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Game of Monsters - 165
🕑 Added 2024-11-05 17:53:33 +0000 UTCLonging, Looking, Hoping
The fluttering of Misla Bael’s eyes wasn’t as reassuring as one would think.
Sometimes being imaginative was awful, after all, just like at that moment. Why? Because his mind apparently couldn’t stop conjuring spots where he might have messed up. This was made even worse when what he’d been working with was the soul of his friend’s mother. Any small thing could have killed her or irreparably damaged her self, her mind, her body, what she was as a devil and any number of other things that made her who she was. It had been beyond risky and he was very aware of that.
“That was… unpleasant,” the woman muttered, her voice weak and rough but otherwise apparently fine. Joshua didn’t get his hopes up though, frantically looking through all the information he had for any inconsistencies that he couldn’t attribute to the Sleep Disease being gone. Nothing was popping up, but maybe… “I’m… I think I’m fine?” the woman said, moving her fingers a little and looking down at herself. Almost like she knew something could be wrong with her still, besides the illness going away.
It wasn’t much, but Joshua didn’t expect much either. She’d been left exhausted in a way that seemed to have eaten even at her life energy, nevermind her magic. She was recovering though, slowly but surely. He could probably set up some spells to help her with that, but he didn’t want to so much as touch her with anything until he was sure everything was alright.
“Mom?” Sairaorg asked and Joshua held back a flinch. If things hadn’t gone well…
“Sai,” the woman answered, a soft warm smile on her face as her son took her hand in his. She looked at him, all the right emotions were there and Joshua still didn’t pick up anything weird. “It seems we owe the young man plenty.”
“We do,” Sairaorg replied and just when Joshua was about to say something on the matter, his friend turned to pin him with a look that was almost a glare. It made his mouth click shut, which caused the devil to nod and turn back to Misla. Well, it seemed he wasn’t waving away that debt…
Not to say that he wouldn’t try to make sure his friend didn’t do something stupid because of it.
“So, you brought your daughter with you the other day,” Misla commented, looking at him. “How old are you? Sai said you were human and… you don’t look old enough to be her father,” she continued and he gave a nervous smile, moving a little stiffly to the other side of her bed.
“I adopted her,” he answered, relaxing the smallest bit, if only because of how much anything related to Kunou made him feel at ease and happy, calm. “And I’m in a relationship with her mother… It’s kind of complicated.”
“People often are,” Misla said and he chuckled.
“Don’t I know it,” he replied, already liking the woman. He hadn’t exchanged many words with her through their sessions, but he already had a good impression of her. Somehow though, he was getting the picture that it was difficult to dislike her.
“So, you take care of my Sai?”
“We are friends, ma’am. We take care of each other,” he said, his hand moving towards his locket. Sairaorg might not have been the one to recover it, but he’d been the one that had looked for all the things that had gone missing after his… After everything related to the accident and what had happened in that world. Or, at least, those things that could be recovered at all.
“That’s good to hear,” Misla replied, her smile widening. “Sai always struggled to ask for help.”
“Mom!” Joshua’s devil friend protested, almost whining. “It’s been forever since then!”
“This sounds like a particular incident,” he commented, making Sairaorg turn towards him with a betrayed expression. That definitely spoke of a story, and one that he just had to learn about now. “I’d like to hear about this.”
“And I’d love to tell you, young man. But first, I’m Misla Bael née Vapula,” the woman introduced herself.
“And I’m Joshua Davis. It’s a pleasure to meet you, ma’am.”
“Please, call me Misla. No friend of Sai’s needs to be formal with me,” she told him and he gave her a grin.
“Then please call me Joshua. I prefer it anyway,” he replied, deciding that the woman was precious and should be protected. Which was kind of funny, since that was very similar to how he felt about Kunou at first, but in a different way. It took him a moment to realize that it was somewhat similar to how his own mother made him feel, even if his mother had been more… rough around the edges.
‘They’d probably have been friends,’ he mused. His mother did have a particular skill to befriend everyone that made him wonder if he was actually related to her, after all.
“So, Joshua, first of all… You wouldn’t happen to know if Sai is dating anyone, right?”
“Mom!”
“He doesn’t want to tell me, for whatever reason,” Misla added, completely ignoring her son’s protest. Which, by the way, was definitely a whine this time. “A mother wants to know. Especially if grandkids are a possi-”
“Mom!”
“I’m sorry to tell you, Misla, that as far as I’m aware, he’s not dating anyone,” Joshua told her with utmost seriousness, like one would inform of someone’s passing. “But I promise once I can free my schedule a bit, I’ll see if I can do something about that. He does need to do other things other than training, after all.”
Maybe he could get some help from more sociable people to set the guy up on some dates or something?
Food for thought.
“J-Joshua?” Sairaorg asked, eyes wide and face pale.
“I appreciate that. He’s too focused for his own good at times,” Misla replied with a solemn nod. “He always did try too hard to prove himself.”
“Mom, I had to,” Sairaorg interrupted. This time though, his expression changed from relaxed but dismayed into something completely different, something serious and resolute, something angry. “If I hadn’t, if I don’t-”
“You’ve proven yourself enough for me, Sairaorg,” Misla interrupted in turn, kind and soft but still firm, patting her son’s hand on the bed. “But that’s not important right now. No, what’s important is that devils have a difficult time conceiving, so the sooner you-”
“Mom!”
[}-o-{]
Stepping out of Misla Bael’s new room, back in the devil hospital where they would keep an eye on her – not that Joshua himself wouldn’t be making regular visits –, he cracked his neck wearily.
Nobody was going to know it was his doing until they were sure Misla was fine and until he was able to go over all his information, polishing any edges his spell array might have. That was for the better, really, for a number of reasons. Chief amongst them – for Joshua, at the very least – was that he wouldn’t be bothered about the matter and it wouldn’t have political consequences. He could do without those entirely, but he’d make do with putting it off for later. It wasn’t solely because of that though. He did want some time to check on things.
‘After all, I haven’t gotten a screen,’ he thought to himself. He’d even checked to see if the system was falling apart again. Everything seemed to be in order, as far as he could tell. It was just that the victory wasn’t being delivered to him for some reason. It could just be that he’d get it whenever Misla found herself back to hundred percent, or it could be that he wasn’t done dealing with the Sleep Disease. One way or another, he wouldn’t do anything in regards to announcing things until he got the screen, that was for sure. ‘For now though…’
“Hello there,” he greeted, his eyes only half open. He was tired and dealing with this one individual didn’t bode well for his energy levels. If anything, he felt them drop dramatically by the second even before the conversation started.
“You have better awareness now.”
“Fool me once, shame on you,” Joshua commented, his lips pulling up into a mockery of a smile. “And I try not to allow a second time.”
“A good mindset,” Zekram Bael told him from where he stood, off to the side like he’d been when he visited with Kunou that one time. “House of Bael is indebted to you, Joshua Davis. I won’t forget this.”
Joshua nodded, not even feeling like arguing that. With someone else, maybe, but the Great King wasn’t one such case. He couldn’t care less for what the devil felt bad about or was inconvenienced by. This was one debt that he didn’t mind milking as much as he possibly could. Serafall was going to love getting her hands on this too, which he imagined would make for a nice present, nevermind whenever he could throw Shalba and Katerea at her.
“I’d ask, but I don’t think I’d get a straight answer… or any at all,” Joshua commented, turning and starting to walk down the hall. Zekram, predictably, followed, walking beside him. “About why you care about them when it was your house that all but exiled them.”
““All but” being the operative words there,” Zekram replied, not at all bothered by the accusation nor his tone nor him walking away from him without a care. “Once a Bael, always a Bael.”
Joshua nodded, despite not at all understanding whatever twisted view Zekram had of the world and of family. The fact was that he’d been trying to do so for a while and hit several dead ends. At the end of the day though, House Bael had allowed Sairaorg to keep their name, despite sending him away when he proved not to have the Power of Destruction. They’d allowed him to attend Rating Game school. They’d allowed him to have a peerage. They’d allowed… a lot of things. He could even find, after much thought and research, cases in which it almost seemed like House Bael had helped Sairaorg without him noticing.
Best he could come up with was that it was some very twisted and extreme version of tough love.
“I guess I can respect that,” Joshua said, somehow feeling worse admitting that than torturing the Khaos Brigade members. There was something so wrong with saying that he respected a man that had made his friend’s life so much harder than it needed to be. However, there was no denying that he did, because if Zekram Bael was as he thought he was, then the devil did, deep inside, care about his family, even if it was in his own, crazy way.
And if there was one thing Joshua could respect, it was caring about family.
“Interestingly enough, I do believe you do,” Zekram told him, finding some kind of dry amusement in this fact judging by his wry smile. “My kind will be indebted to you when you are done with this, when word spreads.”
“Probably,” Joshua replied, not really caring but not downplaying things. It was much easier to do that when it was someone that he didn’t care for at all on the other side of the conversation. “I can’t be bothered with your devil politics though, so I’ll leave Serafall to deal with you all. Hope that works for you.”
If the tightening of his expression was anything to go by, the Bael didn’t think it worked for him.
Tough luck.
“And maybe Ravel will have some fun with that too,” Joshua continued, somehow making the expression worse. It was kind of fun, actually. “Either way, not my problem.”
“It is, when you are related to one of our faction’s leaders,” the man beside him told him, but Joshua just turned and grinned at him. He made it sound so definitive, as if it were a fact or something. Alas…
“It’d be, if I cared for that kind of thing. I’m just in a relationship with Serafall. She takes care of her side and I try my best to remain isolated. She’s the one that knows what she’s doing. I’ll only step in if I need to,” Joshua explained and by then they’d reached the door leading to the outside of the hospital. People had seen them talking, but Joshua didn’t much care. It’d all come out eventually when they made the reveal, he supposed.
“And you’ll leave it at that, will you?”
“Yes,” Joshua answered decisively. “I only step in when I need to, and we had a conversation about the rest before, didn’t we? I have better things to do right now, but if you wanna pick a fight, I’ll make it as much of a bother for you as it’ll be for me.”
“You are one brave human, Joshua Davis.”
“Arguments could be made that I barely count as human, at this point,” he commented idly, drawing a barking laugh from Zekram.
It was an odd accomplishment, admittedly.
“You’re not wrong about that.”
[}-o-{]
“We could have left her with Jeanne,” Yasaka commented from beside him as they watched Kunou have fun in the playground next to where they were eating. “She’s not as fragile as you think.”
“I mean, yeah, but there’s also no need for her to be tough,” he replied, aware that he was being too soft on the girl, coddling her. He just… He just couldn’t help it. Seeing her twitchy, or nervous, or weary, made him feel like something was wrong in the world and that he had to fix it. “I don’t think it helps, but I’m a little on edge myself still,” he admitted, glancing towards Kunou and watching her happily go back and forth on the swings. “Sorry if it ruins the date for you,” he added with an apologetic smile.
“Don’t be,” Yasaka waved off with a very happy wide smile. “I love that about you. First and foremost, it was the way you care about and treat Kunou that got my attention, because she’s my main priority. Anyone I even consider being with has to be good with and for her,” she explained to him, glancing towards Kunou herself. “So, feel free to care for her as much as you want.”
“You say that, but you are also always the first to point out when I spoil her,” he commented dryly, but with a smile on his face.
“I am, because you should be mindful of what you do so with,” Yasaka replied, sensible person that she was. It was a little frustrating to be unable to win most arguments, but it wasn’t like he could complain. She won them because she was right.
“That’s what you are here for, isn’t it? To be the reasonable one,” he commented, and the youkai’s expression changed swiftly to a narrow-eyed one. He responded to that with his best innocent expression, which probably didn’t help at all. “Either way, she seems to be having fun.”
“You’re not nearly as smooth at changing topics as you think you are, Joshua,” Yasaka told him, to which he replied with a smirk. He knew he sucked, but he also knew she’d go with it anyway. Evidenced by the roll of her eyes and the words that came out of her mouth. “She does though. Sometimes it’s… depressing though, how happy she is now.”
Well, that was certainly something to hear, but Joshua knew better than to assume anything.
“Makes me wonder how terrible a mother I was before,” she continued, her eyes locked on her daughter and a sad smile on her face. “Instead of anywhere near this, my daughter was… a shell of herself.”
“Things were different,” he said, leaning back. “You told me you didn’t have as much power as you do now that you are recovering,” he pointed out. It was true that she’d basically burned all her power to get more protection for her base after the first Khaos attack, but she hadn’t been that powerful to begin with, hence why she’d needed to burn it all for that, really. Now she was in an alliance of sorts with the entirety of the Bible triad and him, who represented the Egyptian Pantheon. Things were looking up for her and her faction. “And you had no one to help you with your things. Still don’t, I guess, but I’m trying to help indirectly.”
“Which is for the best,” Yasaka told him, a soft, grateful smile on her face that made him feel more awkward than he usually was in social settings, which was saying something. He wasn’t sure he deserved such a look for his half-assed efforts. “If you were more direct, it’d likely cause problems, but what you are doing helps plenty enough. I have more time than ever in my hands and I can dedicate it to my daughter, as I’ve wished to for so long… And you too,” she said, finishing with a beaming smile that drew a small one out of him.
“Well, glad to help,” he replied, his grin turning a little embarrassed. He still wasn’t good at dealing with such direct and pure affection, honestly. It was great, of course, but it was also weird in a way that he couldn’t quite explain. Maybe he just wasn’t used to it coming from someone that wasn’t his parents. “If you need more though-”
“That’s not necessary,” Yasaka interrupted, rolling her eyes at him. “Unless you have something in mind to help me repay you at least a little bit? Relationship or not, I have some pride as a faction leader.”
Now that he thought about it, maybe it was time for him to try and get the upper hand for once?
“Hmm, I’m sure I can think of something,” he commented with a grin, leaning forward. Other than that though, he didn’t elaborate though, letting his life energy speak for itself while casting a slight illusion for Kunou’s sake.
The answering blush on Yasaka’s face was plenty adorable, he decided.
“Josh-”
“So, in the meantime, I think we can go play with Kunou a bit more and then go somewhere else?” he commented, interrupting the woman with a smile on his face. “You think it over,” he added, standing up and leaving.
“Wait. Joshua!”
“Kunou!” he called, ignoring Yasaka. “Are you having fun? Can we join?”
He could almost feel the glare on the back of his head, but he decided it was worth it.
He might be socially awkward and all, but he could be forward once in a while too.
[}-o-{]
“Boons are softer, kinder, yes, but they are also firm,” he explained to the girl sitting across from him. He wasn’t even in a classroom, but his role as a teacher was something that had become part of him, he supposed. He could draw upon it at will at that point and the words came to him much more easily without even needing planning. “That’s one aspect that Boon Magic shares with wards and hexes too, actually. They are all about imposing your will onto an area, be it for good, for bad or for anything in between. You should keep it in mind while working on a spell, be it casting or modifying it.”
“M-Modifying it?” the girl, Uria Sonthiel, asked, eyes wide and face paling a little. “That-That’s…”
“Difficult?” Joshua finished for her as kindly as he could. He’d forgotten people didn’t usually go around modifying spells at will. Maybe he’d gotten used to his classes having people that knew at least some of that. Speaking of though… “Well, maybe you can join my Spell Modification class. I’m going to start with a new group soon, after all.”
“I-I couldn’t possibly… That’d be too much,” the girl stammered, wringing her hands together and glancing nervously over his shoulder at Gabriel. “I appreciate what you’ve taught me, Mr. Davis, but I couldn’t ask for that.”
“You’re not asking though. I’m offering,” he pointed out, a little amused. “Anyway, I’ve barely told you anything. You know what? I’m kind of in a break right now, but stick around over there-,” he added, waving his hand to signal the table where Jeanne and the now usual Excalibur wielder duo sat. “-and I can explain some more for you while casting the rest of the spell set I still have left, yeah? You might even get some clues if you are good enough at sensing.”
“I’m… not the best, no,” she mumbled, her voice barely audible as she looked down.
“No worries. Everyone’s got their own strengths and weaknesses. You must be pretty good if the Church let you learn Boon Magic on their own,” Joshua praised, which caused the girl to blush. In a moment of unique insight, he wondered if maybe he shouldn't deliver compliments so freely. Especially to a woman and more especially in front of another that he actually was getting into a relationship with, he figured.
‘It’s not like I’m flirting with her though,’ he defended in his own mind. However, he had some doubts about that. Maybe his brain was feeling especially socially savvy that day… or maybe he was a little more crazy than usual. Either or, quite honestly.
“I-I… Yes, of course. Thanks for the opportunity, Mr. Davis!” she squeaked before scurrying away to the other table. Overhead, perched on the edge of the building’s roof, Margalo chirped a laugh that wasn’t very polite. Better than what the Egyptians were sending through their link though.
Poor girl was lucky she couldn’t hear either.
“Sorry about that,” Joshua told Gabriel, turning back to her and rubbing the back of his head nervously.
“I was the one that asked you to talk to her,” the angel pointed out, to which he blinked. Now that she mentioned it, she had been the one to bring up Uria and how she was a Boon Magic user. Although, how had Joshua ended up teaching her? He didn’t remember that part. “You’d forgotten?”
“I guess I overfocused on teaching for a bit,” he commented with a nervous chuckle. “That was… Sorry,” he apologized again, feeling his soul shrivel up – metaphorically speaking, of course – and wishing for the Earth to swallow him. Alas, no such luck. Instead, he had to deal with the supremely awkward situation on his own.
“I don’t mind. I hadn’t seen you like this and it was interesting,” Gabriel said, saving him from his suffering. “Feels like every time I see a new side of yours, it’s just as kind as the others,” she added, to which his embarrassed smile fell almost immediately. “Oh, don’t make that face. I’ve seen less kind sides of yours too, Joshua.”
“Not quite as bad as sides of me you’ve yet to see, Gabriel,” he admitted and Joshua wasn’t sure if he was trying to warn her or change her mind or what. He wasn’t too clear what his own thoughts on the relationship thing were, if he were quite honest with himself.
Sure, he was giving it a shot and all, but it was… Maybe it was his stubbornly still cripplingly low self-esteem or something along those lines, but he couldn’t understand how all that was happening to him of all people. Sure, intellectually, he knew that he was a big deal for the people around him. Strong magically and politically, and even that somehow women seemed to think he was a catch. He even knew that DxD logic was at play making said women… sort of accept that they wouldn’t be the only ones in his life, with a different culture and all that.
His brain just couldn’t quite accept all of this, no matter how much he thought about it.
Gabriel, being who she was, just stood out as even more weird, which was why she had made his doubts on the situation come back with a vengeance.
“I could say the same, even as an angel,” Gabriel replied, her smile still in place, if sad. “My faction has done things I’m not even remotely proud of, but I like to think it has all built to a brighter present than we would otherwise have. And that anything we might have to do will build towards a brighter future too,” she expressed, her smile turning hopeful, even if there were hints of sadness still there.
“Anything in particular you’d like to see?” he asked, deciding he’d ruined the mood enough and might as well try to steer the conversation towards something more positive. If the much more happy smile Gabriel gave her was any indication, that was the right decision to make.
Weird situation aside, he had to admit that he was happy with it all the same.
Then again, how could he not, considering Gabriel’s… Well, everything.
He was awkward, probably very dense and a bunch of other things, but he liked to think he wasn’t stupid.
[} Chapter End {]
Hey guys! How’s it going?
And that’s a wrap with the Sleep Disease arc… sort of? Maybe? Probably?
I’m sure it is.
Honest.
And then we have some regular fluff, because it’s just the best part of writing, I’ve come to realize. Writing characters just going about their lives and having fun and such is… It’s just nice. I hope you all enjoy reading these parts as much as I enjoy writing them.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter in general, really.
Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ
Random Question: Did you know that all of Joshua’s named students (or, at least the Stars, plus Uria now, who I’m not sure if she’ll be used in the future, but there she is) are either canon characters or based on actual people? You can have fun figuring them out. As a hint, a simple google search should get you almost all the answers, or maybe even all of them.
See you.
