3 Keeping Secrets Is a Necessity
Underworld, Sitri Territory, Sitri Medical Center.
"I really don't like that alarm clock. Bad customer review."
Hearing those out of character words, the two girls, Rias and Sona, the three women, Leona, Venelana, and Rhea Sitri a.k.a. Sona's mother, a pretty, fair skinned woman with black hair styled in a bun, violet-colored eyes, and facial features that resembled Sona's, and the man, the doctor in charge of James' stay in this medical institution, all adopted a dumbfounded expression as they gazed at the boy.
With a chuckle, the doctor was the first to come back to his senses. Seeing as he was unfamiliar with James' usual gentle, soft-spoken personality, he was affected much less than the others.
Making his way over to James' bed, the doctor spoke. "Alright, young man, seeing as it has been three days since you fell... asleep, let me check your vitals then I will have a meal sent to you. How does that sound?"
"Sounds good to me, Doc." James replied in a lively tone. Then he turned to the other five people in the room and spoke once more. "Momma, I really wanna go home as soon as possible, so I can tell you about my dream."
As he spoke, he briefly made eye contact with everyone except the doctor, with that eye contact lingering just a little longer on his mother, Leona.
The three adults understood what that brief eye contact was intended to convey. The two children were another story, though.
Although Sona didn't understand the meaning behind James' gaze, she did notice that the adults clearly had no intention of asking about it, yet. On the other hand, Rias clearly did not make that same observation.
"Why do we have to wait until we get home? Come on, James-Kun, tell me now." Rias pleaded in a huff while shaking James because her curiosity was unsated.
Seeing Venelana's eyebrow beginning to twitch, Sona decided to save her best friend from Venelana's wrath. To do so, she decided to avert Rias' attention away from the topic of James' dream.
"See, James-Kun, Rias is so pushy. You should join my peerage instead of hers when we get our [Evil Pieces]."
"What? No, James you have to join my peerage. Sona would just nag you about following rules." Rias shouted back in defiance.
Sona's eyebrow twitched at Rias' claim, but she knew she needed to keep going until one of their mother's told them to be quiet.
AS the argument between the two young girls continued, Venelana raised her hand to her forehead in exasperation.
"My daughter is definitely not dumb; that I know." Venelana stopped to sigh, then she continued. "But I wish she would stop to think before speaking a little more often. Really, just a little."
"As a matter of fact, Rias is quite intelligent. She's really talented, too. If not a bit impulsive." Leona chimed in. "You have to remember though, she's only six years old. She'll grow out of it, I'm sure."
"*Sigh* I just hope she grows up to be more diligent and hard-working like James-Kun and Sona-Chan." Said Venelana. She continued while shaking her head. "Zeoticus and Sirzechs are spoiling her rotten."
"Haha, they really love their little princess, huh?" Leona said with a giggle.
"As fun as this is, I think we should stop the girls, the doctor looks like he doesn't know what to do." Rhea interrupted.
Venelana sighed then...
*Clap!*
"Okay girls, that's enough."
At the sound of Venelana's authoritative tone, both Rias and Sona immediately ceased their bickering and stood still with their backs straight. Even James, who knew he was outside the range of Venelana's order, sat with his back a little straighter at the sound her clap.
Seeing James reaction, Leona couldn't help but giggle. "I think James is still scared of you, Lady Gremory."
Venelana sighed once again, remembering the incident that led to James' fear.
===Flashback===
Three Years ago, in the Gremory Estate.
James, Rias, and Sona were playing in the living room under the supervision of Venelana Gremory. As energetic young children do, they got a bit noisy. However, Venelana was not having a particularly good day. She had been suffering from a headache for the majority of the afternoon. Because of that, she repeatedly asked the children to keep the noise down. Which eventually led to...
Her patience running out...
*Clap!*
Venelana clapped her hands in order to gather the children's attention onto herself.
"I've been asking you three to quiet down for the better part of the last two hours." Said Venelana with her uniquely authoritative tone. "Seeing as you're unable to follow directions, I think it is time for a little punishment."
Hearing the word "punishment", Rias shot to her feet. Seeing that, James and Sona thought she was going to apologize and thought to follow her lead.
They were a little too slow to follow her lead, though.
And that was a good thing, a very good thing.
Instead of bowing her head and apologizing, Rias bolted for the exit. As the results would suggest, that was not the correct move. Since reaching the exit required Rias passing by Venelana.
Needless to say, Rias escape attempt did not go as well as she expected.
Just as she passed Venelana, who was seated on a sofa, Rias was snatched up and hung upside down by her right ankle.
"Huh?"
As she hung upside down, Rias looked around in confusion. Eventually, she made eye contact with her less-than-amused mother.
"Rias, Dear, I cannot praise you for your decision to escape from a punishment that you brought upon yourself." Venelana said calmly in her authoritative tone, while holding Rias by her ankle with only her left hand.
"I'm sorry, Mommy!"
"Do not use that pitiful expression to try and get out of this punishment." Said Venelana sternly. "I refuse to spoil you the way your father and brother do."
After that declaration, Venelana raised her right hand, now covered in demonic energy.
As Venelana repeatedly brought her hand down on Rias' backside, James and Sona could do nothing but stand in place with their visions locked on the floor. With every smack and subsequent scream, both children would twitch while having the same thought.
'Venelana-Obasama is scary when she gets mad.'
===End Flashback===
During Venelana's reminiscence, the doctor made all his observations.
"Mrs. Alaverus, James has no issues, physically. However, I would recommend a few more days of observation, as we have yet to find the initial reason behind the coma." The doctor advised.
While the doctor was explaining to Leona with his back turned to James, James frantically shook his head, showing just how against staying in the medical facility he was.
Noticing James' reaction to the doctor's suggestion, Leona, Venelana, and Rhea all briefly made eye contact. Transmitting much more information than anyone would think possible in that short period of time, before Venelana spoke.
"As the Alaverus family doctor is located in Gremory territory, I think we will have James looked over by our own staff."
"My baby seems uncomfortable being here," Leona continued where Venelana left off, "I'd rather he had some time to relax after going through something like this."
Although the doctor was curious to study and find the reason behind James' collapse, he knew he couldn't force the issue. Especially with Lady rhea Sitri, the lord of the territory's wife, standing in front of him.
After a little more than an hour, going through discharge procedures, Venelana created a teleportation circle beneath the group. As the circle rose from the ground, more of those within its boundary seemed to vanish from their location. By the time the circle had risen over the head of the tallest person in the group, Leona who stood at 5'9" tall (175 cm), the entire group and even magic circle were gone.
Underworld, Gremory Territory, Gremory Mansion.
In the living room of the mansion, A teleportation circle bearing the mark of House Gremory appeared in the middle of the room and began to rise. As it rose, the figures of six people, three children and three women, were revealed. As the magic circle ascended to its apex, it vanished.
Stretching after the teleportation, James commented. "Ri-Tan's house is much better than a hospital." As he finished his statement, James ran to the nearest sofa and flopped down on his belly.
Once again seeing James' out of character actions, Leona made eye contact with Venelana and Rhea before turning her attention back to James, once again.
"Honey, I feel like you're a little different." Leona began cautiously, as to not give James the wrong idea, before continuing, "You have something you want to tell us, right, Sweetheart?"
In response to Leona's question, James righted himself and sat up on the sofa. As soon as he did, Rias rushed to take the seat to his right. And as not to be left out, Sona moved to sit on his left.
Seeing their daughters' actions, Venelana and Rhea exchanged glances before turning to Leona with smiles on their faces.
"Ara, Ara, it looks like your James is going to be quite the lady killer, Leona." Venelana teased with a chuckle.
"Well, he did inherit his mother's good looks." Rhea chimed in. "I just hope he isn't oblivious to the feelings of others like his father is."
"Oh, please don't get me started," Leona said as she faced palmed and sighed in exasperation. "I, literally, had to beat him about the head and shoulders with a stick that had the words 'I love you' carved into it."
"Wait, literally?" Rhea asked in surprise.
"I know he told you he was a devil before you got married, but did you already know by that point?" Venelana asked in apparent interest.
"Sigh* Nope, didn't have a clue." Leona Responded with a sigh. She then continued, "I was just... Frustrated... In more ways than one."
Venelana and Rhea nodded to Leona's explanation with a knowing smile.
"Ahem. Anyway, we're getting off topic." Clearing her throat, Leona attempted to steer the conversation back to the main point. Rias, however, decided she was interested in something else.
With sparkling eyes, Rias gushed over Leona's statement. "Leona-Obachan is so cool! Even before you became a devil, you could beat up Cassiel-Ojisan!"
An awkward silence fell in response to Rias' exclamation.
James was the first one to break the silence. Raising his right hand to pat Rias on the head and he said, "Ri-Tan, it's a good thing you're cute."
Rias beamed at James' "compliment". "Hee-hee, James-Kun said I was cute."
Noticing that Sona was about to shatter Rias' misunderstanding, James leaned to his left and whispered in her ear.
"So-Tan, you should just let her have this one, or we'll never be able to get back to the main topic."
Sona pouted but nodded in the end. As she was more attentive than Rias, she knew that the upcoming conversation was important.
Seeing Sona pouting, James couldn't help teasing her, too.
"So-Tan, you're so cute when you get all pouty."
Sona's face immediately flushed as she looked away and said, "Shut up, stupid James-Kun," in a small voice.
Watching the interactions between the children, Venelana commented, "Looks like he inherited your natural charm, as well."
At that, Rhea covered her mouth and giggled. Meanwhile, Leona smiled wryly and said, "At least Cassiel and I won't have to worry about having grand kids."
Noticing that everyone was distracted in one way or another, due to his own actions, James decided to take a page out of Venelana's playbook to gather everyone's attention on him.
*Clap!*
Hearing the crisp sound, everyone looked to its source. There, James sat with a serious expression.
Inwardly, however, James was smiling.
'Now I understand why Venelana-Obasama always does that. It feels awesome seeing everyone pay attention to you after that crisp satisfying clap.' James mused to himself gleefully.
"Before I start, Momma will Dad be coming here or going straight home?" James asked Leona.
Leona raised her left hand to her chin while trying to remember Cassiel's schedule.
"I'm pretty sure he plans to go straight home. Why? Should we gather everyone for this?" Leona asked.
James shook his head in response. "I want to tell them, I really do. But their responsibilities will make them act differently, make decisions... that would be for... 'the greater good'."
The adults frowned at James' explanation, before Venelana asked, "Who are the 'them' you're referring to, James-Kun?"
James began counting on his fingers, raising one after another as he listed the people he trusted the most in this world, other than those in this room.
"Uhm... Let's see... Zeoticus-Ojisama... Sirzechs-Niisan... Grayfia-Nee..." after naming Grayfia, he stopped to think for a moment, then folded the finger he just raised and continued. "No, Grayfia-Nee is fine. Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, Dante-Ojisama... and... Sera-Oneechan... That should be all, I think."
Leona, Venelana, and Rhea each raised an eyebrow at James list of individuals.
Zeoticus-Ojisama a.k.a. Zeoticus Gremory. Husband of Venelana, father to Rias, and the head of House Gremory of the 72 Pillar Houses.
Sirzechs-Niisan a.k.a. Sirzechs Lucifer. Son of Zeoticus and Venelana Gremory, elder brother to Rias, and the current Lucifer of the Four Great Satans.
Dante-Ojisama a.k.a. Dante Sitri. Husband of Rhea, father to Sona, and the head of House Sitri of the 72 Pillar Houses.
Sera-Oneechan a.k.a. Serafall Leviathan. Daughter to Dante and Rhea Sitri, elder sister to Sona, and the current Leviathan of the For Great Satans.
Those names are four of the most influential in The Underworld. Leona, Venelana and Rhea could perfectly understand what James meant by "their responsibilities will make them act differently, make decisions... that would be for... 'the greater good'."
Having yet another silent conversation through eye contact. Leona, Venelana, and Rhea decided, then, Venelana stepped forward and announced. "I'll contact Grayfia and have her meet us at the Alaverus' home. We'll continue this conversation once everyone is present."
