Chapter 27-Never Meant To Fight On My Own

Disclaimer: I don't own Highschool DxD.

Never Meant To Fight On My Own

Joshua wasn't too sure why the incessant chirping wasn't already grating on his nerves. It definitely sounded like it should be annoying, but it wasn't. Instead, he was almost smiling as he heard Jeanne cooing while she fed the small thing, and hadn't that been a chore? To learn how to? It was what it was, however, so it was done.

"No more strays, Cheshire," He said, his expression falling flat as he continued petting the cat. The long meow he received in response, for some reason, didn't comfort him much. He sighed, and leaned his head back against Nagini on his shoulders. "Why do I even bother?" Then he felt Morag pulling his hair carefully and his smile returned. "Thanks for being on my side, Morag."

Joshua really, really hoped his feline familiar wouldn't decide to pick something or someone up again. Margalo, as Jeanne had decided to call the little bird, much to his amusement, was cute and all, but he still would prefer to not have a zoo in his apartment. 'And I thought the place was big when I moved there,' He thought to himself with a sigh

'I gotta tell Sairaorg to cancel any plans for another familiar for me,' He added, slightly concerned at the idea. Not only would that add yet another creature to have around, but it could also mean a supernatural one this time, since it was a Devil who might give it to him. That was something that he really didn't need at the moment. 'No, let's keep it to the Demonic Artifact or something else…' He mused, taking a mental note to talk that out with Sairaorg the next time they talked.

'That's for another time though,' He decided with a sigh. Raising one hand, he ran his fingers through his hair, carefully keeping from disturbing Morag too much.

"I really should cut it," Joshua mumbled to himself. It had been a while since he'd done so and it showed more and more. He just didn't seem to be able to make time for that. He always seemed to have something to do.

"I like it," Jeanne said, finally looking away from the bird in her hands, apparently done with her task. "Maybe you can leave it long," She suggested and he shrugged. He could try, he supposed. It wasn't like he couldn't just cut it if he didn't like it.

"Maybe," He replied simply. "Are you gonna try to cook today too?" He asked after a moment of silence. "I think I might draw… Margalo if you do," He explained, almost chuckling at the name. It wouldn't be nearly as fun if he'd been the one to name her that, he knew. It was amusing because Margalo wasn't actually a thing in that world, with all the weird changes in media.

"Do you have to add 'try' in there?" The teenager complained as she stood up and walked towards the kitchen. "One of these days I'll be the one that's good at something that you suck at," She grumbled the whole way there and he chuckled to himself.

"So, little one, any opinions about this whole thing you got dragged into?" Joshua asked the small bird on the table, as if it could answer him. "Cheshire didn't kidnap you or anything, right?" He added, slightly concerned, only to receive a slight bite on his hand from said cat. "Ok, fine, no kidnappings happened," He conceded.

His curious mind continued working through that. How did Cheshire come across the bird? He could just ask her and go through questions, he supposed, but where would be the fun in that? So, he ran through the questions in his head, trying to find what would be the most likely option.

"I'm guessing she's an orphan?" Joshua eventually asked his familiar, who let out a soft sound that was basically a despondent 'yes'. 'Of course,' He thought with a sad smile on his face. 'You truly can't stop yourself from helping out strays, can you, Cheshire?' He asked in his mind as he continued petting the feline. It was more like he was saying that to both of them, really, since he was the one that enabled her.

Deep down he wanted to do that too, even if he often refused to admit it.

After all, he'd been a stray once.

When all had been lost, he'd been by himself, stumbling his way through life, searching for something to do, anything to do with his second chance. Then he'd found Cheshire, who had given him a reason to keep moving on. A small one, back then, but that was all that he needed. He wasn't alone anymore.

Then had come Nagini and Morag, who he'd admit he had been more than reluctant to allow, but he had. Because, after all, they weren't responsible for what had happened. The Hunter was, and Joshua knew that. Still, they had also been venomous creatures that could potentially kill him and thus he had struggled to accept that at the time… but he did, because they weren't at fault for that too. In the end, he'd decided to trust his only friend at the time and bring them it.

Joshua was glad he did.

Then came Jeanne, someone that was, in a way, worse than he was. After all, she hadn't had the support of her family, like he had. He was reluctant to call those people her parents or even her family, really. One day, he might pay them a visit, to throw in their faces the wonderful girl they wronged and tell them some other things.

"Well, little one," He said, as he pulled a notebook and a pencil from a card. "Hopefully, you'll like it here."

[Bond Unlocked: Margalo]

'Took you long enough,' Joshua thought with a smile as he started drawing.

[}-o-{]

[Cheshire]

Joshua seemed to be coming around to show how he really was. It was a slow progress, but Cheshire could be patient. Hunting had a way of teaching how to wait, after all. Even if she wasn't, there was nothing she wouldn't do for her human, especially after all that he had done, for her and for others.

She'd been but a normal cat once. Cheshire remembered those times with… confusion, mostly. It baffled her how her previous self was so… different from what she had become after Joshua had found her that one time.

That first day had done a great deal to earn Joshua the loyalty that she gave him. Picking her up after her…encounter with certain people, wounded, bleeding and cursed, wasn't something that anyone would do. She would know. After all, she'd seen many just walk past her. Joshua, for his part, had brought her to his home though, healed her and taken care of her.

He'd given her a home without getting anything but her presence in exchange.

Her human also didn't look down on her for being an animal, which she was very grateful for. She'd seen how others treated their cats in her outings. Then there was Joshua, who listened to her when she asked much of him the day they had met the animals that would become Morag and Nagini.

She felt the latter's eyes on her. Cheshire sensed, with what Joshua deemed 'Extrasensory', that the snake was curious, probably of what had her so inside her head. The feline's eyes moved around their human and the two of them that were almost always on him. Cheshire would never admit the slight envy they generated in her for being able to do that.

Nagini, despite not having the same abilities as she did, seemed to understand and Cheshire saw the serpent give the slightest of squeezes around Joshua's neck. The transformed lynx understood. The snake was as appreciative of what the man gave as she was. Morag was probably even more so.

The little one was, after all, rather… childish, she'd found. The spider was always chipper, something that Joshua didn't quite catch most of the time, which was a rather amusing fact, in Cheshire's opinion. The little one was always eager to please but easily affected by negative things. Poor Morag had been marked by her time under the Hunter's care.

Still, they were all part of the little odd family Joshua and Cheshire had formed around themselves, and they wouldn't have it any other way.

They also knew that danger lurked around the corner. They had experienced it, lived it and survived it. Now, they all worked to make sure that nothing of the sort would ever happen to them again.

Their last battle had shown them that they were on the right track. They were making progress, gaining power. Eventually, they would be safe, Cheshire knew. They would all be the strongest around, and they would finally get some peace.

However, there was a weakness in their group, mobility. Sure, Cheshire could run around just fine and she was fast, but that wasn't all that was needed for mobility. Nagini and Morag were even more limited in that department. Thus, she had found the bird, Margalo.

She'd looked through the forest, there was bound to be some animal that would fit what Cheshire's family needed, one that would need them just as much. As it turned out, she was right. The little bird's family had been killed by some predator and it had been left alone, on its own. Thus, the feline took the opportunity given to her to do what she did best.

Cheshire had also made a mental note to try and not go for any prey that had little ones waiting for them.

Margalo would grow to be able to fly, and that was something nobody in the group could do. She would get to places they couldn't and probably be faster than the feline herself was. That's what she was counting on, at least. However, with how much they all had improved while training, that hope was almost a fact.

Cheshire hissed at Nagini when she saw her staring at the newest addition to their little group. Fortunately, as she realized a second later when the snake glared at her, she wasn't thinking about making a snack out of their new friend. No, she was just… taking her in, analyzing her, wondering how she would fit, maybe also thinking about Cheshire's reasons. Sometimes the cat wished she could speak, it would make things much easier.

"Something I should know about?" Joshua asked, obviously noticing the short exchange. Cheshire replied as best she could, which was usually enough for her human to understand her. This was one such case, evidently. The man simply nodded and a small smile appeared on his face as he regarded all of his familiars. He'd always grow happier when he did, which almost made Cheshire preen under his gaze.

She probably would have, if not for the smell of Jeanne's cooking reaching her nose. That was… a work in process, let's say. Cheshire, and Nagini, really hoped the girl would get better quickly, because otherwise they might snap. Joshua had well and truly spoiled them with the smell of his cooking. The smaller human was obviously nowhere near as good as he was, which showed a lot more through smell than it did through taste.

"She'll get better, I'm sure," Joshua told them when both Nagini and herself gave their equivalent of a sigh. One of his hands found its way to Cheshire's head, and she settled her thoughts, simply enjoying her human's attention. This was what she wanted to protect, after all, moments like this. The life they had built. The peace and the happiness that they had was what they worked so hard for.

Nagini let out a soft hiss, as if agreeing with the thoughts that Cheshire hadn't even shared. She also felt Morag contently moving through Joshua's hair. The man himself all but announced his contentment to the world even if he didn't say or do anything in specific. Margalo, for her part, seemed perfectly fine just lying where she was after her meal. Even Jeanne, nervous as she was whenever she cooked, had that underlying calm feeling.

Yes, this was what Cheshire wanted to protect.

[}-o-{]

[Joshua Davis]

"No more familiars, huh?" Sairaorg mused as he looked at Kuisha and Jeanne, who were both gushing over little Margalo. To be fair though, the hatchling, who was quickly becoming a nestling as he'd read, didn't seem to mind the attention too much. Joshua supposed that was good, since he couldn't imagine how crazy Jeanne would have driven the poor thing if not.

"Uh huh," The man accented, his eyes still locked on the array he was setting up that day.

"You like complicating things for me, don't you?" The Devil continued speaking, as if the human hadn't just seemingly ignored him. Joshua was glad he didn't take offense. He was actually listening, after all. It was just that talking would be just that bit too distracting with the work he was doing. "First you make me owe you a lot and then you take away my best option for payment."

"There's still your initial idea," Joshua replied, cracking his neck as he took a break in between ward settings.

"The Demonic Artifact?" Sairaorg asked, sounding somewhat surprised. "Not many willingly use them, honestly. I was thinking about it just to offer something that you could use for emergencies. Most of them are… problematic, especially for normal humans."

'Most people don't have Demonic Element though, I imagine,' Joshua thought to himself, smiling wryly as he started working on it again. Obviously, he wasn't about to say that. He didn't know if having both Holy and Demonic Elements was something that could happen or how it was viewed. Wielding both Artifact types was probably not that bad, considering that Sairaorg hadn't immediately dismissed his idea.

They stayed silent for a moment, only the sound of the girls speaking and Margalo's chirps reaching them.

"Having an ace under my sleeve would be nice," He commented when he finished another ward, wiping the sweat on his brow. His eyes then found the screen that had just appeared in front of him.

[Ward Magic has gone up a level.]

"I guess," The Devil nodded, although he didn't look entirely convinced. "Only that seems a bit lacking, if you ask me. Especially since I was going to give you one before the whole exorcist situation."

"I guess that's true enough," Joshua mused, internally thinking how amusing the conversation was. There was Sairaorg, a literal Devil, trying to convince him to let him pay him more. "I just don't know what else I could ask for, really," He admitted out loud as he looked over the next ward on the array. It was just something for himself though. He'd checked them so much that he knew them to heart already.

"You are a difficult man to have as a business partner, Joshua," Sairaorg told him wryly, likely seeing the strangeness of the situation too. "But no matter, I'll find a way to repay you, I promise."

"I'm sure you will, Sairaorg," The man replied. "Besides, I could always have you owing me one. Never know when I'll be in over my head and need a hand."

"There's that too, I guess," The Devil agreed, apparently not at all bothered by what Joshua had said. The human found himself very glad that the Devil he'd met was such a… carefree guy, really. He couldn't imagine what it would have been like if Sairaorg had been how he'd imagined him to be.

"Just don't give him anything to tinker with, ok?" Jeanne pointed out, making his eye twitch. "He's already absolutely obsessed with wards. I don't need something else to make me remind him to sleep or eat."

"I feel you, Jeanne," Kuisha consoled, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder while staring unnervingly at her King.

"Why are we suddenly being ganged up on, Joshua?" Sairaorg asked, sounding confused and slightly fearful.

"Just accept that it's a thing, Sairaorg, because it definitely is," The man grumbled as he continued with his work. "I've found that it's just easier to take it." His eye twitched again when Nagini pressed her head against him, hissing something at him. Joshua was sure she was being condescending though instead of comforting. "This is why Morag's my favorite."

Then he smiled, feeling the spider move in his hair, apparently very happy with his words. His other two familiars, for their parts, turned their heads away from him. Serves them right, what kind of familiar doesn't support their human partner.

"Anyway," Sairaorg started once again, looking amused by the whole interaction Joshua had with his familiars. "Maybe I could get your name out there with my people. I'm sure more than one could use a Warder such as you."

The human could only grimace though.

"Don't take this the wrong way, Sairaorg. I like you, but-"

"But you don't trust my people," The Devil finished, not looking particularly bothered by that fact. Joshua though, was pretty sure he was at least a bit annoyed though. While he didn't look it, Sairaorg hardly ever had such a… neutral expression. "That's understandable."

Joshua sighed loudly and looked up to the ceiling.

"If you can vouch for them, I guess I could work with them," He decided, hoping that he wasn't making a mistake. "Just… you know, we already have a problem with payment between ourselves. I'm not sure what I could ask from them besides more books... Well, I guess I could never have too many of those. Especially considering all the information I may need about the supernatural," He added thoughtfully.

"There you go," Sairaorg said enthusiastically. "Besides, if you get even better and more known, you could have the backing of Devil society. Although… that's a bit ambitious, I'll admit. What's life without goals though, right?"

"I guess," Joshua nodded, privately wondering how good it would be to be seen as an ally of the Devils.

"Our lives will never be even remotely normal, right?" Jeanne lamented.

"Jeanne, you were just gushing over a bird that my cat familiar brought home not a week ago with a Devil, while I work for another that's trying to convince me to let him pay me more. All the while I have a deadly snake around my neck and a slightly less deadly spider in my hair."

"Fair enough," The girl accepted with a mumble as her shoulders slumped. Meanwhile, the two aforementioned Devils laughed at her. Then again, how did she think that would go?

[}-o-{]

[Sairaorg Bael]

'My plan to help Joshua get another familiar fell through, huh?' He thought, and instead of feeling annoyed or disappointed he was amused. 'Ruined by a cat,' He added, chuckling to himself as he looked out of the transport he'd taken. He had people to talk to.

'A Demonic Artifact though…' He'd expected Joshua to be wary of those, but the man seemed remarkably unconcerned. That was… Sairaorg didn't know what that was, actually. Was Joshua unafraid of the consequences of using one of those? Was he still reading through the book and hadn't found the worst parts?

Regardless, he'd take it. Now the Devil only needed to find something that the other man would like. Before, he'd have had some trouble, since he didn't know Joshua's fighting style, if he even had one. Now though, he'd seen him in action. 'Daggers, huh?...'

There weren't many demonic or holy daggers, really, but Sairaorg could work with that. 'Is that one still in the treasury?' He wondered, having checked his family's weapons already to see if there was anything his peerage could use. 'It should be there, considering that Magdaran has no interest in fighting. I can't see anyone else going in there… Guess that will have to do for now.'

It felt lacking, to give Joshua a Demonic Weapon. They were powerful, for sure, but they also had quite the drawbacks if they weren't used by someone that could resist their effects. Sairaorg was pretty sure Joshua had none of the aspects that could help him wield one.

Sairaorg sighed. Spreading the word would have to do, he supposed. He'd keep looking. There had to be something he could do for his new human friend. He was many things, but ungrateful wasn't one of them.

He stepped out of the vehicle and started walking towards the manor. The staff of the place greeted him and led him in and through the halls. As he walked, Sairaorg's mind continued working. Some would say that someone as strong as him giving so much thought to a simple human magician was… well, there would be a lot of opinions on the matter, he was sure. However, he disagreed and his peerage had his back on that.

Strong as he was, Sairaorg wanted to go even higher.

Being a Satan, that was his goal. The peak of Devil society, the strongest of them all. So much so that they ruled, also because they were capable, of course, but mostly because they could keep everyone else in line.

Joshua had pushed him that much closer to that goal with his ward array. Him and his peerage. Sairaorg had to wonder where he would stand if he'd always had such a thing available. Something that had previously been centuries, maybe millenniums, away was suddenly that much closer.

"Sai-tan," A voice announced and he blinked, before turning. Sure enough, there stood one of the previously mentioned Satans. The Satan in charge of Foreign Affairs, more precisely. Lady Serafall Leviathan, the strongest female Devil.

Also a magical girl enthusiast. That was an important fact too.

"Lady Leviathan," He greeted with a smile that grew strained when the woman pouted at him like an annoyed child. Sairaorg could have sighed. Instead, he said: "Levia-tan."

She hummed, looking very pleased.

"Visiting my precious, So-tan?" She asked then, all but dancing around him as she regarded him. Sairaorg would never get used to her. Despite that childish exterior, he'd seen the woman be serious a handful of times and that had left a mark on him. He'd never forget those occasions.

"Indeed," He replied. "I'm guessing so are you?"

"Of course," She answered, as if it were obvious. Which he supposed was fair. It was common knowledge that Satan Leviathan absolutely adored her sister. Same with Sirzechs with his, really. "You don't look like you are doing a social visit though, Sai-tan! You look too tense," She accused, pouting again as she poked him with her finger.

'So, she noticed, huh?' Sairaorg smiled wryly.

"It's not a social visit… entirely, at least," He told the woman. When she started walking through the hall again, he followed. "I'm here to tell Sona of a… recent acquaintance of mine."

"The magician that stopped the mean exorcists from causing trouble?" The woman asked, almost casually. 'So she knows that too, huh?' He thought. It wasn't entirely unexpected. He'd had to report what had happened with the Church's people after the fact, but he hadn't expected a Satan to check on such a paper.

"Indeed," He admitted with a nod. "I offered to get word of him around in case anyone wants to make deals with him."

"And contracts?" She asked, and Sairaorg could almost see the woman's mind working behind that childish and chipper expression.

"He isn't interested in those. We have a… sort of unofficial contract between us though," He told her. "He doesn't trust easily, but he is reasonable enough."

"Hmm… sounds like a meanie," Serafall mused, almost absentmindedly. "Why would Sona want to make deals with a meanie?"

"He's a warder," Sairaorg revealed in the end, lest he risk Satan thinking he was just going to waste her sister's time. That simple statement picked the woman's interest.

"Oh?"

"He's not a master, by any means, but he's very good. He's given me a training ward array that has helped me a lot," Sairaorg said, his still very much burning enthusiasm about it bleeding into his voice. From everyone else, he'd expected a scoff or a roll of their eyes. He knew how others saw his borderline obsession with training, but he didn't care. Satan Leviathan though, narrowed her eyes almost impersitively. He knew why too.

She'd noticed the little tidbit he'd hidden in his words. That the array had helped him a lot, considering how strong he already was, couldn't be overlooked. It meant that the wards were effective.

"Oh, and where did your friend come from?" Serafall asked, almost throwing all pretenses of casual conversation out the window. It didn't really matter, Sairaorg supposed, he'd known that this was an interrogation from the beginning. He also realized what the question actually was: "What association is he from?"

"He's self taught."

That gave her pause. The woman stopped skipping and stood straight, before slowly turning towards him. Sairaorg barely managed to not take a step back from the look she was giving him. He had to physically stop himself from gulping too.

"Tell me more," She told him and suddenly he wasn't talking to Magical Girl Levia-tan anymore. Instead, he was talking with Lady Leviathan.

'You can't say I didn't do as I said, Joshua,' Sairaorg thought to himself, almost amused. 'Getting your name out there indeed.'

[} Chapter End {]

(AN:Please remember that this story is not mine and will never be mine. Make sure to give thanks to the original author on fanfiction.net