CHAPTER 18:
ESCORT MISSION
Two years later…
The distinctive sitar riff of Paint it Black rang out through the hotel room, and with a groan of annoyance, Harry fumbled for it, cursing whoever was ringing them and disturbing a really nice sleep. Even when he saw the caller ID, his scowl merely deepened, and he answered it. "Okay, you twelve-winged man-whore, there had better be a damn good reason for interrupting our beauty sleep."
A chuckle on the far end. "If you needed sleep to be beautiful, Raynare wouldn't need to sleep a single wink of it, Harry, and you know it. I hope you guys are still using protection."
"Quit with the trolling, Azazel," Harry said, sitting up in bed, Raynare doing the same. Both were naked, and rather tired and a little sore after last night's activities. "You know we were on holiday in Italy, and that you weren't going to interrupt it unless there was something very urgent going on. Even Vali's better than that, and you know how much of a hard-on he has for a good fight. So…please get on with it, okay?"
"Fine, fine, spoil my fun. But you're right. I wouldn't be calling you two lovebirds like this unless it was a matter of supreme importance. Do me a solid and put me on speakerphone. I doubt you'll want to do Facetime the way you two are."
Harry put the iPhone on speakerphone, and placed it between himself and Raynare, trying very hard not to be distracted by her magnificent breasts. "All right, you're on speakerphone, Azazel. What's the matter?"
Azazel sighed. "Okay. It's two mostly unrelated matters that unfortunately require me to cut your holiday short. I'll explain them both when I get there. And you two, you have half an hour to get decent, so that means, unfortunately, you have no time to have fun in the shower. I'll bring breakfast. I'm also bringing a couple of guests, and I want you two to be on your best behaviour."
"…What sort of guests, Lord Azazel?" Raynare asked, frowning.
"One of them is an Angel. Specifically, the Archangel Michael himself. That's how seriously you have to take this matter," Azazel said.
Harry and Raynare exchanged looks of astonishment and concern. "We'll make ourselves presentable as soon as possible, Lord Azazel," Raynare said. "What of the other guest?"
"You'll find out. Keep in mind, this is a serious and delicate matter, you two. Way above your paygrade, technically, and yet…I have faith in both of you. Remember, half an hour, so you don't have enough time for any more rumpy-pumpy for now. Ciao!" And then, he hung up.
"…Did he seriously just use the term rumpy-pumpy?" Harry asked flatly. "Right, so…quick showers, I think. But why would Michael, of all people, be coming here?"
"I don't know, and that's what worries me. If Heaven took umbrage with us being on their turf, we would have had a far lesser response than Michael," Raynare said. "And with Mittelt, Dohnaseek and Kalawarner in Japan…"
Harry nodded. "You go and shower first, okay?"
"Right…"
Once Raynare was finished with her own shower, Harry went in to do his own. As he stood under the water, he reflected on what had happened so far these past couple of years.
Officially, he had left the Grigori to make his name as a mercenary troubleshooter in the greater supernatural world. Unofficially, most of his work was done for the Grigori, though on occasion, he had been hired by other factions. At least a few Devils had retained him for Stray Devil hunts, and he'd been brought in by Luna to do some work in Kyoto on behalf of Yasaka, the leader of the Youkai Faction. Raynare had become his liaison with the Grigori, while Mittelt rejoined Raynare's former cell. The two kept in touch, and Harry knew that currently, the trio of Fallen were in Kuoh, a town in Japan that was of considerable interest to the Grigori.
The main reason was that it was Devil territory, specifically belonging to a joint administration of Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri, the younger sisters of Sirzechs Lucifer and Serafall Leviathan respectively. In truth, this was little more than dealing with any Stray Devils that appeared, as well as making deals with human clients and looking for potential additions to their Peerage. Their base of operations was Kuoh High School, a former all-girls school recently made co-ed…and the very school Hermione was teaching English at.
She had been recruited by Sirzechs soon after she graduated with her teaching degree (a degree she went through pretty quickly, having graduated shortly before she learned Harry was still alive), and while she hadn't become part of any Peerage, she was acting, albeit on a relatively unofficial basis, as an advisor and trainer to the two young Devil heiresses. Hermione kept up correspondence with Harry about this, and while he was yet to meet her new charges, he had met once their older siblings, while in a meeting with Azazel.
Both were…eccentric, to say the least. Sirzechs, though, was warm and personable, and Harry had to admit, he seemed like a more suitable leader than Azazel, even if he had some goofy tendencies. Serafall…well, she was as eccentric in person, if not more so, as her on-screen persona suggested.
As for Harry's relationship with Raynare…well, that grew. Raynare's confession led to their relationship growing, and to their pleasant surprise, they gradually fell in love. Camaraderie and friendship grew into something more, an actual desire, more than mere lust. Not that lust didn't play a role in their relationship. But they had gradually grown closer.
They hadn't gotten married yet, though they were certainly lovers. And they brought out the best in each other. Under Harry's influence, Raynare's sadistic streak, egotism and cynicism lessened. And by the same token, Harry's angst and self-loathing had been mitigated by her influence. Not gone completely, but still…they were better now than they had been for a long time.
This holiday…well, they weren't married, and their relationship was strong enough that marriage was only a rubber stamp on the matter, so it was no honeymoon. But this holiday was suggested by Raynare as a lovely getaway from their work. Given that Kokabiel was taking an unhealthy interest in Harry lately, Harry was glad of it. Something about Kokabiel gave him a bad feeling, and it wasn't just the inhuman looks of the powerful Fallen, more inhuman than most other Fallen.
But now, it had been interrupted, and by something important. After all, if Azazel AND the Archangel Michael was involved in this, it had to be important. Two of the leading figures in the Biblical Factions in the same room? That screamed something important…and troublesome…
Once they were ready, they waited at the table of their rather expensive hotel room, waiting for their guests to arrive. They didn't have too long to wait. Azazel appeared through his usual portal, followed by a figure familiar to Harry, if only through photos Azazel had shown him. But as he opened his mouth, Azazel held up his hand. "Questions later, please. Michael's coming shortly. Some of her minders got mouthy, and Michael's setting them straight."
Before Harry could add anything, a pillar of light flared within the room, and then, an armoured, effeminate-looking blonde man with sorrowful eyes appeared. "My apologies," he said, his voice musical and gentle. "I am afraid I got rather too involved in arguing with those fools. Greetings to both of you."
Harry and Raynare immediately bowed. "Archangel Michael…" Raynare said. "You honour us with your presence."
"I appreciate the gesture, Raynare, and it is good to see both yourself, and Harry Potter, gaining some modicum of much-needed happiness," Michael said. "However, time is of the essence, and I must burden you both with a rather important task. Azazel has brought to me a suggestion, and I do trust his judgement in this matter at least."
"Can I address the elephant in the room?" Harry asked. "Or rather, the adorable teenaged nun who, if I'm not mistaken, is the bearer of Twilight Healing? What is Asia Argento doing here?"
"That is a rather long story to tell. Recently, Miss Argento came across a Devil in the grounds of the church she was currently healing at," Michael said. "The Devil in question was grievously wounded. Miss Argento, being a very charitable person whom the Vatican should be proud of, healed said Devil. Unfortunately, she was discovered doing so. Now, while healing a Devil is not necessarily a good thing, as many are still sinful and vicious beings, the principal of being kind to one's enemies is a cornerstone of Christianity, and this Devil may have been a benign one. However, it seems that her handlers forgot that. They denounced her as an apostate and a witch, for no holy maiden could ever have the power to heal a Devil."
"…They excommunicated her," Raynare hissed, her disbelief and anger matching Harry's own. "Those hypocritical bastards discarded her the moment she did something that didn't fit their narrow paradigm!"
"Indeed," Michael proclaimed solemnly. "Unfortunately, by the time I received word of what had happened, it was too late to overturn their verdict, and even if I did, many would look at her with suspicion, perhaps even imprison her. Therefore, I decided to take an unconventional course of action. I spoke to Azazel, and asked if he knew of any way to keep her safe. He recommended the services of the pair of you, especially as Azazel, following a hunch of his own, has discovered something of considerable interest to you."
Azazel nodded. "So…Harry…Asia's actually a relative of yours."
Harry blinked, as did Asia. "…Sorry, what?"
"Long story short, your grandfather on your mother's side had an affair while on holiday in Italy," Azazel said. "He had a son born out of wedlock to a Miss Argento. Said son grew up, got married, and had a child. However, they died thanks to a terrorist attack done by a local mafia group. Asia, as a young child, was placed into an orphanage. In other words, Asia is actually your second cousin. I actually only got the permission to do an Inheritance Test on her recently. Yes, I could have used you, but, well, I reckon you would have gotten suspicious about why I needed yet another sample of your blood."
Harry blinked again, trying to come to terms with what he had learned. Aside from the Dursleys, he was under the impression he had no relations, or at least none on that side of the family. And the few he had from James Potter were distant relations, mostly due to links with the Black family. And yet, here was a relative of his, an innocent girl discarded by the Church after she healed someone she wasn't supposed to.
And yet, here Asia was, with eyes that resembled his own. He didn't know much about the Evans side of the family, so to learn this, while a surprise and a shock, was illuminating as well. Not by much, but still…
Michael cleared his throat. "My apologies, but you may discuss this amongst yourselves at a later time. I am afraid that time is of the essence now."
Azazel nodded. "Yeah. The problem is, I think I know what this Devil's game is. While I can't be sure given Asia's rather vague description, the Devil sounds like Diodora Astaroth."
"…Who? I mean, I know Ajuka Beezlebub's family was the Astaroth family," Harry said, "so I presume he's a relative?"
"Younger brother, actually. And, if the rumours are true, he's a nasty piece of work," Azazel said with a grimace of disgust. "Rumour has it, though nothing can be confirmed, that he has a nasty fetish of causing nuns to get excommunicated, and he then conscripts them into his Peerage. Ajuka's a fairly decent guy as far as Devils are concerned, but Diodora…as I said, it's only rumour, but…"
"A Devil answering to his general description has been sighted around nuns and other holy women who have fallen from grace and been excommunicated and expelled from the Church," Michael said solemnly. "Very little can be proven, and due to the Astaroth family's influence, given that they have one of the Four Great Satans amongst their number, it is hard to make allegations stick. In addition, we are currently in talks to draw up a full peace treaty rather than a ceasefire. The process is, admittedly, a secret, even if an open one, due to the fact that we wish to make it a fait accompli, as humans put it. However, the wrong incident at the wrong time could give the war hawks on all sides all the more incentive to destroy years of delicate work. Even in Heaven, there are many who believe we should launch a crusade to start the Great War anew, who harbour darkness in their hearts towards Fallen and Devils alike."
"And they don't Fall?" Raynare asked sceptically.
"They teeter on the precipice, but they do not Fall. However, many within both Grigori and the Devils still desire hostilities to begin anew," Michael said. "And there are other factions who could profit from such conflict, or else cause it out of spite and malice."
"…So, we're basically babysitting her?" Raynare asked.
"To a degree. You see, this is related to the second thing I needed to tell you two," Azazel said. "Remember how your old cell was sent to Kuoh, Raynare? Well, I've been receiving two rather contradictory reports. Dohnaseek has reported that a Sacred Gear wielder in Kuoh proved to be too dangerous to suborn, so Kalawarner has assassinated him. However, Mittelt, who is worried about your former comrades, has told a slightly different tale. She claims that orders were sent from me via Kokabiel, according to Kalawarner and Dohnaseek, to assassinate this Sacred Gear holder. I sent no such order, and certainly not via Kokabiel. I did leave a standing order that he would be killed if he was a clear and present danger to not only operations, but to the people of Kuoh, but I doubt he would have been. I just ordered surveillance. While this is not the first time Kokabiel has acted on his own initiative, nor is it the first time he has undermined me, it is the first time that I know of that he has blatantly claimed me to have issued orders I had not."
"This Sacred Gear wielder, who are they?" Harry asked.
"Issei Hyoudou," Azazel said. "A fairly unremarkable boy, save for a rather infamously perverted streak. He's not the only Sacred Gear wielder in the area either, but he was the one I had them keeping an especial eye on."
"I think Hermione mentioned him in her letters," Harry mused. "And he is apparently ridiculously perverted."
"What you're saying is, there's a chance that Kalawarner and Dohnaseek have gone rogue? And Lord Kokabiel has too?" Raynare asked, in some disbelief.
"Kokabiel has been trying to undermine my position for some time," Azazel said. "He's very much a leader of the war hawks in the Grigori. I thought I had him under control. More fool me. But if this is true, then this is him making a move. In any case, killing Issei Hyoudou was an exercise in futility. After I heard about this, I contacted Sirzechs, and apparently, Rias Gremory has used eight Pawns to revive Issei."
"…All eight Pawns?" Harry asked flatly.
"…I'll bet it's a Longinus, or else it wouldn't have taken that many to revive him," Raynare muttered. "Those idiots killed a bloody Longinus user. Didn't Kalawarner even try to seduce him and get him to join us?" After pinching the bridge of her nose in exasperation, she asked, "So what do you need us to do, Lord Azazel?"
"I want you to go to Kuoh and resume command of your cell, Raynare," Azazel said. "You will be in overall command, and Harry will be your second. You will undertake no aggressive action or assassinations without strict confirmation directly from me. And you will be bringing Asia with you."
"Why?" Harry asked.
"…Because I need to draw my enemies out, Harry. And Mittelt's reported that the Sacred Gear Extractor has been shipped and assembled in their base, supposedly on my orders. In addition, I have received a request to have Asia sent there by Dohnaseek, as her excommunication has already made the rounds in some channels."
"…You're using her as bait," Harry realised, feeling a surge of anger inside him. "You're using what could be their greed for her bloody Sacred Gear against them! And why the hell should I play along with this? You're putting her life at stake in a conflict she barely understands! Look at her, she's like a puppy, a cute stray puppy who wouldn't think of wandering onto a busy highway and getting turned into roadkill because she doesn't understand the dangers! She doesn't even know what you have in store for her, does she?"
"…Umm, Mr Potter, I actually do," Asia said, speaking up for the first time since she arrived with Azazel. "Lord Azazel explained it to me, and while I am admittedly rather anxious about this, if it pleases Lord Michael, and it is the will of God, then I will do it. Besides, Lord Michael wouldn't allow you to do this if you weren't capable of protecting me, right?"
Harry and Raynare stared at Asia. Harry grimaced as he looked at her. She was so damned guileless and innocent-looking. Given how sheltered she was, she couldn't possibly understand what she was getting into, despite her agreeing to this plan.
But his protective instincts were also screaming at him. If she could respond in what sounded like English, then that meant she either knew the language, or Azazel or Michael had used a translation charm on her (the latter being more likely), and she had heard all that went on. And she reminded him of himself, guileless and eager to please, when he first came to Hogwarts, before the reality of Magical Britain came crashing down on him.
"Harry," Michael said softly. As Harry looked sharply at the Archangel, he continued. "I understand your anger. Her life was much like your own. In that way, along with your abilities, I would argue that you are the best suited person to defend her. And Raynare…you have grown from the fledgling you once were, wounded in heart and soul by Salazar Slytherin, into a fine righteous warrior. Asia Argento needs your help. I see that Azazel made the right choice. Be the wolf to protect the pup. Draw the enemies of peace out of hiding. I have faith in both of you."
Harry put his head into his hands. As much as he wanted to help Asia, doing it this way felt wrong. He could only hope that he could ensure her safety while this was being dealt with…
CHAPTER 18 ANNOTATIONS:
So, there you have it. Harry and Raynare are together, and now, they've just been gifted everyone's favourite adorable mini-nun. Seriously, Asia's so damned adorable.
Just so you know, this and the next four chapters were more or less copied and pasted from my earlier Harry/Raynare story attempt, Azrael Rising. Suitably edited to fit into this story, naturally.
Review-answering time! Nathair1: A 'misotheist' means someone who hates gods.
ZLC genesmith: Exactly. He can break his limits with it, but it could be dangerous. An interesting analogy is one I actually learned on a wholly unrelated matter. Certain old videotapes can be 'baked' in a carefully controlled way to restore them to playable condition depending on the problem affecting them. However, the 'baking' temperature is very dangerously close to the Curie Temperature, which is the temperature at which the information stored on the tape gets erased. So it's a careful balancing act, finding that sweet spot. The Doctor Who Restoration Team had to do that for at least one episode of the classic series story The Curse of Peladon for the DVD release. Unfortunately, their website is now defunct.
WhiteElfElder: Keep in mind, Kokabiel wasn't exactly sane or even that smart in canon. This is someone who wanted to restart the Great War, even if it meant total annihilation of everything, in order to somehow prove the superiority of the Fallen Angels. And he didn't even consider Azazel sending in Vali to handle him. Azazel already knows he is suspicious in this story, but Kokabiel hasn't shown his hand until now, when he's confident enough his plans will succeed. Snape and the Fallen he has manipulated are just sideshows, distractions for the main event. I wouldn't be surprised if the Excalibur fragments theft happens at about this time or shortly afterwards.
Also, Snape will have a plan. An overly confident one, but a not-unsound one. It's one I considered for another crossover entirely, and fitting with his character as I am portraying him. He is a jealous, bitter and twisted man who wants everything, even that he doesn't deserve. But he feels that, powerful though Harry is, Snape can still overcome him using his wits and abilities. He will be mistaken.
No numbered annotations this time.
