Disclaimer: I don't own Highschool DxD.
Chaos
"Territory?" Joshua asked, feigning confusion as his mind instantly went to the map that he had taken a picture of. 'So much for staying hidden, huh?' He thought sarcastically.
"Oh, you don't know?" The armored one asked, looking clearly amused. "How did a magician get inside our territory without knowing?"
"I'm… kind of new?" Joshua tried. "I only started learning magic from a book I found a few months ago."
"Oh, a baby, huh?" The robed one mocked with a grin that still reminded Joshua entirely too much of the Hunter.
"He lied," The one with the bow pointed out and he felt his shoulders tense up. "He knew it was our territory. Everything else was true though," He said and Joshua had to stop and wonder how he had even known.
"Oh?" The bigger one tilted his head curiously. "How'd that happen?"
"Does it matter?" The robed one asked with a crazed chuckle. "He clearly isn't from one of the associations. Nobody will miss him."
Joshua felt a chill run down his spine at those words. 'Please, be normal people,' He pleaded in his mind as he looked at the other two. To his horror, the others looked simply annoyed. No disgust, no reproach, no sympathy.
"Wh-What do you mean?" Jeanne asked. By her voice, it was clear that she had a very good idea of what they meant, but her brain refused to believe that. Joshua didn't blame her at all. He had already been through something similar and he still couldn't believe this was happening right at that moment.
"You see, little lady," The guy started speaking. Meanwhile, Joshua looked around, his eyes darting left and right taking in everything. "The supernatural world is a dangerous place, full of crazy people," The man lectured.
'It's just the three of them,' Joshua noted. 'Tank type, Rogue type and Mage type, if I have to guess,' He added, looking at the strangers. At least, that's what he got from just one look, although he took that with a grain of salt, since appearances could be deceiving. 'The Rogue lowered the bow though,' He saw. 'Probably doesn't see us as a threat and wants to leave us to his crazy partner?'
"And that's why one has to be able to defend themselves," The robed one took a step forward as he spoke, raised a hand and a bright red circle appeared in front of it. "Because if you don't-"
He was interrupted by an empty bookshelf appearing right in front of the girl. Joshua had thrown a card right there with a piece of furniture taken from the Hunter's house that he had stored for that specific purpose, to act as a barrier. It did it's job marvelously, the fireball the man had sent Jeanne's way hitting it instead.
"Run, Jeanne!" Joshua shouted, pulling up the revolver. Mentally, he called for his Bloodlust skill. It was still Lvl 1, so it probably wouldn't do much, but he could hope. The other Magician moved his hand towards him and this time a blue circle appeared.
"You think you can just take me like th-"
He was interrupted again by a gunshot. Silence followed and then a loud thud of a body hitting the floor. The magician's eyes looked at Joshua wide open, while the archer looked at the fallen armored man. Two things happened in a second then, the first one was that Jeanne started running away and the second was that Joshua pointed his weapon towards the stunned magician.
He was disappointed though, when the man was clearly not shocked enough to not put another shield up. Joshua would have gone for another shot then, but the man with the bow pulled it up and put an arrow pointed right at him immediately. With that, he could only do one thing and that was throw himself aside to avoid the projectile.
"You are so, so dead," The robed man growled at him and he rolled aside just as a fireball hit the spot he had been in. Without aiming at all, he shot the revolver again, if only to annoy the other two and buy himself a second to breathe. It didn't work out too well, because an arrow grazed his shoulder then.
'Fuck, should have gone for the archer,' Joshua thought as he felt the burning sensation on his arm.
He shot another two magical bullets. He didn't want to though, he really didn't, because every single one was energy he was spending, tiring himself and exhausting a resource that he would need when he actually could aim. However, he couldn't afford to not shoot either, since that would mean his enemies would get that time to aim too.
He hated the situation too, because he was clearly at a disadvantage in several ways. Joshua wasn't only in the side with less people, but also in the one that had less firepower and less experience. With another two shots from his revolver, one of which hit close enough to the magician that it not only interrupted his spell but it also sent the man to the floor.
There wasn't a second for him to celebrate that small victory though, as he jumped once again, to dodge another arrow. 'Where does he even get them fr-'
"Fuck!" He screamed. He had been too slow. The projectile hadn't embedded itself on his leg, but it left a clear, deep and very painful cut on his calf. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" He repeated with a snarl. His hand raised the revolver once more as the other moved to take a card from his pocket. He fired without stopping as he tried to get the archer with one of his attacks. Joshua didn't even want to take him out, he would have been happy with a wound of any kind.
No such luck, however. The man was clearly much better at dodging than he was as he moved gracefully around, avoiding all his attacks like they were nothing. What is more, he did so while also readying one of his own.
'At least I had enough time,' Joshua thought, his breath growing ragged, both because of the situation and his growing weariness due to the magic being sucked from him by his own weapon. He felt yet another bit of his energy leave him as he activated the storage circle on the card he pulled out, a bunch of knives coming out. They were the knives he used for practicing in the forest. This time, they would be used in a real situation.
Joshua threw himself to the ground as the archer took another shot. He darted to see the magician scrambling to his feet, any second now it would be back to him being overwhelmed by numbers alone, let alone skill. He couldn't afford that.
Pushing himself to his feet with all the strength he could muster and picking two knives at the same time, he threw them straight at the magician. The man screamed when they both hit him, Joshua internally sighing in relief. One had even buried itself right on the magician's back while the other cut his leg. All this sent him back to the ground.
His inner celebration was cut short by a shot of pain coming right from his left shoulder, where there was now the back end of an arrow peeking out. He screamed no words this time, simply announcing his pain for everyone to know as his legs gave out from under him and he fell to his knees.
Joshua's right hand shot towards the wound, stopping short of touching it because he knew that would hurt even more. His attention though, was taken completely from the fight as his brain focused only on the pain and the wound he had just suffered. He wasn't even aware enough to realize how big a mistake that was.
He was brought back to the present by a hiss that cut through the entire scene of what was happening. His eyes moved to the side, idly noticing that the archer did the same thing, bow still pointed at him. Joshua was shocked at the sight that greeted him. Over where the magician had fallen, there was something else now. A grey creature with beady black eyes loomed over the man that was still twitching on the ground, trying to reach for the knife that had embedded itself on his back.
'Nagini?!' Joshua recognized easily just as the snake snapped forward, fangs almost shining as she lunged for the magician. The man let out a pitiful cry as she bit his neck and proceeded to wrap herself around her neck. Then and there, there was none of the tenderness that the Black Mamba would show Joshua, no, there was only aggression.
"What the fuck?" The archer exclaimed, clearly surprised by the turn of events. "Where the fuck did that snake come from?!" He screamed.
That was enough time for Joshua to regain his bearings, at least a little. Gritting his teeth, he forced his body to move despite the arrow on his shoulder. He groaned as he leaned down to pick up another knife, or the revolver, whatever was closest.
"Oh no, you don't," The archer shouted and Joshua inwardly cursed, preparing himself to feel another arrow hit him, maybe even worse. Flashes of loud noises, bent metal and gushing blood appeared in his mind. The pale faces and the last words of his parents echoed in him again.
As if to mock him, at that moment, his hand wrapped around the handle of the revolver. It was as if reality had told him that yes, another second and he could have fought for his life some more. Maybe he would have even survived, with just another moment…
The arrow never came. There was no pain and no silence. Instead, a screech echoed through the forest. Just like it had happened some time ago in the Hunter's house, Joshua saw a mass of black and white fly in the air towards the archer. 'Cheshire,' He recognized instantly, this time not even surprised anymore.
With a shaky hand, he brought up the revolver, trying his best to aim at the thrashing archer as the man tried to get the feline off of his face. His teeth all but grind together as he tried to force the weapon to remain steady with no success.
"Get out of there, Cheshire!" He called out, because there was no way in hell he was shooting with his familiar there, even if he managed it. 'Come on,' He told himself, taking a deep breath in through his nose. His fingers almost dug into the handle of the gun and then, he finally reached his goal just as the feline jumped away.
"No, wait!" The archer tried, but the gunshot silenced him, making his body snap back.
Then, silence fell on the forest. The birds didn't sing, probably scared away by the fight. Not even the leaves on the trees moved as the wind seemed to suddenly die, just like his enemies. His eyes looked at the magician, who laid just as still as his comrades, Nagini still wrapped around his neck. Then, he looked at the ones that he had killed. The armored one and the one with the bow.
Then, a blue screen appeared in front of him.
[Quest Complete: Kill a member of Khaos Brigade (x3).
Rewards:
+ Random Stat (x3).]
For a long moment, he stared at the screen, as if his mind couldn't process it. Then, detachedly, he called for his Status screen. 'Two points to Speed and one to Vitality, huh?' He thought neutrally. Before he could even snap out of his stunned state, several screens appeared in front of him.
[Bond: Nagini has gone up a level.]
[Bond: Nagini has gone up a level.]
[Throwing Weapon Mastery has gone up a level.]
[Revolver Mastery has gone up a level.]
[Bloodlust has gone up a level.]
[Bloodlust has gone up a level.]
[Bloodlust has gone up a level.]
[Physical Resistance has gone up a level.]
'Huh, fighting is productive,' Joshua thought then, his mind feeling sluggish. A meow distracted him as he turned to meet Cheshire's amber eyes while the feline started making her way towards him. Blinking, he looked towards Nagini then, the snake following the cat's example and slithering her way towards him. 'Why do I get the impression that they are… worried?' He thought then, slightly confused.
'Oh,' He blinked again as he remembered that he still had an arrow on his shoulder.
The pain immediately returned to the forefront of his mind.
[}-o-{]
[Jeanne]
"Run!" The voices had screamed in her mind and, like she had done for years, she listened. Her brain didn't even have to process what they said, especially not when it was delivered with such urgency and strength. Her legs started moving before she even finished processing the order.
'I'm never complaining about Joshua's running training,' She thought when her mind finally caught up, only to almost freeze mid dash and stumble forward. 'Joshua?' She looked around, expecting to find the dark haired man around, hear the branches and leaves under his feet.
Instead, she heard the familiar sound of his revolver, something that she had gotten used to through the days of training they did together. The sound breaking through the Sound Dampening Ward Joshua had placed around the place and reaching her in a much lower volume than it would have otherwise. 'He… stayed?' She asked herself, unable to understand the concept. Why would he tell her to run if he was going to follow his own order?
"Savior," The voices whispered, just like they had when she first met Joshua and a pit formed in her stomach. When another shot echoed in the forest, she almost turned around. "Run," The voices told her, and she froze. They hadn't shouted this time, but there was just as much power in the word.
'And just… leave him there with them?... With… him?' Jeanne asked herself and her disembodied advisers, feeling a shudder travel down her body as she remembered the robed man's words and overall disposition. 'Creepy bas-'
Two more gunshots reached her ears, making her twitch.
There was a short pause before more shots followed, each followed by another, with barely a moment between each of them. 'I should help-' She started to think, only to be interrupted by the voices. They seemed to grow… she would have said angry, or annoyed, but that wasn't it. They sounded more… authoritative, in a way.
"No," They told her. "Run," They repeated stubbornly. A few stray voices separated from the group and added. "Or wait," They whispered softly, as if trying to be understanding. Jeanne paused and turned, only to see a flash of light accompanied by another shot. She couldn't see the actual fight though, she had run too far for that.
'But I could-'
"No, you can't," The voices denied her even the thought and she flinched. "Not ready. Not trained. Not armed. Not accompanied by the Holy."
'What is that last thing even supposed to mean?' She thought.
"I've seen some dangerous stuff and I've only been aware of this side of the world for like… a few months now." Joshua's words echoed in her mind.
It was almost cliche, how just after that conversation they were attacked like they were. One second he and the voices were explaining to her that the world they lived in was dangerous and the second… She paused… the voices had told her something about needing the training Joshua was having her do. Then she complained and then he told her… but…
'You knew this would happen?' She asked, for the first time in a long while wondering just what the voices were and how they worked. It was a question that she had stopped going back to long ago, tired of receiving no answers. However, the voices had never actually predicted anything. It was always advice, warnings, information even, but no predictions.
"Chaos is everywhere. Infinity grows impatient."
'I hate it when you give me non-answers,' Jeanne complained internally, only to be distracted by yet another gunshot. This one though, was followed by silence. The girl waited with a bated breath for something to happen.
She didn't even know what she wanted to happen. Did she want to hear Joshua still struggling in a fight for his life? At least that meant he was alive, right? Or did she want the fight to be over? But what if that meant Joshua had died?
He was alone with the robed man and the archer. At least he had…
He had killed the other man.
Jeanne's brain finally stopped ignoring what she had just witnessed before running. She was more confused and scared than she was disgusted, if she was honest with herself. How was she even supposed to feel about the death of a man that would have just watched as Joshua and herself were killed? How was she supposed to feel about Joshua killing him?
Joshua, the same man that she regularly saw playing with Cheshire, Nagini and even Morag, on occasion. A man playing with a snake and a spider had no right to be as wholesome as he always looked when he was with his pets. He would even, sometimes, let out this small smile that Jeanne quite liked to see. A smile that she knew came from his very heart.
Joshua, the same man that would try to teach her Ward Magic and his Storage Spell only to hit the wall that was her apparent inability to understand magic calculations. The man that, even with that, still sat next to her and studied with her, be it magic or something else about the supernatural. Patiently explaining things that more often than not went over her head, although he didn't seem to care much about that last part.
Joshua, the same man that had taken a girl from the streets, used his hard earned money to buy her clothes and even gave her a room full of furniture. He had even gone out of his way to put even more stuff in her bedroom than what she had told him. She had a feeling that he hadn't exactly paid for any of that, but she didn't care at the time.
He had no reason to help her. No reason to go through the trouble and hardship that it would be to maintain her. He wasn't related to her, he didn't even know her before that day and still did so anyway.
And now, he was fighting.
"For you as much as for himself," The voices confirmed her suspicions. Another thing to add to the list of things she owed him for. Next to picking her up, buying her things and accepting her without asking for anything in return.
'Am I just going to stand here?' Jeanne asked herself, hating the fact that, as much as she wanted to be brave and go help Joshua, she was too afraid to move. 'Move!' She demanded of her legs, but her own body seemed to ignore her.
"Safe," Many voices whispered in her head, making her head snap up. "Most probably," Some others agreed. "Be careful," They all adviced and she nodded hesitantly.
Slowly, she started moving back to where it all started, being careful to hide herself behind trees all the while, just in case. She felt silly, really. There she was, tiptoeing around the forest, hiding behind trees like a little girl playing hide and seek. However, she did not dare to just walk there without a care. She didn't want to be seen if those people were still around.
"Careful where you step," The voices whispered and almost fell on her face due to the surprise.
'You are really chatty today,' Jeanne pointed out, not receiving a reply this time. She so wanted to roll her eyes at that.
"Eeep!" The girl shrieked when a screech caught her off guard. She turned then, wide eyed and shaking only to see Cheshire standing there. Jeanne almost expected the cat to give her an amused look or something of the sort, all of Joshua's pets were entirely too intelligent and, more often than not, smug too. Well, familiar, in the cat's case, or so she had been told.
Instead of that, or any other reaction she might have seen coming from Cheshire, she dashed towards Jeanne, bit into her pants and started pulling her towards the clearing. Slightly out of it, she started walking at the cat's insistence, unsure of what could have put her in such a state. Then a thought crossed her mind and she paled.
"Probably," The voices said, not reassuring her in the slightest.
'No… Joshua is fine,' Jeanne told herself as she started jogging and then running. 'He's fine,' She repeated.
Joshua was not fine. At. All.
When she arrived back at the clearing, she was met with four men down on the ground. The ones that had attacked Joshua and her didn't move, and she knew exactly what that meant. However, all her attention focused solely on the man that had helped her when she most needed.
Joshua laid propped against a tree, his leg was bleeding and his right hand was on his left shoulder, holding it while… While an arrow peeked out of it. Jeanne gulped at the sight. He was pale, his eyes unfocused as he looked at himself. Nagini was wrapped softly around his left hand that laid limply on the ground next to him, seemingly hissing something at him in a soft noise that Jeanne had never heard from the snake.
Cheshire gave an equally soft meow and approached her master looking nothing like the proud feline that she always was.
"Cheshire?" Joshua called, wearily turning his head to look at the cat. The girl saw the corner of his mouth twitching up. "Jeanne?" He asked this time, noticing that she was there too. She hated the note of surprise in his voice. Did he think she would just leave? She could understand that, but at the same time…
"What do I do? How can I help?" She asked, desperately fidgeting with her hands, as if that would give her an answer.
"Treatment" The voices whispered unhelpfully.
"I know that!" She shouted, unknowingly responding out loud instead of in her head.
"My backpack," Joshua said weakly and she almost appeared next to the thing by how fast she moved. "There's a card… I drew a red cross on a corner... out of the circle... Can you bring it here?" He explained, seemingly unable to get through a whole sentence without pausing.
The pit in her stomach grew as she frantically looked for the thing. 'It's here somewhere, just look,' Jeanne told herself, growing more and more nervous as the seconds seemed to pass by.
"Here!" She screamed, letting out a short, relieved laugh as she smiled and turned to look at Joshua. Her victory died a quick death as she saw his head had fallen to the side. Cheshire looked at her, giving a mournful plea. "Nonono, Joshua!" She called as she stumbled her way over to him. "What do I do now? How do I take this out? Please, tell me!"
She had never hated her inability to understand magic as much as she did at that moment. He had tried time and time again to teach her the Storage Spell if not Wards. It was a very useful skill, he had told her. Instead, she had given up, focusing on finding a Sacred Gear that she wasn't even sure was actually there.
'What do I do? Please!' She begged the voices this time, when Joshua didn't show any signs of being awake at all. She became very aware of how much his shoulder was bleeding and that was nothing compared to his leg. At least his shoulder had the arrow there still, holding some blood back. His leg was …
Desperately, she picked up one of Joshua's knives from the ground, cutting off the sleeve of her shirt to use as a bandage or whatever. She just wanted to stop the bleeding if she could. Maybe use the other sleeve for his shoulder? 'That sounds like a good idea,' She told herself.
"Useless," The voices told her, full of sympathy contradictorily enough. She would have prefered it if they had been mocking. At least then it would have been easier for her to ignore.
As she wrapped the sleeve around Joshua's calf, she saw Nagini lay her head down, wrapping on herself. Cheshire let out a soft noise that Jeanne couldn't even name and rubbed her head against her master's side. Jeanne, herself, looked on, a single tear falling from her eye.
'Why is everyone acting like there's nothing to do? We can still save him...' She thought.
Her hands fell as the strength seemed to leave her.
'We can still save him, right?' She sounded even less sure the second time, even in her head.
"Sure… You can come," She remembered Joshua's words when they met. It felt like a lifetime ago for her, now that she stopped to think about it.
"You can't die," She mumbled as she looked at his closed eyes. "You… you said you would help me find a job, remember?" She asked, receiving nothing but silence in return. "Remember?" She repeated in a whisper that only she could have heard.
Was that it?
Was she going to be alone again?
After finally finding someone that accepted her, voices and all.
After finding something that could have been called a home, something that she had never realized she was looking for…
No.
'No,' She thought, her eyes growing determined. 'This can't be it… This isn't it...'
Without her even noticing, her hands were shining.
And then, a sword appeared in them. She looked at it, light colors all around, the blade almost looking white while the guard was golden and simple. Jeanne noted, however, that the thing didn't have an edge.
"A healing blade, born of Gratitude," The voices told her.
Without hesitation, she brought the tip of it towards Joshua's shoulder. She felt her energy being sucked through the guard of the sword, a feeling that was both foreign and still familiar. She was sure this was what Joshua meant when he explained how using magic felt.
The arrow still in the wound broke off right in front of her eyes. She could see the hole in his skin closing, leaving a single completely clean dot of smooth skin in the middle of the blood that had come out of the wound. Without stopping there, she pointed the sword at his leg this time. The sleeve she had wrapped around it was quickly turning red, but it stopped as soon as she started healing the limb. She knew the wound wouldn't be there if she looked for it.
A meow got her attention as she went to slump down to the ground. When she turned, Cheshire pointed to a relatively harmless looking cut on Joshua's shoulder. At least, it was compared to the other wounds the man had suffered. Jeanne gave the cat a small smile. 'Might as well,' She shrugged.
When that was healed too, she sat down on the ground, feeling absolutely exhausted. She gave the cat a smile as she walked over to her and sat on his lap. Jeanne looked as Nagini wrapped herself around Joshua and turned to look at her before giving her a hiss that she was almost sure was a 'thank you'.
"You are welcome..." She paused when Cheshire rubbed her head against her. "... Both of you," She added, earning herself a pleased meow.
[} Chapter End {]