NMHA Ch. 39 - Touchback


A/N: I think it should be pretty obvious, but I can't draw tits for shit. If I could, this would be a doujin, not a fanfic!

In other news, a doujin of this would be really fucking cool-

Anyway, no beta or suggested revisions this time, beyond what I myself did. Hopefully, it still lives up to the standard!


Luna was getting really tired of waking in medical bays, particularly unfamiliar ones.

At least this time she wasn't alone, a familiar purple-haired Fallen Angel looking over papers before the brunette's stirring drew her attention.

"You got back up quickly. I was expecting that you would need at least a full day to reawaken after the thrashing Kokabiel gave you."

'Thrashing.' Hah, that was one way to put it. She'd been taken on a one-way-trip to Pound Town, and it wasn't even the good one either.

"How long?" she asked, wincing her throat's harsh protest.

Penemue noted the wince and held a glass of water out to the brunette. "Only a couple hours. You did a good job handling the worst wound yourself, though you were suffering from a fairly severe case of holy poisoning."

Luna figured as such. She could recognize the burn within her skin, as though the light was still there, still seeking to tear her apart. There was little wonder that Devils hated holy energy as much as they did; she was starting to strongly dislike it herself.

"Guessing he was trying to impress... just how different I am now, from my human body." Luna muttered, taking the glass in a shaky hand and putting the cold - recently poured - liquid to her lips.

Not that she needed the reminder of her loss of humanity, but she wouldn't be surprised if he'd been using the holy element like a bludgeon to hammer in his point before he killed her.

"Right. I'd heard from Azazel that you're reincarnated in a more traditional sense than the typical Devil."

Luna's brow furrowed, but she nodded slowly. "More like... soul without a body met body without a soul."

"Fascinating. Would that mean if an angel slept with you they would Fall for doing the dirty with a human?"

The brunette cracked a grin. "If I wasn't recovering from nearly being murdered, I'd ask you if you wanted to try for yourself."

Penemue snickered. "A bit late for that, I Fell a long time ago. I might take you up on your offer another time though. Our brief exploration was certainly... entertaining."

Luna wasn't quite sure what to make of 'entertaining', but she wasn't going to complain. "Could have fooled me. So. Azazel sent Vali to save my bacon, huh?"

"I suspect he had little intention of letting a 'dignitary' as he put it get iced by his strongest lieutenant in a fit of ideological pique."

"Looking out for his image as always," Luna muttered.

"I could say the same for you, y'know?"

The Worldweaver licked sensitive lips in thought as her gaze turned downward.

"Yeah, I suppose so."

"At least this time it served to keep you alive."

The brunette grimaced. "At least there's that, even if I wasn't quite able to get what I was looking for from my visit."

"Perhaps not, but I would still say it was fruitful." Penemue hummed.

The grimace eased. "True. Third base on our first meeting's pretty good, as far as I'm concerned."

The violette smiled impishly. "Hmhm, I was more thinking about you rightfully calling Azazel out, but that works too."

Luna set the empty glass of water aside, staring down at her hands with a frown.

She supposed there was some good that came of her visit, but she was still… disappointed that he would try and pull a fast one on her like that.

"Wait." She paused, eyes reopening as the brunette's head tilted back down and towards Penemue. "What was that about me rightfully calling him out?"

"I admitted to it, of course."

Oh, and speak of the... Fallen, Azazel was by the doorway into the patient room. Luna immediately schooled her expression, prompting him to step through, hands in his coat pockets.

"And why would you admit that?"

"Because I know when to come clean," he answered simply, pulling up a chair to sit backwards, leaning forward into the back of the seat, hands on its top. "Quite frankly, I did you a disservice and underestimated you rather severely, Miss Bael."

"Here I was under the impression that you'd be straight with her, Governor-General," Penemue commented offhandedly, prompting Azazel to roll his eyes.

"Yes, so did Baraqiel, and I think I've learned my lesson in this circumstance. So, Luna-"

"Call me Lunarunn." Not Luna. Azazel glanced at Penemue, who gave him a flat stare back. The Worldweaver continued unabashed. "So what, you're gonna just up and admit you lied to my face to leverage my trying to be a half-decent person?"

"Yep." He nodded once as he focused back on the Worldweaver, prompting a scowl from the brunette before continuing. "As I was saying, I underestimated you. Not many people come with good-faith offerings to the Grigori of all places, so I was working under the impression that you were either fishing for clout or just naive."

"Not that either's wholly untrue," Penemue added in, Luna's scowl shifting onto her briefly.

"Please don't pull that face toward my sister, your problem's with me," Azazel lifted an arm and tapped his chair, the Worldweaver's eyes sliding back to him. "But she isn't wrong. Because let's face it, you came here to try and make an agreement to leave each other alone, using the favor saving Baraqiel's family would give to do so, and you're still incredibly young compared to the vast majority of the supernatural world. I was hoping to use the opportunity to nab myself a rare specimen. A naturally-reincarnated Devil, one who bears a power not seen since the Great War? That sort of individual is an outlier in so many ways that I'd be foolish not to try and stake a claim."

"Being considered a 'specimen' aside... Kokabiel mentioned something about Worldweave being similar to what God Himself could do," Luna admitted, to which Azazel nodded. "And now that I think about it, even Zekram Bael's mentioned that he was looking forward to seeing what a Devil that had the same sort of ability as your dad could do. Until I got a little too rowdy and got purged from his government, anyway, but that's beside the point."

"Hmm. It sounds like you have a question on your mind?"

She did.

("Anyone can become a god, under perfect conditions. Yours, however, are better than most.")

"Is Worldweave really the same power that He had?"

Penemue and Azazel exchanged glances, before the violette faced Luna once more. "Had?"

"I already know God's dead," she wouldn't say how he died, or how she knew, however, "so it's not out of the realm of possibility that His power somehow got snagged between my soul and my body when they joined together."

And if it was, then Luna was going to drag Ulan back out of whatever crevice she'd stowed herself away in for some answers.

"It's... certainly possible," Azazel admitted. "I was wondering it myself, to be quite honest."

What wasn't he saying, though...?

She glanced to the side, and noted vaguely familiar vials at one of the tables over on the wall.

"...You drew blood samples from me while I was unconscious, didn't you?"

He was silent for a moment, but then nodded. "I did."

"You're aware of how much that breaches my privacy, right?"

He nodded again. "I'm aware."

"Then why?"

"Because I want to figure out for myself whether or not Kokabiel's right to be worried about you." The black-and-blond Fallen stood briefly to turn the seat back around before leaning back into the seat properly. "Especially after you showed off, as Kokabiel put it, twisted wings that reeked of wrongness."

"And you'd trust the word of someone who just tried to kill me?"

"He may be biased, and a warmonger to boot, but he does not lie, even when it is to his detriment to be truthful. I've got centuries' of proof to back it up."

...Admittedly, that fits into what she could tell of Kokabiel when she'd spoken with him.

"For trying to take steps to make amends, you sure are tripping over your own feet going in the wrong direction."

"Which is why I'm letting you know now." He reached into his coat to pull out a vial filled with red. "This is the blood I took while you were out. I will give you the option; if you truly do not want me to have it, I will give it to you to destroy at your preference."

"And how do I know you're not lying to me even now and are hiding away more?"

He inclined his head. "I swear it on the grave of my Father."

A serious vow, she knew, but even so she wasn't convinced. "I'm going to need something a bit more binding than 'honor' or 'family', Azazel."

The two-tone-haired Fallen shrugged and closed his eyes. "Justified, given my prior actions. You're a Devil, right? I'll make a contract with you to confirm my honesty. You might be injured, but it shouldn't take any more than a handshake and an agreement to accept my vow."

"If there's going to be a contract I'm taking part in its formation."

Azazel sighed, lifting one lid and tilting his head to the side. "You really don't like the idea of trusting others, do you?"

Luna smiled, though it failed to reach her chilly gaze. "After everything I've gone through I only trust people I can respect. Considering your actions, you've got a lot of ground to cover before I can include you on that list."

'Again, anyway.'

The two Fallen exchanged another look before Penemue stood. "I will get you a laptop, Luna. That way, you can create a contract for Azazel to agree to."

Now the brunette's smile gained some warmth. "Thanks, Penemue."

As the violette took her leave, Azazel glanced between the two females before commenting aloud. "...So it's okay for her to call you by 'Luna', while I have to use your full name?"

Said brunette put a hand to her cheek, putting on a sweet smile and tone. "She's been honest with me, while you've been a lying piece of shit."

"It's also because she's got an amazing ass, isn't it?"

"That has nothing to do with what she's allowed to call me," Luna closed her eyes and grinned, "but you know how that one song about big butts goes, right?"

"A woman of culture, I see. Truly, it's a shame I hadn't recognized sooner."

There was a beat of silence that passed between the two.

"By the way. I hadn't planned on using Baraqiel's family as leverage. Until you mentioned his anniversary, I hadn't even thought about how they might have been in danger."

Azazel lifted a brow, clearly not quite buying it. "Rather serendipitous timing, then."

Luna reopened her eyes and smiled.

"What can I say? I'm pretty good at being in interesting places at interesting times."

"If you say so." The Governor-General leaned forward. "So, why don't we get started with actual negotiations?"


The brunette touched down, feet coming to a rest against the ground once more in the front yard of her and her Peerage's little house in the countryside. She hid a wince at the impact of her landing, still battered from her unfortunate encounter with the force of nature that was Kokabiel.

Her everything hurt, but the fact still stood; she was alive. That in and of itself was an achievement.

She was about to start walking before the door opened, and a certain ravenette stepped out.

"You're back!" Jaspal briskly strode over, inspecting her King. A frown came over her face when she got a closer look. "What took you so long?"

"Well, y'know how I said I could pull some strings?" the brunette started.

"...Did you end up cutting yourself on them?"

"More like those strings were attached to a huge-ass wolf that decided it didn't like my face."

"Wolf...?" The Valac's eyes narrowed. "You don't mean to say that you had to fight a cadre, do you?"

"Well since you said it I won't have to."

"Luna, please don't joke with such information; this is serious! We do not have the manpower, location, or influence to deal with an incensed Grigori!"

"Relax, Jasp. It was a cadre with a personal vendetta against me, and someone else stepped in on Azazel's orders to save my bacon."

"So you ended up being put into the Grigori's debt?"

"Well, sorta. The Vanishing Dragon Emperor doesn't exactly take orders, but that was just his excuse. It was more them repaying a debt to me than putting me in theirs."

"Knowing you... I cannot say I am particularly surprised." Jaspal sighed. "Let us step inside, so you can elucidate the whole crew about what happened. You certainly look like you've seen better days. So which high-ranked Fallen did you end up having to fight?"

"Kokabiel."

The ruby-eyed Pawn paused, blinking a couple of times before turning to Luna, nonplussed. "Did I hear you correctly?"

"You did."

Jaspal took a breath in, then breathed out, before lifting a hand to pinch the bridge of her nose. "I wasn't aware you were suicidal."

Luna smiled grimly. "I didn't ask to fight him, y'know; I even managed to convince him to bring me to the Grigori's headquarters. Too bad he decided to kill me on my way out."

"It sounds as though you barely avoided death."

"I did." The brunette lifted a hand to the side of her head and rubbed it, a smile turning into a grimace. "I'm still processing. If Vali hadn't stepped in when he did... I wouldn't be here now."

"The White Dragon Emperor? I suppose I will have to thank him for dragging your butt out of the fire."

She glanced away, grimace becoming more foxlike. "Yeah, about that..."

"What did you do?"

"Nothing! Nothing at all."

"Saying it twice does not reassure me."

Luna faced her Pawn again, lifting one arm in a shrug. "Thing is, it really isn't what I did. It's what Azazel did that I called him out on."

"Oh for the love of-" Jaspal groaned. "How did you walk away in one piece again?"

"A combination of careful dissemination of information, specific wording, a healthy dose of charisma, and an absolutely stupid amount of luck?"

Ruby eyes stared flatly at the Worldweaver, who stared back. Ruby locked with aquamarine, and ruby slid closed.

The Valac turned away, shaking her head. "...How is it that you can be so reckless yet so serendipitous?"

"Is it reckless if I recognize the risks and proceed to take the leap anyway?"

"You put your life on the line for a diplomatic meeting. A meeting between two wholly unaffiliated factions, with no prior relations."

"Someone has to. I'd much rather give you all some more peace of mind, and if it means inviting more struggle onto myself..." Luna shrugged, and smiled. "Well, I've already had plenty of experience with living with that sort of thing."

Jaspal stared at her King. "I'd rather we face it together, as a team, instead of having you go gallivanting off someplace without support and having your luck run out."

The Worldweaver frowned at that.

"I'm pretty sure you'd have been in way more danger if we had. He was strong enough that even I could barely fight back."

The Valac scowled. "I could have provided information support. His weaknesses, his stamina, his attack patterns."

"You're still not quite there yet; he'd erase you before you could get enough to make a difference."

"I could say the first part of your response to you. You'd have died were it not for intervention by Azazel's proxy."

"...Touche." Luna shrugged, conceding the point. "I was under the impression that I was at least strong enough to hold him off. But I Kokabiel pretty severely, I'll freely admit to that."

"Even if you admit it, the next part of dealing with that sort of issue is to recognize that you needed help!"

"Better me than you."

Jaspal slid her hands behind her back, closing her eyes. "And I say to the pits with that. You are not alone, so stop trying to shoulder everything on your own."

The brunette furrowed her brow. "I'm not. I'm gathering allies to help our cause, aren't I? I've got you all to fall back on."

"Yet you failed to make use of one of your newest ones." Her eyes reopened, burning bloody. "Georg's currently upstairs discussing magical theory with Le Fay, but he could have pulled you out before you got hurt!"

"I... didn't think I'd need him to... be on standby."

Lunarunn paused, thinking her own words over.

'I didn't think I'd need him. Even though I knew I'd be dealing with beings that could wipe me out. Was I being arrogant? Or... is it that I didn't want to ask for his help? Why? Because it was so soon after recruiting him? Because I still have my misgivings about how easily he joined up? Or is it...?'

A grimace of realization rose to her face as her hand went to rub her forehead.

"...Shit. Have I...?"

"Yes," her pawn caught what her King was suggesting, and bowed her head before lifting it back up. "Yes, you have. At least you seem able to recognize it, however."

"Only after you pointed out the fault in my thought process." Luna cleared her throat. "Mh. Gonna need to work on that."

"That is what partners are for, right?" The Valac's gaze softened, lips quirking upward. "I will say it again for good measure; stop taking everything onto yourself. You are not alone, so you do not have to do everything alone."

"Well. Haven't been the best at that, obviously, but I can certainly do my damnedest to... be more willing to share the burden." Luna released a huff of laughter. "Can't say I'll succeed, but better I at least give it a go, eh? Where would I be without you?"

"Still figuring out how to best leverage funding into those startups you recommended to me, I would imagine."

"Maybe?" the brunette grinned. "I'll take your word for it; you're way better with money than I am."

"At least you are able to recognize most of your faults. Most of them, anyway."

"Oi!" Lunarunn laughed outright this time. "Let's just go and share with the others what happened, alright?"


A head of black and a head of blonde crouched over a circle, papers with diagrams strewn across the room around them.

"You're suggesting we use a trigram seal over the essence vessel to act as a stopper? It's a unique idea, but you aren't taking into account how the essence itself might react to an altered gate. You may just cause the entire thing to explode."

"That's the thing!" the blonde protested. "It's a seal with multi-function input. As a filter, it means that it can take in specific essences while excluding others!"

"But we're talking about a structure: a gate, not a filter. The gate acts as the door, but it in and of itself is a rigid object. If a trigram seal could function directly as a filter then that could work, but it uses its three aspects to hold itself and whatever builds upon it up. Tying it to a gate and directly manipulating those aspects creates a dangerous instability in the whole array."

"Then what if we use a pentagonal foundation as the gateway? Pentagrams are one of the best summoning foundations."

"That certainly sounds more plausible, but then we need to determine how to reconcile a three-sided gateway with a five-sided foundation, since the two are both primes."

"Mrgh!" A hand went to the blonde hair and pushed it back stiffly. "Always the numbers!"

"If mana cost isn't an issue, we could overlay the foundation threefold," the glasses on the black-haired mage glinted as he pushed them upward. "That'd allow a far greater volume of essence to be contained and provide stability to a two-prime circle. Fifteen is divisible by three, after all. The amount of energy you'd need to use it, though, would be... prohibitive. I could pull it off, but even then the return on expenditure would be far too meager for it to be a worthwhile summoning circle."

"Hmmm..." Lips pursed even as Le Fay pinched her chin between a finger and thumb, eyeing one of the nearby diagrams.

It was also at that moment, that the door behind them knocked, and from it a certain brunette stepped in. "Hey."

"Luna! Welcome back!" Then she noticed Luna's battered condition. "Wait, you're hurt? What happened?"

"Never mind that now. I can see you two are on to something; what's up?"

Georg stared at Luna, lifting a brow querulously, before he decided to not pursue the matter. "Le Fay-"

"Just call me Fay, the full name is silly!" the aforementioned Pendragon interrupted, turning to pout at Georg.

"...Fay, and I," the mage corrected himself, "have been discussing the merits of using trigram seals for summoning circles. I can see where she's coming from; the ability to filter out specific essences could make any summons or evocations more potent, but trigram seals are best used as structures for pre-specified binds rather than filters in and of themselves."

"Ooh, consider my curiosity piqued." Luna sat down, wincing as she did. Georg noticed and stared her down suspiciously, but the brunette's attention had moved fully to the circle before the three of them. "What seems to be the issue? Figuring out how to use a seal that's given a specific purpose during formation as a controller for the energies supplied in the circle?"

"That is about the gist of it, yes," Georg said.

The blonde persisted. "I know it can work, I can feel it! We're just missing something."

Luna agreed. She wasn't sure how or why, but she could feel it as well. "If we're talking about a trigram, then why not use a triangle base for it?"

"Not strong enough," Le Fay pouted. "Too few boundaries to centrifuge the mana well."

"And a hexagon base?" the brunette pressed.

"Good for conjurations and abjurations, but invocations and evocations immediately drain the circle of mana to power them," Georg sighed. "If we used a hexagram, then we'd be making a ward, which defeats the purpose of having a multi-input seal."

"Nonagon?"

"Used for metaphysics, naturally unstable, and the costs are exorbitant to begin with. We're trying to make an adaptable evocation array, not a portal into the Dimensional Gap or beyond."

"Hrm." The brunette frowned. "Now I see how you two are banging your heads against this. All the immediately-compatible circles are unsuited for a trigram seal for this purpose. I'm guessing overlaid instances of the same shape at angleed intervals require too much mana to be a viable solution."

At Georg's nod, Luna joined Le Fay in pouting. "Well shoot. Trigram patterns are out for the same reason?"

"At the very least, it would give us access to squares or octagons, but the returns would still be mediocre."

"Tch." The brunette grabbed one of the pieces of paper strewn about and created a small opening in space, reaching through to her stash in the Dimensional Gap to pull out a pencil. She set it down and drew a hexagon, then separated the hexagon into triangles, six in all. "Then what about a conjuration base for a series of triangles?"

"There's still the matter of the trigram being infeasible to place in the center like it ideally would be. Though..." Georg trailed off, furrowing his brow as a thought occurred to him. "Wait. Is it really that simple? How'd I miss this?"

Luna grinned, recognizing that he'd come to a similar conclusion as her. "Even if you split each part of the seal across a different triangle? As long as you put it in a triangular pattern, then you could bypass the need to put the whole thing smack-dab in the middle. There might be a hit to stability thanks to spreading the trigram seal out, but given the seal's redundancy and the inherent stability of the hexagon outline, it should be fine. As long as you don't accidentally muck up one of the trigram aspects, anyway."

"Hmm..." Le Fay watched Luna plot out the set of triangles and place an 'X' in every second one. Finally, she did have a comment, as the Worldweaver enclosed the hexagon in a circle. "Your drawings are really bad!"

"Oh come on, I come in and lend a hand and that's the thanks I get!?" the brunette cried, causing the descendant of Faust to crack a grin, and the descendant of Morgan to break into giggles.

"Your idea has merit," Georg admitted. "I am still unsure how it will operate in practice, due to the low output ceiling of each triangle, as well as the hexagon structure's low energy draw, but I can see your angle."

Luna just stared flatly at the mage as Le Fay's giggles intensified. "Good lord Georg, why you gotta go and do me like that? Why can't you just be a square?"

The black-haired mage's grin widened. "Well, you are the one who recruited me, so you're going to have to live with my quirks, like them or not."

"Shoot. Can't exactly argue with that," the Worldweaver shrugged, closing one eye as her lips tugged upward. "So, since we've gotten to a decent stopping point, why don't you two come down and I fill everyone in on what happened during my... longer than expected trip to the Grigori?"


"You've caused quite a stir, Lunarunn," Azazel commented, leaning back and clasping his hands behind his head as the two walked the halls of the Grigori. "Making peace with Kokabiel, however short-lived it was, warning us of the risk to our brother's family, obtaining the interest of the White Dragon Emperor, and causing a not insignificant amount of environmental destruction trying to fend off the second strongest Fallen Angel still alive. What do you have to say for yourself?"

"I'm just doing what I can to make a mark," said brunette, walking a few feet to his side, responded, letting a huff escape her. "I need to show that I can make an impact; if I don't, then how can I expect to be taken seriously?"

"Well, for one, from the sounds of it your faction is still in its infancy. Growing, perhaps, but still young. I'm a magnanimous leader, but most would see you as upstarts deserving a lesson in your place on the supernatural hierarchy."

"Pretty sure you were one of them. You tried to bluff me into a position of supplication, after all."

"I think Kokabiel learned you that lesson quite handily all the same, that there's always someone better."

"I never claimed to be above anyone else."

"Yet you walk in as though you own the place, get into heavy petting with one of my top officials, and then proceed to not only call out my bluff in the following meeting but drop an ultimatum of your own on your way out the door."

"Again, I have to show that I'm willing and able to make a mark." A sly grin crossed the Worldweaver's face. "I'm sure Penemue got a few before you came back."

Azazel grinned back. "Are you sure you don't want to join the Grigori? You'd fit right in from the sounds of it!"

Luna shifted, expression thoughtful. "Maybe if you'd come to me before I tried leading a political party, I might have. As it stands though, the thought of placing myself at someone else's beck and call is... not a pleasant one."

"All the more reason to join the Grigori. We're a family, first and foremost. We're here for each other, not just because we have a common goal."

"Yet I'd still ultimately answer to you, and like I said, you've got a lot of ground to cover before I even entertain the thought." She gave him a pointed look, and Azazel stared back. He bowed his head in acknowledgement, but his gaze was even all the same. "Then there's Kokabiel; even if I did join, he'd be on my case twenty-four hours a day, every day. I've had enough of that bullshit from the Assembly. Slip up once in either case, and my throat's ripped out before I can even blink."

Luna slipped her hands into her pockets, turning to see a small group of Fallen hurrying past, carrying papers of some sort. Sentry reports, perhaps? "I did the best I could, and as far as I can tell, my only sin was that I pushed a little too hard. Didn't matter, in the end."

"Put it like that, and I have little ground to argue on," the Governor-General conceded. "That being said, this ties back to my point; you've done a lot for just a non-aggression pact."

"Has Kokabiel shared with you what I mentioned to keep him from gutting me right off the bat?"

"Oddly enough, no. He stated that he would not share until you were gone. Away from the Grigori or dead, either-or."

Luna blinked.

"Huh. I'd have thought he'd have went and told you anyway, since he tried to kill me."

"Perhaps he's one of those who sticks to his word," Azazel tried, with a huff of laughter. "As much of a hassle as he can be, I cannot fault Kokabiel for his dedication to keeping his promises."

"Hmh. I'll let him tell you then. You'll know why after I'm gone."

Azazel ran a hand through his hair. "It probably has something to do with you knowing Baraqiel has a family... and the fact that they'd nearly been killed."

"Something like that. It's tangentially related, but I think it's safe to assume you know that I know things someone like me shouldn't."

"What sorts of things are we talking about here?"

"The big secret-type things. God is dead. Baraqiel has a family. You've got a stash of bodypillows of Gabriel in remarkable likeness to the original article in various fetishistic outfits stowed across your numerous hidden getaways. Those kinds of secret-type things."

Azazel paled. "Wait, how do you know about my stash?!"

Luna grinned, closing one eye and holding up a finger-gun cocked with a finger snap.

"You just said so, of course."

She laughed as he grumbled. "Of course you'd go and call me out a second time today. So you know a lot about me, to boot. I'm going out on a limb, but does the same apply to the other major players in the Three Factions?"

"The primary leaders, at least," she confirmed. "Nothing about their specific weaknesses or some of their smaller oddities, but enough that I'm able to consider them familiar... individuals."

A perverted smirk split across the First Fallen's face.

"Does that mean you know how to seduce Gabriel?"

Luna cupped a finger and thumb to her chin.

"Hmm... well..."

As Azazel leaned in, eyes sparkling with all the fervor of a young initiate awaiting a nugget of wisdom.

She shattered that sparkle with a beam. "You're better off doing it with your body pillows. You've got a better chance of knocking one of them up than you have even getting with her."

The two-toned-haired Fallen recoiled back, holding a hand to his heart as though stricken.

"Ah! So cruel! Why must you torture me so, Lunarunn!?"

Luna continued to beam. "Revenge is a dish best served with a smile."

"So ruthless. Truly, you are one to avoid making an enemy of," the Fallen commented, lowering his hand to slip it into a pocket. "It's intriguing. I've received the reports. You were nothing more than a middle-class Devil living her life with no particular intent on making waves. Yet ever since the accident and your claims of having been reincarnated as a human... I can tell I'm missing pieces of the puzzle."

"I did reincarnate from a human, though."

"I know. Michael came to me about an anomaly in Heaven's System, one that just so happened to be making waves in the Underworld shortly beforehand." he peered at her with a knowing, lifted brow. "Yet you said it yourself. You know things you don't. That makes you a mystery."

'Wait, Michael heard my prayer? And went to... Azazel, about it?'

Did he want to help but had his hands tied?

'Focus. You can come back to that later.'

"The good kind, or the bad kind?"

"That's the mystery. You certainly don't seem like bad news, but the point does still stand that your wings - your second pair, that is - are a major point of contention."

"You have an idea what they are?"

Azazel side-eyed the brunette, coming to a rest on her neck and the string of the pendant that wrapped around it. "I have a suspicion. One that's amplified by the fact that Kokabiel initially let you live, but I will wait to act on it until I have confirmation."

"I'm not sure whether to be worried or thankful."

"I think that is wise. But for now, at least, I will agree to a non-aggression pact. On one condition."

'Uh oh.'

"And that condition is?"

"Bring the Vanishing Dragon Emperor back with you."

"...Wait, what?"

"Vali's had a... rough childhood, so he's not the most well-adjusted." Azazel closed his eyes. "I think some time with others like him would do him a world of good."

Luna lifted a brow. "I'm guessing he'll also be your eyes and ears into our forming group, since I'm able to sniff out your sentries."

"Poor Dohnaseek needs to be reassigned after you spooked him as badly as you did!" Azazel protested.

The brunette continued to stare with that lifted brow.

"...But yeah, Vali'll be keeping an eye on you," the Governor-General finished. "Kokabiel was rather insistent that, if he isn't there to end you himself, that we have someone powerful enough to do so on the ground. I figured it would be best to leave you to your own devices, and Vali mentioned that he was curious to see what was up with your lot, so it was the best compromise we could come to."

"There we go. That wasn't so hard, was it?"

"I already said I learned my lesson!"

"It's one thing to know, and another to put into practice."

"I take it that's from experience?"

Luna fell silent for multiple seconds, before finally replying.

"Yeah. Both myself, and my... closest confidant. He had the exact same issue for the longest time."

Azazel stopped in place, watching the brunette. He spoke again, a bit slower, a bit quieter.

"Sounds like there's a bit more than just 'closest confidant' going on."

"Maybe. I don't know. It's... complicated. Story of my life, basically." Luna snorted as she realized what she just said. "And now I sound like a teenager in a toxic relationship. Gee, thanks a lot."

"If my many conquests told me one thing, it's that relationships are rarely simple. Just take things as they come; overthinking it's only gonna cause you trouble."

The Worldweaver gave a single chuckle. "Don't need to tell me that. After my time in Assembly though? Way easier said than done."

"The right thing to do's not always the easy thing to do."

"Preaching to the choir here, man. If you're offering to let the White Dragon Emperor spend time with a different faction, then I'm not gonna say no, as long as he gets to choose what he reports back."

Azazel tilted his head. "Not what you choose?"

"If I'm doing something that the Vanishing Dragon Emperor feels the need to specifically speak with you about, then clearly something's very wrong." Luna chuckled. "It's about accountability. I don't think I'll need it, but we're all biased, and it'll help keep relations smooth with the Grigori."

"Awfully trusting, considering what I and Kokabiel, respectively, did to you."

"I'm not trusting you, him, or the Grigori though. I'm trusting a person who hasn't done me any wrong yet. Until he does, he gets the benefit of the doubt."


"Wait, you're saying you managed to obtain the support of the Vanishing Dragon Emperor?" Georg question.

"Not quite. It's more a quid quo pro-slash-supervisor situation; Vali gets to report back to the Grigori about what's been going on, and we get his support. As long as we keep him entertained. He's not exactly keen on obeying authority figures either, so it's up to us to give him a reason to stick around."

"I will admit to being curious as to what he can do," Arthur admitted, a faint grin rising to his face. "Preferably in a spar."

"As long as you don't go overboard, I don't see why you two can't test each other out." Luna knew she was going to do the same.

"When is Mr. Vali going to be here?" Le Fay chimed in.

"Should be within another hour or so; if I had to take a guess, he's packing up. Not sure what sorts of things he'd be packing up though."


"Heh, fair enough. I accept that additional condition, Lunarunn Bael. Shall we celebrate with a toast?"

"Don't drink, sorry."

"I've got non-alcoholic stuff too, y'know."

Luna smiled thinly. "I'm also allergic to water."

Azazel lifted a brow. "Holy water, you mean."

"You mean to say soda isn't holy?"

"Pretty sure that it's not kosher, actually. At least for Passover."

"Woooow. And here I thought just the Church was a massive hypocrite, but apparently I was mistaken!"

Azazel snickered alongside Luna.

"A handshake will work just fine," she finished. "I need to get back home soon anyway; I'm sure the others are worried, since I promised to check back in before my next stop. Guess that's gonna have to be a visit for tomorrow."

"Oh?" The Governor-General peered at the brunette. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. You seem serious about this 'faction' of yours."

The Worldweaver's smile was dry. "I'm done waiting around for my moment. What else need I say?"


Luna hummed, tapping the table before adding onto her recount.

"I also have news regarding my wayward Bishop."

Jaspal leaned forward, even as Arthur lifted a brow, Le Fay perked up, and Georg lifted a brow.

"You mean to say your visit to the Grigori involved Kuroka somehow?" the ravenette pressed.

"Yeah. So, after I delivered my warning about Baraqiel's family, supposedly when he and Azazel were on the scene, they weren't the first supernatural elements that had arrived."


"Before you leave, there is someone who's said they wanted to talk to you."

"Is that why we've been walking, rather than having this talk back in your office?"

"Yep. We're going to visit someone in their quarters."

Someone's living space. That explained why the rooms around them became more decorated, more akin to dormitories than offices. "Baraqiel?"

Azazel nodded. "After everything that happened, we brought his family back to the Grigori. Considering what happened, that wasn't their home any longer."

"And how are they taking it?"

"Still processing, I would imagine."

"Should we bother them, if they're still processing?"

"Funny that you say that, since you wanted to see Baraqiel earlier."

"That was because I wanted to see what I could do to help someone in grieving. Since I know they're alive and - if not well - at least okay, I know that my help isn't needed."

"Fair enough," the Fallen conceded, lifting his arms in a shrug as they came up on one of the doors, the blond-fringed Governor-General coming to a stop at it. Luna stopped as well, glancing at him briefly before staring at the door as her host's knuckles rapped on the door twice.

"Hey, Baraqiel," Azazel spoke aloud. "It's me, I've got a guest for you."

Silence. Then, the sound of footsteps approaching the door. Then, the door opened, the baggy eyes of a Cadre who narrowly avoided the loss of his family flicking toward Azazel before landing on Luna, furrowed in a moment of confusion and curiosity.

Then they widened briefly, recognition taking place as that confusion was replaced with a surprising amount of warmth. "Ah. You're awake, that's good. You are the one that warned Azazel about... what nearly happened, correct?"

"Ah, something like that, yeah." Luna cleared her throat briefly. "...May we come in? It sounds like there's things to discuss, but if you're busy spending time with your family then that's fine too."

"No, please, come in," Baraqiel stepped back, opening the door wider for them. "Shuri and Akeno are sleeping off the shock from being ambushed inside their home, so I have a few minutes to speak. Even if they were awake, I'm sure they'd want to meet their savior's King."

'Hang on a second.'

"Savior's King," she echoed, blinking and falling silent as she worked to wet a mouth that had suddenly gone dry. "Wait, do you mean who I think you do?"

"She called herself the Bishop of the Worldweaver, so unless you are not the only one with that moniker..." the cadre trailed off, before shaking his head. "Regardless, you still delivered a warning that may well have saved my family. Please, make yourself at home."

That left Luna even more confused. How did Kuroka make it to Japan in a week's time when she'd run away with - as far as she was aware - no money, or thought, or preparation? Had she gotten that good with teleportation circles to travel to a country she'd never actually visited before?

"I see you have questions as well. If you'd like, I could share what I know. Perhaps that might help clear the air for you."

At Baraqiel's offer, Luna finally did step through the boundary, glancing behind her to see that Azazel hadn't moved from his spot. Indeed, he was turning the other way.

"I'll let you two talk it out between yourselves. Sounds like a conversation I don't have any part in." He closed one eye and grinned, doing so from over his shoulder. "I'll probably hear no end of it from Baraqiel anyway, so I'll leave you to it. Ciao."

With a lifted hand in a backward wave, the Governor-General walked off, leaving the brunette alone with the cadre.

Luna glanced over to the . "...Did he warn you that he was bringing me to visit?"

"No, he didn't. In fact, I was told to keep my distance until he got a better read on you. I was resting when Azazel knocked."

"Want me to come back another time? I might need to watch my step around here thanks to Kokabiel, but I think I could cut out some time I could visit you and your family properly. Ideally in a third-party location."

"You're here already, so we may as well deal with Azazel's... peculiarities." Baraqiel sighed and walked over to an armchair, which he slid into. "...Luna, correct?"

"Lunarunn technically, but I'm usually okay with 'Luna'."

"Luna, then." At the brunette's nod, the cadre continued. "First of all, I would like to apologize on behalf of my brother. Azazel means well, but he can be... overbearing."

"I could have figured that out myself, when he tried to claim that your wife and daughter were killed in front of you, to try and get leverage over me. I'd say 'manipulative' is accurate too."

Baraqiel stilled, eyeing the brunette. "He what?"

"You didn't know?" Luna peered at before she sat down on the other chair. Then she snorted as she came to a realization. "Oh, so that's what he meant by 'hearing no end of it' from you later."

"He most certainly will," the Fallen angel agreed, nodding his head sagely. "Had I known what he was planning, I would have cut him off before he could try."

"That's probably why he kept you out of the loop. Had I not figured out something was off, we might not have met for a long time to come."

"Thank Father for small mercies," Baraqiel sighed. "So, manipulations of our Governor-General aside, I also wanted to thank you, both on behalf of my family, and as my own individual. We are in your debt."

Luna bowed her head in acknowledgement, but chose to say nothing about his thanks. She didn't do it because she wanted a cadre indebted to her. Instead, she asked something else. "Why let them stay, if you knew that their family would want to retaliate for sullying their bloodline?"

"I did not want to take Shuri away from her home, or deny Akeno her heritage as a human," he replied. "I asked Azazel to supply them with wards in case they were attacked, and he agreed. For a while, it worked, but my in-laws were... thorough, in bypassing the security measures set in place. Clever, too; they merely weakened the alarm ward that Azazel had set rather than suppress it outright. The moment we entered the human world, the wardstone I keep that represents the control of the alarm wards went off."

Clever indeed. That was the sort of thing Luna would do, if she knew that a target had an alarm with a dead man's switch attached. Still, the specific way they went about it gave her concern.

"How did they know you would be offworld at this point in time, though?"

"Azazel and I have been wondering the same thing," the cadre agreed. "I can only assume either they've been watching for months, if not years, for a moment such as this, or someone informed them of my absence. We are unsure which, and either scenario is deeply unsettling."

"Since it either suggests a fanatical sort of xenophobia, or a traitor within the ranks of the Grigori?" Luna asked. Baraqiel nodded, and the brunette continued. "I know a lot of things, but I can't say I know the cause of that. If I did, I'd tell you. Sorry."

"I believe you."

Those three words warmed the Worldweaver's chest to a surprising degree. "Thank you. It's... nice to hear that from someone new."

The Fallen nodded once more, glancing over at another door, into another room. A bedroom, Luna guessed. "You deserve that much, at least, for what you've done for us."

"Does that mean you'll share what you know about Kuroka?"

"So she is yours."

"Well." She grimaced, lifting her hand and wobbling it from side to side. "It's a bit of a story. She ran off a little over a week ago. I was willing to give her some space, but I also hadn't realized she'd mastered teleportation enough to travel thousands of miles to someplace she hasn't ever been before."

"She could have used her blood as a focus."

"I was wondering about that, it's definitely possible." Kuroka's blood, that of a youkai, would naturally gravitate toward her homeland. Even if she was born in the Underworld, her blood was still that of Japan. "So, I guess I'm curious to find out what she's been up to in her absence."

Baraqiel hummed, leaning forward as he rubbed a hand along his chin. "She was there. At our house, my family's house, when Azazel and I arrived. Her and a white-haired girl, maybe seven, eight years younger? Regardless, from the looks of it they were holding back the Himejimas, Kuroka against their onmyoji and the white-haired girl against the Himejimas' bound oni and shikigami. I also thought I heard them shouting at each other, but when Azazel and I made ourselves known they quieted up swiftly."

The cadre furrowed his brow. "Something about why the other was there? It certainly didn't sound like they'd expected or wanted to be in the same place, though they fought together quite well all the same."

"The white one was Kuroka's sister, I'd reckon." Luna frowned. Why had Shirone shown up? She shouldn't have known Shuri or Akeno were going to be under attack, after all.

'Do you have any idea how that might be?'

Ulan still wasn't talking. Why was she so silent?

"Perhaps," the Fallen allowed. "They did have similar facial structure and feel. But were it not for them, perhaps it would have been too late for us to save Shuri and Akeno. They were already bearing down en masse on the two girls, and my family behind them, bounded field and all."

Baraqiel shook his head. "I shudder to think what would have happened to all four of them, had Azazel and I not intervened."

"So, what happened once you did show up?"

The cadre's smile was all teeth, eyes alight with glee. "I made an example of the ringleaders. They didn't have corpses left to bury after I was finished electrocuting those bastards."

'I thought Baraqiel was the masochist in his and Shuri's relationship? Or was he just that pissed off?'

Either way, Luna couldn't help but match Baraqiel's grin. "Serves them right. If I'd caught the fuckers who'd kidnapped my parents, I'd have done something similar."

She certainly did worse to the one who actually killed them.

Baraqiel's smile dropped to something more melancholic. "Azazel and Shuri may have needed to rein me in from doing the same to the rest, but I do think it was fitting to have at least that. I just hope I didn't traumatize my daughter in doing so."

"I think she'll just be happy she still has her mother," Luna smiled knowingly. "If anything, I think it'll be more of a positive influence on her, to see a father willing to go so far to protect his precious family."

"I will have to take your word for it." The smile returned briefly. "After everything settled down, your Bishop's sister wanted to talk to Akeno about something. She offered her an opportunity to join the Gremory peerage."

"Bold of her to offer something like that in front of the Governor-General and the girl's father, who is part of a wholly different faction," Luna commented.

"And yet, she seemed so sure Akeno would be receptive to the idea, which is strange from a girl that looks younger than Akeno, much less the fact that she admitted to being the Gremory's Rook and offering the opportunity of her own volition." The cadre's eyes narrowed. "The more stunning part was that the Gremory Rook was actually right."

"Did you stop Akeno?"

Baraqiel shook his head. "I merely asked for a future date for my daughter to meet the King she'd be joining, and the opportunity to learn what that might entail, and think everything over, particularly after everything that occurred. I have met Sirzechs, so I can only assume that this is either his son or his sister in question. Most likely, it's his sister."

"It's definitely his sister. She's about the age she'd start gathering a Peerage."

"So why Akeno? Why my daughter, of all people?"

The Worldweaver hummed. "I can think of a few reasons. One being that she would make a good Queen to Rias, being relatively similar in power, heritage, and talent. Two, that she's a good representation of how Fallen and Devils can coexist. Three, that she might want to try living in a way separate from what her father would set out for her. You were late to the rescue, after all. If she sees it that way, and not you rushing to the rescue the moment you heard about them being in danger..."

Baraqiel took a deep, slow breath. "This has Sirzechs's meddling all over it."

"Maybe, but if it was, then Rias would also have been there; she wouldn't have her pieces scout out a new Peerage, she'd want to meet them herself." Luna shook her head. "No, I think this was Shirone's idea, but then the question becomes how she knew so much that she shouldn't have."

The Worldweaver blinked. Then blinked again.

"Oh. Oh. Holy shit."

Baraqiel's brow furrowed. "Did you think of something?"

"That's exactly the same thing I'd use to describe myself; knowing a lot about things I shouldn't." Luna ran a hand through her hair, eyes looking downward. "I'd been bedridden for weeks before I woke up as who I am now. Shirone's been in a coma for the past six years. Maybe not for the same reason, but..."

"You think there might be a link." Baraqiel frowned. "What might have happened then, that your Bishop's sister might know enough about my daughter, myself, and Azazel himself to level the question of Peerageship to a Satan's sister in the presence of us all?"

The brunette grimaced.

"I can think of something that might connect us in the same manner."


"Hold up." Jaspal held up her hand, shaking her head as though to wrap it around everything that Luna had just shared. "You mean to suggest that...?"

Luna nodded. "I think Shirone might have a similar... enlightenment of the world around her that I've undergone."

"Enlightenment?" Georg lifted a brow. "I don't buy it. You're way too angry to be Enlightened."

"Oi, no need to state the obvious jacka- you jerk," the Worldweaver bit out, correcting herself for Le Fay, before smirking lightly at the mage. "I don't mean Enlightenment as in the capital term that the Buddhas have undergone. I mean it in a 'knowledge of the major players of the world being shoved in our heads' kind of enlightened."

"...That's how you know about the things we talked about when you were scouting me, then?" Georg guesed, to which he got a nod.

"It's also how I got Kokabiel to back off on my way into the Grigori, and how I knew about Baraqiel's family," the brunette confirmed. "I hid quite a bit of what I know, and perhaps that was for the best back then. But now that we're on our own and I have a goal to accomplish beyond serving the whims of the Underworld, as well as enough strength to not be dismissed out of hand, it's about time I've started leveraging it."

"Honestly, it makes sense looking back," Jaspal sighed. "Like how you knew that the Pendragon siblings were absconding their parent house the instant you saw Le Fay running through the Golden Dawn's main forum."

"And how you knew about my fiancee, and the reason I left the family," Arthur hummed. "I'm unsure whether to be flattered that I'm considered a 'major player' enough to warrant being known to you, or offended at the violation of privacy."

"I'd go with flattered. I didn't ask to know about you lot."

Perhaps not specifically, but Luna had certainly read a lot of fanfiction and could get a good feel for each character.

"But it did give you an idea on what you had to say to recruit each of us."

"That... is true," she admitted. "But have any of you regretted it so far?"

"I haven't!" Le Fay chimed in. "Living with people like this has been fun, and I wouldn't have been able to meet Mr. Georg or you and talk about magical theory like this!"

"You would have, at least as far as Georg goes." Luna admitted. "Just... not in the same way. You'd be in the same faction, but I'm not sure how well you two would have gotten along."

"I think we'd have gotten along fine," the mage commented, glancing at his fellow mage before giving Luna a shrug. "Perhaps I would have been a bit busy pulling everyone's asses out of the fire to get to know anyone in particular, though."

"Language," Arthur chided, stepping behind his sister and putting his hands over her ears, which she squirmed away from.

"The point still stands though. I'm not going to hide this information, since it's important that everyone's on the same page," Luna said.

Georg shrugged. "Reason enough for me. Though I do have to ask, since you're coming clean with all this, is there anyone you haven't known much about from the get-go?"

Luna's eyes shifted to Jaspal, something the ruby-eyed Devil noted with a frown.

"Sorry Jaspal. Out of everyone here... you're the odd one out."

The ravenette tilted her head, lifting a brow briefly before closing her eyes and lifting her arms in a shrug. "I cannot say I'm too disappointed. I do enjoy my privacy, after all."

"Could have fooled me." Luna teased, glancing away with a grin as Jaspal flushed and glared at the table, the Valac girl's arms straight and pressed into her lap.

"Hush you."

"Okay, let's get back on topic before you two stop flirting and get to making out," Georg clapped his hands once. "We have children here, after all."

Arther glared at him, even if there were traces of a smirk all the same. "Now you care that there are children?"

"I'm not a child!" Le Fay protested. "I'm almost eleven!"

"Still not there quite yet, Fay," Luna shook her head, before continuing. "But you're right, Georg. Let's get back on topic. So, I did a bit of thinking on my way back from the Grigori's headquarters, and I think I might have figured out how Shirone's coma might have translated to that 'enlightenment' that I previously mentioned."

Jaspal picked up on the implications immediately. "Do you mean that your meltdown may have had something to do with it?"

"Meltdown?" Georg turned to Luna askance.

"Years of internalized stress and compromised morals, plus the shock of seeing my parents tortured to death in front of me," the Worldweaver drolled. "Combine the two, and you get a bigger explosion than a pail of mentos in a sealed water jug filled with cola. Shirone went berserk during Senjutsu training, and then fell into a coma, as a side-effect. Let's leave it at that."

Georg whistled at the analogy, then nodded his head in agreement, even as Jaspal and Le Fay both winced. Even Arthur's eyes crinkled in minor discomfort from hearing Luna list off the general summary of her supposed meltdown.

"But yeah, that's exactly what I was getting at Jaspal," the brunette continued, nodding her way. "My power's one that works with the fabric of reality. It could be that by taking the blast of feedback she had, Shirone wound up experiencing an alternate universe during the length of her coma."

'Or that she came from the same world I did, though I can't say for sure without speaking with her.'

Jaspal frowned. "A world where she and her sister are estranged, perhaps? They were arguing with each other even as they saved Baraqiel's wife and daughter, based on his recollection of the incident."

"That does seem like a reasonable explanation. Normally I would consider this nonsense, but..." Georg shifted his gaze from Jaspal to Luna. "Your power is a unique one, even in the supernatural world. It is not out of the realm of possibility when we're talking about metaphysics and conceptual blessings."

"Could we not? My head's already starting to spin..." Le Fay groaned, prompting Jaspal to shift over and set one hand on her shoulder to help steady the young girl, even as Arthur moved to do the same. Their eyes met, and the Valac smiled apologetically before moving away, letting Arthur take both of his sister's shoulders.

"Sorry Fay," Luna's eyes crinkled in sympathy. "But that's about the gist of it. My meeting with the Grigori didn't go exactly as planned, but still turned out alright in the end, and even if I wasn't able to get to making letters for Egypt, Asgard, and Mesopotamia."

"I could help with that, if you'd like," Jaspal offered, glancing over to the others. "Unless you three have things you would need our assistance in?"

"Fay and I will be returning to working on a new magic array after this," Georg replied, nodding over at the younger mage. "Luna helped us to a stopping point before we came down here, but we still need to work out the finer details."

"I have a call to make with my fiancee," Arthur replied, holding up a flip phone. "It's been a little while since we last spoke."

Luna hummed. "Do you plan on bringing her in so you two can be together, now that we have someone who can help us make a secure base of operations?"

"That someone is in the room, you know," Georg added, letting out a dramatic sigh. "Truly, the weight of my presence knows no bounds."

"That will be part of the discussion, yes," the elder Pendragon confirmed. "Though certainly not everything."

"Of course not. Just be careful with what you share, alright?" Luna smiled. "Ya never know who might be listening in."

At Arthur's nod, Luna clapped her hands together. "Okay, so I think that was everything. Jaspal, if you could help me with those letters, that would be fantastic, but I can always do them tomorrow if need be."

"Nonsense. We've nothing better to do anyhow, and it will be good practice for you, to be able to come up with such missives on the fly."

"When you put it like that, I can't exactly say 'no'," the brunette conceded. "Alright, then if everyone's all set, I think it's a good time to call it a night."

"What should we do regarding Vali?"

"Welcome him to the party, of course. He might still be affiliated with the Grigori, but he's going to be staying with us for the foreseeable future. May as well greet him with open arms."

Luna shot a look over to Arthur, and they shared a faint grin. "...Whether that's with open arms for a hug, or open arms as a challenge to a spar, either works."

"Another fight maniac. Joy," Jaspal bemoaned. "At this rate, we're going to need a dedicated healer to stay productive at all!"

Luna pursed her lips.

"...You have someone in mind for that, don't you?"

"Er. Not unless she wants to. She's the same age as Fay, after all."

"Oh?" Le Fay perked up. "New friend?"

"Maybe. I'll have to see what I can do. I'd rather not poke a certain nest if I don't have to."

"Oh." She slumped, clearly disappointed.

Luna wasn't sure why, but at that exact moment, she remembered that Le Fay hadn't exactly had a typical childhood. Maybe a friend her age would do the mage some good.

"I'll reach out though," she reassured the young Pendragon. "No guarantees, but I do think you two will get along."

After that, the impromptu meeting ended swiftly.


He arrived a few minutes beyond the hour mark, a single duffel bag over his shoulder, eyes gazing intently on the house in front of him as Luna stepped out.

"Welcome! Glad to see you finally here; said all the goodbyes you needed to?"

"Eh." Vali's gaze flickered from the house to Lunarunn. "Something like that. So, this is the place?"

At her nod, the orbs of sky returned to the house. "Really? It's... homelier, than I expected."

"We're still small."

"How small?"

"Single digits."

"And you call yourself a proper faction?"

"Less a faction, and more an unaffiliated team." Luna shrugged. "There's plenty of room to grow, however."

"How so?"

"Well, it helps when we've got investments that should start bearing fruit soon, and a Sacred Gear user who can help with matters of security."

Vali was silent for a moment.

"Azazel that you were going out and making visits, but nothing about this specific Sacred Gear user. A new recruit?"

"A new team member," Luna stressed. "We're a partnership. We're all in this together, so we should stand side by side, rather than atop each other."

He stepped by her. "Call it what you will. I'll decide for myself what this little group of yours really is."

The brunette watched him enter, and huffed, muttering to herself. "Man, could have been more polite."

She wasn't going to complain, though.

That being said, with Vali arrived and likely getting a welcoming from one of the others at this point, Luna could finally get to those letters...

The brunette smiled.

"No rest of the wicked. Ah well, can't really complain."


A/N:

This one took a bit longer to get out than I was happy with. But, it's out, and it's looking decent too.

Also, holy shit it's over a year since I first posted this story. A lot has changed in that year. Like the fact that I've been writing somewhat consistently on a story for a year. What. The. Fuck. I'm honestly kind of amazed, but I'm really glad I've been able to keep it up.

Since it is in fact the 25th, happy holidays to all y'all! Hope you have a good one!

Tempura Wizard out.