"Stop! Issei!"

Concrete broke underneath the force of the many arms of the beast. Dust filled the small alleyway. Smoke and trash flew into the air, before falling back down to the shattered earth. The girl was unfazed by the destruction yet the old man fainted, pissing his pants. The beast snorted, forcing the dust to settle.

Its hundred eyes observed the small girl in front of him. She was around Issei's age, around 12 years of age. "How?" the beast asked. "How do you know my name?"

"Of course I know your name," the girl grinned. "You're my best childhood friend, who else would be Ise? It looks like you hit an early growth spurt though huh," without fear, Irina walked up to the monster and patted him on the arm. "You've been through a lot, haven't you," a sad smile was on her lips and she looked like she wanted to cry.

"...Rin-kun?"

"That's me," the girl grinned. "Shidou Irina, best friend of Hyoudou Issei."

The beast chuckled, although it sounded more like a deep rumbling of the earth. Tears came unbidden to its eyes. It wiped them off quickly. It forced an effort to smile, a rather stiff smile. Teeth sharper than a shark's glinted under the dark lamplight of the dank alleyway.

"I… I didn't know you were a girl."

Irina softly rubbed the.. Flesh? Bone? Scales? Fur?.. of the beast. Issei flinched away from her touch. Irina looked at Issei sadly, her bright smile fading slightly. "Well, I was a bit of a tomboy back then!" she spoke loudly, as if to reassure the monster that she wasn't afraid of him. "Well," she laughed, "I still am." She took a step forward.

Issei took a step back. Irina nearly frowned.

"Come on Issei, I'm not afraid of you," she said, almost pleadingly.

"You may not be afraid of me. But I am afraid. I am very afraid of…" the beast took a breath. "I am afraid of hurting you." Issei took some more steps back, away from the light and into the darkness.

Irina pouted, showing her childish attitude. "I am tougher than you think!"

Issei made no move to approach her.

"Fine. Be that way if you want," Irina kicked a stray can, making it ricochet into the nearby trash bin. "But! I will be back for you okay?"

"Don't," Issei said, in a whisper that Irina didn't hear. "Don't come near me!" the beast growled at the angel. "I do not want to hurt you."

"You can never hurt me, Ise," Irina said. "After all, we're best friends right?"

"That is exactly why you can't come near me!" Issei said. "I do not want to hurt you!"

Irina huffed. "Fine," she crossed her arms. "But I'm sticking by you," she creased her eyebrows in a frown.

Issei awkwardly shuffled his feet as he thought of what to do. A mix of emotions boiled within him. He was happy to finally meet his childhood friend who recognized him, despite his many eyes and teeth. It made him overjoyed. But she was human! She didn't have the natural physical resistance that Rias naturally had. Maou knows the number of times that Issei accidentally sent Rias flying…

"Do you trust me?" the beast asked.

"Always," the girl nodded with a bright smile. She looked happy that Issei wasn't pushing her away.

Issei took a step towards the light. The tentacles coiled and retracted. The fur, scales, and eyes disappeared as the mass of the beast shrunk. Ears and noses disappeared from the surface of the beast's skin and mouths closed up. The flesh swirled like a black hole and all monstrosities were sucked into it. A young boy, not yet in his teens, appeared. Pale skin, copperish wavy hair, blue eyes and pearl white teeth were the best words to describe him. He looked like a mish mash of races, a hideous parody of what man would look like if you took genes from every single person on earth and put it into one person.

Irina was unfazed though and offered her hand to this amalgamation of a man.

The boy took the hand offered to him, making sure to handle it like he was holding the most brittle and precious of gems lest he break it. Lest he break her.

"Do you want to go eat? I'm hungry," the girl said and skipped away from the darkness, Issei in tow. She brought him to a beautiful world of light where people dressed in radiant clothing, children laughed merrily as they slurped up their sweet treats, teenagers laughed at the dark jokes they traded amongst one another.

Ah, it was a festival, Issei realized. He didn't know what happened. It was all a blur of lights and laughter. Issei tasted a fried nugget earlier, then it was replaced by a snow cone, then a spicy pork piece, and he was currently rolling a lolly in his mouth.

Issei never knew he could laugh this much. The goldfish splashed water all over Irina, who merely laughed along with the crowd. All the shots missed when they played a shooting game. They crushed a finger or two as they played whack-a-mole. And yet, Issei smiled a lot.

The two kids were seated on a bench just outside the lights of the festival stands. A fireworks show would be commencing in a few minutes. Irina had found this solace away from the crowds so they could have a better view of the fireworks.

"That was fun," Irina said as she stretched. A bag of candies was in her hand. The money that her dad had given her for the day was all used, even though she usually had more than half left over on a regular festival. She looked over to her friend. "Did you have fun?"

Issei stared at the stars. He glanced at the face of his friend. She had a serene smile as she waited for his answer. It has been a long while since Issei had been able to laugh and smile like he did earlier. "I did."

"You didn't hurt me at all, right?"

Issei nodded.

"Let's play again some time, Ise-kun," Irina said. She hopped and skipped merrily across and back to Issei. She pouted when he didn't answer yet.

Issei smiled. His heart felt light. Very light. It was like a burden had been lifted off his shoulders and heart. It felt like his dark past was far, very far away from him. The angel in front of him brought him back into the light.

BOOM!

The fireworks started exploding in the sky. The fire in the sky glittered for mere seconds before sizzling away. Irina turned away from Issei to gaze with awed eyes at the spectacle.

Issei stood up. He walked over to his childhood friend and reached for her hand. He gripped it gently in his hands, like it was the most beautiful piece of glass. Irina turned to look at him. She smiled brightly, not a care in the world.

"Yes. Let's play again."

She was an angel that brought him out of the darkness.

A lovely angel.