Vanishing Devil

Chapter 1: Meeting of the Lucifers

Light blue eyes stared down at the ground as their owner continued to walk on, watching as one foot was placed in front of the other and pushed him forward along the small dirt path he was walking along. He glanced up from his feet to stare up at the Underworld's purple sky, it was afternoon now, meaning he had been walking for almost the entire day. This would make the third...no, the fourth day straight he had been walking now, only stopping to rest when the bottoms of his feet were hurting and bleeding too badly to continue, which allowed him to take a short nap before his natural healing factor as a devil healed his wounds well enough for him to keep going. His hair fell over his eyes as he looked upward, the normally silver hair now caked in so much sweat and dirt that it was almost hard to tell what color it was. He looked around, his frown growing even larger when he saw the terrain around him was practically the same as it had been for the past two days; his small dirt path surrounded by grassy fields on both sides, and large mountains looming far in the distance. He had once tried to see if he could tell how far he had walked so far, but he had lost concentration a while ago, leaving him with no idea how far he had made it at this point.

"Dumbass" He berrated himself quietly, his voice hoarse from his parched throat, he had drank what little water he brought with him quite some time ago, and he been unable to find any streams or creeks. Made sense, he supposed, the Underworld isn't exactly known for water. "You should've waited til you were in the Human World, least there someone would've asked if you needed any help by now."

It was true, he should have waited until his family had visited Earth before running away. Or perhaps have made his own way to Earth through a magic circle, rather than running away from home here in the Underworld, but he just couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't handle his father treating him like some sort of monster just because of the power he had been born with. His mother was of little help, even if she actually did try to help him, which she didn't, not like she could do much, she was just a human, and his father was a devil, one of a very strong bloodline as well. After a particularly shitty day, his mind had been made up. He packed a small bag of food and water and left in the middle of the night, not knowing what his destination would be, and not really caring either, it just had to be somewhere away from them.

Now he greatly regretted now putting a bit of forethought into his great escape. He looked grimly back down to his feet, his eyes roaming over his dusty white shirt and black shorts, his shoes were also in complete tatters at this point. He easily noticed that even as he continued to put one foot in front of the other, his legs were shaking. "Exhaustion, I guess" He mumbled to himself, noticing his hand was quivering a bit as well. It wouldn't be that long before he would probably be to tired to move, and he certainly doubted he'd be able to survive for much longer at that point. "Oh well, better to die out here than live back home" He said, his frown turning into something similar to a sad smile. Perhaps God would show some mercy and allow him some sort of afterlife, rather than him just fading from existence like other devils, after all, God had given him a Longinus despite him being only half human. Though the more he thought about it, perhaps God had just been playing some sort of cruel joke on him by giving him Divine Dividing. After all, the Longinus was the reason that his father had treated him like a monster. Maybe God giving him the Sacred Gear was just his way of getting some payback on the Lucifer family. Truly, the life of Vali Lucifer certainly seemed to be a sad one, short as it may be.

Albion was being rather quiet as well, he hadn't heard a peep from the dragon the entire day. Perhaps his exhaustion was affecting his communication with the creature, or perhaps Albion had simply given up and was allowing him to face his eventual end without giving some false hope of assistance. He appreciated that, there were no homes or buildings anywhere in sight, so there most likely wasn't anyone who could help him.

Vali continued walking, now losing any idea on what time it was or how long he'd been walking, his mind felt like it was fading at this point, feeling similar to how he felt when he was close to falling asleep at night. He gasped slightly as he suddenly stumbled, his left foot refusing to move in front of his right, and he grunted in slight pain when he slammed onto the hard ground, a light amount of dust drifting up from the impact. He stared at the ground beside him, now feeling a bit disappointed that this could be the last thing he saw. His eyes were closing now, without his consent.

'It figures,' He thought bitterly 'what a pathetic end.' He was surprised as a foot suddenly stepped within the view of his closing eyes, and the last thing he felt before falling unconcious was confusion as he realized it was a dress shoe.

Vali eyes suddenly opened, a small gasp escaping from him when he realized he was awake, and somehow felt much better than he did before, probably the best he had felt since he ran away. He quickly glanced around, noticing that he was now laying along the side of the path he had been walking on. He looked up and saw the sky was completely dark above him, yet the small area around him was illuminated. He quickly noticed the reason for the light, and frowned in confusion at the camp-fire a few feet away from him, the wood crackling in the flames. He silently wondered who made the fire before noticing the person sitting a few feet away.

The man certainly had a noticeable look, and this was in the dark, he imagined the man would look even more noticeable. The man looked rather young, probably in his early twenties, though he knew a devil's appearance could rarely reveal how old a devil really was. The man had such a color of red hair that it could only be described as crimson and it reached down to his shoulders. His eyes, which seemed completely focused on the fire, were a bright blue-green, the bright coals of the fire could be seen reflecting in the man's eyes. Oddly enough, the man was wearing a dress suit, and the dress shoes he saw earlier were on the man's feet.

Vali attempted to speak, though his voice came out in a choked whisper instead "Who...who are you?"

The man's eyes quickly snapped from the flames to Vali, and Vali was a bit surprised to see a pleased smile cross the man's face. "Ah, you're awake, that's good" the man said happily "I was worried, you know?"

Vali blinked in confusion "W-what?"

The man still smiled "I found you unconcious on the path here, you look like you've been walking for a while, judging by the state of your shoes...or lack-there-of."

Vali sat up, groaning a bit "How did you find me? There's not a building around for miles." The man chuckled a bit when Vali pointed this out, and nodded.

"True, however I was able to sense you, since you're currently on Gremory property. Speaking of which, why are you currently on Gremory property?"

Gremory? Vali had heard of them, though it would be hard to find someone in the Underworld who hadn't heard of them. They were famous for two things; the first was that the former heir of the family, Sirzechs Gremory, had been one of the main members of the group who had rebelled against the original Satans, defeating them and taking over their positions, hoping to improve the Underworld and make it a better place for all devils. Sirzechs Gremory had defeated Vali's Great-Grandfather and took the name Lucifer from him, replacing Sirzechs family name. The second thing that the Gremory family was well known for was that they treated all of their servants as if they were family, no matter who or what they were before they were reincarnated into devils. Vali would admit, he was a little jelous of that, his own family treated him like trash, yet the Gremory treated even their servants kindly? How could he not be jelous?

Vali scowled at the man, it was none of this guy's business why he was here "Why should I tell you?"

The man chuckled a bit, still smiling "Well, my last name might not be Gremory anymore, but I still consider myself one, all things considered. Plus, you technically are trespassing on my family's property, so I could kill you if I wanted."

Vali's eyes widened a bit as he began to glance around, quickly searching for any way he could escape from the man. The red head noticed this and held up both his hands to show he meant no harm "Hey! Calm down, I'm just joking, I wouldn't do that. I'm just curious as to why you're here" The man said, smiling as he saw Vali calm down slightly.

Vali stared at the man for a few moments, then his eyes widened as he suddenly comprehended what the man had said a moment ago "Wait a minute...you said your name used to be Gremory, just what do you mean by that? Did you get married and take your wife's last name or something?"

The man blinked in surprise before his eyes widened. He grinned sheepishly before chuckling "Ah, I haven't even introduced myself, have I? Forgive me, that was rather rude of me" He then extended an open hand to Vali "My name is Sirzechs Lucifer, formerly Sirzechs Gremory, it's nice to meet you."

Vali stared in shock at the hand extended to him, then glanced up to the hand's owner, Sirzechs still giving him a small smile. Vali tried his best to hide his shock as he extended his own hand and lightly grasped Sirzechs', then shook it, causing the smile on Sirzechs' face to grow larger. "You know, it's rather impolite not to introduce yourself in return" Sirzechs pointed out.

Vali gulped, this time trying his best to hide his fear and nervousness. This was the man who had killed his Great-Grandfather, what was he going to do once he found out Vali was from the Lucifer family? Would he share the same fate? "Vali Lucifer" He said, awaiting Sirzechs' mood to change from kind to cruel. To Vali's utter shock, Sirzechs didn't look surprised at all, the red haired devil simply nodded and let his hand drop back to his side. "Y-you're not surprised?" Vali asked disbelievingly, his surprise only grew when Sirzechs simply shrugged.

"I've had a few dealings with your family obviously, and you have a pretty strong resemblence to Rizevim, though you look much more sane of course," Sirzechs said. Vali suddenly scowled, giving the older devil an intense glare.

"Don't ever mention that bastard!"

Sirzechs gave the boy a look filled with pity, easily understanding Vali's dislike for his own grandfather. "I imagine having him as a grandfather would certainly be difficult" Sirzechs said sympathetically. Vali scoffed in return.

"Difficult? Try a living nightmare."

If there was anyone in the world that Vali wanted dead, it was his Grandfather, Rizevim Lucifer. While Vali's father may have feared him and treated him like a monster, Rizevim was much worse. Rizevim would beat him black and blue, mocking him and laughing maniacally the entire time. His grandfather's insane smile was forever imprinted within Vali's mind, and he swore that he would kill that man, no matter what it took, and his father too, if he got the chance.

Sirzechs nodded solemnly, looking back to the fire "Forgive me, I didn't mean to bring up any bad memories.

Vali shrugged "It's alright."

"I have no idea where your family lives, though I'm certain that it's not on Gremory land, so is it safe to say the reason for your condition is because you ran away from home?" His response came in the form of a short nod from Vali "I see, how long ago?"

"About four days."

"Four days hm?" Sirzechs mused "I'm guessing you haven't been resting much either."

"Every once and a while" Vali muttered, shrugging.

"I see, so what is it that you're looking for? Or are you just wandering?" Sirzechs asked.

Vali thought it over for a few moments before shrugging "Don't really know," He said, joining Sirzechs in staring at the flickering flames "At first I was just trying to get as far away from home. Now that I've put some distance between me and them, I guess I'm looking for a way to get stronger."

Sirzechs arched an eyebrow "Oh? Why do you want to be strong?"

"Revenge" Vali answered "I'm going to kill Rizevim for everything he did to me."

Sirzechs nodded "I see, I suppose I can't blame you for that. I can only imagine what that man put you through, though may I ask why he did those things to you? Did he do it simply for amusement?"

Vali shrugged "No idea why, he seemed like he just did it for fun. My father though, he treated me like a monster because of my power."

"Your power?" Sirzechs asked "What do you mean by tha-"

Sirzechs was interuppted as a pair of white and blue dragon-like wings suddenly appeared on Vali's back, along with a pair of devil wings. Sirzechs stared at the two different pairs of wings in shock "Divine Dividing" Sirzechs whispered. He stared at them for a few more moments, then looked back to Vali's face "How?"

"I'm half human," Vali explained "God must have thought it would be funny to give it to me." Vali winced slightly at his small headache from mentioning God's name aloud.

Sirzechs frowned, shaking his head "I doubt that, he always seems to know what he's doing. I don't believe you recieved a Longinus for no reason. Perhaps it's fate, a descendent of Lucifer recieving an item that could kill a god."

"A real miracle huh?" Vali asked, smirking. Sirzechs smiled and nodded.

"Perhaps so" Sirzechs said. The red haired devil looked back to the flames, a look of concentration coming over his face, seemingly thinking about something. "I have an offer for you" He said finally.

"I'm listening" Vali said, noticing the serious look the Maou now had.

"I'd like you to come with me, back to my home." Sirzechs said, making Vali's eyes widen.

"What!? Why?"

Sirzechs gave him a small smile "As the current Lucifer, I feel responsible for you. If you come with me, you'll be able to train by fighting against my Peerage, and myself if I'm avaliable. You should be able to become quite strong, considering how much potential you have."

Vali stared at him in shock "Why would you do that for me? You're obviously doing it for some reason."

Sirzechs nodded, though didn't seem dissuaded "True, I'd like you to help me change the Underworld, and the Devil race as a whole, for the better."

"But you already did that." Vali pointed out "You and the other three Maou."

"Somewhat yes, but while we have changed things quite a bit, the Old Maou Faction is still out there, and they still have many supporters in the oldest families. Having a descendent of the original Lucifer on our side could certainly bring more support to us. Plus, I actually do want to help you just for the sake of helping."

Vali looked at the older devil for a moment, trying to see any sign of deception. He wasn't sure if he should agree or not, the deal just seemed too good to be true. Sirzechs was willing to take him in, and all he had to do was be on Sirzechs' side? He was staring directly into the Maou's eyes, and yet he couldn't see any deception at all, only kindness and...hope?

Vali sighed softly, then nodded. "Fine, you've got a deal."

Sirzechs suddenly smiled widely, eyes seemingly sparkling in joy. "Excellent! I promise you won't regret it. I have a little sister around your age, you two should get along great!"

Vali sighed again, then mirrored the Sirzechs' actions as the older devil stood and patted the dust of his clothes. Sirzechs moved closer to Vali and placed a hand on his shoulder, giving the younger devil another large smile. "Hold on a moment," Sirzechs said, holding out a hand in the direction of the fire, a small spell circle appearing in his hand. A large sphere of water appeared over the fire and dropped onto it, instantly putting the fire out and putting the two devils into darkness. "Safety first" Vali heard Sirzechs say, making him roll his eyes.

The darkness didn't last long as a red magic circle suddenly appeared beneath both Vali and Sirzechs, painting them both in a crimson light. Vali easily recognized it as a magic circle used to teleport, and with that short thought, he suddenly found himself blinded by a bright light. He felt his surroundings change as he was teleported away from their previous location. When his sight returned to him he was greeted with the sight of a large and beautiful entrance hall to what must have been a castle, he could even see a few servants bustling about.

"Maou-sama, it's good to see you've returned" A cold female voice greeted from behind Vali. Both he and Sirzechs turned around, and Vali arched an eyebrow slightly at the woman's appearance. She was a very beautiful woman who appeared to be in her early twenties. She had long silver hair which featured a long braid on each side and ending with small blue bows at the ends, the rest was let down, and ended in twin braids. What confused him was that the woman was wearing what looked like a French maid's outfit. Her head was bowed, and her eyes were closed, so Vali quickly realized she had no idea that Sirzechs wasn't alone.

"Maou-sama, may I-" The woman was cut off as she raised her head and opened her eyes, the silver orbs instantly noticing Vali at Sirzechs' side. "Who is this Maou-sama?"

Sirzechs gave her a sheepish grin "Grayfia-chan, this is Vali Lucifer, he's going to be living here with us from now on" Grayfia's eyes narrowed at Vali's last name. Her former family had served the Lucifer family for many years, and she knew of how evil they could be, after all, this was the reason she had sided and eventually fell in love with Sirzechs. "Relax Fia-chan! Vali-kun ran away from home a few days ago because of how he was treated, I trust him."

Grayfia looked uncertain, but she didn't argue, though Vali had the feeling she would probably bring this back up with Sirzechs in a more private setting "If you're sure, Maou-sama" She said, bowing her head slightly.

Sirzechs nodded happily and began to guide Vali farther into the room toward a hallway, Grayfia following closely behind them. Vali glanced up at Sirzechs "By the way, what should I call you? Maou-sama? Sirzechs-sama?" He asked.

Sirzechs seemed to think for a moment before gaining a mischevious look "You can call me Tou-san and you should call Grayfia your Kaa-san! You two even have the same hair color!" He exclaimed happily. Vali arched a disbelieving eyebrow at the older devil, then glanced back at Grayfia, almost smirking when he saw her annoyed look.

"Yeah, that's going to take some getting used to," Vali muttered "and where are we going?"

Sirzechs' large smile somehow grew larger "I'm taking you to meet Ria-tan! You two will get along great!" He said. Vali somehow doubted that, but kept his opinion to himself. He was about to ask if his new...Tou-san...could take him to where he would be staying instead, though he was interrupted when a figure suddenly appeared in front of the small group.

Vali could best described the figure as a very young, girl version of Sirzechs, they had the exact same hair and eye color. The girl appeared to be slightly younger than Vali, perhaps by a year or two. She was dressed in a pair of pajamas, and was clutching a...DVD case in her hand? She had an extremely excited look on her face. Vali could only assume this was the younger sister that Sirzechs had been talking about.

"Nii-sama! Nii-sama!" She exclaimed "The new episodes came in! Let's-" She stopped suddenly as she noticed the silver haired boy standing in front of Sirzechs and Grayfia. "Nii-sama, who's this?" She asked curiously.

Sirzechs grinned "Ria-tan, this is Vali-kun! He's going to be living here with us from now on." He explained. Vali watched as the girl stared at him for a moment before looking back up at Sirzechs.

"Will he watch anime with me?" She asked.

Sirzechs nodded "He sure will." Vali wasn't quite sure he liked Sirzechs saying he would do things without at least asking him first. He was about to voice his opinion when he suddenly found himself in a tight hug from the short red-head.

"It's nice to meet you Vali-kun! Let's be best friends! You're going to live it here, I know it!" She exclaimed happily, tightening her arms around him. Vali did his best to ignore his discomfort as he glanced down at the girl, then back Sirzechs, who was unsurprisingly grinning, though he was a bit surprised to see Grayfia was smiling slightly as well.

How odd, for some reason he felt more at home and welcome here than he ever did at his house with his parents. He allowed himself a small smile as he thought about how he made the correct decision in coming here. "Yeah, I think I'll like it here too."

AN: I hope you enjoy this, it all came from a friend of mind wondering what it would be like if Sirzechs had found Vali, rather than Azazel. I'm going to try to put more emphasis on little used characters in the DxD series, and some characters will be more powerful than they are in canon (Kokabiel being one, I just hate how Vali seems to take him down so easily). This and Rosario DxD are going to be my main focuses for a while, so again, I hope you enjoy this story.