Hey everybody! I apologize for my rather long absence. Additionally, happy new year and I hope you all had a great Christmas! Here's a story for you all.

Notice: I am not as active as I was before. FanFiction is a hobby and I want to keep it that way. Of course I will still keep writing stories for the people that like them (relatively few) but I won't stick to any schedule. I apologize sincerely. Thank you.

"These are the thoughts of a character and also flashbacks!"

[This is the speech of a Sacred Gear and/or the beast that dwells inside of it]

Inspired by Helldragon. I took influence from his title and wonderful story.

They say fate is cruel, and that couldn't possibly be any more true for the teenager Issei Hyoudou. He was abandoned; tortured without mercy by the people that he thought cared about him the most.

The scars and cigarette burns that they had left behind on him were very evident under his shirt. The most noticeable one stretching down from his right shoulder to the centre of his chest in a diagonal path - the remains of a large, deep scratch that was given to him by a truly evil woman with jet black hair.

Though, what was oddly strange was that he could only remember so little about her, as if someone had intentionally tried to alter his memory but failed to eradicate it all. What remained of her in his broken mind was a scene that he could recall so easily as if it happened only yesterday.

"Tch! You damned brat! Don't ever touch me again with those filthy, human hands!"

Throwing the child a few metres back, she immediately increased her guard tenfold, flaring out midnight black aura that felt intoxicating when it came into contact with Issei. Each step she took sounded like an approaching trip of impending doom nearing closer and closer.

But, Issei couldn't move at all. His hazel brown eyes were left to spin around his eyes in a wild manner. The very fear of her approaching him was enough to send shivers down his spine faster than anybody previously could.

The burgundy prison he was in almost seemed to crumble under the pressure of her evil, petrifying aura. He finally managed to muster enough courage to even look at her, but by then she was already standing directly above him, in the process of delivering a swift kick to his stomach.

Upon contact of her kick, Issei was sent flying across the room and was only stopped by the already unstable burgundy wall. He coughed up so much blood on the spot that he thought he'd die right there, though that wasn't the case. Was she intending to give him a slow death, or merely a harsh lesson.

Though he couldn't muster any more strength. He kept coughing up so much of the crimson substance right there on the spot. He immediately curled up into a fetal position to protect his internal organs, though something about the woman was telling him subconsciously that this would prove ineffective.

Issei could barely use his arms to look up, yet alone running away. A sick feeling was originating from his stomach to his brain, and tried to place an estimate on how much internal bleeding he just suffered.

The sound of high heels smashing down against the floor drew closer, each one breaking off a part of the material that made up the floor. And then she finally reappeared, this time grabbing Issei by what remained of his shirt.

She lifted him up with little to no effort and hissed in a venomous tone, "Boy. Touch me again and I actually will kill you."

Her index finger bore the longest and sharpest nail. Splitting a hole in his shirt, she used this to scratch a scar into his chest, narrowly missing a major artery. That's not to say that it didn't draw blood, however.

Blood seeped out of the wound and stained his clothes crimson, but he couldn't wipe it off. No, he couldn't do anything. He didn't react at all, instead he was too shrouded in fear to even react to the girl and her actions.

"Now, get the fuck away from me and crawl back into your cell. Try to escape and you'll be killed immediately by my guards constantly patrolling this area at all hours of the day."

She then threw Issei aside, leaving him to crawl back and struggle as her source of amusement.

Issei sighed, not knowing why his brain had to relive the entire scene in third person, "Why must that come up now of all times? Damn you, brain!"

It's not like he asked to relive it. In actuality he really didn't, not even one bit of it. He had cursed that woman to hell several times in the past.

He only managed to escape due to a few seconds of luck and a lack of security at the time. That's not to say that he found it hard. He had nowhere to go, no one to talk to and didn't know enough of the supernatural world to acknowledge the territory of other supernatural beings.

He knew he had some kind of Sacred Gear but he hadn't yet awakened it. He presumed the woman's goal was one of three things: to extract it for herself, to kill him before he awakened it, or to try and strengthen himself from the torture.

Though, he doubted the latter option. He felt no stronger than when he got into that god-forsaken prison, and the only significant change that he went through was adolescence and the fact that he had gained a resistance to pain, being able to sometimes completely outright ignore it.

Issei didn't know which town he was in right now, but he could tell that it was rather popular. All of the urban lights, magnificent views and truly amazing buildings. Additionally, he noted that there were two schools nearby. He took a moment to look up to the night sky and see the immaculate stars glimmering down and providing at least a bit of light for the inhabitants of Japan. Not as much as the moon or the sun though, but the moon didn't really count since it only reflects the sun's light.

"Hmm.. I should probably buy some new clothes.. where would I get my money from though?"

"..."

"Damn it! I didn't want to have it come to this… I don't want a job yet! I don't even know how old I am. I lost track of the time and date a very long time ago. I really doubt an employer would want a guy working under him that didn't even know his own age."

"Well that's just great. Stupid Issei.~"

Issei's thoughts were suddenly cast aside when he heard a bush rustle. Almost immediately after, a gush of wind behind him almost pushed him down onto the floor. He turned around but no body was there at all, which made him think he was going crazy.

"W-whoever's there! Introduce yourself now!" he yelled at his surroundings. Any non-supernatural observer would have thought that he was talking to himself, but Issei knew there was someone there. Either hiding or disguising themselves.

The forest he was in provided great camouflage for whoever was chasing him, but he didn't think that he wouldn't have noticed them until now.

"Ara, ara~ 'Yuuma-chan', looks like we got caught." – a voice said from behind him.

Issei was completely taken by surprise. Just a second ago nobody was there at all, but how did she get there? More questions were being asked than those that could have been answered, and quite frankly Issei just didn't even know how to mentally comprehend this.

Sure, he had seen his fair share of supernatural stuff that he was pretty sure couldn't be explained by science, but this was hovering delicately over the barrier between science and fantasy.

"Shit. These people give off the same aura as that bitch who tortured me for years. Are these people who I think they are?"

He turned around once more, and sure enough, there were not one but three of them. The first one, which he would call "Stalker #1" was a… quite busty woman in a very revealing S&M outfit.

Her hair was in a neat, straight fashion that was pure black with a slight tint of dark violet in it. She had truly beautiful purple eyes which glimmered even when in the night sky.

Honestly, Issei had found himself already stunned at her gorgeous and charming looks. Then he moved to analysing the other 'stalkers'.

The next one, which he would call "Stalker #2" donned a voluptuous figure with bright blue hair. Her fringe almost covered her right eye and she bore a smug grin which literally spelled out death for Issei.

The next guy, Stalker #3, was the most mysterious of the trio. He wore a pale-violet trench coat and black fedora. He was pretty tall and Issei guessed that he was at least six feet tall. This man had a manipulative smile on his face and you could easily tell he was plotting something.

"You there." – the tall man said rather rudely, pointing at Issei like a mean boss would do to their underlings.

Issei averted his eyes from the beautiful woman he called Stalker #1 towards the tall man.

He foresaw that something bad was going to happen, and as a result he prepared for the worst: death.

"Do you happen to be Hyoudou Issei?" – the man said, tugging on his trench coat and lifting his fedora up to a better angle, where he and Issei both exchanged looks.

Issei took an audible gulp and then slowly nodded, now visibly tensing up.

The man then gave a toothy smile and then continued to speak, "Hmm.. that's good. Well, allow me to introduce myself and my comrades."

"I, myself, am Dohnaseek, a fallen angel." – Issei's eyes shot open. He had heard that term quite a lot.

He knew exactly what it meant, a real angel that had fell from Heaven due to their sins. He had seen them before in his life and knew not to encounter them in his state, for he was only a mere human.

To further prove his point, he revealed his black set of wings that looked exactly like an angel's own wings, only black. He also noticed that Dohnaseek did not have a golden halo above his head like the normal angels.

Then he pointed to Stalker #2 who stood in between him and the stunning girl he called Stalker #1.

"I am Kalawarner, also a fallen angel." – Boom. This information was like someone just riddled Issei with bullets cursed by whatever the heck is in Hell's Arsenal. Her wings also appeared, and were also black.

"And I am Raynare, also a fallen angel." – Did somebody just erase Issei from existence? Well, no, but Issei was almost on the verge of collapse. Raynare also revealed her wings, and hers were just as black as the others'.

This news was like a heart attack to Issei, who had only saw one Fallen Angel in one place at a time. Now there were three of them, standing directly in front of him.

Issei knew that he had to run, but he couldn't because he was standing at the edge of a cliff. So the only options he had were: commit suicide or be killed by the very existence he hates the most.

[Or you can use me, which do you prefer?] a voice boomed inside his head.

"W-who are you?! And what are you doing inside of my head!? Get out of there!" Issei screamed while hitting his head. It was a very dumb move, I know.

Unbeknownst to Issei that this was his Sacred Gear trying to talk to him mentally. He didn't realize this though, so whilst he was smacking his head like a total buffoon, the fallen angels about ten metres in front of him were debating on whether or not Issei should be put in a mental asylum.

[Be quiet, partner! Do not worry about introductions for now, you're about to get killed for Great Red's sake! Use some common sense!]

"AAAAAAH! It's still in my head! Get it ouuuuuuuuut!"

Meanwhile the fallen angels just looked at each other and then back at Issei, shrugging their shoulders. Kalawarner simply decided to end it by throwing her yellow light spear right through Issei's abdomen, causing an almost instantaneous death.

He immediately fell down flat on his back, with his mouth open spitting out blood. A large pool of blood was seeping out of the hole in his stomach and he was losing blood fast.

He had merely a few seconds left to start talking. Kalawarner walked up to him and while he still had some life in him, she spoke.

"Sorry, boy. You had to be eliminated to eradicate the potential threat you pose to our faction. While you have not awoken your Sacred Gear yet, Azazel-sama gave us indirect orders to kill you."

The light spear then disintegrated, revealing a very visible hole around ten millimetres in diameter that directly punched a hole through his skin, muscle, bone and organs. Heck, even the clothes he had on were ripped from both sides, inwards and outwards.

"Mother, father, I'm sorry…. I'm sorry I did not get to avenge you. Forgive me..."

"What is this place? Why is it so….cold? And white. Is this heaven?"

[Quit your babbling, fool. This place is your mindscape.]

"Heh.. I swear I just heard a voice tell me that this was my mind..."

[Partner, that's because it did. Let me introduce myself.]

"Why introduce yourself when you're obviously just another hallucination formed by my messed up mind. Heh. Stupid Issei. Dreaming up voices now just to fix what little sanity you have left."

"Well, I'm about to die anyway. Goodbye…."

[And what makes you so sure?]

"Because I just got pier – DRAGON!"

"No, no, no, no, no! This is bad, this is really bad. I'm about to get eaten by a magnificent, white, celestial dragon! Shit! I never expected this to happen!"

[Oh shut up will you? Partner, I won't kill you. I am the Heavenly Dragon Albion, the White Dragon Emperor. And you, Hyoudou Issei, are my host.

"Wait, you're trying to tell me that you, the very being that I've heard about in the legends that depict you as a dragon capable of killing the very God that supposedly permeated the universe, is within my soul?"

[Wow. You finally figured it out. It's about time. I've been trying to contact you since the day you first learned to talk basic Japanese. Why do you think you didn't die back when that woman attempted to kill you?]

"Hmm.. that explains why I didn't immediately die of blood loss when she threw me across the room, burnt me with cigarettes and sent harsh kicks to my stomach. You were responsible for saving my life?"

[Ding ding ding! Give this boy a prize!]

"Haaa~ shut up you damned dragon!"

[The very same 'damned dragon' that saved your ass forty-three times over on separate occasions, to be exact?]

"Haha. It doesn't even matter anyway since this is my farewell. I just got pierced with a freakin' spear of light in the abdomen, which in case you weren't aware, didn't really feel that comfortable. It actually kinda burned, which I'm surprised about since as far as I'm aware, I am a human, not a devil."

"This is my gift to humanity: one less insane psycho to deal with."

[No. That won't be your farewell since you're actually still alive, you're just in a coma that you'll get out of in about a week's time. Additionally, that red-haired devil outside is tending to you right now. Take a look for yourself.]

"Hah, you're right. Well thanks, Albion for saving my life…. umm, how many times now?"

[Forty-three times.]

"Ah. So what do I do for the next week? I suppose I'll just annoy you constantly. Heh. You'll be glad to see me gone."

[You won't be annoying me at all. Rather, you'll be training the hardest you possibly can in this mindscape of yours until I can heal your body hard enough to get out of this coma.]

"Noooo!~ I don't like training!"

[Well, aren't you a poor soul? Boohoohoo.]

"Shut it, Albion."

[Teehee.]

Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Next chapter will be Albion training Issei for a week (or about one to two chapters due to time skips and shit). The serious stuff happens Chapter 3 to 4 and onwards.

Thank you for reading. Please leave a review if you liked it. Please leave a bad review if you disliked it. Explain why. I only enjoy criticism if it's constructive because that way I can improve my work to match your standards.

Please ask questions in either a private message or a review. I don't care which one you send it as. Also, I chose to display Albion as a troll. Though, he will be serious when it's needed.

NOTE: I did take influence from Helldragon's fanfiction, "The Infinite Red Dragon Emperor". I knew I'd encounter this issue where the less-observant of you would think I outright copied his story, when in actuality I didn't. This is all self-written. I even have the files to prove it. I will rename my title soon because Helldragon and I have both agreed that his readers may get confused with my story, so starting from this chapter I will differentiate the plot as much as I can and hope for the best.

NOTE: Helldragon's full name is Helldragon ( D O T ) xd - I had to separate this so that the filter didn't reject it.

Many Thanks,

-SatanPie