Chapter 53-So Ring The Bells And Celebrate

Disclaimer: I don't own Highschool DxD.

So Ring the Bells and Celebrate

Joshua sat on his couch staring at his palm. Or, more accurately, at the open locket that rested on it, the rest of the necklace wrapped around his fingers. He'd gotten two pictures to place inside the accessory, replacing the old ones that had disappeared who knew where. On the right side sat a photo of Jeanne and on the other one of all his familiars.

He idly traced the frame of the pictures as he waited.

It's been almost a whole week since Serafall had given it back to him. It had taken him that long to cool his thoughts a little on the matter, else he did something rash. As it was though, hate burned inside him still, but now it was under control. There was no need to make things messy when there were easier and simpler ways to get them done.

"Sorry, I was in the middle of a deal," A voice said after a light flashed inside the room. The locket closed inside his hand, but Joshua's eyes remained firmly on it. 'Family,' He read on the back of the accessory, the part that would rest against his chest, hidden from view.

"Don't worry about it, Sairaorg," He reassured, smiling but still without turning from his family heirloom. A locket that had passed through a few generations of the Davis family already. One that he'd almost lost forever… "Everything going well?"

"I'm not complaining," The devil said with a shrug as he took a seat for himself. "But you must have wanted something to have called me like that. What's up?"

"Remember my aunt?" He asked, his happy expression vanishing. "I want the miserable bitch to be exactly that, miserable."

"Oh?" Sairaorg voiced, eyebrows raising. "I can do that," He acknowledged, eyes moving between the locket and Joshua himself. To his credit, he didn't ask any questions, simply nodding. "Anything in particular you want done?"

"Just ruin her, that's all I want. Once I know that's done, I'll be happy never to see or hear about her ever again," Joshua replied, fingers curling around the necklace as he turned to regard his friend for the first time. "About what you asked last time, with Rias-"

"Joshua," Sairaorg stopped him, bringing a hand up. "There's no need to make a deal about this. I can tell this is important. I didn't mind last time, and I don't mind if you want to add some wards for me to pay for this, but the thing with Rias… I'd prefer it if it wasn't because of a deal, honestly."

"That's nice, because I wasn't going to say that," Joshua told him with a smirk.

"Oh…"

"Yeah. I'm still considering it, but first I'm gonna have a chat with Serafall to see if I can do something that doesn't involve that," Joshua explained. He wanted to help Rias, he really did. He also wanted to keep his freedom though, so he'd see if there was a way to do both.

"I appreciate that, but this is a matter between House Phenex and House Gremory. There's little anyone can do without the Pillar Houses being outraged at outside interference," Sairaorg told him with a bitter smile. Evidently, he'd run into that problem himself.

It was good that Joshua had something in mind that would work well with that.

"I have a plan," He told his friend simply. "You said I have a year, plenty of time to see if I can pull it off. If not, I should have enough time to still help."

Even if it was half that or even less, he'd still have time, probably. He was pretty sure that he should know if he'd make it before that deadline. With some luck, he'd do it and there would be no need to sign anything at all. Or at least not something that would see his freedom compromised in any way.

"Well, I hope you are right then," Sairaorg mused, clearly picking up on the fact that he had not specified what it was that he wanted to do. That's why Joshua liked him. He was a simple man, but that didn't mean he was an idiot. Far from it, really.

"Good, could you pass the message? I was planning on visiting her and Sona soon, but I'll be a little busy with some things. It seems that my projects only keep increasing in number," He grumbled, but he was grinning. Having things to challenge himself with was exciting. Magic just had a way of never being actually dull and boring. There was always at least some fun sprinkled here and there even in the moments when it should be tedious.

"I can do that," Sairaorg nodded, looking at him curiously. "You are not too busy, hopefully. My peerage can't wait for another get together. They love your food and Kuisha likes helping in the kitchen. She says she's always learning something."

"Well, I guess I can clear my schedule enough for that then," Joshua agreed easily. They were friends and besides, it wouldn't be too bothersome. Sona and Rias, for their part, weren't more than mere acquaintances, clients. He couldn't just drop by to chat for a bit and leave with them.

Or maybe he could, but never let it be said that Joshua was good at being social.

Thus, he'd prefer to avoid doing that.

"I'm sure everyone will be happy to hear that," Sairaorg said with a grin and a chuckle. "With that said, I think I have a cousin to visit and give some good news to," He announced then, grinning widely.

"Sairaorg," Joshua called as the man turned to leave. "Thanks."

He knew the devil would know what he was talking about and sure enough, he didn't disappoint.

"Don't mention it, Joshua," He said simply. "What are friends for, right?"

And with that, he disappeared with a teleportation circle.

[}-o-{]

"Hi hi~!" Serafall greeted as he opened the door and he grinned at her.

"Hey there," He replied simply. "Come on, I was just done with the snacks."

"Yay~" The Satan celebrated with a small cheer. "So, to what do I owe the super friendly welcome?" She asked then, skipping next to him as they made their way to the dining room.

"Well, I have a hypothetical business question to ask you," He answered truthfully. "And I like having you around. Margalo adores you too, so there's that," He added, just as the bird flew up and sat on the woman's shoulder.

"And I adore her too," Serafall announced cheerfully as she pushed her cheek against the little swift. "So, what did you want to talk about, Joshua?" She asked then, taking a seat and picking up a snack from the table.

"Remember that project you were helping me with?" He asked, taking the chair in front of her. "With the Phoenix Tears?" That got her full attention, if the way her eyes narrowed was any indication. "Hypothetically, if I could actually make a ward that did a similar thing, what would happen?" He asked, and the woman took the bird in her hands and sat straight.

"It depends," The woman answered and he could almost see the gears turning in her head. He already knew that kind of ward would be a big deal, but it was good to know for sure. "How likely am I to convince you to keep this ward from the other factions?"

"It depends," He shot back. "I won't keep it from people that I'm close to. I'll definitely set up one for Yasaka and Kunou if I can make it."

"I expected that. I meant for other factions. If a random pantheon came and asked for you to set it up, how likely am I to convince you to tell them no?" She posed as a scenario and he considered that.

"Very. I have a good relationship with your kind so far. Most of you, anyway," He replied with a shrug.

"Hm, then it'd only be an issue of convincing the Phenex family not to burn you to ashes. If I can get those wards set up for devils to use, then I can have Sirzechs interfere in your favor. They'll hate it, but they can't really go against it when it'd be helping devil society. It'd be like them saying they don't care about our race as much as they care about their business," Serafall explained and he could see her going through the scenario in her head.

"With that in mind," Joshua nodded slowly, he could work with that. "I'm guessing I could milk a lot of money from just that, right?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course," She replied cheerfully, putting on her childish mask once more. "Do you know how much the Phenex make just with their Tears? If you could provide a substitute for it in the form of a ward, you'd have a lot of money coming your way… But you don't care for that, so, where are you going here, Joshua?" She questioned then, sounding more curious than anything else.

"How likely am I to get the Phenex to do something if I offer them a deal regarding the wards? Like, shared earnings or something," Joshua asked then, making the woman frown.

"What do you want from them? This can't be about the Phoenix Tears so…" She trailed off then and he could see puzzle pieces falling in place in her head. The question was if it was the right picture that was forming. "Is this about Rias? But why…No, wait. Sairaorg, huh?" She deduced, drawing a grin from him. "Tricky that."

"Is it doable?"

"That's a whole lot of trouble to help someone that's basically a stranger. A recent friend at best," Serafall pointed out. Joshua had expected that, honestly, which was why he had an answer for that ready.

"Well, for one, Sairaorg is a friend and he was the one to ask for the favor. For another, the Phenex were the ones that were racist towards me first, which I'm definitely petty enough to do something about if I can," He explained, drawing a snort from the woman. However, he could see he didn't convince her with just that. It was fine, because the last point was sure to work. "And having the current Lucifer owe me, or at least happy with me, is definitely something worth doing."

"Well, at least you are direct about it," She pointed out with a giggle. "Ah, you are a breath of fresh air, Joshua, truly."

"So, what do you think?" He asked, tilting his head.

"Well, I think I'll have to discuss this with Sirzechs, for sure," She answered with a nod. "For now, the real question is, can you pull off that ward?"

"Well, that remains to be seen," He admitted with a sigh, his hand moving up to massage his neck. "I think it's doable, but it'll need a lot of work. You can bet I'll give it my best shot though. Speaking of…"

She gave him a grin, making a vial of Phoenix Tears appear on the table. Instantly, Joshua's wards washed over it, picking up information. He'd tailored many wards to try and pick up stuff whenever he wasn't working on his Life Sensing and Illusion Wards. They were paying off too, even if not nearly as much as he'd wished.

Still, it was an improvement. Little by little, he'd learn the secrets of the Tears' healing, he knew it. Not really for Rias, or even Sairaorg or Sirzechs. He wanted it for himself and those he cared about. Phoenix healing was as famous as it was for a reason and he wanted that on his side, that was for sure.

"Definitely doable," He mumbled as he took in the information provided by his wards. His mind filled with new ideas, changes to his wards about how to dissect the thing better next time. He'd get there, he was sure.

"You are a scary person, Joshua," Serafall said childishly, still wearing a smile on her face.

[}-o-{]

[Rias Gremory]

"Truly, you are certain he said that?" She asked, not even daring to hope. Could there be a chance that she'd escape the contract, escape Riser? Could the sword hanging over her head finally go away?

She'd tried, as her parents had told her. She'd tried to see if maybe the contract wasn't as bad a thing as she'd initially thought, way back when she'd first learned of it. It had been for naught though. Riser Phenex was an abhorrent man and she'd fight that marriage with all her being.

It wasn't even that he was a pervert or that he had a harem. Those were common enough in the Underworld and other parts of the supernatural world. The truly offensive part of Riser's being was he treated women in his peerage, his harem. He didn't seem to care for any of them except maybe Yubelluna. The rest of them might as well be fancy dolls in his eyes. Rias wanted a lot more from a marriage than that and she'd do her damndest to make sure that she'd have a chance to get that. Even her own family had come to realize what a mistake the contract had been, but by then it had been too late.

And now, maybe there was a way?

"Joshua hasn't given me a reason to doubt his word so far," Sairaorg stated simply. It wasn't the reassurance that Rias wished for, but it was the honesty she wanted and for that she was grateful. It was more than she'd had before. Less than she hoped, more than she expected.

"Is there anything we could do to help this young man?" Sirzechs, her brother, asked. A thoughtful frown formed on his face, as he considered this new information.

"He hasn't shared with me the specifics of his plan, sadly. However, I'm sure he'd have said if there was anything that could be done," Sairaorg reassured them.

"Hm, be that as it may, I might need to have a talk with him. There could be something we could do and he could be unaware of it," Her brother commented with a slow nod. The only sign of relief in him being the slight relaxing of his shoulders.

"No need for that, Sirzechs~" A new voice said, making all the Gremory family and Sairaorg turn towards the door. "I had a rather interesting chat just now with Joshua."

"Oh, do tell," Sirzechs said, and everyone was ready to hang onto whatever the Satan Leviathan would say.

"One of his prices for his help in Kyoto was Phoenix Tears," Serafall started, getting a hum from Rias's brother.

"I'm sure that went well," He replied, sarcasm not actually present in his voice, but everyone knew it was there. The Phenex were notorious for considering humans to be beneath them.

"Exactly, but he found a nice loophole to take advantage of, as it were," Leviathan continued, cheerfully skipping around as everyone followed her with their eyes. Rias often wondered if the way she acted was some kind of powerplay, a mind game or if she was really just like that. "You see, he didn't want to actually use the Tears or, at least, it wasn't the main purpose of them."

"What could he possibly want them for then?" Zeoticus, Rias's father, asked, frowning in confusion.

"To study them," Serafall said and the Gremory Heiress saw the pieces click in place in Sairaorg's mind. A moment later the man chuckled to himself, drawing the attention back to him.

"He wants to make a ward based on the Phoenix Tears, doesn't he?" He guessed then, looking both amused and slightly exasperated.

'That's ridiculous,' Rias thought to herself immediately. It was impossible that a human could mimic a devil's bloodline trait just like that. They'd barely gotten to bastardize their magic system based on devils and that had taken an unparalleled genius the likes of Merlin Ambrosius. Surely Joshua didn't expect to succeed.

"Serafall," Sirzechs called then, drawing Rias out of her thoughts. He looked serious as he locked his eyes with his fellow Satan. "Do you think he can pull that off?"

"I think so, yeah," Serafall replied, as if that were a normal thing. As if taking an ability that should only be available to precious few was a given for Joshua to just.. do. Surely they were joking, a rather cruel joke but one nonetheless. "It's not actually a question of if he can, but if he can do it in time. That's what I think. We'd need to check with Ajuka."

"I… see," Sirzechs mumbled as he leaned forward, interlacing his fingers and resting his chin on them. "And what's this man's plan if he were to succeed?"

"He wants to threaten the Phenex into doing what he wants or he'll have the wards available for literally anyone," Serafall explained, beaming all the while.

Silence followed the statement as everyone simply stared at the Satan. What she said was… It was madness. A human threatening a whole Pillar House? That was unheard of. Ridiculous. A joke.

And yet…

'That's the man Sona and I contacted to place detection wards for us?' She couldn't help but think, that didn't make any sense. Had she somehow been thrown into a completely different world or something? That'd make more sense than what she was hearing.

"I see," Sirzechs replied. "We have much to discuss, it seems. I'm curious about something though. Why? Why is he doing all this?"

"Well, that's simple. For one, he's a friend of Sai-tan over there," She explained, waving her "magical staff" at the Bael. "For another, the Phenex insulted him," She added then, giggling as if that were a particularly good joke. "And finally, well… Rias is your sister, you know?"

"And what were his actual words?" Her brother asked then.

"Those were his words," Serafall said as she continued laughing behind her hand at their gobsmacked expression. Joshua had just… outright said that? Directly to the Satan herself?

"Hm, I think I'd like to meet this human," Sirzechs replied, his lips twitching up.

[}-o-{]

[Joshua Davis]

Christmas was, once it came around, a rather… normal affair, actually.

Or maybe it was better to say it was a normal affair for Joshua's current situation. He'd expected to be sad, to be conflicted and to be nostalgic. Instead, he was content. He had a family to spend Christmas Eve over a nice meal like his family always did and then he'd given Jeanne her present. It was simple but it was just like he'd always done with his parents and relatives. It was what he wanted.

Thus, Joshua walked with a slight smile on his face as he made his way towards his now usual workplace. The youkai around seemed a little surprised by Jeanne and his familiar's presence, but not overly so. Evidently, they'd been expecting something to happen differently. Then again, he'd learned that Christmas was sort of celebrated in Japan.

It was a different type of holiday, admittedly. He'd learned that it was closer to a Valentine's Day, really, which had been interesting. However, it still explained why there were less servants around. Joshua guessed many of them had been given a day off or something.

"You came!" Kunou shouted once he opened the door to their usual room.

"I said I would, didn't I?" He asked as he crouched down to give the little girl a hug before she could tackle him instead. Over her shoulder, he looked at Yasaka, who looked at them with a smile.

"Well, she seemed to believe you a liar, Joshua," The youkai leader said, taking a sip from her tea. "Merry Christmas to you," She added with a nod towards all of their little group.

"You don't have to bother, if you don't care for it," He reassured her with a chuckle as he stood up again, only giving the giddy little girl in front of him a glance. Else, he was sure he'd start laughing. "I'm not a very religious person myself, honestly. I just always enjoyed… celebrating with the family, that's all."

"I see," She replied, acknowledging that with another nod. "Regardless, I hope you had a good night."

"We did, we probably ate entirely too much, honestly," Jeanne said, almost groaning. Personally, Joshua thought it was her own fault that she'd eaten more than she comfortably could. It wasn't like he forced the food down her throat.

"Did you get me a present?" Kunou, the impatient little girl that she was, asked giving him the most adorable kit fox eyes she could manage. "Did you?"

"Kunou," Yasaka called, her tone leaving no room for doubt as to what she was trying to say. Kunou deflated as she glanced towards her mother, properly chastised.

"It's fine," Joshua reassured with a wave of his hand. "Honestly, I've been teasing her about this for a while already. I think that's enough, right?" With that said, he walked towards the table, closely followed by Kunou. Once there, he pulled a card and took out two wrapped present boxes.

"You got one for mom too?" Kunou asked curiously looking at the two, clearly trying to discern some difference to know which was hers. She found none, obviously, since they were basically the same thing.

"Of course, we wouldn't want her to feel left out, would we?" He asked, drawing a giggle from the girl. "Now, the interesting part, which one do you want?" He asked, holding a box in each of his hands. Behind her, Joshua saw Jeanne holding back a laugh, especially as the girl started more closely scrutinizing the presents. "... Aaadn, I think that's enough teasing Here you go."

"What is that one?" She asked immediately, eyes locked on the present he extended towards Yasaka.

"Why don't you check yours first?" He asked, sitting down and looking at them as they opened their presents.

"See, you are the only crazy one that tries to open them without tearing the wrapping, Joshua," Jeanne told him with a grin. She'd had quite the laugh when he'd carefully opened her present like that.

"Eh, it was always a little fun thing I did. Dunno why, but I got into that habit," He repeated to her as he'd said the previous night. He smiled when he saw Kunou stop and narrow her eyes as she tried to finish opening the present leaving what remained of the paper intact. "Don't worry about it, it's just something I do."

"Hm," She hummed, looking at the box that had been hidden before opening it. The little girl's eyes flew wide open as she slowly pulled the necklace out of the box. It was a simple thing, really. A silver chain with a stainless steel round pendant. The latter had a small wardstone embedded on it and magic circles engraved on the back.

It looked pretty good, in Joshua's humble opinion.

Then again, he'd made them, so he was probably biased.

[Crafting – Lvl 3/50

Determines the user's ability to craft.

Increases crafting quality by 6%.

Increases crafting speed by 3%.]

It'd taken some practice and some failures, but he'd managed. He'd probably make new ones after getting the skill at a higher level. As of that moment though, he'd had to leave it simple so as to not mess up somehow. The circles had been enough of a pain to do by themselves, really.

"Thank you, Joshua. Can I ask what they do?" Yasaka asked, curiously looking at her own necklace.

"You can have someone check them, if you want," He told her, first and foremost. "But I put circles for communication and some simple signals. It can do two things, really. First, you channel some magic into it and then…" He started, bringing his hand up. He had his own necklace turned into a bracelet by twisting it so it wrapped twice around his wrist. "Kunou," He said.

Then the pendant in the girl's hand lit up briefly. At the same time, the girl's eyes widened. He wondered if that was for the light, or for the sound of a piano key that only she could hear. It'd been tricky, but he thought it was safest to make the sound signal be only for the person wearing the necklace.

"Yasaka," He said afterwards, and the same happened with the woman's accessory. "I can change the sound signal a little bit, but mostly with piano key sounds. That's what I set it up for, really, since there's not that much room to draw a circle on. Everyone has a different signal sound."

"Joshua," Kunou said then, eyes locked on his wrist. Instantly, he heard the chime and the gem on the pendant lit up.

"That's not all," Joshua told her, instantly catching her attention. "You can also make a short call with them if you say "Call Joshua" for example. However, that'll drain the wardstone. It can work for a few minutes and only once. I'll be adding wards at home that can charge it though. I could add one here."

He was rambling a little, but he was nervous. Jeanne had liked hers well enough but he didn't know if it'd be good for the two youkai. It was the first time he was giving a Christmas present all on his own. The fact that he'd made them himself made it so that he wanted them to like them a lot more.

"Does this mean I could call when you are away? Mom, can we have something to charge it in here?" Kunou asked quickly. However, Joshua focused on the beaming expression on her face and how excited she looked.

"Of course we can. Thank you again, Joshua," Yasaka said, first to her daughter and then to him. He couldn't be sure, but Joshua thought she'd actually quite liked the present. Maybe she realized what it really was for. He'd have to talk to Kunou about the third use of the necklace, but that could wait for a more appropriate time.

"Thank you, I love it!" Kunou cried out happily.

Overall, Joshua thought it was a nice Christmas, despite the past.

[} 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 https://m.fanfiction.net/u/11459794/)