Chapter 11 : A little version
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He'd taken home the first place prize that year with some invention that he no doubt disassembled for parts some week or two later. He looked at the photo, a little version of himself with the widest,
brace-filled grin on his face, cradling a gold trophy in his arms like a newborn child. Beside him was a younger and even smaller version of Lisa,
holding a thumbs up for the camera. God, she was so proud of him that day, she all but demanded that their parents get them sundaes for dessert that night. His father was behind him, a comforting hand messing with his long brown locks.
Geez he had it that long even back then? His mother kneeled beside him, her arm wrapped around his younger self's side in a weird hug of some sort, a smile on her face which showed just how proud she was of her child.
Vin tried to look for the little details in the background of the photo, but he couldn't make anything out due to the frame shaking in his grasp.
The feeling of heat behind his eyes crept up on him in a vengeance, too strong to contain anymore. Vin practically threw the frame back in with the others, and slammed the box underneath his wardrobe.
Throwing himself onto the bed, Vin grabbed a pillow and buried his face into it so he could scream. All the emotions he contained finally boiling over in one simulacrum of a moment: as he wept.
That night, for the first time in twelve years, Vin cried himself to sleep.
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Great comment Crestowl. Unfortunately, I am… painfully aware of the amount of poorly written DxD fanfics out there.
Personally, I still can't decide whether I hate the whole 'I'm going to write my fanfic like it's a script' trope, or the 'Infinite harem' nonsense.
A large portion of the initial motivation for making this script was because I spent months upon months scouring here, Wattpad, and Ao3 looking for a quality DxD fanfic to read.
I found a few little gems in there along the way, but ultimately, nothing much. Eventually, I just decided to try my hand at writing one myself, and here we are!
Now for some, it's time to rip the band aid off. Yes, Issei is in this story. He'll be featured later on, so for now, it's just Vin, Irina, Xenovia, and the others in Italy.
If you guys wanted a rough estimation of where this first story arc would fit on the DxD timeline, I'd say about nine months before the beginning of DxD New/S2/ LN Vol.3.
Truthfully, I don't get Issei hate; but I mainly think that it comes from the fact that people can't seem to write Issei with quite enough vulnerability to him, which leaves him to seem cocky, arrogant, and like a villain.
Really, I think Issei hate is solely perpetuated by people thinking that horribly OOC depictions of Issei are the same as canon Issei. Doubly so for Rias…
Rest assured, this fic is firmly pro-Issei! I plan on keeping my boy pure, perverted, and slightly traumatized!
Thanks for the review, Crestowl! You rock!
PaperTucan Says:
"Well that was sad TT. Good chapter hope to see more soon"
Well… You got your wish. I'm also about a third of the way through writing chapter four at the moment. May take me a little bit more time than this one due to some university work I have to do soon (Gotta love midterms…).
In terms of that chapter being sad… Yeah, what can I say, sometimes the best trail foreword is paved in tears. But leaving the edgy musings aside,
it's mainly here to show how rough the transition is for people entering the world of the supernatural.
I always kind of thought that things were a bit too lax in canon; like, they really just throw around the fact that they're devils in canon. For me, it always felt more appropriate to be this tight-lipped secret that's guarded with a manic amount of secrecy. No witnesses, you know?
Also, Vin having to leave his family? Yeah, that's not going to get forgotten about or retconned. It's sticking with him, a little chip on his shoulder, you know?
Also, bonus credit: thank you PaperTucan for being the very first person to leave a review on this story! You coming by and just leaving a simple comment on each chapter that's been uploaded has been such a welcome sight to see, and I love it every time! Thanks time and time again for coming by and reviewing!
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Ah.
Well, to start off with, yeah I want to keep Xenovia firmly with her early S2 personality for this story arc, at least for now. She's not mean, just cold and closed off. Part of Vin's journey to get closer to his new family is going to be breaking through that shell of hers.
When it comes to the whole 'Xenovia wants a baby' bit. I'm… actually going to keep it. Upon re-watches and research,
I found myself actually beginning to understand something about that specific bit. She wants a baby, sure.
But she want's one, because now that she's out of the church, she can finally have the things she could never have before, she says that herself. And what does Xenovia want most? What could she not have before in the church?
A family.
Sure, she has Griselda, but the LN always frames their relationship as more tenuous and more so the relationship of a mentor and student, than a mother and daughter. Xenovia later on in the LN learns to accept Griselda as more than just a caretaker, but the reasons are still there.
Xenovia doesn't feel like she has a true family in the church. At least, that's how I read into it.
As always, thanks for reviewing, you may be like 'last thing, I swear', but for real, I love how much effort you put into your reviews, you ask so many questions, and it's really fun to hear how you felt about each part. Thanks so much, and I hope that you enjoyed this chapter too. Rock on!
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