Disclaimer: I don't own Highschool DxD.

A Choice of Mindset

"You must be Maxwell." Said our swordsmanship teacher for the holidays. He looked my height approximately, so, around 175cm. He had reddish brown hair and emerald green eyes. "Yuuto was telling me about you yesterday. He has a high opinion of your skills."

"I am, a pleasure to meet you, Okita-sensei. Everyone calls me Max though." I said bowing slightly. "And he is a liar."

"Oh?" He raised an eyebrow at Yuuto. "Is that so?"

"Yes, all I have is speed. Without my Sacred Gear and Rapidly's boost I am a mediocre swordsman at best." I admitted. It was the truth. You couldn't get really good in just half a year. Swordsmanship just wasn't that easy.

"He only said that you were impressive for someone that started so soon." Sensei explained. "But I decided to make my own conclusions so, don't worry about it."

"Now, here's how I work. Styles are for humans." He said moving his hand in a slashing motion for emphasis. "We are not humans, we are Devils. As such, we live so long that I could teach you a style and by the end of it, or sooner, you would be fighting with completely different motions and stances. We live long enough to adapt ourselves to the point that any style would be unrecognizable." Well, that made sense… a bit.

"Having two students is the best right now." He said, at this point he seemed to talk more to himself than to us. Yuuto was smiling wryly while shaking his head at Sensei's attitude so I guessed that was somewhat normal. "You can spar as I imagine you usually do and I'll give you my input." Well that wasn't what I expected at all… But it worked for me.

"Max, I was told you have a Holy sword aside from Rapidly?" Sensei asked this time and I nodded taking out Ascalon. He nodded. "Great, that's an amazing sword to have, but the best part is that even as powerful as it is, it doesn't have any special abilities. Which is great to use it in normal sword training. You can use it during some spars, just be careful."

"Also, Yuuto." He turned to my fellow Knight. "Can you create a copy of both of his swords? Just having the same shape and weight should be fine." After that Yuuto tried a few times before getting the right weight as he couldn't hold neither the Excalibur Fragment nor the Dragon Slayer sword himself to check it. When everything was ready, Sensei clapped and told us to start a spar.

Had I been waiting for something more… complicated than just spars and teacher's feedback? Yes. But this worked for me. Actually, I was better like this. I liked fighting. I wasn't a battle maniac though. I wouldn't go out of my way to fight someone. But I liked the thrill of the battle, that rush of adrenaline that I received during the fights. It felt like I was made for battles… and in a way I was, I guessed.

Luna for her part, had a training of her own that I had asked Azazel about. She was with Akeno, as both of them had to work with Holy Lighting, the latter because of her Fallen Blood and Luna because she was a sacred beast. Growing as she was and having already displayed her element, Azazel had reassured me that she could start training right now without problems as long as she didn't push herself too much. Soon she would be able to fight on her own as she continued growing and her energy reserves improved with her training.

After a few minutes of sparring, I discovered something… Souji Okita didn't know the meaning of sugarcoating. I hadn't received a strong impression of him during the talk at the start of the training but during his feedback… I shuddered at the thought. He didn't pull any punches. It was like Yuuto and I had given the same performance as a pair of babies fighting with sticks. His words, not mine.

"Well… that was good." He said when he decided to stop the training. I looked him incredulously from the ground. We had been fighting for hours, both of us were on our last legs. "Hahaha, don't worry, you weren't too bad. I find that it's just better to be a little harsh when giving feedback." He said when he saw my expression, waving his arm dismissively. Where the hell had gone the drill sergeant? On second thought, this was better. Yeah, definitely. "Yuuto was right though, you are pretty good for a beginner." I smiled awkwardly.

"It seems to run in the blood." I said looking away.

"I noticed something though." He commented. "You don't have a mindset for battle situations." He pointed out and I looked at him questioningly.

"Mindset?"

"Yes. Every warrior has a mindset when in battle." He explained. "There are usually two common mindsets. I like to call them the Hot one and the Cold one. The first, is the one where you fuel yourself with your emotions and use them strengthen yourself. The second is the complete opposite. You shut down your emotions in order for them to not interfere with your focus."

"Now, both of them have their pros and cons but the summary is that Hot one is considered 'better' as it gives you a push in both power and speed." He said making the quotation marks exaggeratedly. "It's not true though, and that's because it's impossible to have a perfect Hot mindset, just as it's impossible to have a perfect Cold one. It's impossible to have your emotions free to power yourself without them going out of control sometimes. Just as it's impossible to shut them down for a perfect Cold mindset. It's the eternal debate of warriors really, trying to determine if one is better than the other."

"Thing is, you need a mindset. Just fighting without one won't do it." He said with a tone of finality. "How about you try picking one and you have one last spar with Yuuto?" I was tired, but I wanted to try. And by Yuuto's face he wanted to try battling me like that too.

So, a minute later we were facing each other again. I saw him taken a deep breath in and his eyes start practically shining with determination. I smirked. A Hot mindset, I guessed. It explained why sometimes I felt like he was hitting harder or faster than normal. I took a deep breath myself and slowly my expression turned impassive. Yuuto's shoulders tensed up at the sight.

Yes, I had chosen a Cold mindset.

A second later our swords were clashing against each other. It felt so different. It was like having my Balance Breaker active, every move seemed easier to follow. Time seemed to slow down a bit and my mind just reacted to what it saw.

Right parry, left slash, right slash, double block, twist and disarm, right slash, left block, right block, left lock, twist and…

Both of Yuuto's sword fell to the ground. Souji was clapping.

"Well, that's interesting." Sensei commented looking thoroughly amused. "But you caught Yuuto by surprise with the sudden change. It won't be that easy next time."

"What's interesting?" I asked as my mask left my face.

"Both your choices." He said with a smirk. "Holy weapon users tend to use Hot mindsets, you know, being more hero-like. Demonic weapon users tend to use Cold mindsets to counter their weapons berserk inducing tendencies. But you both chose the opposites. It's amusing, if you ask me." Yuuto and I looked at each other for a second before shrugging with equal smirks in our faces.

[}-o-{]

"How was training?" Rias asked once we met with everyone else for dinner. Akeno was petting Luna before the not-so-little byakko made her way to me. I started scratching her head with the tip of my fingers. I didn't even need to lean down to do so anymore.

"It was ok." I said while taking something to drink.

"Souji-sensei said the same thing as I. Max-kun is really good considering the time that he has been training. Even better once he chose his mindset." Yuuto praised with a smile. "Although… his mindset…" At that his confidence seemed to leave him.

"A Cold one, huh?" Rias said with a sad smile.

"Everyone knew about this mindset thing?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. "Why didn't anyone tell me?"

"Well…" Rias trailed off looking away. I turned to Yuuto who scratched his cheek uncomfortable.

"We were just hoping you would… choose a Hot mindset by the time that you learned about it." He admitted. When I turned my head, Rias was still looking everywhere but at me. Same for everyone else although Asia just looked confused.

"I see." I said taking a seat and letting Luna jump on my lap as usual. I wondered for how long she would be able to do that, she was getting a little too big for that. "Thanks for worrying. But I'm not going to go suicidal again." I said softly, this drew all the eyes to me. I, for my part, kept my gaze on the table but I couldn't keep a small smile from my face. "I like it here… with you all."

I took a sip of my drink to clear the lump that had formed in my throat before looking up. Everyone was beaming at me. Even Koneko was smiling. I felt a strange warmness in my chest and my shoulders felt lighter too. My smile widened.

"How about you guys? How was your training?" I asked awkwardly after a moment in which I started to feel a bit uncomfortable with all the attention and smiles. I wasn't used to that.

"Well, I still have a headache from studying those Games…" Complained Rias putting a hand against her forehead. "So much going on at the same time and we Kings have to pay attention to all that."

"Yeah, Sona will be a specially thought one with that." I said. "Her mind is scary." I mock shuddered, although I was being truthful. Even without too much power in her peerage, she could still make a lot of trouble for us with just her plans.

"Thanks for the confidence." Rias pouted at me and I just smiled at her. Her pout disappeared instantly. "Not fair…" she muttered under her breath, although I caught it. "Gasper is… taking some time to recover. He still has lots of trouble dealing with strangers, as you know." I nodded and looked at Koneko.

"And you Koneko?" I asked, the warmness replaced with a touch of concern. Koneko and Akeno worried me, they would have a hard time during their training. The Nekoshou looked down. "I see." I said before she had to answer. "Keep climbing, Koneko." I said simply and she nodded still looking down. I turned my head to Akeno who was watching the exchange before she turned to me too.

"I've started working on using Light together with my Lightning." She said, her voice a tad lower than usual. "It's difficult, but Luna is great company." She said smiling at the byakko that meowed at her.

"Good girl." I said scratching the base of the tigress ears.

"She is, isn't she?" Akeno said looking fondly at my familiar.

"I was talking about you." I said, a smirk coming over my expression as her face turned red.

"Ufufufu, Max-kun is joining the game finally?" She said cupping her cheeks with her hands.

"I don't know what you are talking about Akeno-chan." I said dismissively still smirking. Since when had things gone so well for me when talking?

"Good evening, everyone." My face turned neutral in an instant. Of course, I had to jinx it. "How was the training?"

There were several answers for Venelana. None from me though. That Yuuto could answer for me was a relief. I just kept petting Luna on my lap ignoring their conversation for the most part. I did pay attention as Asia explained that her training was going well. She was just working on separating her healing power from her body. It was slow and required a lot of concentration but apparently Azazel thought it would get easier with time. He should know, I assumed, he was the Sacred Gear enthusiast after all.

After that the maids started bringing the food and dinner started. I just kept my mouth shut and listened as the others talked. Thinking what to say and what not was difficult for me. I had never had to tolerate someone that had failed me. Usually when that happened, I just evaded them. But I couldn't evade the Gremory, and while Sirzechs I could manage well enough, the situation with Venelana and Zeoticus was… complicated.

"Could we have a few words with Max in private?" Venelana asked putting her hand over her husband's arm once everyone was done. I tensed up and every eye seemed to turn to me. I looked at Rias, trying as hard as I could to tell her to answer no. Either she didn't get the message or she ignored me, not that I could blame her. Rejecting her parents wasn't a good option as much as I wanted it to.

"Of course." Rias replied curtly before standing up. Soon, there was no one in the room besides me and the Gremory parents.

"We are sorry, Max." Zeoticus started. "We are sorry about the way we acted regarding your relationship with Rias."

"And I sorry about trying to take the role of a mother with you too." Venelana added looking down while her husband patted her arm reassuringly.

"I forgive you." I said with impassive mask in place.

"Thank you."

"That doesn't mean everything's ok." I added bluntly. "I told you." I turned to Venelana. "I told you not to call me Maxwell. I told you why. And even if you didn't know about my mother, or what happened, or whatever. That doesn't give you the right to take a mother's role with whoever you want." Venelana seemed to shrink on herself as the words left my mouth.

"I know." She said in a low voice.

"And you." I turned to Zeoticus. His face looked like it was made of stone. He clearly wasn't pleased with my treatment of his wife. He could see if I cared though. "I thought you were nice. I liked you even. You reminded me of my own father." I made a pause as a lump formed in my throat. "But you were just lying to my face, putting up a fake persona. It's happened to me before, and I hate it."

"I understand-"

"I doubt it." I interrupted. "And even if you do, that only makes it worse. But I'll forgive you. I'll forgive you because Rias is the reason I'm alive, in more ways than one. I'll forgive you because despite everything I can't help but have a little respect for Sirzechs. But that doesn't change much. You'll have to earn my trust from zero once more."

"And we'll do it." Venelana looking at me with a determined expression.

"You are obviously underestimating my problems to socialize and my trust issues." I said with a cold smirk. "I hope it was worth it. Instead of just talking to me… to us. I hope it was worth it for you, all this mess." With my piece said I stood up making Luna jump to the floor and follow me to the door. Never once did I turn and I didn't hear them say anything as I put on my headphones.

[Numb – Linking Park]

I'm tired of being what you want me be

Feeling so faithless, lost under the surface

I don't know what you're expecting of me

Put under the pressure of walking in your shoes

[}-o-{]

Rias POV

Well, this conversation was going to be a tense one. And what I planned to talk about later was another completely different can of worms to open too, I thought as I waited outside the room where Max was talking with my parents. I was nervous, there was no denying it. Nervous because I knew that Max could be brutal when he was pissed and that could go wrong pretty quick with my parents, nice as they were. And nervous because I wanted them to get along. If Max and I eventually started a real relationship and he couldn't stand my parents… it would hurt. A lot.

Try as I might though, I couldn't stop the flutter of my heart at the thought of dating Max. After our awkward and tense conversation, the other night and after I got time to process everything that was said I couldn't help but feel myself a bit giddy. And it had only improved since then.

"I'm serious with this. I said I would try."

He couldn't just come and make my insides melt with a few words like that. It wasn't fair at all. And his smiles, Maou, those smiles. I found myself disappointed as well as relieved that he didn't smile so much at the start. They would have been the death of me if I hadn't gotten used to them in small doses. That didn't make them any less effective though. Fortunately, he didn't seem to know the power he had with just a smile.

I shook my head when I realized I had left my thoughts wander too far.

The point was, I could now see true hope of being together with Max. It wasn't wishful thinking anymore. There was a slight problem though. I was too much of a caring person.

Normally, I thought of that as one of my best points. Not this time. I cared too much about my peerage and that meant that I had to address the issue of Koneko and Akeno. And I had to do it in a way that I wasn't entirely comfortable and I was sure Max would have even a worse time with. But it had to be done.

Although, maybe it was better to wait until another ti-

My thought process stopped as the door opened and Max came out. His expression… A cold shiver ran down my spine and not in a good way. I hated that expression. His eyes turned to me and the coldness left his face, replaced by confusion. I felt my lips twitch in a smile at that. How I enjoyed the way he didn't wear that expression with me anymore. I signaled for him to take his headphones off.

"Oh, sorry." He said putting them around his neck as usual. "Did you need something." Suddenly, I felt like it wasn't a good idea to talk about this right now. 'Talk about a difficult topic right after he has to chat with your parents with who he doesn't get along right now, it'll go really well. Thanks brain.' "Rias?" Right, he was waiting for me to answer.

"Sorry, I just… had something I wanted to talk about." I said looking at my feet. How did he manage to make me look like a shy little girl when I was one of the Onee-sama's of Kuoh. Unfair, I swear. "But… it may be better t-to leave it for another time." Now I was stuttering. Great, just great. I wanted to smash my head against the wall to snap myself out of it.

"We can talk right now if you want." He said, I just kept my gaze down and started fidgeting with my fingers. On one hand, it was better to be done with it. On the other… I didn't want him to be uncomfortable around me again, or worse, make him angry. He sighed and I felt my heart twist itself. I hated to ruin his mood… And he looked so relaxed when he arrived from training.

"I like it here… with you all." My lips twitched but I was able to stop the smile from appearing. I didn't need to look weird on top of everything else.

"Let's go and talk about it now." He said, probably getting tired of waiting for me to say something. I sighed before taking a deep breath in and nodding.

After that we made our way to the room I used as a study when I was home. Instead of sitting on the desk I took a seat on a couch against the wall. Max seemed to hesitate a second before sitting next to me. I couldn't stop a smile this time. I had expected him to seat on the armchair that was next to the couch.

"I want to talk about something too." He said before I could muster the courage to talk. I gulped. "It's nothing bad, don't worry." Well that was reassuring. "Rias, can you look at me?" He asked with a strange tone. I had forgotten I had been avoiding looking at him and I turned my head so my eyes locked with his. "Rias, I appreciate you being careful around me. I truly do. But you are too nervous… I'm…" He trailed off looking unsure. "I'm not scary… am I?" I blinked. What?... Did he… Oh, Maou.

"No, no. It's not that!" I said quickly. "I just… I'm just… nervous…" Well, obviously. What the hell was going on with my brain? "I don't want to mess it up and make you angry." Yes, that was better.

"So, I am scary." He said grimacing. No, it was worse. Damnit.

"No, you aren't!"

"Rias, you just admitted that you are scared of me getting angry." He said with sad half-smile. He then took a deep breath in. "I know I was a bit… harsh in the past. With you specially. But… I'll try not to do that anymore. I care about you… I… like… you." He said, unsure but not looking like he was forcing himself. I felt my cheeks heating up and stretching as a big smile spread over my face. My heart started beating like mad. "So… I don't want you to be afraid of me." I almost missed those words while I relished on the words 'I like you'. Fortunately, I didn't.

"It's ok. I deserved it. I acted like a spoiled girl." I accepted. It was the truth after all. I had done a lot of things wrong because of that attitude.

"Still, I could have reacted a lot better than I did. I'm sorry." He said softly.

"I forgive you." I wanted to say that there was nothing to be sorry about. But I got the feeling that he wouldn't just accept that. It was better to move on. Maybe I could reassure him by not being so nervous all the time.

"You said you wanted to talk about something?" He asked. And my plan of not being nervous went out the window really fast. I took a deep breath in.

"It's about Akeno and Koneko." I said slowly and the tentative smile he had been giving me vanished. Not good.

"If it's about earlier I was just trying to lighten the mood a bit after I asked Koneko about her training." He explained suddenly looking nervous. Oh, he wasn't angry. "I won't do it again." He said quickly.

"It's about that yes, but… I'm not mad about it." Ok, that was a lie. His face told me he knew. "Ok… I'm a bit mad." I admitted. "But it doesn't mean you have to stop doing it." I tried to explain.

"Rias… you are confusing me." He said blinking owlishly. I sighed. Never an easy moment, huh?

"You know how…" How could I explain it better? Where had all the things I had planned for this conversation gone? "Do you remember Riser's peerage?" I asked in the end. He raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, his personal harem of fantasy. What-?" And then realization seemed to hit him and his eyes widened. "Oh, no. Don't worry about that. I won't do that. I said I was serious, and I am." He said firmly and my heart skipped at beat at that. But that wasn't what this was about.

"Akeno and Koneko will be sad. Also…" But I shook my head at the last part. I wasn't sure about that.

"I know." He said looking away. "But what else can I do?" He asked. Well, that was the question I was waiting for. "And more importantly, what about you? You just escaped a womanizer. How would I be any better?" He said with a disgusted expression.

"You know harems aren't all that rare in Devil society, don't you?" I asked as casually as I could. Which I'm ashamed to admit wasn't much. "And don't compare yourself to Riser, or I'll get angry." He gulped even though I couldn't muster as much anger in my voice as I expected. Him caring about me deflated my temper a bit.

"Rias…" He started looking at me with disbelief written all over his face. "You just admitted that you were mad about my joke with Akeno." He pointed out. Well, true… but still. Couldn't he just let me be on the lead of a conversation for once? Honestly.

"I know…" I said sighing. "But I care about my peerage. Akeno is like a sister to me and Koneko a little sister. I don't want them to be sad." I explained. Max brought his hands to his face and massaged his eyes before taking a deep breath.

"So… you are saying that you are jealous when I… flirt with them… but you want me to consider a… polyamorous relationship?" He summarized slowly. Well, when you put it like that…

"I know how it sounds." I conceded. "But it's the best answer."

"Have you talked with them?" He asked this time with a hand still massaging his temple.

"Well… no…" I said looking away. Now that he said it, maybe that was a good place to start before this conversation.

"Just great…"

"But…" I started again quickly. "But they know about… us." I signaled awkwardly at both of us. It was still awkward to refer to our relationship. Especially because neither of us seemed to know how to refer to it. "And Akeno still acts interested." I pointed out.

"True… but you said it. It's how she is." How Max continued to try and not see it when it was obvious was both amusing and slightly irritating. It didn't have the cute factor that Issei had had.

"Max…"

"Ok ok… it's just… strange for me. Nobody had ever showed interest and now I apparently have three very beautiful girls that like me. Can you blame me for doubting?" He asked, although I had a difficult time following what he said after calling me beautiful. 'Very. He said very beautiful.' My mind corrected exalted.

"But it happened." I said after taking a minute to calm my mind a little although I still felt my face warm and my heart beating quickly. He sighed.

"I get it, and I understand what you are saying." He replied looking uncomfortable. "I also understand the view that the Underworld has on… harems. Maou, I can't believe I'm having this conversation." He muttered the last part under his breath, and I probably wasn't supposed to hear it. "But the thing is…"

"I get it. It goes against what was your common sense before." I finished for him and he nodded. "I'm not asking you to also start a relationship with them right now or anything like that." Being honest, I would like to enjoy being the only one for a bit at least and possibly in a true relationship. "I'm just… telling you so… you know." I finished awkwardly. He took a very deep breath in before letting out a tired sigh.

"Yeah, I know." He said, he sounded so tired. I felt bad, I really did. But it was better that he got used to the idea fast. I couldn't bear to see Koneko or Akeno with a broken heart. "Thanks for the heads up, I guess." He said with a half-smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Are you sure you are ok with this?" He asked concerned. My heart sped up again. My mood changing so much so suddenly couldn't be healthy.

"I…" I almost said that yes, I was ok with it. But it would have been a lie. I didn't want to lie to him. I also suspected he would have seen through it. "No," I admitted. "but eventually we'll all be happy. I know it. You are good enough for all of us." I said smiling honestly at him. He chuckled mirthlessly.

"If you say so…" He didn't believe me. I knew he didn't. We would change his mind. "I'll think about it. And… tell me if you change your mind." He said before standing up and walking to the door. For some reason I thought there was more in that last sentence than what I got. He stopped when his hand wrapped around the handle. "Also, I think it would be better said with more security." I looked at his back confused as he turned around to look directly at me. "I like you, Rias." He said with a small smile. And then he left.

That night I was still wearing a big smile on my face as I fell asleep.

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How's it going?

Well, this was a difficult chapter. I have serious doubts about the Gremory-Max conversation and even more so about the Rias-Max one. I also hope I didn't portray any of the two mindsets as op or stronger than the other. I want to emphasize that they are more or less the same regarding usefulness. It depends mostly on how well one can enter the mindset and maintain it.

I also have a couple of questions for you guys:

1) What do you think about the music so far? Do you have any favorites among what I've put up? Do you like to have the lyrics be part of the story? Do you hate that I use them?

2) What's your opinion on my POV? I know I've only used three, two of Rias and one of Issei. But I want to know if you think I did them well. I have plans for more different point of views in the future. So, it would help to know if I'm doing a good job or if I suck.

Overall, as always, leave your opinion. I greatly appreciate it.

See you.