Swing.

"Gah!"

Parry.

"Ugh…"

Dodge.

"Fuh!"

The man swung and spun his sword in his hand, turning to block the sword of the man in white across from him.

He turned in place just in time to miss the being in black now swing his massive mace downward, crushing the cobble they stood upon.

"Talion, I am impressed," the being in black spoke as the two opponents stood across from each other, the smaller of the two's sword spinning in his hand.

Talion's glowing red eyes flickered as sweat stung at his eye. He was tired…so very tired. He had died many times in the past years that he had taken a wraith into his body…the very wraith that had betrayed him in lust for his own vengeance and search for victory of the Dark Lord.

Celebrimbor was the wraith's name, the forger of the very rings that had torn asunder Middle Earth and Mordor. He had come to Talion after a ritual had gone wrong, one that resulted in the deaths of Talion's own family, his son and wife.

He and Celebrimbor had raised an army in the name of the Bright Lord, Celebrimbor himself, Talion his vessel. The old elf lord had even forged another ring to harness his dominating powers. But Celebrimbor had betrayed Talion after he had gone against his wishes.

Dying, Talion claimed another Ring; one of the Nazgul's and then retreated to gather strength.

Now, a year later, he had an army of specters at his command with Uruk-Hai as well.

During the time, he had fought off Sauron's advances to dominate his mind. Even now, more so than ever, the whispers of the Dark Lord were at the very back of his mind, threatening to overcome it and turn him into a Nazgul as well.

But Talion would have his revenge.

"I care not for your approval, vile being," Talion growled as he sprinted forth and swung downward, only to be blocked by Sauron's mace. Talion could see the Dark Lord's own ring, forged years ago by Celebrimbor, on the right hand, and on the other hand…

It was the ring he had forged with Celebrimbor!

It was a wonder why this being was so strong; he was empowered by the Bright Lord himself.

Talion was pushed back by the strength of Sauron to the very edge of the tower they fought upon. He saw his troops below with his spectral warriors, clashing with the very army he had created a year ago. Since Celebrimbor had become one with Sauron, his forces merged as well.

The ranger looked back to see the armored being in front of him. Sauron picked him up by the throat and raised him off his feet. Talion clawed at the armored hand and swung his sword wildly. He heard Sauron's voiceless laughter.

"You've tried so hard, and yet the outcome is the same," Sauron said as he threw Talion to the ground.

Talion's body crushed the rubble beneath him with the force of the slam. He rolled over and was met with a giant fist to the gut. He felt his insides shudder at the feeling.

"Your end is here, ranger. Become one of my Nazgul and accept your fate. You are only prolonging the inevitable," he said as he reared back another fist.

Talion's vision blurred as rose his hand with the ring on it. He rose slightly and reared back a fist of his own. "I…refuse!" he growled through the blood in his throat.

Fist met fist, ring met ring and the ring on Talion's hand cracked from the power's clashing in the instant they met. It fell in half from his hand and an explosion of power pushed the Dark Lord back and Talion to the ground.

Talion felt his throat open again, for the fourth time. He was dying, for real this time, and now there was no way out.

Sauron stumbled as he felt the power he imbued into the ring he forged for a king of man return to him. He held his head and dropped his mace.

Talion choked on his own blood and he looked at the Dark Lord stumble. He felt no whispers in his mind anymore, but he saw blackness creeping in the edges of his vision. He reached out a hand as he called to the ring Celebrimbor-no, he had forged with own two hands.

That was his ring…that ring was his!

A tingle.

Sauron had no business wearing what was his…

A buzzing.

His! That piece of magic imbued metal was his!

A push.

The ring on Sauron's hand wiggled and pushed itself from his finger.

The Dark Lord's pools of blackness widened as the ring fell from his hand and flew to Talion, the ring picking up the residue power from Isildur's broken ring in the process as if it were a vacuum.

His vision almost completely gone was suddenly filled with light as he felt a familiar, uncorrupted power returned to him as the ring situated itself snugly on his left hand. The only difference was that he didn't feel the intrusion of Celebrimbor in his mind this time as he was absorbed by Sauron.

With newfound strength, Talion picked up his sword, its bright blue flames igniting with pitch black smoke following in its wake. He ran over to the Dark Lord and swung his sword downward, slicing Sauron along the chest.

Talion wore a dark set of intricate-looking armor, black in color with a dark brass-color lining to all pieces. All pieces of armor were plated, one on top of the other. His gauntlets had spines that jutted out and downward in sharp fashions. On his elbows were two couters that came outward and did not surround his elbow, allowing free movement of the joint. His fingers and hands were armored as well. Underneath he wore dark clothing as well, matching the armor. He had a cloak with a hood that was black in color as well. He had long since called this armor set the Vengeance armor, because of his driving vengeance to kill the Dark Lord.

Sauron pushed back, and felt the blood flow from his chest. He growled and picked up his mace before striking downward. Talion phased out of the way, his wraith-like abilities returning to him in full force.

"You may have that ring, but the last time someone fought me with it, they lost as well," Sauron taunted.

Talion twirled his sword in hand, his feeling of power invigorating him. He smirked. "I am not any like those you have faced before, Sauron. I am better," he said, running forward and swinging.

Sauron blocked the attack and reared back another fist with his ring in hand. He swung and while in deadlock, Talion did the same, hitting Sauron's fist with his own, ring-bearing one.

A spark was created between the two, a single spark.

Ancient energies twisted and churned within a small area, and with it, energies were merged and taken, some given. Some of Sauron's One Ring energy was peeled into Talion' and vice versa.

However, energies with such differing properties were not meant to mix in the violent way they did, and the result was churning vortex of raw power created from the meeting.

Talion shielded his eyes at the menagerie of colors he saw in such a vortex and was grasping at whatever he could to stop his violent upheaval from the tower he was on.

Sauron was pushed much farther away from him and the vortex and was recovering. He saw the ranger being pulled into the swirling mass and laughed. "It seems that the universe is against you, Talion. I'm sorry, but you have failed just like the rest," he said, digging his mace into the cobblestone so that his large form would not move.

Seconds later his pools turned a bright blue once more. Sauron screamed as his ring-bearing hand extended itself.

Talion was speechless. He could feel Celebrimbor raging inside the being that was Sauron and pushing to become free once more.

All at once, Celebrimbor pulsed his wraith-like soul and the One-Ring was expended from Sauron's body and slipped smoothly onto Talion's other hand, opposite of his own.

Talion's mind slowed for a moment as he saw Sauron look on in what looked like horror as his ring was taken from him.

He would have laughed if not for his being sucked into a colorful void.

Seconds later he was captured by the void and pulled from the reality that was his own.

…

Talion blinked before he smiled. He wrapped his arms around his wife and kissed her.

"Back so soon, my love?" Ioreth said as Talion surprised her with flowers.

"Oh Talion! They're beautiful. Where did you get them?" she asked, taking the flowers from her husband.

Talion chuckled. "Oh, I still have a few connections in Gondor," he told her just as the image faded, followed by a corpse falling from his hands.

Talion's eyes widened as the body fell from his hands, his wife's. "No, no, no! Not again! Please!" The last Ranger of the Black Gate looked to his left and saw his son's lifeless eyes, Dirhael. His throat was slit, just like Ioreth's.

Moments later, he felt his own throat open and his life blood flow from the wound.

He gargled and fell down, looking in his wife's lifeless orbs.

"Talion…it is not the end…not yet."

An ethereal voice spoke from the disembodied space around him. It sounded almost like…Shelob's voice.

"Talion…it's time. Open your eyes."

A pause. The voice was cleared now. That…was certainly not Shelob's voice.

"Open your eyes!"

Another pause.

"Oh for the love of-!"

…

A pillow hit the face of the Ranger and he awoke with a start, a clear sheen of sweat on his forehead. He was met with the sight of black haired girl, younger than his son when he was still alive.

She was wearing a white t-shirt along with a pair of blue sweatpants and had slightly disheveled hair, like she had just woken up. She wore glasses and had short black hair with violet eyes.

Talion blinked as his eyes dulled after a moment. He wiped the sweat from his brow and looked at the girl.

"Yes, Sona?" he asked lazily as he laid his head back down on the couch he was sitting upright in.

He heard a grumble from the usually stoic Sona Sitri. He was the only person he knew that got under the skin of the girl.

The man heard a shuffling of steps before something was snatched from his hand. He cracked an eye open and saw an empty liquor bottle in the clearly displeased girl's hand.

"I never question how you get alcohol at someone your age, but you need to set an example. If anyone found out you drank underage at school you would be expelled and I would be struggling to pick up the pieces of my image," she spoke as she gathered the empty alcohol containers from around the man.

Talion sighed as he closed his eyes again.

Ah yes…he was younger now.

What an annoying concept.

Apparently when you combined Sauron's agelessness with Talion's mortal vessel, one acquired some aspects of it…his near forty year old body becoming that of an adolescent.

He was at least eighteen if he had to guess but he wasn't sure.

Most of his features remained, but his chin lost that certain edge it had and all wrinkles were practically erased from his body along with his five o'clock shadow.

Talion actually missed his stubble and it seemed that it was not coming back any time soon. If he remembered then it had developed in his mid-twenties but he really didn't know if he could reach that age anymore.

For the most part, his body didn't change when he was possessed by Celebrimbor except for the growth of hair and development of muscle.

He was dead after all, for the most part. He still had a heartbeat, and if he didn't eat or drink he became irritated. Talion didn't think too hard on it except the only thing that kept him alive was the ring which he wore around his left middle finger.

He tested it every once in a while just to be sure and he always grew irritated when blood got on his clothes.

Talion grumbled and buried his face in the cushions. Maybe a small nap could do some good…for his slight hangover at least.

…

"Where am I?"

"The Underworld, or Hell." A blunt response.

"You speak common?"

A chuckle. "You mean English? I do, and quite fluently."

Talion's brow furrowed.

"How did I get here?"

A shrug. "Beats the Hell out of me. You just fell out of the sky, did a perfect somersault and landed right in my garden like it wasn't anyone's business. How's those knees, by the way?"

Talion was about to speak but was cut off by the man as he spoke as if he had epiphany.

"You landed in my roses, damnit! It took me forever to grow those! Do you know how hard it is to grow human plants without any sunlight?!"

Another pause.

"What does a kid your age have any business doing that, anyways? And with that armor and swords!"

Talion was taken aback at the indignant response. This red-haired freak was younger than him by at least two decades!

The ranger pointed a finger at the man. "Now see here, runt-!" Talion paused himself as he looked at his hand for a moment; the usual callouses and wrinkles there, gone. He looked around and found a nearby bird-bath and his eyes widened at the sight of his younger complexion.

The red-haired man smirked at his expression of realization. "You were saying?"

…

"Wake up, Talion! I will not tell you again!"

The younger man jumped. He was lying on the couch again, this time with his face buried in the backrest cushions.

He cracked an eye towards Sona to see her dressed in her school uniform.

How in the fires of Mount Doom can a school of all places allow a skirt that short?

She wore the traditional uniform for her school, which consisted of a long-sleeve white undershirt and black corset which exposed her covered cleavage along with a red skirt that ended at her upper hips.

Talion himself wore a long-sleeve white tee with black gym shorts. He was especially careful to not be shirtless in front of the poor Sona. He did not want to scar the young girl.

"I'm up, woman. Let a man get some rest," Talion said as he sat up and put his bare feet on the wooden floor. It was especially cold, he noted.

Sona crossed her arms. "If I let you get any more 'rest,' you will be late for school…again," she growled the last word. She was peeved that Talion did not listen to her, especially when he practically mooched off her living space. How he got money for the amount of alcohol he consumed, she would never know.

Talion ran a hand across his face in slight irritation and groaned. "Sona, you get to school two hours early. The first time I got there with you the sun had barely rose," he told her in a bored tone.

Sona had the decency to blush. "I have work to do!" she retorted.

"And I have no part in it."

A pause.

She turned around and grabbed her satchel of a backpack. "Just don't be late, Talion," she told him as she grabbed her house keys and made for the door. Perhaps she would grab a coffee from her favorite coffee stand to soothe her nerves.

Her home was actually fairly modest. It was a bigger than the average Japanese home with a basement and upstairs with a few expensive electronics, but the largest section was the library in the basement. That girl sure did love her books.

He heard the door close and sighed before laying back, his head against the cushions.

She knew next to nothing about him, and they had lived together for four months.

Why her accursed sister did that, he would never know.

Wordlessly, he rose from the couch and made his way upstairs to the shower. He discarded his clothes along the way and collected them for the clothes hamper. As he discarded his shirt, he felt the raising and lowering of the necklace around his neck, the very string of leather that held the One-Ring from his body. He was afraid to wear it, even if the Dark Lord of Mordor was a dimension away.

He walked by the mirror and turned the shower on before he took a step back in front of his reflection, inspecting himself.

Scars littered his body. It seemed that Sauron's magic only went so far for restorations. These scars seemed to be embedded in Talion's Wraith-like soul now. They would never leave.

From arrow wounds to stabs and slashes, these were awards from his deaths at the Uruk-Hai and before that, when he guarded the Black Gate. The only wounds that did not show on his skin were the ones on his throat and left hand. He looked down to his ring and saw it glow blue briefly before settling back down.

He then settled for the mundane task of brushing his teeth. They did not do that back in Middle Earth. Those of the upper class settled for magic cleaning the bones in their mouth while those of lower castes did not bother.

But here, in this world, beauty was a matter of importance. One had to be presentable at all times. Talion shook his head. That mattered not in a battle.

Flashes came back to him for a moment causing him to flinch, as if dodging a blade.

It's over. You are away from that world…

But what had happened to it? Did it become conquered by Sauron?

Talion shook his head and rinsed his mouth out.

It mattered not. He didn't have a way back.

…There wasn't much to go back to anyways.

His friends were dead. His comrades betrayed him…

Another shake of the head.

He needed a drink…

…

"Thank you very much," Sona bowed her head in thanks to the older woman who served her coffee this morning. The woman nodded back and smiled as the teen turned on heel and began to make her way to Kuoh Academy, a recently turned co-ed establishment that was actually quite prominent within Japan.

It was established some time ago and since then female students from all over Japan had sought to attend such a prestigious academy. Around a decade ago, however, its attendees were beginning to dwindle and its aging schoolhouse was outdated to the rest of the country. But thanks to a couple mysterious benefactors a new school grounds was built and its funding was revamped to new heights. Thanks to this, many more students garnered thought on attending the school that was rich in history.

The only difference was the change in ownership to a Sirzechs Gremory.

Sona sighed as she drank her coffee. It was truly a marvel of human engineering perfected over a number of years. She wondered how she did without this in the Underworld.

Then again, she had no idea it existed until a little over half a decade ago so that was probably the case.

She adjusted her glasses with the pinkie of the hand that held her coffee as she walked along the early streets of the main road in Kuoh city. Some humans were out and about getting to their jobs early to do some extra work to earn that promotion they had been vying after or they just worked shit hours.

Sona had always believed in early to bed, early to rise. As well as the early bird gets the worm. She had always gotten up before the sun decided to. Some nights she worked late but she still refused to sleep in. She felt she got more out of the day that way.

Unlike a certain someone she knew.

Talion had been thrust into her life some four months ago with the self-imposed mission of her 'fixing' him as if he were a broken toy. He drank in excess though she had never seen him 'sloshed' as he so eloquently put it. He reeked of booze most mornings and he always fell asleep with something gripped around his hand.

Other than his bad habit she really knew next to nothing of him. He didn't really seem too keen on sharing anything of where he was from or what he had done. Sometimes he seemed like an old man with how closed off he seemed. The only thing she had picked up on was that he wasn't too used to technology when he had first arrived and had two rings on him, one on his left middle finger and one around his neck. A deceased spouse maybe?

No, there was a wrong placement for the ring on his finger and he was too young for that. Maybe he was older than he looked?

She let an unsteady sigh escape her lips as she thought of her charge. Sona's sister, Serafall, had put Talion in her care but every time Sona had asked her older sister if Talion knew of their existence as devils, she would either receive no response or Serafall would skirt around the answer. Talion seemed to treat her no different than he would any other humans she had seen him interact with so there was a possibility that he had no idea of her being a devil.

Sona pursed her lips and shook her head free of the thoughts that continuously plagued her. They would only hinder her job at the school.

She soon arrived at the main gates of Kuoh academy, its Victorian architecture contrasting with the rest of the traditional Japanese buildings out in town. The young woman fished a bundle of keys from her satchel using one of them to open it. Afterwards she made her way to the student council room while unlocking doors along the way to help out the janitors that were supposed to unlock doors throughout the school.

She soon arrived to her workspace and sat down the coffee next to her desktop and her satchel beside her Victorian-style chair.

She sat down and sipped her coffee before she signed in to fill out any documents she might have missed the previous day as well as check her email.

She blinked tiredly as she saw the amount of mail she accrued overnight. Sona sighed.

It was going to be one of those days.

…

Talion looked himself in the mirror and blinked tiredly, his eyes staring neutrally at his refection. He wore the black blazer though it was unbuttoned with a white undershirt with the top two buttons undone allowing the leather that held the One Ring on his neck to be seen. He let his long, brown hair fall free to the sides of his chin, allowing it to frame his face. He also wore the traditional black slacks and black shoes.

He fucking hated this uniform. It constricted his movements and he felt too much like a man trying to pick up women constantly.

Talion held almost no interest in that regard. Too much work and too much pain to go through love again. He had conceived and raised a son with the woman of his dreams. How could these teens he was constantly around know what he was going through?

Oh Ioreth…

He felt a pang go through his chest at the thought and he looked to the side to see a flask. His mouth twitched before he grabbed it and shook it to see if it was filled. It wasn't so he made his way to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle before filling it. He made sure to keep a tiny bottle of mouthwash on him so Sona wouldn't get suspicious.

Maybe he had a problem?

Bah, he didn't care.

Talion had finished eating and made his way to the door after grabbing his satchel with his supplies. The former Ranger locked it and raised an arm to block the sun from his eyes. He sighed as his head pulsed and slipped on a pair of sunglasses.

Talion had really taken to the new world he was in. Technology was surely a means to become weak and lazy such as he had seen of the humans in this world, but certain commodities were available here where in Mordor they were impossible to even think of.

He began to make his way towards school while slipping into an even but relaxed pace. He stuffed his hands in his pockets

As he walked, a stray cat darted from an alley and Talion's hand visibly twitched before he ran a hand through his hair.

The ranger had purposely taken a break from anything combat related. As soon as he had realized that it wasn't normal to carry a sword with you everywhere, Talion had to seriously take a step back and consider all things he knew because for the past forty-plus years of his hectic life it was perfectly normal to carry a weapon. But here in this world, weapons were in the form of smaller, handheld objects with the destructive force of a mace to the head.

It intrigued Talion but he knew that this world had much more free time than his and it wasn't always an Uruk-eat-man world. That meant there was much more time to advance and develop new technologies.

The man soon arrived at the gates to his school and shuddered slightly. Why did he get the feeling he was being watched?

…

"He's on time," a soothing voice spoke from beside Sona of who watched the gates of Kuoh Academy from her window in the student council.

The Sitri Heiress observed with a critical eye on how Talion was almost haphazardly dressed, bordering on the very fringes of the dress code of the academy.

She sighed. "For once, yes," she responded as she turned back to the chess game her and another woman were having.

"Check," Sona called almost absently as she moved her Queen into a position to take the enemy King.

In response, the red-head across from her moved her King to a differing position that was more protected that the last; the only way for the Queen to move closer was to risk sacrificing itself. Being the strongest piece, one must know what they are doing with the power it possessed or risk making a mistake with its usefulness.

Sona pursed her lips as she moved another piece before looking off to the side, seemingly in thought.

Why had Serafall entrusted a human to her? She wouldn't question her older sister's motifs, but it was odd and out of the blue.

"Sona, it's your turn," the red-head called out to her friend of who blinked before moving her rook in a position to where the King could not escape it without sacrificing itself to the Queen in the last position.

"Checkmate, Rias," Sona responded as she stood.

Aforementioned red-head, Rias, pouted as she stared at the board. Sona was too good for her own well-being sometimes. She wasn't even paying attention and had gotten the best of Rias.

Rias was a beautiful young woman with long, crimson-colored hair and sea-foam green eyes. It was almost as unnatural as her beauty in some cases and she knew that. She wore the same uniform as Sona however she had a bustier curvature to her than the more petite Sitri.

"It looks like you're becoming obsessed with Talion, Sona. If I didn't know any better I'd think you had a crush," Rias smiled as she stood, brushing her skirt free of any imaginary wrinkles.

Sona furrowed her brows before she scoffed. Rias knew of Talion only from his looks and the few words they had shared. She didn't live with the young man and would probably be thinking otherwise if she had known of his problems.

The young Sitri heiress had thought many times and had stayed up many nights trying to think of a way to help her young human charge. Maybe that was her sister's plan? To try and help her fix this person? But why? He was just human after all and many humans had shared this collective problem all over the world. Who was her sister to take interest in some no name human?

She wasn't an angel even though she was as nice and demure as one sometimes.

Sometimes.

Sona shuddered at the thought of her usual eccentric sister and her complex with her. Psychopath is what she was labeled other times.

Only to her younger sister, though. Because only she and her mother knew of the fixation that Serafall had with Sona. Their mother merely laughed about it when she had first discovered it. And nowadays she used it to threaten Sona when she felt she was growing up too fast.

It was amusing to say the least, for Sona's mother only, however.

Rias seemed to have the same issue, her brother being as eccentric as her own older sibling.

Sona shook her head and pursed her lips. It wasn't her place to talk badly about her sister. She still deserved respect as one of the four rulers of the devil faction and Sona would give that to her.

Rias looked to her friend and smiled lightly. Sona would often go on long thought processes, oblivious to the world around her. It was cute, really, as she often went through several facial expressions before she would be registered to the land of the living again.

A knock on the door broke the thoughts of Rias herself and she turned around, walking briskly to the door. Sona and she were the only two present in the room at the moment. The student council was usually very prompt and arrived around fifteen minutes early before eight in the morning. Sona's Queen, Tsubaki was off taking care of errands while her own Queen, Akeno, was in the Occult Research Club with the rest of her peerage.

Rias opened the door to see a younger man with sunglasses on, a paler than most skin tone, and his hair now tied in a loose pony tail with some bangs framing his face.

Rias smiled at the sight of Talion. "Good morning, Talion," she told him.

Talion blinked tiredly behind his glasses before taking them off, grimacing as the light met his retinas though he kept it at minimum. Rias had been nothing but cordial with him and he would offer the same hand in turn.

"Rias," he nodded as he looked inside to see Sona sitting on the couch, a match of completed chess in front of her. The black king on the table stood proudly while the white was tipped over. Talion knew that she had won the match simply because she always chose the black set over white every day.

The former ranger had never challenged her to chess before and didn't intend to.

"You're early, Talion," Sona told him after a moment as she collected the chess pieces into a small bag before putting the chess board and bag onto a shelf.

Talion shrugged. "It's only 7:42," he told her uncaringly while pretending to look at some books on the wall before sitting down on a couch near Sona's desk.

"Still early for you," she muttered as she walked back to her desk. Rias only giggled at the two before she focused her devil senses on Talion. She had done this for a while now, seeing if he had any power within him.

Her senses were a marginally sharper than the average devil's and she had known this for a while now. The world around her faded and turned to shades of grey and black and grays before energy signatures appeared before her.

Rias' own was a menagerie of crimson and black powers at a higher than average level for her age and she was quite proud of that. It was pulsating and angry much like her powers of destruction. Sona's were serene and calm, a deep blue color that was also quite high though slightly smaller that Rias'.

The Destruction Princess could feel Akeno's yellow, vibrant, pulsating energy from where she stood while Akeno was a few hundred yards away in the old schoolhouse. She could feel the rest of her peerage all over school and the approaching entourage of Sona's peerage right outside of the door to the room they were currently in.

Talion, however…it was almost as if he didn't exist. Of all the colors she 'saw', he was a deep black. Nothingness with only a slight blue spark if she looked deeply enough focused around a single focal point. She also saw a deep crimson focused on another point. Both energies were calm but it seemed as if they were different in nature from other energies she had sensed before.

Rias felt her shoulders droop. It wasn't enough to warrant a closer look. Perhaps he was just a gifted human. The only thing that was different enough to warrant a closer look was the two energies, but they were so minute it was almost insignificant.

She felt her senses bleed with color once more as she heard muffled talking behind the door to council room.

Seconds later she saw a taller blonde-haired male enter with a few other people, one being a blue-haired female-Rias hadn't learned their names as they were both still relatively new-among the others who came in. The taller blonde was speaking as Rias decided to listen.

"Wow, so that's how it works? If you're more powerful as a devil then you have more wings-," a subtle spike in power was felt as the blonde tightened up and looked to the source of energy which was his own king, Sona, of which was glaring the dirtiest of daggers at him.

"Saji, Yura, be aware of your surroundings when speaking of such… frivolous topics," Sona spoke slowly as she glared. She would not have her species compromised over such a minute piece of information being given out on a whim due to pointless conversation.

Well, it wasn't totally pointless. He was trying to learn but it wasn't the place with Talion here.

A small snore confirmed her suspicions that he was asleep. Sona sighed deeply as if she were finally thankful for the fact that Talion was lazy.

Saji seized up and nodded to his kind while the blue-haired girl, Yura, nodded shakily as well. It seemed that she needed to be more vigilant as the senior devil between the two.

Rias merely giggled at the interaction between Sona and her peerage members. Her recently revived peerage member, Issei, was equally as goofy, though his perverted nature left much to be desired. Where Sona ran her peerage much like a business, the Crimson Princess didn't think of her peerage as employees most of the time.

The red-head sat on the seat beside the currently asleep Talion and near immediately he jumped and was reaching for something on his back that wasn't there.

Rias merely regarded the startled teen with a raised brow, her arms crossed as well as her legs.

Talion breathed heavily. He was in a dreamless sleep though he was reminded of a time where he was being strangled by an Uruk when weight was shifted next to him.

He breathed heavily for a moment as he noticed the red-head beside him. All eyes in the room were on him, actually with Sona studying him intently.

This is the first time I've seen him act that way before, she thought.

Talion felt his lips twitch into a half snarl only for a moment, a brief flash of anger washing over him only for a second before it was quelled. He stood and grabbed his bag before he wordlessly left the room, a scowl formed behind his glasses that was invisible to them, not caring for the thoughts that followed after.

…

Talion could be found on the roof of the academy taking a swig from his flask before he took a swig of mouth wash immediately afterward, swishing it around in his mouth before spitting it out a few moments later. Fucking nightmares he cursed to himself. No matter how much he distanced himself from the sword it seemed to crawl back to him. He wasn't a pacifist by any means. And he held no distaste from killing humans either. He had been at war, bred for it, born by it.

Middle Earth was a constant war in and of itself. War had shaped it and Talion knew it had shaped him.

But damn, it seems it was in his blood now. The past five years of his life had been the most conflict-centered.

This world seemed to be enveloped in its own conflicts but Talion found them trivial sometimes. While fighting for resources wasn't a totally pointless endeavor, the way these countries went about it was ridiculous.

From what Talion saw in this world, it was indeed true that the pen was mightier than the sword because it only took a few words from the wrong person and another was down the drain.

Talion had noticed his nightmares coming in more and more by the months. Perhaps it was because he wasn't in combat?

He had talked to Serafall quite often and when he first arrived in the underworld just over six months ago his nightmares were only of his wife and child. But now, they all were of him back in Mordor, fighting along his minions-Uruks-soldiers, er, slaves.

Bah, they were all of them. Though Talion did get chuckles out of calling them minions.

Forward my minions!

Talion laughed lightly as he remembered being talked into saying that by Ratbag.

Perhaps he should go back to Serafall for 'counseling.'

While the name left much to be desired, she did prove a nice ear to be able to talk to.

Talion looked over Kuoh academy with his hands stuffed in his pockets and an impassive look in his eye. He looked down to see Rias walking towards the old academy schoolhouse with a small white-haired girl, blonde boy, and raven-haired female. He adjusted his sight to see Issei lounging below a tree by the old schoolhouse, oblivious to the world around him.

Talion sighed as he drew on the powers from his Wraith-like, no, his Wraith soul, and let the blue embers spread from his ring up his left arm, shoulder, and side of his face.

"In the name of the Pale Lord…"

One thing was certain, though…

This most definitely wasn't Mordor.

…

Uh…hi?

I'm back I suppose. It's been a wild two years since I've updated anything. Tons of PM's. Tons of lovely reviews, follows, and favorites for all of my stories and it pains me to see all of it and you guys get nothing in return.

Life is wild, ne? I'm in Okinawa now, have been for almost a year. Also part of the lovely Marine Corps, so it's been weird.

Anyways.

Review if you'd like, follow and favorite.

I think this has been an interesting thing to write and I actually like it. I have a SI story for DXD but it's meh and I don't know how well it would be received to be honest.

Anywho, I'll try to update this story as often as possible. It's also my main focus with Incarnate, Where the Flow Takes You, and Another Way to Die on the backburners. Diluted and Kuchiyose no Planeswalker are not far behind that, and I have an Ajin/Overwatch story somewhere in my brain.

The pairing for now is undecided, small harem most likely, however.

Hope y'all have a good day.

PEACE :D