Hey, starting a second story because, why the hell not? I'm not a native speaker, I don't know shit about Japanese culture and I most certainly am not a professional writer. I'm gonna write this anyway because I can and I feel like it.

If you don't like this, I'm sorry for making your eyes bleed as if you were using the Mangekyou Sharingan that we all wish we had. If you like this… there most be something wrong with your tastes, but it doesn't matter, you're welcome here.

Disclaimer: I don't own Highschool DxD.

Death in a Wish

I had lived a pretty decent life so far. I don't say good because… well, everything can always be better, can't it? Also, because I'm kind of a negative type of person.

But the thing is that I had lived normally up until I finished Elementary school. That's where I got separated from my group of friends. And let me tell you, I don't do well when being in new groups.

I often doubt everything people say. I mostly ignore it, but even then, it isn't easy to make friends been like that. Double-guessing everything someone says. I also tend to think that people don't want me around, things like that. And making friends with that mind set is not easy. So, I spent most of my time being at home. Not that I had a problem with that, I prefer being inside, reading, playing games or just listening to music.

My family helped a lot during those years. My father never said no when I asked for a book. My mother never said anything when I didn't go out with friends. They were just there and I always loved them for that.

Moreover, things had started to look up. I had found a group of people at school that had the same hobbies as I did. I started to talk with them each time we could. And we had hanged out a couple of times.

And that weekend was going to be amazing. I would have the house all to myself. I had even gotten permission to invite my friends while my family was away. They were going on a trip to visit a relative. We used to go there a lot when I was a kid. I loved the place.

But this time it was not to be. I had finally some friends. My relatives would be there next time.

"Are you Maxwell Salas?" I just nodded at the police officer. Had the neighbors called the police? I had my friends keep it down after the first time they had told me to. "I'm sorry, kid. Your family had an accident."

"Are… are they in a hospital? Can I call or something?" I had gone pale already, my friends had turned the music off.

"I'm sorry." Was all he said.

[}-o-{]

After that everything was a bit blurry. I remember asking my friends to leave, and just sitting in the sofa. Don't know how much passed after that.

I didn't have a family anymore. Almost all the ones that I had were there. At some point I got a call from a relative I hadn't seen since I was little. An aunt of mine that had left to live abroad when I was six years old. She would talk to my mother from time to time but it was rare for me to talk to her. I could probably count the times I had done so since she left with one hand.

Apparently, I would have to go and live with her. No other options. I would have to leave everything again. This time, however, I didn't have my family with me. But at that time, I wasn't thinking about that. My mind had just kind of switched off. It was like someone else was living in my body. It was me, but at the same time it wasn't.

[}-o-{]

"It has been some time, hasn't it Max?" My aunt welcomed me when I arrived after the flight. I gave her a quick hug. Family was family in the end. And I couldn't afford to turn her down anyway.

"Yes, it has." I simply told her nodding. With that said, I wasn't going to live with her. So, as far as I was concerned, she was a relative, not family.

You may be wondering what my situation was right now. As I said, my aunt lived abroad and I had to move to her town. She owns a couple of apartments that she rents, I'll live in one of them from now on. She never bothered to get herself a house that had more than one bedroom so she doesn't have a place where both of us can stay.

I told her it was fine. I needed some time alone and I was not sure how I would be living with someone other than my family. She seemed to understand. She didn't seem to like the idea of me living with her anyway. Maybe that was why she had come to live there. To stay away from the family.

I would be seeing her a lot anyway. She would be teaching me the language. I would be trying the exam to a school that had recently been made co-ed. My aunt said that it had the best education of the town. So here I would be, half a year working my ass off to at least be decent on the language. At least it would keep my head off of… things.

[}-o-{]

Something really strange happened one day while I had been out to buy some things. After a couple of months, I was kind of ok with simple dialogs. Shopping didn't need much talking anyway.

Going to the point, there was this girl cosplaying. She gave me a flier that said 'We will grant your wish' but there was no number or anything. When I asked her, she only said that I would know and smiled. I only shrugged and continued my way. Sometimes it's better not to try and comprehend people, especially women.

I've been drowning myself on books about the language and everything I could get my hands on. My reading and writing improved a lot because of that. I would try to read every book that my aunt brought. That really helped me improve. My speaking skills were really bad though. I didn't think I would be ready for the start of school.

Sometimes I wondered if it would matter. I was never one to talk. And if my teachers needed me to answer something, maybe I could try to do it writing? 'Here's hoping.' I thought to myself.

My aunt and I decided that it was better for us to live separated. I didn't like the idea of living with someone that wasn't my family. Not right now at least. And she always liked to live by herself.

But I caught myself thinking. Did it really matter? Those words came more and more often each time. There was nothing for me here. There was no one. My aunt was only taking care of me out of responsibility. She had distanced herself from the family for a reason after all. I didn't even know what to do.

"Always be happy, Max. Just do whatever makes you happy and everything will be fine."

My father had told me those words once, not too long ago. He said that when I told him I didn't know what to chose as a career for the future. He had said to simply chose whatever made me happy. Never think too much and let myself go. Never stray from my path for what others thought or what was 'right'. My happiness was the right path, he said.

But now my family was gone, what few friends I had done I had lost. How could I be happy? What was there? I had gone through this once, and I hadn't even come out when I fell again. And now there was no one to push me back up. I was stuck in a place that was completely foreign to me, how was I going to make friends, it was difficult enough back at home. I choked at the thought of home.

'I don't know what to do, dad.'

I glanced at the flier not for the first time and chuckled bitterly to myself. 'A wish, huh?'

And like that days passed, and then weeks, and then months. I got lost in time often. But there I was, coming out of the school after the exams. I was pretty confident but I couldn't bring myself to care.

The exams where full of girls, and the few boys I saw looked absolutely perverted, they weren't even trying to hide it. Just my luck, I sucked when it came to talking to women and I just knew that associating with those perverts would absolutely kill my social life.

'Maybe a club would help.' I thought without much conviction. I was giving up, and I knew it. I didn't care at all. Everything was just so… dull.

I sat on a park on the way home and looked around. There was no one around. I liked when I didn't see anyone, I could imagine that I was back in the US, that I still had friends and a family. But that never lasted. I would see someone walk by and bring me back from my fantasies to my misery. This time it was a couple, just what I needed to be more miserable than normal.

I dragged myself back to the apartment.

[}-o-{]

"Maxwell Salas?" I just answered by lifting my hand. I wasn't confident with talking yet and I started hating talking at all. I couldn't remember the last time I had.

First day of classes. I sighed and looked out the window. At least I got a good seat, that was something. I could barely understand what the teacher said so I maintained my gaze on the book. At least I was pretty good on the reading part.

The class ended faster than I wanted it too. Why would I want it to last? Well, because after class…

"Are you foreign?" Would come the curiosity. I just nodded at the girl.

"From where?" It was someone else.

"US." I said simply. There was a 'whoa' from some girl, all of them looked awed. I felt uncomfortable just by seeing all of them looking at me. So, I tried to keep my eyes on the table.

Then a guy asked something that I didn't quite get. From the looks of the girls I was betting it was something perverted. There weren't a lot of things that made all women angry as a whole.

"I didn't understand what you said." That was one of the firsts phrases I learned. The girls shook their hands in front of me as if to say that I should ignore them. I probably would if I understood them. I hated not understanding.

"Doesn't matter. Are you planning to enter a club?" I thought about it.

"I'll look around to see if something interests me, I guess." Was my answer, I probably butchered the language a bit but they seemed to understand what I meant.

That's how the time after the classes passed. I was pretty much the center of attention. That would pass soon enough. I understood though. It doesn't look like Japan has a lot of people with blond hair and green eyes.

And as predicted they started to ignore me soon enough. Just as it always had been. At least they didn't hate me like the perverted trio. Those guys were hopeless. They even got beaten on a daily basis. They deserved it though, they often went to peep at the girls on the clubs. I could only shake my head in annoyance.

I was surprised to see that there were other people that stood out like me. There was a girl with crimson hair a year older than me and there was a guy with blond hair in my year, both had blue eyes. I was tempted to ask him how he managed. By what I saw he had dealt with that before.

Time passed and even the teachers seemed reluctant to talk to me. I suppose I had an aura that said I didn't want to talk or something. I would have been thankful but I was just so indifferent to everything.

[}-o-{]

I had given up, I had tried, I really had. But I couldn't see the point anymore. A month and everything were the same, I couldn't bring myself to care.

'We will grant your wish'

There was nothing bad in trying. I took the flier and thought about making a wish. I pleaded for someone to come. Then I heard someone knock on my door. I opened my eyes wide. Had it worked? I ran to the door.

When I opened, I received a punch in the face that threw me to the floor. I looked up to see a guy with white hair and red eyes. He was dressed as a cleric but his smile… it was just wrong. And I don't say it because he had punched me.

"You are seriously an idiot you know it?" He said, even his voice had that crazy tone to it that matched his smile. "Calling Devils is a no-no, buddy." 'Devils?' Then he pulled something that looked like a gun and shoot my leg.

"AAAAAHHHHH!" I clutched my leg. I would have asked him what the hell was wrong with him or why had he shoot me or just why had he come to my house in the first place. But the pain shot down everything in my head and everything blurred.

I saw him taking out something that looked like a light saber of all things. He dragged me to my room and started pinning me to the wall with stakes.

I was upside down, pain flowing through my limbs. Everything blurred, I heard someone else and the crazy guy singing.

More talking. Everything was difficult, even breathing. I heard a girl join in the conversation.

'Can't I die already?'

There was a flash of light, more people joined. There were some flashes of light.

"Kill… me…"

Something white entered my field of view. But my vision couldn't recognize anything.

I just wanted it over.

Someone pulled me down from where I was.

Everything went black.

'Will I see you now?'

[}-o-{]

I woke up. When I pulled myself up, I felt something on my side. I turned my gaze to the side and saw a girl, naked. 'After everything that happened last night, I'm not even gonna bother.' I got up and dressed myself.

I checked the time. It all had happened just yesterday. Where had the wounds gone? What was that girl doing here? What the hell had happened?

I would have thought it was a nightmare, but that would have been lying to myself. I had had nightmares before, and nothing was like this. They frightened you, yes, but they didn't hurt. Not like that, at least no nightmare of mine had.

I prepared breakfast for two people and went up. She was dressing already. I took a second to check if I knew her. She had a voluptuous figure, really long black hair and violet eyes.

"Ara ara, good morning Salas-kun." She said. She was putting on the uniform of my school, she looked like she could be a year older than me.

"Morning, breakfast is ready." Was all I said and left.

"Ara ara, are you just going to ignore me after everything that we did last night?"

"You can speak English, that's surprising." I avoided her question; I never was one to let myself be teased. And I especially didn't want to deal with that after last night.

"That's the least surprising thing you will hear today." I looked up from my food to her.

"Then I'm guessing you will explain what happened?" I asked her. She looked at me with an unreadable expression.

"Someone else will." I nodded. I could wait, no point in pressuring her if she didn't want to answer. Not like I could force the answers out of her or anything.

"Is there a reason you were sleeping besides you wanting to tease me in the morning?" I asked her, returning to my food.

"Ara ara, so cold, are you like this after taking the first time of a fair maiden?" I simply deadpanned at her. She pouted childishly. "There is."

"Such as?" I asked.

"It helped heal you of everything." I looked at her incredulously. I could believe if she said that she had healed me with magic. I was pretty out of it but I remembered pretty much everything. Nothing like that healed in one night. But sleeping naked with me had done it?

"Magic sounds way weirder than they paint it in books." I said.

"You believe me?" She said surprised.

"I remember some of what happened, I remember getting wounds that simply don't heal that fast." I told her matter-of-factly.

"Ara ara, aren't you a smart one?" She said with a smile. Her smiles looked so fake that it unnerved me a little. "We will have to go to school soon. After classes you should have your questions answered." She said then she gave me her teasing smile. "Or we could go to bed again, ufufufu."

"No, thanks." I said simply standing up to wash the dishes. "The answers bit sounds good though."

"You are no fun." She said behind me. I could feel her pout appearing again.

"Should I be a stammering and blushing mess right now? Because I don't feel like it." I said with an even voice.

"Ara ara, were you popular in America? Is that why it doesn't work?" She asked, back to her playfulness. I snorted.

"Not even close." I said. "Not even close." I said in a soft sad voice. She didn't say anything anymore.

We left the house. At some point she hugged my arm putting it between her breasts. I raised an eyebrow at her and she just smiled at me. I shrugged. I felt really tired for some reason, I guessed it had to do with the injuries, even if they were healed.

When we were nearing the school, I stopped and she turned to me. She looked confused.

"Go on, I don't need to deal with the guys getting jealous. Besides, someone like you is sure to have a reputation to maintain." She looked surprised for a second.

"Ara ara, thank you very much Salas-kun. You are really considerate." She seemed to think what to do before bowing a good bye to me and leaving. "See you later, Maxwell-kun." I tilted my head to the side. 'Didn't Japanese people find it difficult to call others by first name?' I shrugged thinking that she may be teasing again. After a while I went inside the school.

Classes where pretty boring, no change there. At the end of it someone knocked at the door. It was the blond boy I had seeing around. Everyone looked at him.

"Salas-kun, could you follow me? Rias-buchou wants to talk to you." No idea who this Rias was but I guessed this had to do with the girl in the morning. And if not, it didn't really matter. I just nodded and followed him. I heard whispers around us.

"You obviously know who I am, but who are you?" I asked him.

"Yuuto Kiba, pleasure to meet you." He spoke in English I noticed.

"The pleasure is mine, Kiba-kun." The suffix came on its own, strange. "I'm guessing this is about last night?" I asked him, he simply nodded. 'Good, I would like some answers.'

We went to an old building, outside. I had heard something about this being the old school building. After following Kiba for a while we arrived at a room. It had a Victorian style to it, there were some couches and a desk. On the floor there was a circle that looked like someone was going to do a ritual or something.

There were some people too. A brown-haired guy that I recognized from the perverted trio sitting on the couch in front of the desk. The black-haired girl from before was giving around cups of tea and there was a girl with white hair sitting on another couch on the side, she was eating sweets. Everyone used the school uniform except from the last girl.

"Hello, you probably already know me but I'm Maxwell Salas. Pleasure to meet you." I said with a slight bow to them.

"Issei Hyoudou, second year, a pleasure to meet you too." Said the perverted guy.

"Ara ara, I don't think I introduced myself before, my bad, I'm Akeno Himejima, third year and vice-president of this Occult Research Club." Said the girl from the morning. 'Occult Research Club, isn't that fiting?'

"First year…Koneko Toujou. Pleased to make you acquaintance." This one didn't seem to be one for conversation.

"Welcome, I'm Rias Gremory, third year and president of this Occult Research Club." Came a voice from a door I hadn't seen. The crimson haired girl I had seen. I nodded at them and took a seat in the couch where Hyoudou-kun was.

"So, I was told I would get answers." I said simply.

"What would you like to know?" Gremory-san said while sitting on the desk.

"Too many questions, just tell me what you can, or want." I said simply, there were honestly too many questions. I didn't even know where to begin. She seemed to think for a bit, not sure where to begin.

"As you know you were attacked last night. The one that attacked you was a Stray Exorcist. They are exorcists that had left the church for a variety of reasons. The one from yesterday for example was most likely because of his violent nature." 'Exorcist, that explains what he said about devils.' Hyoudou-kun seemed to be listening with rapt attention, didn't look like he knew this, interesting. She seemed to have paused for a bit, looking unsure how to proceed.

"How do you take part on all this?" I asked. She seemed even more unsure.

"He seemed to be targeting us. We are Devils." She bit her lower lip a bit. 'So, that was it' I thought. The exorcist had said something about calling devils.

"That flier was yours?" I asked, that would make sense. I had called, and the guy knew it. That's why he came to my house.

"Yes, we use it to make contracts with humans." That sounded like an interesting topic, but to be honest I had more pressing doubts.

"So, why did you heal me?" I asked her.

"Ara ara, can't we heal you just because?" That came from Himejima-san. I just sat there with an impassive face, waiting. Gremory and Hyoudou looked uncomfortable. The others didn't look bothered by the awkward situation.

"You can speak English because you are Devils?" I asked finally.

"Yes, that's why." Said Gremory somewhat relieved that I changed subject. I thought for a bit. Then something clicked.

"You made me a Devil." I stated. She tensed up. 'So that's why Japanese is so much easier now.' "That doesn't make any sense, why would you do that? How would you do that in the first place?"

"The short version is that there was a war between Angels, Fallen Angels and Devils long time ago. After that the races came to a sort of truce where nobody attacked the others. But the Devils had lost a lot of people. As a solution to that came the Evil Pieces." She made a circle appear on the desk and then some chess pieces appeared. "We can reincarnate people using these pieces."

"I'm guessing there's a drawback for me?" She winced.

"Yes, when someone is reincarnated, he or she is considered a servant of the one that acts as the King. A part of their peerage." She said.

"Which is you?" She nodded. She seemed to be trying pretty hard to read me. I had kept an impassive face ever since I came in. It wasn't difficult, I hadn't changed my expression much in months. "And I'm guessing you can't take the piece back?" She looked somber, that was all the answer I needed. "What would happen if I refuse to be your servant." I said before she could answer the previous question.

"You don't have to worry about treatment. My family has always treated their servants like family." A frown appeared in my face for a second. If she wanted me to treat her like family, she wouldn't get it.

"You didn't answer my question." The uncomfortable face returned. The others seemed to follow the conversation like a tennis match. Kiba and Himejima looked concerned now.

"You would become a Stray Devil." I raised an eyebrow urging her to continue. "Stray devils are hunted like criminals." I frowned.

"Hunted as 'hunted and killed' or 'hunted and thrown to prison'?" I asked.

"The first." She really didn't want to talk about this it seemed.

"If I die do you get the piece back?" I asked, she looked confused at this, as did most of the others. Except Toujou, she looked as impassive as I did.

"In time, yes." She looked like she wanted to know why I was asking all this.

"Then you better kill me already." Everyone's eyes widened and jaws dropped, even Toujou lost her impassive face.

"Why?"

"Do you know why I used the flier?" She shook her head slowly.

"I wish to die." I said, my face never changing. My voice neutral. I looked directly into her eyes.

"And why would you want that?" She asked in a low voice. She seemed sad, I didn't understand why, we had barely talked.

"I came here because I lost all my family back in the US. All I have left is an aunt that had never actually talked to me through my life. I also don't have any friends here, or even back there. There's no point to continue living, I give up." I said like I was commenting the weather, it seemed to unnerve them. It was easy actually, if I was devoid of emotion it was easier to deal with things.

"Well, that's no longer the case. You are part of my peerage now; we are your family now."

"No, you aren't. You don't know the first thing about me. For all you know I could have lied just now. And I don't know anything about you." She seemed to be about to protest. "Furthermore, what made you think you could just reincarnate me without permission and try and make me your slave?" She winced again, a hurt expression on her face.

"Oi, Buchou saved your life, you should be thankful. We could have left you hanging in that wall you bastard!"

"I just said I want to die, what's your point?" I stared at Hyoudou who had just talked. He faltered and stepped back. Was I that scary? "What was even your reason to reincarnate me? Those pieces seem to be limited."

"You seem to have a Sacred Gear." She answered, the hurt look still on her face. If she was expecting pity, she wouldn't get it. "Those are artifacts given to humanity by God's system. They had a varied range of abilities different for each of them."

"Abilities like what?" She signaled to Kiba, I looked at them and he summoned a sword.

"My Sacred Gear is Sword Birth; it lets me create swords from just my magic power." I nodded.

"So, you also wanted a soldier." I stated. Her face turned even more sour. Issei grabbed me by the collar.

"What's wrong with you, bastard." He said, he looked pretty angry.

"This is what happens when life spits on you one too many times." I answered. "Would you put me down, this is uncomfortable." He didn't.

"Ise, put him down."

"But, Buchou…"

"Just do it." He put me down. "Would everyone please leave the room?" Everyone did as they were told, Hyoudou was quite reluctant to do so though.

"So, how are you going to do this, with magic, a sword, a ritual or something else?" I asked casually, she raised an eyebrow at me. "Killing me." I clarified.

"You are serious, aren't you?"

"Do I look like someone that makes jokes?" She sighed.

"Can't I do something to convince you to… live?" She asked, she looked on the verge of pleading. It was strange.

"Why do you want me to live so badly? You will get your piece back." I asked, her behavior didn't make sense to me. We didn't know each other. Yes, it's normal to want to prevent someone's death, but there seemed to be more to that. "Do you need me for something?" I asked, my eyes narrowing slightly. She fidgeted a little.

"I may." She said with a voice that was barely more than a whisper. "I have… a marriage contract set for me." A frown appeared on my face. "The only way out of it for me is to compete in a Rating Game with my fiancé and win. That's a competition between peerages." She clarified the last part for me.

I closed my eyes. That always seemed to help me organize my thoughts. This time though, it only seemed to mess them up more.

'They didn't want us to marry. Your grandmother would have kicked me out when we informed her if you father hadn't been there. They almost got what they wanted.' My mother had once told me.

My parents' marriage wasn't something welcomed from my father's side of the family. They were young, my mother had gotten pregnant right out of school. They didn't get to study or anything. I remember her telling me how miserable she would have been if they had prevented their marriage.

I opened my eyes and looked at Gremory-san. She seemed as nervous as before. She wasn't the same, actually it was the opposite. But she wanted to marry someone she loved, just as my mother wanted. That was the same for both.

"I'll help you." I said simply. She looked at me with wide eyes.

"Why?"

"I have my reasons. Let's just say that I want to help you marry whoever you want." I answered.

"I… thank you." I waved her off and went to the door.

"Is the serious talk finished for now?" I asked her, she nodded. She already looked better than before, relieved. "Come in." I told them. "Could I have a cup of tea? I think I need one." I asked Himejima-san. I really needed one, that usually helped me calm down.

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