsukuyomi, who coordinates our efforts."
I nodded to myself, and decided that was enough information. I would verify its validity through my own sources, mainly Kunou and my mother, but for now it seemed like Raynare wasn't a murderous scumbag who saw herself as above humans. If anything, she was the exact opposite.
'Huh, guess I was the asshole then. Well, you know what they say about assumptions.' I thought in amusement. I shook myself out of my thoughts to answer an expectant Raynare.
"Thanks for the info, but I'm going to have to decline your offer. Though I'm still open to hanging out if you want." I offered, feeling a bit bad about the disappointed look she had.
"Are you sure? If you're currently unallied with any other faction then you should know you already have others sniffing around you. That woman who tried to give you a flier was the familiar of a devil, which means one of them already has their eyes on you." She pointed out, but I was steadfast in my decision.
"I know. The two devils who oversee this town also go to my school. Even worse, I'm sure she had her familiar give me that flier in case you decided to kill me, but don't worry, I can handle myself. If I were you, I would be worried about them attempting to move on you." I advised, seeing no trouble in giving her a heads up.
"Oh. Oh! Well, um, I'm sure that won't be a problem! I'll be fine as long as I stick to my mission!" She still seemed worried, but was also resolute in her decision.
"Wait, are you here by yourself?" I asked in disbelief. Seeing her nod, I couldn't help but be amazed, not only at how different the situation was, but how stupid Raynare seemed to be.
"How old are you again?" I asked for confirmation. She gave me a confused look, but answered all the same.
"I am 17, why?" She said with another head tilt.
'Ah, no wonder she's so idealistic. She's practically still a kid like us.' I thought in disbelief.
"And you're just here, alone, with no backup? Were you just passing through? Or are you staying in town?" I asked, continuing to press her for more information. I might have come off as rude, but thankfully she didn't seem to take it that way.
"Father thought it would be prudent for me to get some experience away from our patrol along the depths of the Greek Underworld, and fast tracked my application to the scout regiment. Also, I'm supposed to be receiving backup sometime soon, but for now it's just me. We're actually stationed here in Kuoh, over at the abandoned church!" Raynare excitedly explained.
"Are you sure you're supposed to be telling me all this? What if I was some sort of spy?" I asked her, genuinely curious as to how she would react.
"Oh, you misunderstand! All of that information is not only widely known, but spread by the Grigori and its agents to ensure that we are allowed to peacefully continue our missions worldwide without conflict due to misunderstandings. We find transparency to be our greatest weapon!" She proudly stated.
I just shook my head, since I guess the logic behind that way of thinking made sense. It also fit with the little bit I knew of Azazel from his memories along with the tidbits I had picked up in the past few months. Still, it was obviously part of a scheme to make the fallen seem simplistic and approachable, while giving their real agents room to do the heavy lifting. That, or maybe I was just over thinking things again. Either way, it was just more politics that I would prefer avoiding, not that I had that option anymore.
"Well, I don't plan on getting caught up in any faction and their politics at the moment, so it's still a no. But like I said before, if you ever want to hangout or something, feel free to hit me up. Oh, do you have a phone?" I asked, not really expecting her to say yes. I ended up eating those words when she nodded and pulled out a smartphone that looked like it was from the next decade.
"Yes, and I believe Lady Benemune said that these should also work with human technology." She eagerly showed me her phone number, and I called her to be sure it would work. I had to pull Raynare off of me when she started rambling about getting her first number, and proving her uncle wrong.
"So, I guess I'll see you later?" I said as I got up to walk away. Raynare seemed lost for a moment then slowly glanced up at me. She mouthed a few words, and after a few tries finally got her question out.
"W-Would you like to come over to the abandoned church? J-Just to see where it is of course! Oh, and um, could you perhaps help me learn to play the instrument you purchased me?" She stuttered out.
'I can't believe I thought this nervous wreck was a stone cold killer.' I thought in disbelief.
"Sure. But I have to warn you, I only have experience with my tin whistle." I admitted. Seeing her confusion, I manifested my gauntlet and summoned my tin whistle from the storage within.
"See? I think they call it a penny whistle in a few other places. I picked it up from a discount store when my mom kept pressuring me about getting a hobby. Something about it not being healthy to spend all my time training." I rambled as Raynare led me to the church. We spent the rest of the trip there trading stories, along with me giving her a demo of my meager ability to play my chosen instrument.
"This is home, for now at least," Raynare said, waving at the partially repaired church.
"Huh, have you been rebuilding this place on your own?" I asked. She nodded, and led me around, pointing out the places that she had repaired along with what she still needed to fix.
She said that her reinforcements would be coming with more supplies, along with someone to maintain the place while they were out and about running missions. We ended up sitting in one of the broken pews, Raynare playing with her guitar and me fiddling with my tin whistle. Seeing the opportunity for what it was, I decided to ask a question that had been bugging me.
"Hey, Raynare," I began, and seeing that I had her attention, I decided to go for it, "what brought me to your attention?"
"Oh, well, as I was patrolling through town I felt a pulse of something coming from Kuoh Academy. So I headed over to scope the place out. But then I saw you come out of the building, and you were putting off a similar feeling to what I had felt earlier. Plus, I could sense your sacred gear, suppressed as it was." She smugly said.
I raised an eyebrow at the last part, especially at the look of pride on her face. She reminded me of Kunou at that moment, especially since they even tilted their heads back and stuck their noses up at me in the same manner.
"I didn't get my position just because of nepotism, you know! I'm actually one of the best sensors in Grigori! Well, when it comes to sacred gears at least. Due to our innate connection to Heaven, fallen and angels have the ability to sense those who carry Goddess' blessings." She explained.
"Interesting. You think you could help me learn to suppress it even further?" I asked, and she happily nodded her head. I almost felt bad for taking advantage of her, but it's not like I didn't enjoy hanging with her for the short time we did. Even if most of it had been me teasing her as a way to amuse myself. Still, I wasn't about to use her without evening the score in some manner.
"Hey, you mentioned that there were some things you were waiting to fix until you had someone else to help? How about I give you a hand." I offered, and seeing the bright smile stretch across her face I knew I made the right decision.
-A Few Hours Later-
"And where have you been?"
I had made the wrong decision. I lost track of time after spending a few more hours helping Raynare clean up the church, and was only just now teleporting back home. It was freeing, in a way, to just relax with someone after the terrible day I had at school. Doing menial work was a good way to get my mind off things. Still, it meant that I ended up coming home much later than I intended.
To make matters worse, there were three people waiting for me. My good mood took a dip at the expectant looks Kunou and my mother were giving me, but seeing my sister evaporated the rest of my relaxed state.
"I was out. What are you both doing here? Shouldn't you be back at Kuoh with the others? And shouldn't you be off galavanting with your new friends? I'm sure your precious Kaichou wouldn't have approved of you coming here." I spat as I turned away from Kunou to address my sister.
She balked at my words, and even though our mom was giving me a harsh look I could see the confusion in her eyes from my hostile attitude. It was as if she had expected me to be happier at the sight of my sister, which she would have been correct about if I hadn't run into Tsubaki earlier. That could only mean one thing.
"You didn't tell her?!" I realized, and seeing the guilty look on Tsubaki's face I couldn't help but grow more upset. Kunou looked between us, lost as to what was going on, and Mom seemed just as baffled. I stomped over to Tsubaki and pulled her up from the couch, then dragged her towards my room.
"Mom, please, just give us a moment. Kunou, come on." I demanded as I dragged her down the hallway and into my room. I waited for Kunou to follow us, then slammed the door behind her.
"Seren, what's going on? Isn't this what you wanted? You told me when we first started studying together that you wanted to test into Kuoh Academy because your sister went there?" Kunou hesitantly asked. I could tell she was nervous of what might be about to happen, since she kept glancing between me and my sister.
"You kept annoying me after lunch because I was in a bad mood, right? Well I found out that Tsubaki here ran off and abandoned us in favor of joining the peerage of one of the overseers of Kuoh," I said, trying my best to remain calm.
"Oh! Well, um, isn't that good?" She slowly asked. I stared at her in disbelief, and she fumbled over her words as she hurried to explain her thoughts.
"I mean, our faction is in a loose agreement with the devils now, and, um, this just strengthens the ties between us?" She finished, trailing off when I pinched my nose in irritation.
"I'm not even going to try to dignify that with a response. Now, what exactly are you doing here and why haven't you done the one thing you were supposed to do if you came here?" I demanded as I turned towards my sister. Tsubaki gave me an indignant look, but quickly crumbled when I continued to glare at her.
"I was going to but, well, I didn't want to ruin things by bringing up a controversial topic. But you heard her! The youkai are now allied with the devils, which means-" She started, but I cut her off before she could start making more excuses.
"Which means, what? That it makes everything okay? If you really thought that, then you would head right out of this room to tell Mom what you did. Yet you're still here ready to justify everything to me, because you know I'm right." I deduced, and seeing the angry look in her eye I knew I was correct. I continued before she could argue with me, and moved to dismiss her so I could talk with Kunou.
"Look. I've already said my piece. I have no other words for you until you look Mom in the eye and admit what you have done. You can either face Mom now, or run back to your new Mistress. I don't care which," I said, then turned to Kunou. Yet I wasn't surprised to feel my sister grab my shoulder and try to turn me around.
"After everything you've done you still have the nerve to look down on me and make demands? I should be telling you to go out there and beg on your hands and knees for Mom's forgiveness!" She screamed, but I could tell she was just grasping at straws and trying her best to turn the situation around onto me.
Even her wording just told me that she already knew she fucked up, since I never said she needed to go beg our mother for forgiveness, only to tell her the truth. Sadly for her, I had outgrown my old glass house. I wasn't afraid of admitting my mistakes, especially since I had originally joined Kuoh Academy just to apologize to her.
"I already patched things up with Mom, especially after I had to be the one to keep her together after you ran off to go become a slave! She would have been left with no one because you left out of some misplaced sense of pride! We're all she has, Tsubaki, and we're all each other have! I came to Kuoh to patch things up with you, even after what you did to me, because it's what she wanted! Yet all I'm greeted by is a selfish bitch who traded away her soul and abandoned her family for power! Even now you're too scared to just come out and admit it!" I yelled back.
"So now you realize we're all each other have, and it only took you several years to come to that conclusion. Don't try and act like you're some perfect son wanting to look out for his mother when you're the one who tore our family apart! Yet you have the nerve to call me selfish?!" Tsubaki complained, but I wasn't going to back down.
"And unlike you, I took responsibility for my own mistakes! I was the one that looked Mom in the eye and admitted I was wrong. I was the one who decided to make something of myself without abandoning the people who stuck with me through thick and thin to do it. I worked my ass off to have the opportunity to have the same conversation with you! Even now, I'm still trying to give you a chance regardless of what you did to me!"
"I chose to join a group of people that loved me, unlike you guys! You don't have the right to judge me for choosing to leave!" Tsubaki screamed, but I had enough of her avoiding to acknowledge what I was saying.
"But I do have the right to judge you for using me as bait to have an opportunity to do something you knew Mom wouldn't agree with! Especially with how it almost ruined our family!" I growled out, but she had the nerve to scoff at me.
"That's rich, coming from you!" She taunted, but I was sick and tired of arguing with her.
Finally having enough, I grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look me in the eye. With an errant thought, my spiritual energy rose to my whims and I cast an illusion on my sister. She collapsed into my arms, and for a few moments the room was silent as I stared down at her.
It might have been easier just to tell her outright, but I could still barely bring myself to acknowledge the ramifications of her decision without exploding in anger, or breaking down in tears. I gently picked her up, and laid her on my bed. Her eyelids fluttered and she mumbled to herself under her breath, so I could tell that my idea was working.
"Seren? What was that?" Kunou hesitantly asked. I tiredly turned around to face her, feeling mentally exhausted in the face of the discussions I knew would happen when Tsubaki woke up.
"Don't worry. I'm just giving Tsubaki the same kick in the ass I got a few months ago. Sometimes when you find yourself stuck in your own head, all you need is a healthy dose of reality to widen your perspective," I said, then sighed to myself.
"Now that she's out of the way, why did you come here? I was going to call you to talk anyway, so you being here now makes things easier. Still, why are you already here?" I asked her. She began to fiddle with her fingers, but when I fixed her with an expectant look she eventually began to crack.
"Well, you see, it's a bit of a funny story. I was worried about you from whatever had happened to you in school. When that little harlot approached you I was worried about her taking advantage of you, but then I overheard a conversation and…"
-A Few Hours Earlier, Kunou-
"...can't just let him get killed, or worse, swindled into joining another faction!"
"You remember what my sister said. As long as she caused no trouble we weren't to approach her, nor were we to interfere in the affairs of the fallen."
"There has to be something that we can do, right? Please, Kaichou! You felt his power, maybe Satan Leviathan would understand if we proposed that our purpose was to keep them from stealing a powerful ally from under us?"
"No, she would agree with you if only because you want to protect your little sibling. Fine. I have an idea."
Kunou turned away from the infuriating scene ahead of her to face the duo behind her, and recognized one of the girls as Sitri Sona. The other seemed familiar, but she wrote them off in favor of taking advantage of the opportunity she stumbled upon.
"Excuse me, did you say that the girl there talking with Seren is a fallen angel?" Kunou asked. She noticed both of the girls freeze up, but Sitri seemed to recognize her and relax.
"Forgive me, Kaichou, I will handle this-" The other girl apologized as she raised her arm, but Sitri stopped her before she could finish.
"Calm down,Tsubaki. This is Princess Kunou, one of the other new transfer students. Princess Kunou, it is a pleasure to finally meet your acquaintance. My name is Sitri Sona, but in school you may address me as Shitori Souna. This is Shinra Tsubaki, Queen Piece of my peerage and Vice President of the Student Council." Sitri explained as she introduced herself.
"Shinra Tsubaki? Would you perhaps be Seren's sister, daughter of Shinra Tsukika?" Kunou inquired. She smiled when Tsubaki nodded in affirmation, and was happy that her friend's goal was within reach.
'Now if only he wasn't humoring that fallen hussy.' Kunou thought in irritation. It annoyed her how Seren would write her off, but would go along with an act presented by a stranger.
'Hmph, it'll be his loss when he finds out I met her first!' Kunou smiled as she walked back up the stairs towards the duo.
"Seren is a dear friend of mine, and his mother is a subordinate of Lady Magari. I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to come along and assist in any plan made to guarantee his safety," Kunou said, but she could tell that Sitri understood the hidden message.
'Seren is mine, and it will stay that way.' Kunou thought in satisfaction. After a moment of consideration, Sitri nodded and motioned for her to follow them.
They entered the school and walked up to the second floor. It wasn't long before they reached a large office in the back corner of the second floor. Kunou followed them inside and took in the room. There was a large couch placed along the wall, along with a few scattered desks and tables. The biggest surprise was the large window that took up the far wall, which faced outward towards the front entrance of the school.
In front of the window was a long desk currently occupied by a girl who looked around her age. Their long red hair and voluptuous figure helped her place the girl as Gremory Rias, one of the most talked about girls in the school. But Kunou was more concerned with her identity as the second overseer of Kuoh and another sibling of a Satan.
"Sona! Did you see her sniffing around one of our cute little students! I know your sister said to leave her be, but surely we can't just let this go!" Gremory whined as she gestured out the window.
While her tone and attitude left much to be desired, her sentiments were something that Kunou agreed with. She found herself nodding along with the Gremory heiress and giving Sitri the same expectant look.
"For now, there isn't much we can do. I was going to suggest that you send one of your familiars to watch over them in case we need to interfere." Sitri said, but Kunou could tell that there was something else she was suggesting to Gremory from the way Gremory's eyes widened, and an excited gleam lit up her large blue eyes.
Kunou wanted to believe that the heiress was just happy to be given permission to act in some manner, but her gut told her she was missing something. Still, she trusted Seren to handle himself, especially after seeing his combat abilities in action. That still didn't mean she wouldn't take advantage of her overseer's to get a read on what was going on. So she filed away the interaction for later, and decided to enact her other plan.
"Now that's been taken care of, Shinra, I would like to invite you along to have some tea with me. I'm sure you would appreciate the opportunity to catch up with your mother while we wait for Seren, right?" Kunou offered.
-Caelum Seren-
I gave Kunou a blank stare from her tale. While it did place a few things in context, like why Tsubaki actually came here, along with why Gremory tried to slip me her little summoning circle, it baffled me more than anything else.
"So, you're telling me that you worked with the devils to try and spy on me because I decided to hang out with someone new?" I dryly asked.
"Don't try to portray it like I overreacted, ok! You were ignoring me all day and suddenly you were ok with galavanting off with a disguised fallen angel? What else was I supposed to think?" Kunou argued, but the embarrassed blush on her face exposed her true thoughts on the matter.
"Ok, I can partially understand that, but why involve the devils? You could have just followed me, or something." I lamely pointed out.
"They had a discreet option to insure your safety, a-and I didn't want to upset you by being overbearing." Kunou claimed, but I could tell that wasn't it. Mainly because she already said differently.
"Sure, and it had nothing to do with you thinking that you met my sister before I did, or with how you invited her to have tea with my mom as a way to surprise me?" I said with a raised eyebrow. She pouted and turned away from me, but I wasn't finished teasing her.
"On top of that, you already knew she was a devil, and didn't tell my Mom anything while they were talking?" I asked incredulously.
"Well, I assumed she already knew? They seemed so happy to talk with each other, and I was more concerned with whether you were ok…" She trailed off as she poked her fingers together. I just shook my head at her, and couldn't help the laughter that bubbled up.
"Never change, Princess. But you were worried over nothing. Raynare is harmless. Seriously. If anything, I'm sure the two of you would get along surprisingly well." I told her, and smirked at how she turned her nose up at me and sniffed at the notion.
"As if!" She muttered.
"Though I'll admit that she's less experienced than you." I admitted. Kunou was quiet for a moment, so I took that as her being interested in hearing more.
"Yeah, you definitely have her beat in more than a few areas. Raynare was pretty clueless, which made it easy to work what I wanted out of her. I almost felt bad at how easy she was making it. Apparently a lot of the fallen affiliated with Grigori are like that, but I doubt it. At least you would have made things a challenge, even if you fold all the same after a bit of pressure. Huh, I'm curious as to who would have held up better between you two?" I wondered aloud.
The room was quiet for a minute, so I turned to see why Kunou wasn't saying anything. I was surprised to see she had buried her face in her hands, and was mumbling to herself. I went to but was distracted by a soft voice muttering behind me. I turned just in time to catch Tsubaki, as she had immediately launched herself at me.
-A Few Minutes Earlier, Tsubaki Shinra-
'W-Where am I? What is this?' Tsubaki thought in disbelief. One moment, she had been arguing with her brother, and the next she was standing alone in a plane of darkness.
Suddenly, her environment began to morph. The void around her dissipated into a murder of crows, slowly revealing a familiar set of surroundings to her widening eyes.
'I'm back outside the house? But how-' Her thoughts were cut off when she saw the door open, and she frowned at the sight of a younger version of her brother stomping out of the door. Seeing the red handprint on his cheek, she winced in realization.
'Is this his memory from that day?' It was surreal for her, to see the changes in him from between early April and now in early September.
5 months had seen her little brother go through a metamorphosis, gaining more than a few centimeters in height. Alongside that, his thin frame went from scrawny, with pale skin that made him almost look sickly, to muscled and bronzed. She was relieved to see that he hadn't included their argument, since she knew she said more than a few intolerable things to him at that moment.
She was broken from her observations by the sound of his sobbing, and watched as her little brother ran down the street and away from her house. She found herself dragged along for the ride, forced to keep pace with him as he ran through the city. She began to grow worried when she saw that he was reaching the outskirts of town, and her anxiety spiked when she heard twisted laughter echo around them.
She turned with Caelum to see that a large monster had followed him into the alley. It was clearly some sort of stray devil, with the bare upper body of a woman, but its lower half was a grotesque mockery of a shark's open jaws. Its lower body was supported by 4 thick limbs, with hooves for feet.
Tsubaki was forced to watch as the monster galloped towards Caelum. Her little brother tried to run, but it doggedly chased him through the outskirts of the city and into the forest. Eventually, he collapsed into a bush and tried to hide himself.
She could feel her heart break at the sound of his inane mumbling, begging for his father to come save him like he promised. His eyes were glazed over, and she could tell that he was trapped in another trance.
She tried to yell at him, to scream for him to run, but it had no effect on him. When she tried to reach forward and touch him, her hand passed through his body. She was forced to watch as the stray devil rushed into the bush and knocked him into the air.
Tsubaki collapsed into a heap, bawling at the sight of the monstrous stray devil's jaws closing in around her brother. But just as its teeth were clenching around his arm, a bright light erupted. As she reopened them, she was greeted with the sight of her catatonic brother hyperventilating in a pile of blood and gore. The image abruptly shifted, and Tsubaki flinched when a sword cut through her head and clashed against another raised blade.
Tsubaki was shocked to see her mother clashing blades with Caelum. A white aura had manifested around her body, and Tsubaki could see the impacts of how forceful her strikes against Caelum were. Yet Caelum held strong, deflecting, redirecting, or blocking a whirlwind of slashes as if they were nothing to him.
Then, as their mother warned him about keeping an eye on his surroundings, he stumbled. For a moment, it seemed like the battle would end in their mother's favor, yet his eyes were gleaming in triumph. Tsubaki watched in disbelief as her brother pulled off a maneuver she was nowhere near being able to accomplish, and swiftly immobilized their mother on the ground.
A conversation broke out between them, and Tsubaki listened as her brother bore his heart to their mother, apologizing for his past actions and promising to become something better. Her guilt rose as she understood why he seemed so upset with her. Not only had he faced his mistakes head on and manned up to account for them, but he had also pursued his drive to become better without giving up their family in the process.
Him, the same boy who constantly ran away, vehemently argued with them over his dad, and allowed himself to waste away rather than live on had grown into an idealistic young man, and she hadn't been there to witness it. She had spent years hoping that he would grow past his trauma, wishing he would wise up to what he had waiting right in front of him. Yet when it finally happened, she had found herself switching places with him.
As the cherry on top, he knew the truth. He knew that she had argued with him and attacked him to push him into running away again. She hadn't been thinking of the consequences at the time, having been too busy being caught up in her own frustrations. To think that her little brother could have died because of her selfishness. That their mother would have been left with no one because of her choice.
"I- I'm so sorry." She mumbled to herself. While she didn't agree with his sentiments or harsh words regarding her friends or her decision, she understood that the way she went about it was wrong, and that her family could have paid the price for it.
Her eyes widened as her surroundings shattered like glass. She blinked, and found herself back in her little brother's room. She hesitantly rose up, realizing he had placed her in his bed. As she turned to get out of the bed, she noticed that her brother was still in the room with her. Her restraint frayed, and she launched herself at him.
-Caelum Seren-
She sobbed into my chest, and clenched me tight as she murmured apology after apology to me. I just rubbed her back and whispered into her ear, waiting to calm her down. I didn't really enjoy being the reason she was in such a saddened state, but after my own experience I knew I had a responsibility to stop her from going down the same path that I had. I had to make her understand that what she did was wrong, otherwise I knew I would never be able to force myself to bury the hatchet.
We would always disagree on her becoming a devil. I knew that. I had my own opinion concerning the situation, and she had hers. I knew Sona through the scattered memories of a boy trying to find an escape from the bad hand life had dealt. She knew Sona from going on 3 years of schooling.
The same way I was in denial about Tsubaki's capacity to throw everything away to become a devil, she would also always be in denial over anything I could bring up concerning the potential downsides of a life of servitude. That was something that I knew I would have to accept. The main point of this wasn't to show her that she was wrong in her decision, but wrong in how she made that decision.
Even if I did hope that she realized that it was a decision she never needed to make in the first place. Mom would have been happy to help her grow stronger. She hadn't hesitated to help me when I made the same request, and I knew I wouldn't have half of the competence I did without her assistance.
She didn't need to become a devil to gain a sense of confidence in herself. She didn't need to go running to the first person to give her some attention because her brother was too busy being a jackass, or her mother was flat out too busy to be with her all of the time.
And truly, I couldn't blame her for accepting an out when she saw it. Just because I have a greater sense of pride, in that I refuse to bend a knee to anyone ever again, doesn't mean that I couldn't see where she was coming from. It didn't make sense to me, but it didn't have to.
It was our fault that Tsubaki was ever in a position where she was susceptible to jumping at the first opportunity she had to join some semblance of a family. As long as things stayed that way, I could swallow my own thoughts on the matter. I made my opinion apparent, and that would be the end of it.
Tsubaki was a grown woman, and, like I told her before, had the right to make her own choices. She had to live a life that she was comfortable living. Just because we still want to have a place in it doesn't mean we would have the right to scorn her. So I made my point apparent, and I let go.
What I couldn't just let go, was her not understanding how her decision almost screwed me and Mom over. Things could have easily gone worse. I could have died from the stray's attack. Mom could have committed suicide in the wake of losing one child, and the other potentially having met the same fate. That was something I would never be able to forget, nor could I have ever moved past it.
Thankfully, my idea seemed to work. Tsubaki seemed repentant, so I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. I wasn't so petty as to force her to apologize more, or blackmail her in some way. As long as she showed a sense of remorse then I would be happy to offer her an olive branch. Not to comfort her, or out of some mistaken sense of sibling camaraderie, but because it's what our mother would have wanted.
"No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that Dad had to sacrifice himself for me. I'm sorry that it took me so long to realize that I wasn't alone in my grieving. I'm sorry that I cost you years of having the family you craved in the wake of the loss of your father figure. I'm sorry that I pushed you to the point where you felt like you needed to leave us behind. I'm sorry I monopolized all of Mom's precious time with my antics. I'm sorry that I blew up on you in front of people that you cared about enough that you decided to cement yourself into their family in the only way you knew how. I understand your decision, and I'm going to respect it. Just know that if anything ever happens, you have a family to come back to. You have a home with us. And if you ever find yourself in over your head, you can trust your little brother to have your back. No more running. No more being stuck in the past. This is a new start for all of us." I promised as I held her close. Her sobs slowed down as we hugged each other, and I couldn't help but bask in the relief I felt at finally getting all of that off of my chest.
"Now let's go talk to Mom- oh." I paused when I glanced up to see that the door I had slammed earlier was cracked open. A singular violet eye was peeking through the cracks and I could even hear small sniffles through the door, along with the click of a camera.
"Kunou, be a dear and open the door will you." I dryly said, taking delight in how the eye widened and tried to pull away from the door, but they were a moment too late.
Kunou glanced at me in confusion, but pulled the door open, revealing my mother standing with her phone in one hand, and a tissue in the other. We all looked at each other in disbelief, before my mother started tearing up again.
"My babies!" She cried out as she jumped forward and pulled me and Tsubaki into her embrace.
I sighed when Tsubaki's waterworks started back up, and they both began murmuring apologies to each other. Sure, my heart warmed at what seemed to be a happy resolution to the most turbulent chapter of our lives, but that didn't mean I wanted to spend the next hour stuck between two emotional women.
Hearing the sound of the door shifting, I glanced up just in time to catch Kunou trying to duck out of my room. I gave her a betrayed look, but she just giggled and gave me a thumbs up.
'Ugh, this is going to be a long night…'
-A few hours later-
I sighed to myself as I slipped out of the house. My mother had been there watching the entire conversation, so thankfully we hadn't needed another long and arduous conversation.
I was divided on how things had turned out, since there was a part of me that was still pissed at being used as bait and inadvertently left to die so my sister could feel secure in running off to sell her soul. Another part of me was angry at Sona for stealing my sister away before I had a chance to make things right. There was even a small part of me that was pissed at my mom for seemingly taking everything in stride.
Yet I let the matter rest because I had bigger things to worry about. I swallowed my anger at my sister after I used the illusion on her, since she clearly understood the point I was making. There was nothing else I could ask of her at that point. She had already done what she did, and the only choice I had left was to either accept it and move on, or continue to hold onto a grudge and cut her out of my life like she did to us.
And no matter how many times that small part of me said to be rid of her, to do unto her as she did unto me, the image of my mother and a gravestone came to mind. My mother had lost many things throughout her life. At a young age, her own immediate family had been killed. Then her first love died, leaving her alone with my sister. Then she encountered my Dad and ran away with him, thinking that things were finally looking up. Yet even he ended up leaving her all too soon, dying to save me from the monsters that came hunting for us.
She came back home to Japan with two young children and nothing but a few meager positions, hoping to secure the help of her clan in raising them. Yet she instead found herself turned away due to my heritage, and Tsubaki's uncontrolled powers. She was forced to throw herself at the mercy of her own clan's enemies in the hope of providing for us.
Tsubaki and I were all she had left in the world. She had already almost lost me, and Tsubaki had seemingly abandoned her. If I had scorned Tsubaki and forced her to choose between me or her daughter, she might not have been able to bear it. Even now, years after Dad's death, she still had her moments where she would drift off into small bouts of depression. She did her best to hide them, but without Tsubaki there to help keep her grounded it became easier and easier to notice them.
Even worse, there were his memories to consider. I had come to Kuoh Academy naively believing that my sister would never fall in with the devils. I thought I wouldn't need to worry as much about his memories and what they foretold for the possible future of this world. To start, there had already been a few inaccuracies, like my lack of presence or Kunou's age. Then there were the nonsensical things, like Goddess being dead, or people actually respecting someone who called themselves the Breast Dragon Emperor.
Lastly, I thought the whole thing would be irrelevant to me. My family could always just leave back to America, and worse comes to worst that Issei guy seemed to have things well in hand. He usually handled things by the skin of his teeth, but everything seemed to turn out A-Ok in the end. Or atleast, they did in the few seasons he had watched of the stupid show.
Yet now I was forced to face reality. Small things like Tsubaki accidentally setting me up to die, or my sister selling her soul meant nothing in the face of a reality where the hero of the story possibly did not exist. I had talked a bit more with Raynare, and she said I was the only unaligned sacred gear user she could sense in the city, which was part of why she hadn't waited longer to try and recruit me.
Which raised a whole 'nother round of questions for me. Still, it meant that there would be no depending on someone else to solve the world's problems for me. My sister had put herself into the line of fire, which meant I had to help. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. I could no longer afford to hold meaningless grudges, nor could I choose not to pick a side. I could no longer leave things as they were and take things at my own pace. In the grand scheme of things, Tsubaki's decisions meant nothing. Whether I liked her or not meant nothing. The future was no joke, so who was I to waste my energy on a petty grudge when there was a large chance that we all wouldn't make it out alive?
On top of all that, the memories I had weren't fully trustworthy. For all I knew, Lucifer could be the leader of Grigori and was using them to collect sacred gear users for some nefarious plot. Or a bunch of other things could somehow go wrong.
It had been a sentiment that I had been nursing since I woke up with his memories, and yet I had pushed it off because I thought someone else was already there to handle things. With the opposite being proven true, the decision was practically made for me. I was forced to push all of my negativity to the side and be the bigger man.
"And that also means it's time to take the next steps." I said to myself as I teleported to the training ground my mother had set up for us. She had gotten the youkai to ward it for us, which meant I was free to cut loose without worrying about being found by anyone else.
I had trained my butt off with the motivation of becoming strong enough to protect myself and my family in a worst case scenario. Now I had to become strong enough to fill in for an absentee hero. That meant fighting against centuries old combatants who had seen war between multiple factions.
Which meant I could no longer train as I used to. No more pussyfooting around with my powers as I have fun experimenting with what works and what doesn't. No more starting small and working up. I needed to be strong enough to make a difference, and I needed that level of power yesterday.
'This is going to be a long night…' I thought as I molded my reserves of energy.
I decided to put off talking with Kunou about Raynare until tomorrow, that way I would be free to train through the night without distractions. With an errant thought, I split my pools of energy into dozens of small portions, and pushed them outwards. Several wooden shapes stretched off of my body, then split into a dozen separate forms which swiftly came to life. In practically no time at all, I was face to face with a large group of clones all standing at attention.
"You guys know the drill. I want Groups A and B to start pushing towards the next steps of Water Release and Earth Release. Groups C and D need to work on controlling our full cowling. Group E will work on our Wood Release. Break!" I commanded, and smiled to myself as they spread out around the clearing.
I didn't spend too much time dallying around, since I had the most important job of them all. I sighed to myself as I summoned my sacred gear, taking in the odd design it had taken on. It was a simple gauntlet, and looked like it belonged in a museum as part of the display of the armor worn by a templar, or medieval knight. Still, beyond it's simple looks I knew it would be the key to many victories down the line.
From the day I had first awakened it, I knew it would be my trump card. A tool that if wielded correctly could be my answer towards those who I couldn't defeat with my base strength. It would have been easy to integrate it into my base fighting style, but I knew I would only truly begin to reap the rewards if I built a strong foundation from which it could enhance my abilities into new heights.
"Well, I couldn't put this off forever. Time to see exactly what you can do!"
[DOUBLE!]
A/N: I'm so-so on how this turned out, but overall I think it came out ok. I'm looking forward to you guys' reactions to all of this since there's so much that was addressed or came up between these two chapters. Hopefully you guys enjoyed it! If not, PLEASE leave your thoughts and suggestions.
From here we move into the first real arc of the fic. I would call these last three chapters the introduction, while the next few chapters is where shit begins to hit the fan. From here, I'll be back to uploading one chapter at a time, mostly. On top of that, I also need to give some love to my other fics.
Anyway, we'll be getting out first taste of PJO next chapter, but just know that Caelum won't be over there until we hit December in the story. There will be a bit of a timeskip in the next chapter to push us into October, but theres still a bit to cover in the final two months before then.
Future chapters aside, I hope you guys enjoy some of the changes I made. The explanation concerning the fallen will be expanded at the beginning of the next chapter, from a very interesting point of view, so not much to say concerning Grigori and their mission for now.
The whole Tsubaki situation is self explanatory, and I think I made Caelum's feelings pretty clear concerning that matter. Still, just because he apologized and pushed his own feelings down doesn't mean everything is ok. Just because Caelum knows that he needs to be the bigger man doesn't mean it's going to be easy to put into practice. He's not going to walk into Sona's office and thank her for taking care of his sister. Neither is he going to sudden;y be buddy-buddy with his sister.
With maturity comes an understanding of how necessary effective communication is to any sort of relationship. He got basically everything he wanted to say off his chest, and plans to leave it at that. His main motivation was to make her understand so that he wouldn't feel conflicted if it ever came down to needing to put his neck on the line to help her, or trust her to help him. He reset the board between them. So now instead of being in the negatives, you could think of them being at 0.
Oh, and Kunou didn't know that Rias and Sona had planned to bait Caelum in the hopes that Raynare was there to kill him. Which is also a hint concerning what the various factions within Grigori, or the rogue fallen outside of Grigori get up to around the world.
In terms of his powers, that's just a small taste of what's to come. He'll be giving a full explanation and better demonstration in the next chapter. Still, what I mentioned here along with what he has shown in previous chapters is pretty much it. He can wield the 5 elements (naruto) on a smaller scale, but his main talents lay in Earth and Water, along with their combination. An explanation concerning that is also on the way. There is a non-naruto related explanation for his powers, he just uses his metaknowledge as a way to train and label some of his abilities due to the similarities.
His sacred gear is pretty self explanatory. From the first iteration of this fic, I decided I wanted to use this specific sacred gear because of how strong yet limited it was. No, I don't have any plans to evolve it into the boosted gear, since I am still undecided on Vali's fate and how I want to handle the boosted gear and divine dividing. Worst comes to worst, I'll just say they both died a few years back and are still in the cycle. And yes, the voice I had in mind is the voice from sonic that would yell out the colors names when he activated them.
Thats about it for now. I hope you guys enjoyed these two chapters, even if they were more dialogue heavy and drama filled in comparison to the others. I'm already working on the next chapter, but I'll probably be updating my other fics before I come back to this one. Maybe. Who knows?
Thanks for giving this fic a shot, and like I said before, feel free to review your thoughts or suggestions. Whether it's genuine praise, criticism, flames, a plea to hurry up with the next chapter, I do read through and try to respond to all of them.