Sitri

A couple days have passed since Azar accepted Rias as a friend. Not a lot had been happening. Rias had been regularly visiting him and spending time with him. The two played together, but it was mostly Rias teaching Azar how to play since he'd never done that before. It was sad for Rias to hear that he's never played with anyone before. It also allowed her to paint a picture on how mean the people Azar ran away from were. Speaking of them, Zeoticus had been looking into who Azar's family might be and has had some luck.

He had gotten some of Azar's blood for a DNA test which would help his search. When he had the blood tested, it was obvious to the devil medical personnel that Azar is somewhat related to the House of Phenex. But something didn't add up to Zeoticus. If Azar was a Phenex, then why does he have black hair and not blonde hair? That, and why is he acting the way he is? It's obvious he was mistreated but why? It confused Zeoticus as it made him think about the House of Phenex in a different light. He wouldn't be 100% though so he continued his search.

The DNA test definitely didn't lie though. So now he wanted to know why Azar was the way he was. While this happened, Azar continued to adjust to the new setting he was in. Being in a new home and being treated nicely was new to him and he didn't want it to stop. He liked it. But there is one thing that is lingering in his mind. His Powers. The thing that made him run away from the House of Phenex. Unlike the others, his magic is strictly Blue Fire. He has no idea if others can use Blue Flames like he can, but a part of him doesn't want to find out. He's nervous about them. He doesn't want to use his fire and be outcasted by the Gremory's like he was by the Phenex's.

While he was in his room, he overheard Venelana mention someone named Sona was coming over today. This made him nervous as he couldn't help the slightest bit of concern. Mainly focused on the potentiality of the Phenex Clan finding him. That's the one place he doesn't want to go back to. It was a home that brought him pain and torment, but the Gremory's haven't been like that. Kindness is all he's been given. The maids and butlers are helpful, but he still has some trust issues with them considering what happened with the previous pair back in that fiery hell he used to live in.

Though, when he thinks about it. Not everyone in the Phenex House was bad. Not all of them mistreated him daily. The only ones who really did that were Lord Phenex, Riser and occasionally the servants. Lady Phenex rarely mistreated him, and it was mostly just neglection. No physical beatings of any kind. Ravel is literally a baby, so she's done nothing wrong. Still, he wants to be as far away as he can. He just hopes that Ravel is treated fairly.

Our protagonist was alone in the room he's been staying in for the past couple of days. He was here instead of out with the others because he was a little tired. He never got any chances to take naps in the Phenex lands. A part of him wonders if he's a cat cause he's starting to like taking naps. But unfortunately, he isn't, much to his dismay. As he lay there on the bed just resting, he hears the clicking of the door. The dimly lit room gets flooded with a much brighter light from outside the room.

Rias: "Azzy~" she calls as she walks into the room. She used a whispering tone, expecting him to be sleeping or napping.

The black-haired boy sits up in the bed and rubs his eyes a little before looking at Rias.

Azar: "Need something?" he asks.

Rias walks over to the bed and climbed onto it and looked at her friend face to face.

Rias: "I want to introduce you to someone." she said, happily.

Azar: "Who?" he asks.

Rias: "My friend Sona."

Azar blinks before tilting his head in confusion.

Azar: "Who?" he asks again, now confused.

Rias: "Sona. She's another friend I have. One that doesn't visit very often." she explains.

Azar: "oh." he said, now understanding who Sona is. At least a little bit. "Okay."

Rias smiles before she leaps off the bed and grabs his hand. She basically dragged him off the bed.

Rias: "Come on!" she said, enthusiastically.

Rias rushed out of the room with Azar in tow. He didn't have anything else better to do so he just joined her in this wacky endeavor. He's also learned that if Rias has something on her mind, lord have mercy for those who try to oppose it. It's nothing bad, she's just heavily devoted. Maybe a little TOO devoted.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah.

The crimson haired girl brings Azar to the front foyer where her parents are alongside a set of black-haired adults and a young black-haired girl who shares the same age as Rias and Azar. Unlike Rias, this girl seemed more formal and elegant in the way she presents herself. His crimson haired compainon was more childish and friendly than elegant. But Rias can act formal when she wants to, which is mainly never from what he's seen. She's typically more friendly around him than anything.

Rias: "Sona!" she happily cheers as she rushed over with Azar to see her best friend.

The young girl—now named Sona—looks towards the fast-approaching Gremory and sees her accompanied by someone new. The young Sitri pays no mind to it and greets her friend.

Sona: "Hi, Rias." she greets, calmly.

Rias stops just before she reaches Sona, still holding the confused boy's hand. He looks at Sona and from the tone he heard, she's calm. Calmer than Rias that's for sure.

Rias: "I haven't seen you in so long!" she happily cheers.

Sona: "We haven't seen each other in 2 Weeks." she calmly states.

Rias: "2 weeks is too long!" she defends.

The Sitri girl looks at the boy beside Rias.

Sona: "Who's this?" she asks.

Rias: "This is Azar, he's my new friend." she answers with a smile on her face.

Azar: "h-hi." he greets nervously.

Sona: "Hello." she says, returning the gesture. "Where did he come from?"

Rias: "I found him in the forest." she said, bluntly.

Sona: "The forest?" she asks.

The young Gremory nods her head with a smile on her face. This prompted her to look at Azar head to toe. As she did, a thought came to mind.

Sona: "Will you make him apart of your Peerage once we get our pieces?" she asks.

Almost like a freight train, the realization hit Rias. She completely forgot about that. Granted she and Sona don't have their Peerage Pieces yet, she could've considered the option. Then again, it's going to be a while till she gets her peerage pieces, she could also ask Azar if he even wants to.

Azar: "What's a Peerage?" he asks, obliviously.

Zeoticus: "A peerage is basically a group of servants that are chosen by using Evil Pieces. Evil Pieces are what is used to form Peerages and are commonly used by us Pure blooded or high-class devils. The pieces can also reincarnate anyone into a Devil. When you join a Peerage using an Evil Piece, you are bound to your King forever unless you rank up and attain one of your own or are traded off to another King. If you disobey orders and betray your master, you can become a Stray Devil." he said. "I would give the complete detailed explanation. But we'll be here all day if I did."

Venelana: "And I don't think Rias would want to just stand there and listen to you ramble when she could be playing and spending time with her friends." she adds with a smile. "Isn't that right dear?"

Rias: "yep!" she agrees cheerfully.

Zeoticus: "Well at least there's honesty." he comments. "You three can head off for a while. Us adults have a lot of boring things to talk about."

Lord Sitri: "What do you mean, Lord Gremory. Talking about House relations and our children's education is fun." he said, sarcastically.

Zeoticus: "I know your sarcastic." He deadpans as he turns and walks off.

Venelana follows him as does Lady and Lord Sitri.

Lord Sitri: "Sarcasm? I've never been sarcastic in my life." he said, playfully.

Zeoticus: "enough." he said humorously with a chuckle.

Lord Sitri chuckled as well as the four adults walked away. Rias then grabs both Sona's and Azar's hands and guides them both outside. As they left the building, the young Gremory remembered something she found a while ago.

Rias: "hey, do you guys want to see something I found?" she asks.

Sona: "what kind of something?" she asks, a little cautious.

Rias: "Something cool!" she exclaims.

Sona: "Is it safe?" she asks.

Rias: "Totally!"

Azar just watches this very small debate play out. He's intrigued by this 'thing' Rias found. Not a lot has happened since he arrived in the home of the Gremory's. This could be fun.... was that the word? Yes, fun. The Sitri sighs and gestures for Rias to continue. The cheerful red-haired girl guided the group away from the mansion, which made Azar nervous. He hadn't dared to leave the mansion because he was worried that the Phenex's would find him. He was almost noticeably shaking. The mansion was a safe place, outside and beyond its limits weren't. Rias noticed her friend's nervousness, so she grabs his hand gently and looked directly into Azar eyes.

Azar had flinched from his hand suddenly being grabbed but calmed down when he saw who was holding his hand.

Rias: "There's no need to be scared. I come here all the time, nothing bad happens. Ever." she says, calmly in an effort to calm the boy down.

Hearing this from her, it calms him down a bit. He's grown comfortable around her thanks to how much time she'd spent with him these past few days. So, he'll take her word for it. In response to her words, he nods. Silently acknowledging her words. She smiles at this and the trio presses on. The three youngsters eventually come upon a small river that had a large assortment of differently colored flowers scattered about. It was a beautiful sight to behold. The colors of the flowers reflected off the crystal-clear river they stood beside. Azar was entranced by it.

He'd never seen anything so colorful before. It was only dull and bland colors back in the Phenex Territory. The room he previously slept in was dark. Void of any colors and expression. But this single sight is the most colorful thing he's ever seen. Their Sitri companion was also impressed by the visual before her. Their red-haired friend runs over to it and sits down beside a set of roses. The other two walk over and Rias gestures for them to sit down beside her so they do. Now sitting down beside the flowers. Azar gently touches one of the roses in curiosity.

Sona: "How did you find this?" she asks while stuck in awe at the sight before her.

Rias: "I was just wondering around, and I stumbled upon it." she shrugs before looking at Azar who was curiously inspecting the flowers.

She giggles at the sight of him messing with the flowers. However, as he did, he accidentally let a small spark of blue flames pop out of his hand which set one of the roses on fire. He freaked out and fell back. Sona quickly used what little water magic she knew to put it out. It was a very small amount of water but thankfully the rose wasn't damaged too badly. It was still burnt. Rias looked at Azar and saw he looked terrified. Confused, she gets up and walks to him.

Rias: "Azar?" she asks, a bit worried.

His gaze snapped at her, and he looked scared. She reached her hand forward and he shielded himself with his arms, which surprised her.

Azar: "I-I didn't m-mean to!" he frightenedly states. "I-I'm sorry!"

This reaction surprised the Gremory Heiress. She'd never seen him react like this before. It's making her increasingly worried for her friend. She sits on her knees in front of him.

Rias: "There's no need to be sorry."

Azar: "b-but I destroyed the flower?" he asks, still afraid yet a little confused.

Rias: "It's just a flower. Besides, there's plenty more flowers like it! One day, that flower you damaged will regrow and be better than before!" she said, enthusiastically in attempts to lift his spirit.

Azar lowered his arms slowly but was still scared.

Azar: "I-I used my magic. I'm not supposed to use my magic." he said, confusedly.

Rias: "Who said that?" she asks, now confused.

Her parents definitely didn't tell him to not use his magic. After all she's been trying to access her family's Power of Destruction for a while now ever since she heard about it.

Azar: "th-the mean people." he replies. "They always hurt me if I used magic. Called it unnatural and an abomination."

Her eyes widened slightly. Azar lowers his arms and turns away from Rias. Fearing some kind of backlash from her. That's all he's gotten in the past. Instead of what he expected, he is given an unexpected response to what he said. Rias hugged him. This was certainly an unexpected gesture considering what he said. He fully expected some hostile backlash despite being with the Gremory's for almost a week.

Rias: "We're not the mean people. We're good people. You can use your magic without punishment." she said, calmly. "And I don't think your blue fire is unnatural. I think it's cool!"

Azar: "Y-you do?" he asks.

Rias: "of course! I mean, I've started tapping into my magic. But it's only small amounts of it. I can't even call it forth on my own. I need mama's help." she explains. "So, you being able to use it on your own is cool!"

The boy looks at her surprised. This is probably the first time someone has complimented his flames. With the Phenex House, all he received was criticism, threats and insults. It was a change, and a nice change. After some time, Rias releases Azar from the embrace and stands up.

Rias: "Now, let's see who's better at Hide and Seek!" she declares.