"I hope u come back to this story 1 day bro
I doubt u can finish this in the next 2 chapters"
- Guest
Aight, bet
You guys owe whoever that guy is because his reviews motivated me to finish this story. Or at least complete this chapter
Fun fact, a third of this chapter was written in April
Of last year
C':
Refugees
[Chapter 12]
|| Dreamlessly ||
Inside her royal chamber that had felt more and more like a prison, Venelana once again, glowered at her half-brother that simply stood there, his expression as stoic as a statue.
"This is insanity!" she screamed right at his face, "This makes no sense!"
"Do I need to break it down for you to digest? Very well," Lord—now Overlord—Bael's grim stare didn't dither Venelana's furious glare, but what he said next shattered her resilience. "Your former husband is dead. You have no heir. You are still young and able to bear a child. You will remarry."
Her entire body trembled. Earlier it was purely rage, but now sorrow had joined, and those two powerful emotions together were too strong for her to rein in.
"Don't I have a say in all this? In ANY of this?!" she broke, as did her tears. "You've taken away all that I ever loved! Is there even a heart in that chest of yours?!"
The recently dubbed Overlord remained unphased. "Just as Sairaorg will marry Ravel Phenex, you will wed Riser Phenex under a matrilineal marriage so that your children will carry the Bael name. Inheriting the regenerative powers of the Phenex and our destructive power; your children will ensure our legacy."
Shock and realization widened her eyes.
"While ending the Phenex's?!"
"They raised their swords against the one true Great King. According to the old laws, they all should have been beheaded," he calmly stated as if everything was simply logical. "But this is the dawn of a new age."
"I refuse!" she glared, "You will not—"
"This isn't a choice. It's your duty. Good evening."
"Don't you turn back on me!"
Venelana fired a black bolt of compacted pure destructive power that could've turned the whole mansion into a pile of ashes, but Overlord Bael didn't flinch or turn around as he absorbed all of her exerted power. Much to her dismay, this was the Bael that devoted all his life researching and perfecting the Power of Destruction. To absorb hers; a mere practitioner compared to him, was child's play.
"Rest well," he said, sparing a glance past his shoulder. "Tomorrow is your big day."
"ZAGAN! ZAGANN! ZAGAANNNN!"
The door shut, and Venelana threw a nearby vase against the door, shattering it into pieces as the black rose lay on the carpeted floor. She followed suit, crumpling down. Her eyes burned with anguish and hatred as she screamed and cursed the name of her half-brother-turned kinslayer. She felt the terrible weight of her own powerlessness. Once again her small, newfound peace must crumble around her, and she couldn't escape this nightmare.
.
.
.
At another chamber, two of the last Phenexes held each other in a tight embrace, the second youngest now the eldest having no idea how to console his sobbing sister, and having zero clue how to handle all of this despair in his own mind.
Riser Phenex knew one thing, that if he wanted to ensure the Phenex burns forever, he must do something.
Break
"Roses are black, violets are black, everything is black... because I am blind."
"That was dark," chimed Issei after a short pause, beginning the wheezing followed by muffled laughter creeping across the flower garden, resounding from the small group of five. Save for Grayfia for obvious reasons as she was more concerned if Rias suddenly felt downhearted, as well as one single innocent Devil who couldn't quite comprehend jokes; light or dark.
"Hmm? But these are red?" Ingvild Leviathan tilted her head in a way a spaniel would, staring intently at the patches of red flowers, thinking if she might have been colorblind instead. "Colors don't change. Just like seawater is salty even if someone with a dead taste bud says it's sweet."
Only Grayfia was left troubled by her comment. Her younger peers simply laughed and giggled, with Rias muttering "Ingvild… Never change." with a warm tone and a smile gracing her face.
"I do change," Ingvild stated, all serious like, twisting the topic as everyone instantly felt a sting of worry and a shocking slap from her statement. "Sometimes when I forget to put on my spells and jump in the water, then my clothes get all wet and sticky."
Their worry was fleeting, and Issei, Raynare and Rias shared a round of nervous giggling that grew into a brief chortle of relief.
"You scare me sometimes, Vivi."
Ingvild gasped excitedly. "Really? How? Why? Tell me in detail."
"I don't know," Raynare giggled. "You just do."
"That's not very helpful." Ingvild frowned. It wasn't a full-fledged frown. Just a mildly disappointed one.
"Why do you want to be scary?" Rias decided to ask. Being terrifying was an odd thing to want for most people, but not when you're Ingvild.
"Because then Humans will stay away from me. Mother said it's better to be feared than to be experimented upon," Ingvild replied without looking, darting her sunset eyes towards a flock of yellow and black flying insects— "Oooh! Butterflies!"
"Ingvild those are bees!"
"Bees!" The Leviathan giddily squealed, prancing over to another flower bed as Raynare hurriedly followed her, scared she might hurt herself. Or the bees. Raynare was then left confused when Ingvild asked her whether bees were black with yellow stripes or the other way around.
In the distance, their conversation could be heard.
"You'll have to ask God about that."
"Okay. Where is God?"
"...I don't know… in Heaven, probably?"
"Oh. I can't swim there."
"I'd rather you stay as far away from that place, Ingvild Leviathan."
Letting out a small hum, Issei let Raynare have her daily dose of Ingvild and decided to hang back and stay with Rias and Grayfia.
"She sure is…unique… in a good way. Wonder what her parents are like."
"They're just like her," Rias told him. "She has her mother's hair, her father's eyes, and… their poor sense of direction and lack of awareness towards… well, things in general."
"...Yea that tracks."
Rias softly laughed. "Our family was quite close despite the distance. They'd often invite us for tea, which would last until dinner." She let out a hefty sigh, but not without a smile. A sad, nostalgic smile that missed how things used to be. "Her family was ridiculed for leaving Hell. Labeled as traitors and cowards and such. …Look who's laughing now…"
Shit. This got heavy, Issei thought ruefully. He glanced briefly at Grayfia to see how she'd react, and sure enough, she had a forlorn look — though he couldn't determine if that was her sad look or just her usual look.
Rias chuckled wryly. "Sorry. I didn't mean to drag down the mood." She took in a deep breath, filling her lungs with air fresher than any place in Hell. "It's difficult to look for the bright sides of things when you're constantly in the dark."
"Heh… heheh. Y'know there'll come a day where people will just feel awkward and not say a word because they can't tell if you're joking or being unironically poetic."
"I'd like to see the look on their faces in that case," Rias smiled. Her smile grew wider as she heard Raynare's squeal somewhere in front of her. Ingvild must have done something cute again. "Say, what do you think about that person?"
Issei followed Rias' pointing finger and squinted his eyes. "Hm? Freed? Haven't talked much with the guy. Bit weird but I'm a bit weird too. I guess I won't mind hanging with the dude. Got a funny hunch he'd be a hilarious drunk."
Rias blushed a little. She was actually confident she pointed at the right person she meant to ask. She masked her embarrassment with a cough and cleared her throat as she lowered her hand.
"What about Raynare?" she dared asking straight. "What's your opinion of her?"
"Well. She's Raynare," Issei shrugged, not thinking too deeply about the question. Rias felt for Raynare right then. Seemed that he had Raynare cemented as his close friend with an obvious lack of romantic interest. Getting him to see her as a girl might be harder than it seemed. "She's fun to be around with."
That didn't mean she'd just give up that easily.
"Is she popular?"
"Hooo boy is she— all the guys flocked to her in the first semester, even the gay ones."
"Is that so?" Then again, Rias supposed all Fallen Angels were attractive. To make men, God's most beloved creation, to fall for them was basically their reason for being. But that said… "How come?"
"Well she's got that easygoing personality. Friendly. Funny - at times. She laughs at standard guy jokes and she flirts with everyone and their mother."
Huh? "Flirts?"
"Yeah. Y'know. The usual teasing and stuff… all playful-like. Like she'd wink at anyone that's staring at her, waggles her eyebrows, bites her bottom lip."
"...R-really…? That's brazen of her…"
"Fallen Angels stuff, apparently," Issei giggled like a goblin. "It's funny when the dudes get all nervous or think of it too much. BUT. Eventually many guys know that she's just fooling around and that's likely why she's got no boyfriend."
Ah… Rias understood now. Perhaps not all hope was lost. "All the guys, you said… but what about you?"
"Hm? Me? Well…" Issei pondered for a moment, crossing his arms and leaning on one foot. "I guess I never thought about that sort of thing. Wanting to date and all that juicy, cheesy romance stuff."
Raynare you poor girl…"How so?"
"I don't know. I just never thought about it. Never crossed my mind. Maybe I'm a late bloomer?" he shrugged again. "Why the questions? Are you hitting on me? If so, you're gonna have to tell me straight because I'm denser than tungsten."
"Considering it, perhaps," Rias tittered.
But no. She wasn't. He was a sweet and funny young man, but she would never want to burden him or anyone for that matter, what with her disability and the emotional scars she had. What she said to Raynare days ago was a tiny nudge to get the Fallen Angel to act.
Raynare didn't appear to be making much progress. Unlike a certain doctor…
"What about what you have with Roygun? Do tell if I'm crossing the line."
"Nah it's fine," Issei replied. "With her huh… Hmm… I don't wanna be wishy-washy about it but… I don't know. I care for her the same way I care for you, Raynare, Grayfia-san, all of my friends, paid and unpaid—"
"Except, you're sleeping with her."
"Yea there's also that," he scratched his forehead. His bangs were starting to get ticklish. "Then again she gives me pocket money, so… I guess our relationship is close to a woman and her manwhore. …Wait, isn't she basically my sugarmommy?"
Rias laughed.
Issei felt proud. There was a certain pride that was born from making others laugh regardless of their circumstances.
Grayfia remained calm and quiet. Fully dedicated to her maidy-ness.
"It's not like we do it every night. Or at least when she actually went home," he clarified. "I'm like… her emotional crutch, I guess… Y'know, as a distraction from her work and other grim realities that come with it. Just being someone to lean on makes me feel pretty special. I like being trusted upon and I bet most people do too; they just rarely get the chance."
Rias smiled. That was surprisingly earnest. She should've seen it coming.
His words rang true to her. Despite her sight, that didn't mean Rias always wanted to depend on others like baggage. She'd like it if others could depend on her. As long as they didn't ask her to cross the road or anything that required having decent eyesight.
"I see…"
"The sex is a welcome bonus though."
Rias rolled her eyes, although her smile retained.
"You're an interesting person, Hyoudou."
"Well. It's either what I said or I'm into older girls and I just don't know it yet."
She chuckled. "Is that so? Should Grayfia be more mindful around you then?"
Issei panned towards Grayfia, whose only difference to a statue was the fact she was breathing.
"Hmmm… I mean she does make great food… never complains… perfect at housekeeping… Pretty much a perfect candidate for a housewife. In fact, I think dudes today are looking for housewives rather than career girls but I might be spitballing here."
Rias giggled with amusement as she said, "Sounds like a proposal to me. What do you say, Grayfia? He isn't half-bad from what I've seen."
"I would be honored." At last, the maid proved to the world that she had not just lost her ability to speak.
Rias lost hers though. She stood there in abject shock. In complete disbelief, thinking she might have just lost her hearings as well.
"Now wait a minute…" she coughed, getting flustered by the moment. Not being able to see their expressions to judge the situation properly truly did suck. "Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let's first re-establish the fact that—"
"We were joking, young lady," Grayfia said, much to Issei's dismay. "He 'winked' at me and was nodding repeatedly."
Rias paused. She could hear him cackling. But more importantly… or rather, shockingly—
"...Grayfia you… you joked!"
Break
The eve of night was nigh by the time the group had left the underground hospital. The sun crawled back beneath the horizon and the creeping moon nestled in its throne surrounded by throngs of stars. It was one of the beauties observable from Earth that Rias had expressed her wish to see, but had to settle with Grayfia's fortunately vivid description of those flaming balls of gas.
And though the group had disbanded, mostly, Raynare stayed as she had to submit a monthly report regarding the possibility of the 'supernatural' species mingling with the humans of Earth. She didn't mind as she now had an excuse to hang inside Rias's room past visiting hours.
"Have you been to other countries?"
"Hmm… I've been to Italy but I don't remember much of it," she replied. Rather, back then she was too dejected to truly enjoy the country to its fullest. The days simply blurred past.
"What country are you most interested in?"
Raynare thought for a while. "...Huh. That's an interesting question… I don't know, to be honest. I don't know much about this world… If Issei is here he might be able to give some ideas."
Rias hummed offhandedly. "Hnh. Speaking of him… Earlier on, at the garden. While you were with Ingvild I… had a chat with him."
"About what?"
"About you?"
"What." Rias couldn't see it, but she could sense the dread creeping up to Raynare's face from the panic in her tone. "No. You— you didn't talk about anything weird, right?"
"No. None of the sort. He mentioned that he might be into older girls."
"What?"
Raynare had the similar look of a student that had flunked a test that they thought they would ace. Despair mixed with shock. It felt like a slap. Actually no, Raynare had an inkling she might be into that. Most Fallen Angels were into that sort of play — not important right now Raynare you idiot, she chastised herself, refocusing towards her current predicament.
But it made sense! What if Issei was into older girls? Or girls that had a mature charm? A kind of dignified air? She couldn't match that. Not unless she went through a total brainwash. She didn't want that. She knew she'd hate it if she had to be fake just to get his attention. It'd be as if her true self was not good enough.
"Goodness, I can almost hear your panicking. Do go on, it's adorable."
"Wh— what about you!" Raynare grumbled, feeling ridiculed. "Aren't you supposed to be into him as well? Shouldn't you be worried?"
"Oh that was just a joke hoping it'd push you to do something," Rias giggled guiltlessly. "Evidently, you haven't."
Raynare pouted. Rias was slightly disappointed in her. She understood. Raynare herself was disappointed in her for her lack of progress.
"...It's not that easy, you know…" she meekly reasoned. "The timing just isn't right. And even then, I'm too scared of what might happen next. I don't want things to get awkward between us… I don't want to make him feel… forced, y'know…?"
"Then would you prefer to have things stay the way it is for Heavens know how long?"
"...No…" Raynare muttered. "...Ugh, I hate this. Things would be a lot simpler if he was like any other guy."
"But would you have liked him this much if he was like any other guys?"
"...I guess not…" the Fallen Angel sighed, burying her face in her hands. "Ughhhh— what do I do? What can I do? If I don't do anything then everything will stay the way it is, but if I do something about it, it might ruin everything."
Rias sympathized with her. To a degree, anyway. She'd never fallen in love and didn't have the time to really assert that kind of stuff. Not then and especially not now.
"This is ironic coming from me but I think you need to have more faith in him. I doubt he's the kind of person that will just… ditch you. At worst, he'll reject you and things may be a little bit awkward for a moment… but will it last long? I doubt it."
"...This sucks," Raynare grumbled. "...I feel like a little girl being this indecisive. It's irritating. I'm irritating myself."
"Well… what do you truly want, Raynare?" Rias offered.
"...I want him to 'see' me," she answered quietly, as if telling a secret. "Just… I don't know. Notice me. It's not like I haven't dropped clues or hints."
"Boys tend to be quite dense when it comes to this sort of thing. More so because I heard you 'flirted' quite openly with other people too…"
"...Oh." Raynare blushed a little, but her embarrassment didn't come from being exposed as a flirt, but because she had just then realized she was also a factor in this lack of progress. He probably thought of her flirts as mere jokes instead of actual attempts. "Holy hell… all this time… I'm the idiot."
Rias' giggles fluttered into the cool hospital air. "I know a Phenex that used to have the same problem with several girls at once… and they all visited me for advice."
"What happened to them?"
"They said it outright and he mentioned it was his best day thus far," Rias giggled. "...I hope he's alright… that Riser…" and sighed as a sudden headache struck her without warning. "Mmn…"
"Are you alright?" Raynare asked, concerned. "Should I get the nurse? Or Grayfia?"
"It's fine… it happens occasionally. It fades after I rest…"
"I better get going then… it's getting late anyway," Raynare said as she got up. Rias seemed to agree, despite looking apologetic. "Thanks."
"Thank me once you made progress," Rias giggled, being able to tell that she made Raynare pout. "Thanks for visiting me. Hope you'll make your dreams come true~!"
"Ew!" giggling, Raynare thus made her exit.
Break
Issei was about to sleep after his usual nighttime routine of scrolling pointless videos when a green notification popped by.
He wasn't the type to leave it on vibrate, just mute. Which was stupid, he knew. What if it was an important message? What if it was his mom? Or Matsuda asking for Management homework? What if he lost it and calling his phone would only be met by silence?
Well. All those things had happened in the past and still he refused to learn, because humans were like that.
He couldn't stare at his phone for too long anyway. Computer screens hurt his eyes more easily than others, and there was a reason Issei retained his perfect eyesight. Like an eagle's, his mother used to say when he was a snotty kid, just to make him feel cooler and be motivated to eat his carrots.
It was a LINE message.
R&B: hey
In a moment of occasional brain fart, Issei forgot who R&B was meant to be and why a popular genre of music was texting him. An incarnate, perhaps? The profile picture was left empty too, evidence of someone that might have been a stalker or a very clumsily made bot. Bots should at least have pretty girls set as their display picture, not the letter 'R'.
Then he remembered he was the one who gave Roygun Belphegor that nickname. She thought it was smart. He personally thought it was brilliant. Not as brilliant as her nickname for him, however.
IsseIsseIssei: 911, how can I help you?
R&B: r u up?
IsseIsseIssei: no.
Her reply came just as soon as he pressed 'enter'.
R&B: i need therapy
IsseIsseIssei: o
Those three magic words and he was hers for the night. It was Thursday— well, Friday now, and he had one class later on. But it was an afternoon class anyway and Raynare would just kick him if he was going to be late.
But he first kicked himself out of his bed, carrying his phone with him as he exited his room, strutting over to the kitchen to grab his chilled bottle of Teeda. A Japanese rum, courtesy of Azazel because it was too citrusy and sweet for the Fallen Angel's 'taste'. Issei simply thought it was because he was old fashioned and new, experimental taste hip for the new generations don't always sit well with old people.
Grabbing some glasses, just the ordinary one used for drinking… well, most liquid beverages — he headed over to the living room to stare at his reflection on the TV like a freak while waiting for his patient.
The house was as silent as a mime's performance, but if he listened for a moment, he'd be able to hear crickets and other sorts of nightly insects doing their ritualistic mating calls. Settling down at one of the sofas, Issei promptly thought of how horrible it was to have a superpower where you could speak to animals. You'd just hear them scream for their mate all the time. Like 'FUCK ME, FUCK ME, FUCK ME, YOU THERE GO FUCK ME AND THEN YOURSELF!'
A conversation starter if he'd ever seen one, so he jammed that pocket into his list of icebreakers.
Just as he was looking for the damn magically vanishing TV remote, he caught the mechanical click of a key unlocking the front door. It swung open, and the drunken Roygun Belphegor teetered in, ditching her loafer flats without storing them at the shoe rack. She stood there for a moment, visibly taking a deep breath and sighing a long, quiet sigh.
Issei got up.
Roygun was always worse for wear whenever she arrived back home, most prominently after she had to spend a night in the hospital to cover the night shift. But tonight, she looked worse. He could already tell why. It wasn't his first time seeing her like this. Her downcast gaze and complete lack of energy from her shoulders, her darkened eyes from the lack of sleep and her slightly parted lips, breathing in noiseless breaths.
Just as quietly, the physician closed her eyes and tipped her body forward, leaning against him as she felt his hands wrapping her in his silent embrace. Warmth.
She had untangled herself from her detached calculated professionalism from the doorway, but only now that Roygun allowed herself to stop pretending she was alright. Allowed herself to feel. Stop being cold.
Sad. Guilt. Anger. Confusion.
The common quartet. She had grown so used to them that she greeted them like old friends, welcomed them into her home, and let herself be taken away for a nightlong journey to a bar of self-pity, for a drink of depression or two, until eventually she had too much to drink and left sprawled over the cold pavement of acceptance.
"You look like shit," he told her.
And he would then arrive and carry her back up and give her a ride on his back.
Roygun tittered softly. A smile at last, her lips might say, and she wasn't mean enough to make them hold their frown.
It was the saddest smile he had ever seen.
"I know," she said, her voice more tired than she looked. "I know…"
He didn't think about the bottle of rum and the two ordinary mugs, he just said, "Let's toss you in the tub."
.
.
At the familiar bathtub again, in the familiar room dominated with white tiles, Roygun submerged herself. Her exhaustion melted away along with the suds of soap, dispersing over the balmy water. Her body was tired, her mind cleared, sort of, a bit blurry and foggy, but with the tiredness drifting away, all she felt was the warmth and coziness of his body.
He was gentle. So gentle. Too gentle for his age that it admittedly freaked her out a little.
He stayed there with her, sitting on that small stool, half-naked with his unsexy dark green boxer shorts with yellow banana patterns. A melamine glass on his hand, half-filled with liquid gold, sloshing around. He downed the rum in one gulp and soberly shook his head. She could practically hear his throat burning just by looking at his face.
"Whew," he groaned, blinking a few times.
"How does it taste?"
"Funky," he replied, pouring in another in the same glass, setting the clear bottle over a counter before offering her the glass.
She took a whiff— fruity with hints of spice, she noted, before taking a generous sip.
Rich, fruity, and spicy with a spice of funkiness. A bit too splashy for her. Like a fruit cocktail but with too much alcohol. It warmed her throat nicely, however, so Roygun drank the rest and warmed her body from the inside.
"Funky," she agreed, handing him the glass as he then put it over the bathroom counter, just next to the bottle.
There was a stretch of silence. A comfortable one. The one where she knew she wasn't expected to say a word and where he knew she didn't expect him to break it. Most of the time, all a woman wanted was for the other party, be it man or fellow woman, to simply sit there and listen. No need for answers. No need for suggestions. Just be there and listen to her silent rant.
Roygun breathed in and filled her thoughts with all the nice things; the roseness of the soap and her lavender shampoo, the comforting heat that was just right on her body, and him.
And then she let go.
"Three people died today. One of them was my patient."
And he caught it, clutched it. He listened.
"A kid," she whispered, sighing, thawing, "half your age. Younger, maybe." Her head lolled to the side, so she could see his face and show him hers. She wanted to see the change in his expression. He didn't look crushed, but there was a certain tinge of sympathy in his gentle eyes.
She felt guilty for just sharing her burden. It felt unfair offloading all this to a youngster when all this was what to be expected in her profession.
So Roygun ended it there. Enough, she told herself, while knowing it barely scratched the surface. Just a drop from a whole ocean… Hardly anything. Hardly fulfilling.
She let it flow again with a chuckle — laughing at herself for being so fickle. She blamed it on her exhaustion and the liquor.
"Sometimes our best is slowing the rate of decline. Essentially prolonging the inevitable. Suffering, some dramatists might say," Roygun smiled. "Sometimes it's better to stop trying to fix problems and rather help them die as comfortably as possible. Then you get told that you're just giving up."
Her green eyes shut, resting. Her heart and mind were viciously jealous of how easily her eyes could just rest, when by closing her eyes, the darkness made the voices all the more violent and louder.
"You'd think I'd have gotten used to it by now," she mused. "I've seen more deaths than the entire history of that facility, but nothing prepared me to think of something to say to a mother talking about their child before she was hospitalized. But…that's the thing. They're not my men. They're not soldiers. They were ordinary people living their ordinary lives… Lives forever changed by a war they didn't understand."
She felt a pat above her wrist. He was patting her. How sweet.
"I'm quitting," she confessed. "Too many patients. Too many ghosts. Not enough…me," she opened her eyes, her lips cracking a smile at him. "I can't do this anymore. I thought I could, but I can't. I handed in my resignation letter today. Yesterday, technically… I don't know if there's anything in me I can salvage, or if it's already too late, but I'm quitting."
"That's nice, you get to help out with the house chores now," he told her jokingly with a supportive hand clutching hers.
"Heh… Clown."
"Yea, sorry," Issei laughed softly.
"...Got anything to add to all that?"
"Yea, you wanna hear it?"
"Sure," she shrugged.
"...Well, I think if you're losing something in you and you know it, then you've still got something left to save. Definitely not selfish either. You've saved more lives in what—one or two years—than most people do in their whole entire life. You know, I like to watch people. The old, graying businessmen in the red light districts at night, have given it up. Just work and drink and sleep and work and drink and sleep.
"I see people sitting on park benches and you can tell by the way they sit and look that they're not living. People driving cars, in the news, and from the way they drive their cars you wonder if they can love or is even loved. I watch at people in department stores and supermarkets, walking down aisles, buying things... and I can see by the way their clothing fits them and by the way they walk, and by their faces and their eyes that they care for nothing, and that nothing cares for them.
"I see a hundred people a day who have given up entirely. They're like husks. Just husks living dreamlessly. Maybe they didn't stop when they should've, or persisted when they shouldn't. I don't know what or why, but that's just the way it is... I guess, for many."
"I can't tell why they're still alive. Is it really living, I mean. The only thing separating them from corpses is that they still walk and breathe even though they seemed to have been murdered," he chuckled. "Yet I can't adjust to the fact of them, because they are so many. Each day, each night, there are more of them in the subways, in the buildings, in the parks.
"These husks that can feel no terror at not loving or at not being loved, at not caring or not being cared."
He turned to her, and stared at her deep.
"Don't turn into these people."
Roygun choked on her laugh as her tears finally broke. "Seven Hells, Hyoudou," she chuckled, sniveling, but giggling.
He was 6-7 years younger than her. Far younger than all of her colleagues. Two years she had worked, and had only known him for a month, and only now she'd met someone like him. No one she met was half as empathetic as him. Or tried to. Not enough understood there was a difference in sympathy and empathy and how sympathy could feel so… demeaning.
He wasn't even aware of it. Likely thinking what he said was what most others would say. His observation, his people watching? These were all so strange to be done by a twenty-something boy, yet to her there couldn't be a more perfect person that observe others other than him. By Lilith's great tits, she might start wanting to keep him for herself, but that'd be unfair to those who could use an Issei. God-hating she might be, she prayed that he'd be allowed to remain this way, until tomorrow and its tomorrows, until another tomorrow never comes.
The water splashed as she rubbed her eyes, feeling tired again all of a sudden after that burst of emotions. She couldn't tell whether that was a short happy cry or a short sad cry, but frankly, Roygun couldn't care.
"I'm ready now. To sleep," she clarified. "I'm too tired to do anything else… Much as I think being fucked by you is fun. Stay with me, will you?"
"You're not a prostitute," he told her, eliciting her look before a quiet laughter. "I'd still sleep with you even without the fucking."
.
.
He stared at the ceiling, appearing darker by the shadows and the lack of light. The night was quiet and it was rather warm. Summer was coming, after all.
Roygun was next to him, sleeping, breathing. Hopefully at peace.
He was glad for her, for her decision. Too often she came home later than just late, but he didn't have the gall to tell her to just quit. He wasn't a doctor, for one, and he wasn't a working adult. He couldn't understand her struggles, and acting like he knew would go against his personal code of 'be true, be you'.
Issei wasn't the type to turn a blind eye to the grim events happening around him. The world indeed could be cruel. Unfair and unkind. Uncaring, unloving, — and those were just the 'Un's. But instead of cursing reality, he accepted it, but he didn't let it change him. The darker moments were reasons for him to hold those scarce bright moments tight, grasp it tightly in his hand, keep it until it burns his skin, and say; everyone deserves a sliver of this moment.
Fleeting as it may be, it was a moment to be remembered. Instead of dying, it dimmed into embers. The glow might not be as bright, the warmth not as hot, but it was there, and even in the darkest and coldest of time, it'd still be there, and it hoped it was enough to help, and provide a reason to stay, and watch for the next one, so it could have a friend or two, and their glow together be brighter.
Break
Raynare's 'love struggle' is miniscule compared to Sai's predicament or Roygun's. The whiplash is just chef's kiss imo
Despite the general vibe of this chapter, I wrote this while listening to Sea Shanty 2 on repeat
My iq negative, sentence building impossibel, whuehruheruheu
Reviwthx
Btw i released a new story called "Eminence in Shadow". It's basically Cid in DxD world, doing Cid things
And here's a discord server where you can find me, mostly dead
Discord. gg / yrh4pSePxr
