Taste of Madness

5 | Introduction

[Introduction]

The atmosphere around the downed Issei tightened as Jebediah eyed the redhead newcomer that appeared seemingly out of nowhere. It didn't help that the savior had just faced off against a 'fallen angel' and was currently recovering from the scrap.

Taking a deep breath, the savior raised an eyebrow, "Gremory?"

"Christoff-san." The redhead spoke more seriously than their last meeting.

The tension between the two teens thickened so much, that one swore they could cut the atmosphere surrounding them with a knife. Jebediah's aura of exhaustion and questioning was only rivaled by Rias's aura of seriousness.

His eyes narrowed as he looked at the downed Hyoudou, the binary sword materializing within his hand.

Rias sighed, "You can put the sword down, Christoff-san."

"And why should I do that?" Jebediah raised an eyebrow, "For all I know, you could be one of those fallen angels."

A laugh escaped the redheaded Gremory's lips as the atmosphere loosened up. Jebediah's look of suspicion quickly turned to one of complete confusion as he took off his shades and lowered his blade.

"Uh... what's so funny?" Jebediah asked confused by the sudden change of mood.

"Hehehe... hah!" She continued to laugh, "It's just the fact that you think I'm one of them."

A light sweat appeared on the confused savior's face, "So what the bloody hell are you?"

"We'll get into that later." Rias answered, "Why don't we worry about your fellow student?"

She motioned towards the still unconscious Issei who groaned uncomfortably in his slumber.

'I forgot about him!'  Jebediah thought to himself as he quickly made his way towards the unconscious male to carry him.

Jebediah picked up the young Hyoudou and attempted to carry him before quickly collapsing to the ground, 'Is Issei just too heavy, or can my younger body not handle this?' 

A light laugh could be heard from Rias, irritating the tired savior.

"You know you can contribute, right?" Jebediah reminded the redhead in an irritated manner.

The redhead simply shrugged, a smug grin appearing on her face.

"Don't worry about it~" Rias answered, "I have a better way of approaching this."

Jebediah only raised his eyebrow in confusion.

---
A few minutes later...
5:36 PM
Christoff Residence
---

The unconscious Issei Hyoudou laid on a clean futon within the Christoff Residence, while Jebediah Christoff and Rias Gremory sat within the apartment's dining area, discussing what had happened so far.

"Gremory, what was that whole 'fallen angel' business?" The savior questioned Rias.

Rias sighed, "It's sensitive info that you don't want to know about." 

"Correction." Jebediah responded, "It's sensitive info I want to know about."

"And how do you think you will obtain it?" Her eyes carefully observed his, "By using force?"

That was not how Jebediah Christoff will solve the problem in front of him, Nevada's usual law of overwhelming offense didn't apply to a conversation like this, so he had to resort to using his words instead. Besides, it's not like threatening force would work, given she calmly interacted with him before, despite being on the end of his blade. 

"Not at all." He sighed, "I simply want to know what is going on."

The two teenagers were interrupted by the ruffling of sheets.

The savior slowly walked over towards the futon where the young Hyoudou laid.

"So, what are we going to do with him?" Jebediah asked the redhead.

She had already disappeared...

"Gremory?" Jebediah looked behind him, "The hell did she go?"

He scanned the area around his apartment room, only to see his balcony doors opened up once more. 

"Bloody hell..." The savior facepalmed, "This can't get any worse."

By the time he finished talking, Issei had just woken up from his slumber and jumped back in surprise.

"J-Jeb?!" Issei exclaimed with wide eyes, "What happened to Yuuma?!"

Fate seemed to always screw over Jebediah in various situations, and this one happens to be one of them. Not only did he have to face a new enemy in the form of a 'fallen angel' in a weakened state, now he has to deal with explaining the situation to a seemingly normal kid who never wanted to be involved with things like this.

The savior only stayed silent.

"You've gotta know." Issei tried standing up, only to feel pain within his right arm.

"She ran away, don't know where." Jebediah answered honestly, "How are you feeling?"

"I can't even tell anymore, man." The teen responded with the same amount of honesty.

A look of discomfort appeared on the young Hyoudou's face.

"I felt like I was close to death..." Issei whispered, "Like there was no other fate except it."

The savior responded, "Then you are quite lucky to be alive right now."

"Yeah..." Issei motioned to his injured arm, "But is there something we can do about this?"

"Hm?" Jebediah analyzed the boy's arm, "There is something we can do about your right arm."

"Thanks." Said the young Hyoudou, "I don't want my parents to be worried about me."

Jebediah only questioned him in response, "Your parents?" 

"Yep, they've done so much for me." Issei grinned at the thought, "Despite me being a problem child, they still somewhat care for me."

"Now that I think about it, Jeb..." The brunette questioned, "How were your parents?"

That was an interesting question for the one known as Jebediah Christoff. To be honest, he couldn't even remember his life before that dreaded experiment, any memories of childhood or normal society were deeply repressed within his mind, unable to show themselves to the savior.

"I forgot." Jebediah shrugged Issei's question off.

"What do you mean?" Issei asked Jebediah.

Jebediah let out an audible sigh, "I forgot about them."

Not wanting to pry further into Jebediah's family life, Issei relented in asking questions.

"So what about my arm?" The brunette asked, motioning to his arm once more.

"Forgot about that..." Jebediah stood up and went to the kitchen.

The sound of a cabinet opening could be heard, followed by the sound of moving objects.

Jebediah walked back towards Issei.

"Raise your arm real quick." Were the only words that exited his mouth.

"Huh?" Issei looked towards Jebediah, "Bandages?"

"Mhm." The savior merely nodded, "This will just happen to be your 'initiation' into this bizarre world."

"Wait... initiation?" Issei worriedly asked, "Don't tell me you happen to be part of some cult!"

The savior let out a hearty chuckle. 

"No, Issei." Jebediah grinned, "It happens to be a figure of speech."

The savior carefully bandaged the piercing wound located on Issei's right arm, layer after the bandage was carefully wrapped, it was as if it was an artform in on itself.

It reminded him of a certain sociopathic madman.

Jebediah motioned to his halo fragments, which flew out of his bag and comfortably above his head, Issei quickly took notice and questioned the savior.

"It's that halo from earlier..." Issei observed, "Don't tell me you happen to be an angel."

"Not at all." Jebediah chuckled, "I'm just a human."

A hue of red surrounded the savior, as his eyes flashed red.

"What are you doing?" Issei questioned the glowing red Jebediah.

The nexus energy radiating from Jebediah quickly reinforced the bandages.

"I just happened to reinforce your bandages." The savior responded, "Try moving your arm."

Issei moved his right arm around, noting to himself that he felt no pain doing so.

"It doesn't hurt anymore..." Issei remarked, "What did you do?"

"I simply reinforced your bandages with my energy." Jebediah explained, "This should be able to compensate for your immobilized arm."

"It should strengthen that arm too." The savior kept on explaining, "But be sure not to overdo it, your 'actual' right arm is still injured, and can end up screwing you over."

"This. Is. Amazing." Issei spoke excitedly, "Thanks Jeb!"

"You're welcome Issei." Jebediah responded, "You should be going home by now, look at the time."

"Oh yeah!" The brunette realized, "I'll get going now, thanks Jeb!"

The savior didn't have any time to respond as Issei had ran out the door.

Jebediah's mind swept back to a more concerning topic, Rias Gremory. Her affiliations are currently unknown to the Nevadan savior, and attempting to question her yielded no result so far. So all he could do now was wait for the next day, and question her at Kuoh Academy. 

"Gremory... just what are you?"

And thus begins Jebediah Christoff's introduction to the supernatural world.

A/N: Oh my, I haven't been writing for a while, sorry.
Be sure to point out any mistakes in this chapter so I can fix them while I can.

Why do I even keep writing at this point...