Disclaimer: I don't own Highschool DxD.
Oh Well, Oh Well
When Joshua woke up, he found himself in the back seat of "his" car. For a second, he blinked repeatedly, wondering just why he was there and not back at his apartment. Then, his eyes caught sight of the trees out the window and his eyes widened, flashes of the fight he had coming to his mind.
With a gasp, he sat up instantly, one of his hands flying to his shoulder and his eyes darting towards his leg. The latter of which had proved to be much more dangerous than the arrow that had embedded itself in him. After all, the one that had cut him had been the reason for his passing out, having lost too much blood through it and his other wound. 'Almost died because of an arrow to the leg. Who am I? Achilles?'
There was nothing now, though. He frowned as he looked over his leg, where there was an obvious rip on his pants and they were stained with red. However, his skin was perfectly fine, no sign of a wound anywhere on his limb. Same with his shoulder and even the graze that one of the arrows had left on his arm was gone too.
"I unlocked my Sacred Gear."
Joshua almost hit his head against the ceiling of the car when he jumped, surprised by Jeanne's voice. Gulping down the fear, he turned to look at the girl that sat on the passenger's seat. He twitched when he felt something come in contact with his hand. However, there was no fear this time, because it was the familiar feeling of Nagini's smooth scales.
"So you did..." Joshua mumbled, his voice barely above a whisper. 'I almost died… again...' He thought and it angered him more than it scared him. "Do you know which it is?" He asked, trying to keep his thoughts away from what had happened, from what had almost happened and from what he had done… again. His hand absently scratched under Nagini's head.
He almost smiled when Cheshire appeared from the front seat and jumped on his lap.
"I… don't. I'll have to check the books when we get back," Jeanne replied.
Then, confused, Joshua blinked and turned towards the teenager. The blonde was staring straight ahead through the windshield and the man had a hard time reading her guarded expression. A meow made him turn towards Cheshire, only to see the cat staring at their mutual friend too.
"Jeanne? Everything ok?" He asked, wanting to kick himself a second later. After what had happened, after what she had seen, it was obvious that she wouldn't be fine. The girl seemed to be a second away from telling him just how stupid that question was, but she closed her mouth at the last second and her eyes unfocused.
'What are they telling you, Jeanne?' Joshua wondered.
"You almost died," The blonde said instead of whatever she had wanted to before. He smiled wryly as his hand petted Cheshire.
"Yeah, well, wouldn't be the first time," He commented with false cheer. Evidently, Jeanne didn't appreciate the attempt, and neither did his familiar, who gave him a light bite on his thumb. Even Nagini gave him a smack with her tail.
"Why did you stay, Joshua?" Jeanne asked and he could see tears in the corner of her eyes. He hoped she wouldn't cry though, he was awful dealing with crying people. "Why didn't you run too?"
"They would have gotten us if we ran, Jeanne. That's what I believe, at least," He answered honestly.
"So you played the stupid hero? Why?! You don't know me!"
"I don't know you well," Joshua corrected with the smallest of smiles as he turned his gaze down to Cheshire. "But that doesn't mean I want something bad to happen to you, Jeanne. I'm not like that."
"Are you suicidal?" She asked out of the blue, completely serious. It caught Joshua off guard, if nothing else.
"Why would you even-?"
"I saw the scars, Joshua," She interrupted him.
He blinked repeatedly, not really catching her meaning. Then it dawned on him as his eyes moved towards his wrists. He, more often than not, forgot about those scars, if he was honest. He hadn't made those cuts, he hadn't even suffered through them.
Now that he thought about it, it was good that he wore long sleeves often. However, he would need to see about covering them. A watch would work for one of them, but what to use on the other? He shook his head then, focusing back on the conversation at hand.
"And I know you lost your family," Jeanne continued listing off, this time earning a flinch from Joshua. "You don't get along with your relatives. You don't even have friends outside of Cheshire, Nagini, Morag and me. So… be honest with me, Joshua, are you suicidal?"
"I'm not suicidal, Jeanne," He reassured softly before sighing. "This is just..." He waved his right hand over his left wrist. "It's in the past, Jeanne."
It was better to go with that, Joshua guessed. He couldn't exactly tell Jeanne that he was from another dimension and he was just stuck with those scars. The world they lived in was weird, but he was pretty sure that it wasn't that weird… Or maybe that was just what he hoped.
"I'm not suicidal. It was a decision taken in the moment, it's not like I had time to think of a strategy or anything. I'm the one that can actually fight between the two of us, so I did," He explained as best he could.
Once more, Jeanne opened her mouth to speak only to close it as the voices whispered something that only she could hear. 'God, I really wish I could know what they tell her.' His wish was repeated with more intensity when he saw her cheeks grow slightly pink. He raised an eyebrow as the girl coughed in her hand.
"Anyway… I just… I wanted to say… thank you," She said, barely in a whisper as her blue eyes locked on her fidgeting hands. "For risking your life for me."
"Don't mention it," Joshua reassured softly.
"I'll train," She announced out of nowhere, making him blink in surprise. "I'll see what my Sacred Gear can do and I'll train, just like you. You won't have to fight alone next time, Joshua."
"I would prefer if there wasn't a next time at all," He replied wryly. "But that would be appreciated," He nodded, and this time it was her time to blink owlishly.
"Just like that?"
"What? You thought that I wouldn't want you to fight?" Joshua raised an eyebrow at her. "That would be stupid. Especially since I can't fight all your fights. I think today proved I'm not that good of a fighter," He added self-deprecatingly. "You have to learn to defend yourself in case… In case anything happens," He shrugged, and this time he had a good idea what the voices were telling her when her eyes drifted off. Confirming his words or something, he was sure.
Evidently, he was wrong, because Jeanne turned a dark shade of red all the way down her neck. Joshua was almost concerned for her. Blushing that hard couldn't be healthy. He was, also, very curious about what had been said.
However, he was more curious about something else and his somewhat good mood flew out the car's window.
"I'm surprised though," He said, his tone forlorn as he gazed down at Cheshire, one of his hands moving to play with her soft fur. "I didn't think you would come back… or stay."
He knew that he shouldn't have said that, even before he did. Cheshire seemed to agree with that, because she gave him a glare at the same time that she scratched him with her claws. However, he felt like he needed to voice it anyway, like not doing so would be… wrong, in some way.
"I guessed as much," Jeanne replied, and from the corner of his eyes he could see her turning back towards the windshield, away from him. "You seemed surprised when I arrived back at the clearing."
That had happened? He could barely remember what had happened after he fell to the ground due to his wounds. Still, he guessed she wouldn't lie about that and it sounded plausible enough to him.
"I just… What I did..." He trailed off, unable to find the right words to express what he wanted to say. His eyes found his hand, still with Cheshire's hairs between his fingers. He could almost see the blood in them, even though this time he hadn't actually gotten any on him. 'This time' A corner of his mind repeated.
"It matters," Jeanne voiced, and Joshua turned away from her, even though he knew she wasn't looking at him. "But it doesn't change anything."
That wasn't the answer he had been expecting. At all.
"You've done a lot for me, Joshua. And it sounds stupid, but you are closer to me than any friend I ever had. Closer than even my family. What does it say about me? That someone I met two weeks ago is closer to me than the people that share my blood or shared years of life with me," She added, with a wet chuckle that belied her tears.
He would have liked to say something, to reassure her, to comfort her. However, Joshua had never been good at dealing with people, much less emotional people. Moreover, this was something that directly involved him, which made it even harder to decide what to do or say.
"But… you know me, you accept me. My friends didn't know anything about me, they knew a mask that I used in public. And my family didn't accept me, rejecting what I was," She continued and Joshua could hear the strength coming back to her voice. "That's why… that's why I know you aren't just a… a killer. You are more than that."
They sat inside the car for a moment in silence. It wasn't uncomfortable though, Joshua noticed. It was more like… both of them needed a pause in the conversation, a moment of rest.
"Just..." Jeanne was the first to break the silence. "Don't become like him."
Joshua knew who she meant. She meant the robbed man. However, in his own mind, Joshua pictured the Hunter. He had been, as far as the Davis knew, far worse.
"I won't," He promised. "You won't let me, will you?" He asked, as much to Jeanne as he did Cheshire and Nagini, who he locked eyes with. Both animals gave him a nod, while the girl in the front seat hummed affirmatively. "Now… I guess I'll change clothes and we can go back to the apartment, huh?" He asked, a small smile as he picked up his backpack, which he found on the floor of the car.
Opening it, he rummaged without any energy, searching for his cards. It seemed that Jeanne had made a mess searching for the one he had his first aid stuff in, because they were all over the place. Eventually, he found one where he had spare sets of clothes. Pulling it out and looking up, he locked eyes with Jeanne.
"You'll teach me the Storage Spell, won't you? Please?" She asked, and he was surprised by the weakness in her voice. For the most part, she had sounded stronger and more determined than he had ever heard her. The girl almost sounded like she was pleading.
"Em… sure," He nodded, unsure of where that was coming from. Then he looked at his card and realized the reason. 'She couldn't take out the things from the card I told her to look for...' A sad smile came to his face. "I'll teach you, Jeanne, don't worry. Even if your magic comprehension is abysmal," He tried again, at the end, to bring some cheer to the conversation. This time, he was pleased to see that he succeeded, and he couldn't help but laugh as Jeanne pouted childishly at him.
He almost choked though, when a shining white screen appeared in front of him all of a sudden.
[Quest Complete: Help Jeanne.
Reward:
+New Perk: Holy Element]
"Well, I gotta, you know, change clothes so… I'll go over there," He pointed towards the forest.
"Oh, um, sure, I'll wait here," Jeanne nodded, but he could see her face starting to burn red, embarrassed. He chuckled to himself as he got out of the car and checked his new perk. Interestingly enough, that particular screen was shining white just like the quest one had been.
[Holy Element
Allows the use of Holy Artifacts.]
'Well, another thing to look into,' Joshua thought with a sigh as he walked through the forest a bit until he found a good enough place to change. 'Right next to more Wards and how to use Wards in battle… I'll have to train extra hard too, but, most importantly, I need to get better at hiding, because goddamnit, if someone else finds me like this I'm gonna lose my shit… and probably my life too.'
Evidently, either his Concealing Ward sucked or he had overlooked something. The first one was the most probable, in his opinion, what with how low-level it was. There was also the fact that he didn't put that much magic into the spell when he was setting up for training. However, the second option was equally valid. After all, Joshua would be the first one to admit that he didn't know much about the supernatural.
He had no idea if someone could track him while he was out of his wards, even if he didn't use magic outside of them. 'Can someone find me with just my magical presence or something like that? Or could they track Jeanne's Sacred Gear, maybe? I need more information.'
Which meant more studying…
'I need more hours in a day,' Joshua thought with a drawn out sigh. Then, his eyes moved to his shoulder, now without the shirt with a hole and covered in blood, he could almost forget about the wound he had suffered. He rolled his shoulder, almost being able to feel the arrow that had pierced it.
Blue eyes looked down when he felt something touch his clean jeans. Joshua found Cheshire there, staring at him with that look that usually helped him calm down. Crouching down, he petted her lightly, trying to get his mind away from plans and worries.
"You think Morag will be angry that she missed the action?" He asked jokingly, earning a roll of the feline's eyes.
[}-o-{]
He wasn't sure about being angry, but the spider definitely felt something for not being there that day, because after that, the small arachnid wouldn't get off Joshua's arm unless he had to leave the apartment. He was slightly unnerved by Morag's new clingy attitude, but he guessed that it would go the same way Nagini's had and he would get over it quickly. A part of him though, couldn't help but find it slightly endearing.
'I miss the days where I was a normal person,' Joshua thought to himself, more amused than anything else as he looked at the black arachnid peeking at him from the back of his hand. With a small smile, he brought a finger slowly towards the spider, who responded by meeting it with one of her small legs.
"Well, break's over, I think," He announced with a sigh, cracking his neck and preparing to go back to his studies. He had three books in front of him. One about Holy weapons, which he guessed would have information about his new Perk's use. Another had, as far as he knew, a variety of Wards that had very niche uses, but he wanted to see if he could find something that he could spin to have an offensive or defensive application in battle. It was a stretch, but he needed something more than normal weapons.
The third, however, differed from the others in the fact that it was more oriented to avoiding fights than helping in them. The book that held the most information about the Concealing Ward he had managed to find. After he was done with that, he would look at any other piece of information he could get his hands on. Nobody would find them if he didn't want them to, that Joshua swore.
One of his hands opened the book regarding the various Wards, just to start preparing for battle. There was no guarantee that he could improve his 'defenses' before someone else found them. Especially now that he had made an enemy of the so-called Khaos Brigade.
"You sure there's nothing we can do?" Jeanne asked from behind him, where she sat on an armchair that he had brought from the Hunter's house and set inside the study of their apartment.
"Like what? I don't have enough money to just leave the city and move somewhere else. And I would also need to find somewhere else to work. It's not so easy to just… move away," He explained patiently, his eyes already scanning the Ward names and usages.
"We could… I don't know..." Jeanne mumbled, sounding like she was trying to come up with something. "I just… I don't like being here when I know these people are out there."
"I don't see any other alternative besides moving or attacking first. And we can't do the second one. Not only are we the ones that know the least about the Supernatural, but we also don't have the power for such a thing," He continued, clicking his tongue. "Also… I don't want to go looking for trouble. Maybe I'm a coward, but I don't want to go after them like that."
"I… don't know what I think about that either… I just don't like doing nothing."
"We aren't doing nothing," He denied instantly. "We are preparing, so that if anything comes our way, we'll be ready."
"I know, sorry, I just..."
"I know," He nodded, understanding. "I'm uneasy too, but there's nothing we can do. We are the ones at a complete disadvantage here… If your enemy is secure in strength, avoid them."
"That's a quote, right?" She asked, curiously tilting her head.
"Yep, The Art of War," Joshua confirmed.
"You've read it?" He could almost see Jeanne perking up as she spoke. He chuckled.
"Nah, but I should. For now, the quotes alone hold lots of wisdom," He explained. "Like, if your enemy is secure at all points, be prepared for them."
"Are they though?"
"We don't know, do we? So we have to assume they are," Joshua shrugged.
"If you say..." He blinked as she trailed off and turned slightly, careful not to disturb Nagini on his shoulders, or Morag on his hand, or Cheshire on his lap. 'When did I become the seat for everyone? Who's next, Jeanne?' He wondered slightly amused.
"The voices tell you something?" Joshua asked, already getting used to Jeanne trailing off due to some advice or answer her invisible advisors gave her. When he looked at her though, he realized that he was wrong. Her eyes weren't unfocused as they usually were in such cases. Instead, she was intently looking at the book on her lap. "Did you find your Sacred Gear?" He tried again, only to share a look with Nagini and then Cheshire when the girl remained silent, seemingly having her whole focus solely on the pages.
"Blade Blacksmith," Jeanne replied, as if that was a proper response, going silent immediately after.
Rolling his eyes, Joshua pushed his chair back and went to stand up. Cheshire smoothly jumped on the floor and readily waited to start walking next to him. Morag wasn't the only one that was more clingy after the forest incident, evidently. Nagini was the one that least showed it, but that was because she had always been wrapped around him at every chance she got to begin with.
Making his way towards the blond girl, he peeked over her shoulder to read together with her.
Blade Blacksmith seemed like a good guess for Jeanne's Sacred Gear, in Joshua's opinion. A Mid Tier one, according to the book, that let her create Holy Swords with whatever effect that she wanted so long as it was within her power to make. This last part was important, because it stopped her from making something like a sword that could cut through anything, since something more powerful than Jeanne herself and the energy that she put into the sword wouldn't be damaged by such a sword.
It was, as stated, as good a guess as any other. However, Joshua wasn't entirely sold on that. After all, the only thing that they had to go with was that she had made a sword that could heal appear. For all they knew, it could just be a healing Sacred Gear or something of the sort. If she was sure though, he would trust her on that. After all, she had been the one that had focused more on Sacred Gears while he studied magic and besides, she also had the voices too, which probably would confirm her guess and such.
'Didn't the voices say something about swords and holy?' Joshua tried to recall, but ultimately shook his head. If it came to that, they would only need to test the theory and that would be it. 'The created swords behave like normal Holy Artifacts. However, this aspect of the Sacred Gear is also affected by the user's strength and energy,' He read only to blink a few times. 'What does it even mean with 'like normal Holy Artifacts'?' He wondered. He did, however, make the connection with his new Perk. Now he wanted to know about Holy Artifacts even more.
"This is my Sacred Gear," Jeanne announced with such certainty that Joshua himself was convinced almost instantly. "I can feel it," She added, as if that explained everything. Something must have shown on his face though, because she continued. "And… well, the voices confirmed it too," She said, looking to the side. The girl was still uncomfortable when talking about the voices evidently.
"Ok… Guess you have something to train with now," Joshua nodded, already trying to think of something for her to do with her Gear. 'Maybe she could go all Gate of Babylon on people?' He wondered, having to hold back an amused grin.
"This is amazing, Joshua!" Jeanne exclaimed, snapping out of the laser focus she had been in. Turning towards him with a beaming smile. "Imagine all the swords I could make!"
"It does sound great, yeah," He nodded, being infected with her cheer, his lips twitching up. "Guess you'll have to learn how to fight with a sword," He added and she nodded enthusiastically.
"You too, you could use the swords I make too," She suggested, and in the blink of an eye her confidence was shot down. Joshua almost groaned as he saw it happen. After all, he much prefered when the girl was happy instead of that shy attitude she usually had. The bright side was that she was letting out that joyous side of her more often too. He just hoped the event they had just gone through wouldn't set her back on that.
"I guess. I like my knives, but holy swords sound much more useful," He agreed. He also regretted that the levels he had on Dagger Mastery would be wasted, but it was what it was.
"Hmmmm," She hummed before snapping her head back towards the book, furiously going through the words on the tome. "Aha!" She exclaimed and he raised an eyebrow at her before she explained herself without even looking towards him. What the 'Aha!' was for, Joshua wouldn't know, because Jeanne immediately snapped the book closed and set it down on her lap as she furrowed her brows.
Curious and confused, Joshua traded another glance with his pets, before waiting for something to happen. Evidently, Jeanne had found something that she wanted to show him… Unless she was suddenly adding another quirk to her character besides sudden shyness, voices in her head and spontaneous sword creation. That it was a possibility was both amusing and slightly concerning, truth be told.
In a slight flash of light that curiously enough didn't feel blinding in the end despite how bright it was, a knife appeared in Jeanne's hand. Joshua gazed at it, unable to understand how that had happened. 'Didn't the book say only swords? I'm pretty sure it did.'
"The book said some other things could be made too, with the right mindset. Like, say… a knife being a very short sword?" Jeanne asked innocently and Joshua gave her a wide grin.
"Smart girl," He praised using one had to mess with her hair. "Really good thinking there."
Instead of complaining or shouting at him for what many would think an annoying gesture, she simply hummed and nodded, a wide, pleased grin on her face.
[} Chapter End {]