Now, You Can Trust Me
Ophis's words kept replaying in his mind, over and over again.
It'd been a few days already and Joshua could hardly think of anything else other than those. He'd barely slept and he almost couldn't get any work done, even on things related to what he'd been told. It'd set him on edge in a way that didn't even let him focus. Any second, he waited for someone to bring him bad news, for one of his arrays to pick up something.
After so long with only a vague, distant threat in his mind, he couldn't cope with the much more on-his-face one that Ophis had presented. Because according to the dragon, Khaos was growing impatient and they could make a move at any point. Nothing they could try to pull off would be good, he just knew it. And the worst part was that he didn't even know what they were trying to do.
"Joshua," Yasaka said and he blinked blearily as he turned towards her. "You need to relax," she told him. Although, to be completely honest, the hand she placed on his arm helped more than the words. He focused on the softness of her fingertips on his skin. He focused on the subtle warmth, likely aided by her senjutsu mastery. His attention honed in on that and, for a second, his entire world was focused on his forearm.
"I know," he mumbled, taking a deep breath in as if that would help. It didn't. "I just… I don't know what to do, or if I can do anything," he admitted, and he was surprised at how easy it was to do that. Once upon a time, he'd have struggled, maybe even hidden such a thing. Because saying something like that, it'd have felt like a confirmation that he wasn't good enough, that he failed, like he did so many other things.
And even after he'd gotten good at what he did, after he'd found his calling of sorts in magic, he still would have felt like that.
Yet there, with Yasaka, it didn't feel like defeat. It simply felt like what it was, asking for help. Because Yasaka – and the others, for that matter –, they had seen him in lower lows and still remained supportive, caring. So, maybe he'd learned, at some point, that he could trust them, that they'd have his back no matter what, not even if he failed.
Or, maybe, he'd just learned that it was okay to fail, that it didn't make him a failure.
"There's much you can do, Joshua," Yasaka reassured, her hand squeezing his arm ever so slightly. "But not if you are so deep in your head that not even your own thoughts reach you," she said, and it sounded funny. It sounded like a contradiction of sorts, to say that he was thinking so much he couldn't think.
Except that it was accurate.
"You're not wrong," he replied, deflating where he sat and staring at the notebook in front of him, which he hadn't written anything on for quite a bit already. "I just… don't know where to begin, and I'm suddenly not sure if I even have time to do much."
"Well, if you don't do anything, then probably not," Yasaka said and she somehow managed to make that sound funny and reassuring rather than worrying and harsh. "But if you feel that way, then what's left for the rest of us?" she added and it sounded like a joking comment, but he could tell it wasn't.
"I'm sorry," he said then, an apologetic grimace on his face. "I know it's… I know it's kind of rude for me to say this stuff, but-"
"I'm not chastising you," Yasaka told him, reaching to grab his hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "You're capable and that makes you feel like you need to do more. It's admirable that you take that pressure on yourself, but don't let that overwhelm you, Joshua," she added and he knew she was right. He absolutely knew she was.
The problem was that knowing that didn't help him deal with the emotions nearly as much as he needed it to.
"Now, first things first," Yasaka said and he focused on her voice, hoping against hope that she'd have a solution for him, maybe some kind of senjutsu technique. She'd helped him so many times already, that he expected her to have something that could help him, he supposed. "What do you need to work on?"
"That… hasn't changed, really. Find Khaos, deal with Khaos," he answered almost immediately, yet… Had it been that simple when he'd been trying to think? Although-
"What do you need to do to achieve that?" Yasaka asked and that was the complicated part… Or so he felt, yet…
"Biggest clue I have right now is what Ophis said, about the Sephiroth Graal cups reaching for each other," he answered and where were the other hundred thoughts that would come to mind then? Well, some of them were in regards to how to do that, but-
"What do you need to do to use that?" Yasaka asked and he blinked.
"Spells that can sense that. I think Aika and I have been getting glimpses of it, but Ophis made it sound very obvious. Speaking of, maybe Aika can help," he summarized and he was surprised to find his thoughts… smoothing over, streamlining themselves. "Yes, I think… I have a few ideas," he mumbled, reaching for a pencil with his free hand and starting to write down a few ideas. Not all of them new, but certainly stuff that he could use with a bit of work in certain directions…
"And what else could you do?" Yasaka asked and he paused…
"I can prepare my defense arrays a little more. If they are trying to use Sephiroth Graal, broken or not, then I have a few ideas," he muttered to himself, noting down other ideas on another page. He had already worked on defenses against Sephiroth Graal and what Khaos could do in that regard, but he'd need to put more work on that, especially in regards to the likely broken and thus unstable nature of the use that the terrorist organization was likely to try and pull on them.
Going silent, Yasaka rested her head on his shoulder as he started working and he could have kissed her for the help.
And he did, after a bit once he got all his ideas out and in order.
[}-o-{]
"You're getting better," he commented idly, looking at Georg work on his Sacred Gear mastery some more.
He was still training to teleport things around inside his mist and he was, for the most part, succeeding. He was getting faster even, which was the important part. Soon, he'd be able to have complete control of the position of things – and people – inside his Gear's influence. Although, with each slight improvement in speed, his control kept having chances of slipping and sending something to the wrong spot or… half complete, as it were.
Concerning, but Joshua was sure that the man could work well enough if he slowed down, which was also kind of important. Pushing the limits of what he could do was the point of training though. The "guaranteed success" teleportation range in terms of speed was… not ideal, but it was acceptable. And it was getting better too, but…
Well, Joshua was a little concerned about how fast they could get to a good spot in terms of the man's skill.
"Thank you, sir," George replied, pushing his glasses up.
The ex-Hero Faction member was doing a lot better those days in terms of how he felt too, Joshua had noticed. The man was less terrified and more dutiful with each passing day. Maybe because he'd realized that he really would be fine so long as he behaved and that behaving wasn't some impossible standard placed on him. It helped that Joshua was slowly relaxing around the guy too, he supposed.
Maybe it was soft of him, but Georg was proving to have changed, so he wanted to forgive the guy a little more with each day that passed. That was not to say that he wouldn't just bring the man's worst nightmares to pass if he did something stupid, but he didn't seem to be heading in that direction, thankfully. Joshua didn't think it was unreasonable of him to expect decent behavior in exchange for forgiveness.
"Keep at it, Georg. Things will get hectic soon," he said and was very careful and thorough with the full scan that he made of the guy after saying that. Because, just because he had started to forgive the guy, it didn't mean that he had let his guard down or that he wouldn't keep an eye on him, especially in certain moments such as that. However, the man didn't react in any way other than nodding and getting started.
'Well, it seems that he's smarter than I thought,' Joshua thought to himself. A moment later, he decided that the Dimension Lost holder would be fine on his own and he could turn his attention elsewhere. Like towards his familiars, who were in some sort of messy battle royale amongst themselves.
Or Kokabiel, Raynare and Kuroka, who were fighting amongst themselves too. 'Speaking of…' he mused, looking at Raynare in particular. She was approaching the point in which he could give her another pair of wings. Between that and Incinerate Anthem, she might be able to finally beat Kokabiel with her own power. And that was without training to start pushing for the next step.
He took a deep breath in as he looked at them, his muscles suddenly felt stiff, his fingers itched for something and he found the sight of the battle somewhat… enticing. Before he knew it, he was already walking up to the trio and he noticed his familiars slowing down until they stopped, watching him. With a twist of his wrist and a wave of his fingers, he had Carnwennan and Setan Kober in his hands, the daggers eager for a fight in a way that True Longinus never was, familiar and alive in a way that the spear never quite reached.
"Hey," he called softly, his voice not even remotely loud. The two fallen and the reincarnated devil all stopped all the same, all but freezing mid-motion. They turned and stared and then paled as they noticed the weapons in his hands. "New exercise," he announced with a slight smile that he was pleased to see scared the fuck out of the trio. "You're all sparring with me," he told them and they stiffened.
That is, before Kokabiel shot the first light spear his way, because of course he did. The man was always ready for a fight, for one. For another, he hesitated very little, which he guessed was related to the first thing. Or maybe both of those were related to the fact that much of his life had been dedicated, consumed, by wars and battles. It was… sad, in a way, or so Joshua thought, at least.
All the same, the three of them fought him with all they had and he, in turn, fought them with… almost all he had. The arrays around the training room had several settings, but he didn't use any of them at that moment. Instead, he fought with everything else, his body, his skill, his senjutsu and his active spells… And then he started setting down a new array, simulating a fight outside of his designated areas.
Unlikely to happen, sure, but it paid to be prepared.
Maybe he'd been focusing too much on his spellcrafting – not that he thought that was bad –, but it felt incredible to let loose a little physically. His weapons certainly appreciated it, especially after True Longinus had arrived to cast a shadow over them. Better, the spear might be, but those daggers had more personality to them, quite literally, and they had helped him through battles in the past.
So, maybe he was a little attached to them, but he did feel like that and their personalities gave them a little more… edge, as it were. True Longinus didn't have that, even if the spear was quite literally able to pierce anything. There were still likely to be situations when Joshua would want something else, and that's when Setan Kober and Carnwennan would be able to shine.
And aside from all that, with how nervous he felt those days, it was nice to just… focus on something else and vent.
[}-o-{]
[Seekvaira Agares]
"So, yeah, I'm taking the day off," Davis said in what was supposed to be her second day working with him alone rather than with Ravel or Iryuka or both. Seekvaira supposed she should be grateful that hadn't happened on the first day, but still.
Something to get used to, she supposed.
It was still odd, to work for someone, for a human even, when she was the heiress of a Pillar House. House of Agares was even an important one, what with Agreas and all the resources the city held. It wasn't like they were a half extinct house or one of those that had always been small.
Yet there she was.
Because Joshua Davis was that ridiculous of an existence. Her father had taken one look at Ravel Phenex and the power the little girl held at her finger tips after Seekvaira told him about Sona's offer and almost the next moment there she was, offering. There was so much to gain and so little to lose by bowing their heads a little to the man, that it was just a no brainer, really.
That didn't mean that it was less odd for Seekvaira to be in that position, however. She wasn't displeased per se, but she did find it all very… awkward, as it were. It was strange, not at all what she'd known all her life. She found herself out of her depth, especially whenever she had to deal or even witness one of Davis' many eccentricities.
Such as the one she had encountered immediately after teleporting to the man's house.
"Sorry for wasting your time, but I'll be training here for the rest of the day, I think. If I'm not, I'll send a message," Davis said, all smiles and filled with an energy that she found new in him. Although, she hadn't known him for very long, admittedly. He was still usually very calm and borderline cold and calculative, not unlike Seekvaira herself, or Sona to put another example.
At that moment though, he reminded her more of Sairaorg.
She did wonder what was up with the dog-like eyes and the fangs that had replaced his teeth. She could ask Ravel about that, however. She didn't want to ask too many questions, especially ones unrelated to her job. Seekvaira might not be an expert in what it took to be a secretary, but she was pretty sure it didn't involve interrogating your employer.
"Did I have anything to do today?" he asked and she immediately stood straighter, pulling her own notepad – because she was not using the one with the Phenex seal, no way – and checked the schedule for the day. For whatever reason, Davis always seemed amused when they did that and she wasn't quite sure what that was about. At first, she'd thought it was just her doing something wrong without realizing, but even Ravel got that look.
The best the Phenex had been able to guess was that "he tends to think some things are a lot less important than they are", which was… crazy. How does one reach a point in which dealing with the Norse valkyries is unimportant? How does one reach a point in which they can laugh about forgetting they have an appointment with Heaven's Seraphs? Because yes, she'd seen both of those happening and she was still wrapping her head around both.
Admittedly, he was dating one of those Seraphs, but still.
"Just your Spell Modification class, sir," Seekvaira answered and the man nodded.
"Alright, I'm gonna give you some notes for Levi. He'll take over for me. Ravel will know the rest. You can take over that for today along with anything else you three might be doing," he told her as he absently moved to one side, summoning a notebook and starting to jot down things quickly. Seekvaira, for her part, just stared, processing what was happening.
Never in a million years would she have considered just… dropping responsibilities, duties, like that. Yet, there was Davis, ignoring his class and throwing an apprentice off the deep end because he felt like training some more. What a strange being she had started to work for, she couldn't help but think to herself all the while.
"There, sorry again for the inconvenience," Davis told her, passing her a few torn out pages of his notebook with class plans and ideas for Levi to work with. Good thing there were at least a few hours left until class, because Seekvaira could only imagine how difficult that'd be to pull off for the poor apprentice. "See you around," the magician told her then before walking off towards the training field.
Seekvaira took another moment to wrap her head around what'd just happened before teleporting.
"I think the carefree way he tends to deal with some things actually helps," Ravel pointed out about an hour later after Seekvaira was done setting things up for the class later that day.
Levi had not been a fan of the sudden change, but he'd taken that on the chin and rolled with the punches. Seekvaira could respect that. Maybe she should consider the man for a position as a contracted magician…
"It makes him seem all the more grand, since he can treat such things as minor," the Phenex continued and Seekvaira found herself agreeing with that opinion. "It can be infuriating, yes, but I don't think it's worth trying to correct. It's also a hopeless endeavor, as I understand it, so it's better to just use it to our advantage, or try to," she added dryly, with the tone of someone that was looking at a silver lining rather than at an actual positive. "Now, about tomorrow's schedule, I'll be the one directly involved and I'll need most of the day to instruct Mr. Davis, but you will have jobs of your own to carry out too. First, you, Seekvaira…"
[}-o-{]
[Göndul]
"Thanks for organizing this in such a short notice," Davis said and she couldn't help but stare at the man.
He'd just teleported in, to be fair, but it'd only taken those few seconds for Göndul to notice that something was different in him. He held himself with his back straight and his expression closed off. Gone was that eager and curious expression he had during their classes, or the open if often distracted features she'd gotten used to seeing when he was teaching others.
Instead, those deep lakes that he called eyes were now frozen and his expression belied nothing. Beside him, the little Phenex walked with none of that quiet, forced professionalism that she used to make up for her employer's lack of care. For once, Davis actually looked the part of the individual that he was, the faction leader that he was, the force of nature that he was.
And Göndul found that incredibly unnerving.
"It was no problem," she said and she meant it.
Getting a call from Davis to set up a meeting with Odin wasn't what she'd expected, but it was certainly welcome. Her faction very much wanted to get involved with the man, and the alliance behind him if possible. It was regrettable that things had been… less than ideal before, but with the rise of Davis' reputation, let alone how he'd helped the other factions grow stronger too, that was no longer a problem.
So, considering their dealings with the man, they had hoped to get another invite to the alliance.
The time seemed to have come, but...
"Odin, thank you for making time for us," Davis said after following her to meet her faction leader. However, she was looking at him closely, and she could tell his smile was barely a mockery of one. His eyes remained cold, empty, the man walked forward to shake hands with Odin like one would an enemy faction in a neutral setting.
Had they done something to anger Davis? Göndul had to wonder, because things weren't making any sense. Maybe it'd been her valkyries, or maybe someone in their faction had done something without the rest of them knowing. She really, really hoped it hadn't been Loki, or that at least it hadn't been too bad.
"Joshua Davis," Odin greeted, apparently not at all bothered by the disposition of the human magician. "How could I not, after the impression you left on my people?" the old god asked and Göndul acknowledged the truth of it, even as she remained standing by the door.
The Gods of Asgard hadn't shut up about the man that seemed to just… understand magic the same way a good husband understands his beloved wife.
"Well, you didn't seem to have it some before, so I had to wonder," Davis answered, his smile growing even less like a real one, which was kind of impressive… At least, it would have been, if it weren't for what he'd said, what that meant.
"Alliances are complicated at the best of times, I'm sure you're aware," Odin replied, unbothered, or maybe trying to keep the peace. It could even be both. "It was nothing against you or your allies."
"I'm sure," Davis replied dryly. "I'm not here to talk about the past though, but I am here to talk about our factions collaborating," the human started. "Certain new developments have forced my hand, alas."
"Well, I thought you were never going to ask again, boy," Odin said and Göndul held back a grimace. That was not something that needed to be pointed out like that, she felt. It was bad enough that they had forced Davis to come and ask them again after his allies and him had been ignored before. She understood the why, of course, but still.
Any moves on the board were risky, yes, let alone when they involved several powers at once. It was why faction alliances were rare. The more that were involved in such moves, the more attention, the more enemies, the more tension. Things were already difficult enough around the world those days without adding more risks.
"Now, tell me about this alliance," Odin said and Göndul watched a new development on Davis' face at that moment. Instead of the cold mask that he'd been wearing, his lips pulled up and his eyes softened into something… amused.
"Who said anything about an alliance?" Davis asked and both Odin and Göndul paused. "No, I'm here to make a deal with you, Odin. Nothing more, nothing less. You do something for me and I do something for you, end of the story."
"That… is unexpected," her faction leader replied slowly, carefully.
"Is it?" Davis asked, turning to look at the Phenex girl beside him. His expression was still colored by amusement all the while as they communicated something between themselves without words. "You weren't interested in an alliance with us and we respect that. So, we came up with a new arrangement that will hopefully fit your wishes better," the man said as he turned back to Odin.
And Göndul felt herself grow nervous, as she understood the message implied.
"You rejected us, so we're not going to ask again. If you want an alliance, ask yourself."
"I see…" Odin replied, very clearly considering the new development. So much so that his usual borderline clownish behavior was nowhere to be seen even when it'd been very slight to begin with as he tested the waters. He hadn't even had time to get started before that'd had to be pushed aside, evidently. "And this deal you wanted to make… what does it entail?"
"We're trying to stop Armageddon," Joshua started with, tilting his head with a smile. "So, we were hoping you would help us with that, and in turn, well," he added, his lips pulling back even more into something that probably was meant to be friendly but ended up coming across as… dangerous. "It'd only be fair if we helped you with Ragnarök, wouldn't it?"
[} Chapter End {]
Hey guys! How's it going?
The pieces keep moving, all the time.
I'll be honest, I usually write these notes after editing and I seem to have forgotten yesterday. I don't really have time to think and write proper notes, so, yeah…
I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter.
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Random Question: What are you doing after reading this? After posting, I might go play some LoL with my friends. I hate myself like that.