Chapter 7

Asia and the recently turned Fallen Angel Irina were not sure why Raynare wanted to speak with them this time.

They were still not sure how they should feel about her now being back to life somehow of all people. While they had lost so many other people close to them at the same time - Issei, Xenovia, even Rias.

They knew of course that both events had nothing to do with each other. It were not Raynare, but Lamia and her allies who had orchestered the attack that had cost the lives of Issei and Xenovia, along with thousands of others.

But Raynare had also been the one who gave them back hope.

They walked inside and saw the Fallen Angel sitting before them, now in her true form and not longer looking like Rias.

"What has happened now?" Irina asked her impatiently.

xxxx

Irina´s personality had not changed (much) after becoming a Fallen Angel herself.

She had certainly become more than a bit more gloomy, angry and cynical. Which normally come along with being a Fallen.

In her case however it had obviously more to do with seeing her lover and childhood friend and another friend and former partner being killed in front of her eyes in an attack initiated by someone they thought they could trust.

It was something that had changed all of them to some level.

xxxx

"I just got a very interesting call from Akeno," Raynare told them. "She, Koneko and a few Exorcists are currently dealing with the Spirit Wraith. You remember the creature that killed your dear Rias and left her body an empty shell?"

"An empty shell ready for you to take over?" Irina remarked.

"Yes. But you know it would have happened anyway. Faust was set on sending the Wraith after Rias and he was set to consume her. I just dealt with the situation as it was."

"Why did Akeno call you of all people?" Asia asked.

"You see - as ridiculous as it sounds, she and Koneko are helping out with an exorcism on a girl the Wraith has possessed now."

They admitted, less than a year ago, the idea of two Devil Servants assisting in any way in an exorcism ritual would have sounded ludicrous to them. But much had changed in the last year.

She asked me if I maybe know a way to get rid of it for good," Raynare stated.

"And do you?" Irina questioned.

"As it happens, I actually believe `our´ beloved Issei should be able to do something here," Raynare explained. "So I might have to tell them about him earlier than I had planned."

`Issei.´

This was not the first time Raynare had called them to talk to them.

xxxxxxx

Five days earlier - Raynare´s room

Asia and Irina were now standing in front of the new room the Fallen Angel possessing Rias body had taken in the school building, after she had moved out of Rias old one.

They knocked on the door and were answered with a short: "Come in."

Raynare was sitting before them at a table, still in Rias body, but with her own purple colored eyes. It was a sight that unnerved them.

"I see you are here - please sit down," she greeted them after they had entered the room.

"We are," Asia replied as she and Irina placed themselves on the other two chairs at the table. "Why have you called us here Raynare?"

xxxx

Asia was still not quite sure how to react or even feel around the Fallen Angel.

Sure - Raynare had been secretly around them all for months now. Even if she had lived in Rias body and under her identity without any of them knowing. And she had made no threatening move against her or any of them in all this time.

But did that really mean that she was completely save around her? Asia was not sure, she admitted.

She sometimes still had nightmares about the ritual when Raynare had removed her Sacred Gear that killed her in the process until a short time ago.

Even if by now it had mostly been replaced by other, similar terrible images.

x

Issei and Xenovia dieing before her eyes. Lamia, who had seemingly helped them so much before, betraying them all and leading the attack that led to their deaths and that of thousands of others.

x

Shalba Beelzebub teleporting her into the Dimensional Void and Issei going into Juggernaut Drive over it and nearly killing all their friends and himself over it.

x

Diodora Astaroth threatening to turn her into his sex-slave, like he had with the rest of his Peerage of former Nuns. Laughing at her how hehad once tricked her to help him and got her excommunicated.

x

The Spirit Wraith and what he had done to Rias.

x

And many others.

Yes - she had seen many nightmares since she came here to Kuoh, more than she could ever imagined when she was still a Nun.

But that didn´t mean that she was suddenly okay with the one Raynare had put her through.

xxxx

"What do you want from us?" Irina asked Raynare more bluntly.

"What I want?" Raynare repeated. "Yes - that is a good question," she said in a quite flat voice. "Why?" she repeated thoughtfully. "There are actually a lot of things we three have to talk about," she stated.

"But let us start with the first one. Despite our differences, we three have one thing in common - Issei."

Neither Asia or Irina said anything in return for a few moments.

"And despite that I was the one to kill him the first time," Raynare continued, "... and came to deeply regret it," she said. "I am affected by his loss just like you are."

"Issei is dead now," Irina responded grimly. "What exactly do you want from us Raynare?" she asked her.

"And why just the to of us?" Asia said.

"There is something else you two have in common," Raynare replied. "In opposite to the others, I don´t hate you."

"Is that supposed to mean something to us?" Irina asked coldly.

"It should," Raynare responded.

"You say you don´t hate me?" Asia said incredulous. "You killed me to get my Twilight Healing. You bound me to a cross and just ripped it out of my body. Did it ever cross your mind that maybe, I am the one who hates you?"

"Yes I did that," Raynare said. "But that was only because I needed your Sacred Gear. So I guess you could say it was nothing personal."

"Nothing personal?" Asia repeated in a hollow tone.

"Asia - you know that the Fallen have the lowest population out of the Three Factions. Do you realize how great the risk of extinction was for us if the fighting should fully broke out again? I might have had other `personal´ reasons, but I was not lying when I said how valuable the Twilight Healing would have been for us.

And it would have been dangerous if we risked having it falling into enemies hands whenever a human host died and was replaced with another one.

So yes, I wanted to take it for myself. And I was all too willing to sacrifice your life for that. And I..." Raynare stopped.

She realized she had started to rant. And how torn she felt about her own arguments.

Asia and Irina said nothing as well for a few moments. They watched a line of emotions on Raynare´s face - anger, pain, insecurity... regret.

Asia was still not sure what to think, but it made her feel a little better that Raynare at least on some level regretted killing her. Even if she would not admit it loud.

But that didn´t mean her anger had disappeared.

"You have still not given us an answer why exactly you wanted to talk with us," she asked her again.

"What if I told you there is a way to get Issei back?" Raynare asked them directly.

Of all the things they would have imagined her to say, this was not one of them.

"What?" Irina exclaimed.

"How?" Asia called out.

"Think about it. How did I come back?" Raynare asked them. "How exactly did I survive having my body disintigrated by Destruction Power in the first place?"

"By what we were told, you bounded your soul to Issei´s to anchor yourself in this world and..." Irina stated.

She started to realize.

"Moment - if your soul was bounded to Issei´s, when your body was destroyed...did this ever change?" Asia questioned. "Is this it?" she asked her. "His soul is still bounded to you now?"

"A good guess," Raynare replied and smiled. "You have figured it out. It is still like before, only the other way around. Our dear Issei´s soul is still here. All we need to do is somehow get a new body for him and transfer it like I did mine."

"And you have not bothered to mention this before?" Irina said.

"Think about it, it would have been a bit complicated to tell you when I was still pretending to be Rias. It could have tipped you off who I really am."

"And why are you telling only us?" Asia asked.

"Well - I hate Akeno and Koneko, so I don´t want them to find out," Raynare replied casually. "At least not too quickly."

"So because you hate them, you intentionally let them believe that Issei is dead forever?" Asia stated. "And not only them, but Kuroka, Rossweisse and Ravel as well, just because your issues with Akeno and Koneko?"

"Kuroka, while I have nothing against her personally, since she is Koneko´s sister I can not expect her to keep her mouth shut about this to her, Ravel is a Devil Heiress, so I trust her even less and Rossweisse, I don´t really know her well, but she is a former Valkyrie who didn´t thought twice about joining a Devil Peerage."

"You are... a bitch," Irina said quietly.

"I don´t deny that. I believe that much was clear for a long time. Well, at least I am not the only one," Raynare responded sardonically.

"Just to make this clear, my `issues´ with them are beside other things, slaughtering my entire old team after making up a story claiming that we had gone rogue," she reminded them. "Yes - We all know I am far from being a saint," Raynare said with a side-glance to Asia, "but even I would have never considered something that insane."

xxxx

Yes, they were aware of that.

Both Irina and Asia admitted that they had no idea had been going on inside Rias Gremories head that she just claimed that a group of Fallen Angels and Stray Exorcists had gone rogue and wiped them out, based on more than flimsy `evidence´.

They also knew that the reason behind all this, aside from Rias own actions, had been a plot by Diodora Astaroth and Kokabiel. Two more of the people responsible for Asia´s nightmares... one of them thankfully being dead, the other permanently... well - indisposed, hopefully for good.

xxxx

"Besides," Raynare continued, "I might not had anything against you, but you were not exactly my best friends either. But I think we are getting off topic here."

"Yes - the question is how exactly are you planning to get Issei back," Asia stated with a firm expression that was quite unlike her usual self.

"Well - Great Red and Ophis have created a new body for him before," she reminded them. "Even should they don´t agree to do it again, it should be possible to find something else to do it or maybe even do it ourselves," she explained.

"Before that however I want to restore my own body and become myself again. You could also see it as a test-run for Issei," she told them.

"And I want to ask you two to assist me with it," she added.

"Raynare - can I ask you a question?" Asia said. "Do you knew that sometimes I am having nightmares about you killing me?" she asked.

"Tell me - do you sometimes dream of lying injured and with broken wings before Rias? Do you dream of her and Akeno killing your teammates? Then you understand how I feel."

To her satisfaction, Raynare actually flinched at her words.

"Asia - I... I am sorry," she said quietly.

"You will get us Issei back," Asia stated with a cold expression that was completely unlike her usual self, "and you will tell the others about it soon. At least Kuroka, Rossweisse and Ravel. In exchange we will do all we can to help you."

"Alright," Raynare responded.

This was how the agreement between these three was made.

xxxxxxx

At the same time at the other side of the planet

The exorcism was continuing. With at least some success so far.

The power of the Wraith or at least the hold it had on it´s host seemed to have weakened.

"Can I speak to you for a moment?" Akeno said to Griselda.

"Of course," she replied.

The two walked a few steps away from the others.

"You know that this will not stop him for good, right?" Akeno said. "Before your exorcism is finished, this thing will just leave this girl and find itself another vessel. Even if you manage to keep it here, it will only be send to another dimension. And it claimed that it would one day just reappear in another world."

"That is the main purpose why we are performing this exorcism Akeno," Griselda stated, "to save this girl and her soul. If we could also stop the Wraith for good, it would be ideal, but evenif we know we can not, we will still finish it."

"But I want that monster dead," Akeno said.

"You want revenge," Griselda pointed out calmly. Not judging her, just stating a fact.

"Yes," Akeno admitted, "but I also want to keep it from ever harming anyone again."

"And - what do you suggest?"

"I just made a call to Raynare," Akeno stated. "As you know she had been existing only on the Spirit Plane for a while and been thought by some kind of super being there. So I thought maybe she knows a way to deal with the Wraith once and for all."

"And she does?" Griselda asked. "And she has agreed to help you? As far as I know you two are far from being friends."

"By what she said, yes. At least she suggested that she had one," Akeno answered.

"But she didn´t tell you how."

"Not exactly - no," Akeno admitted. "But Raynare should be arriving here soon anyway."

Griselda was silent for a few moments.

"I see," she said. "So she didn´t give you a clear answer. But she implied that she will help us... or rather you."

"Yes."

Griselda sighed.

"Alright. We will slow the exorcism down, just enough to keep the wraith occupied," she gave in. "We will wait till the Fallen Angel arrives. And then we will hear from her in person if she has a real idea or not how to deal with this creature."

xxx

It was less than 20 Minutes later when the arrived just outside of the house of the family of the posessed girl.

A bit to their surprise it was not only Raynare, but Irina Shidou - former Church Warrior and partner of her ward Xenovia, recently turned Fallen Angel - and Asia Argento as well.

"Sister Griselda," Irina greeted her.

"Irina," she replied. "It is good to see you again. How have you been?"

They had met the last time shortly after Xenovia´s and Issei´s deaths.

"Given the circumstances, I guess well," Irina said.

"Raynare," Griselda Quarta turned to her, "Akeno told me that she has talked to you. And that you implied that maybe you had a way to destroy the Wraith?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"The only way I can think of is to fight it on the Spirit Plane itself," Raynare stated.

"But that has been tried before," Koneko called out. "By Issei and Sirzechs when they tried to save Rias. If they of all people hadn´t succeeded then, what chance do we have?"

"That´s what I would like to know too," Akeno said as well. "I hope you actually have an idea beyond that."

Had Raynare just been holding out to her? Had she just given her false hope?

"Yes - but there are two things different now. First, this time the Wraith has no help from Faust. It was actually him who had kept Sirzechs and Ddraig occupied the entire time?"

"And second?" Griselda asked.

A smile formed on Raynare´s face.

"This time Issei is in a better position, since he is a spirit himself now," she said.

Akeno and Koneko could not believe what they were hearing.

"Issei?" Koneko said shell-shocked.

I have finally finished a new chapter for this story after a long time.

It will also probably come to an end soon, with the next chapter or the one afterwards being the last.