001 - What Makes it Hard to Go Home ?

"Just as I thought..." I mutter to myself after hearing Death's story.

In the visions I saw, whenever Cao Cao was in danger, that monkey—or rather, Sun Wukong—always came to his aid, doing everything possible to ensure he wasn't killed.

So when I sent Death, I was certain Sun Wukong would try to stop her because of his fear of Indra, the King of the Gods and Lord of Heaven in Hindu mythology.

I don't know much about Indra, other than his desire to wage war against Shiva, the God of Destruction.

But now that Cao Cao is dead, I'm curious to see what Indra will do to carry out his plans.

"Thank you for your hard work, Death." I say while stroking Death's hand which is wrapped around my neck from behind.

"Anything... for you... dear." With that, Death begins to glow with a red light shrinking until she finally reverts back to an Arcana card.

The card floats in front of me, and I easily take it and place it in my storage.

Now, there's just one more problem... I turn to my side, where Nier is clinging tightly to my arm.

"Grayfia, are you still there? Sorry, I had something to take care of earlier, so I couldn't respond."

I wait a few moments before finally hearing Grayfia's reply. "Yes, Rei, I'm still here..."

I can tell from her voice that she sounds different than before, as if she wants to ask me something but holds back because she feels it's not her place to interfere in my affairs.

Huh, this reminds me of Sturm when we started dating... At first, she was just like Grayfia—never saying what's on her mind and just going along with everything I said. And whenever she was jealous of someone, she just kept it to herself and never told me anything...

"Alright, I'm going to come to you, Grayfia. If you can, could you go to an empty room or a private place?" I tell her, deciding to discuss this with her later when we're together.

"Alright, Rei." Grayfia says before ending our communication.

I then turn to my side where Nier is. I can see she's really happy to be here because her Erune ears are twitching rapidly.

But I'm not sure if bringing Nier is a good idea... Nier is very aggressive, and if something unexpected happens, she might lose control and kill everyone around.

"Nier, could you stay with the others—" "No!" Before I can finish my sentence, Nier suddenly interrupts while tightening her grip on me.

"…Well, at least I tried..."

Nier and I wait for Grayfia to signal before I teleport to her location. But on second thought, that might be pointless.

Grayfia is most likely at the Gremory mansion, a place filled with Pure Devils who will definitely sense my presence...

"Rei, I'm already in my room, so you can come here." I hear Grayfia say.

"Alright, I'm coming... And I'm bringing someone with me." I reply. Then, with Nier by my side, we disappear from where we were.

Before long, the two of us find ourselves in a fairly large room.

"Welcome, Rei and his companion." I hear Grayfia's voice, prompting me to turn towards her.

I see that Grayfia isn't wearing her maid uniform like she was during the Peace Conference. This time, she's dressed in casual clothes, with her long silver hair tied back in a ponytail.

"Is this the woman you've been talking to?" Nier asks me, staring sharply at Grayfia.

Grayfia feels a slight chill and shivers as she senses that this woman staring at her sharply is far more powerful than herself.

"Yes, I'm the one Rei has been talking to. My name is Grayfia Lucifuge." Grayfia introduces herself elegantly while bowing towards Nier.

"I see..." Nier replies simply, then looks away.

Grayfia looks confused, noticing that Nier isn't introducing herself and seems to actively ignore her. She can only glance in my direction.

*Sigh...* I can only shake my head. Nier has always been like this...

She doesn't care about anyone or anything as long as she's with me. She wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone who tries to come between us, even using Death's help if necessary.

Every Arcana Evoker is like this... Nier with her obsession for love, and the other nine Evokers have their own issues too.

"Nier, introduce yourself to her." I say, nudging her with the arm she's holding onto.

"Okay, darling~" Nier smiles happily and easily introduces herself to Grayfia.

Grayfia can only look at her, then turns to me as if she wants to ask me something.

"Yes, Grayfia, what you're thinking is right..."

"I see... You've got it tough..." Grayfia murmurs to herself, realizing that the woman before her is a yandere psychopath...

"Nier, if you keep acting like that, I'm going to send you back to the Sky Realm. All I want is for you to behave like you do when you're with the others, and stop acting like when we first met." I say firmly while turning towards her.

"But—"

"No buts, Nier. I know you love me, but you don't need to act like that anymore. You and Death both know I will never leave either of you."

Grayfia remains silent, watching the two of them discuss this important matter. Not gonna lie, she's starting to feel like maybe she should leave the room for now...

Nier stays quiet for a moment, then slowly releases her hug and stands beside me. "Alright... I believe in you... Just don't leave me..." she murmurs while softly rubbing her hands together.

"Yeah, you don't need to worry about that." I say while gently stroking Nier's long black hair while softly brushing her Erune ears.

"Ummm~" Nier closes her eyes while enjoying what i did to her, and I can see her ears twitching again.

Seeing that Nier is happy again, I turn back to Grayfia while continuing to stroke Nier's hair. "Sorry about that, Grayfia... I came here to help you, but you ended up witnessing our little argument."

"No, it's fine, I don't mind... Couples having an argument is normal, so you don't need to worry..." Grayfia quickly responds, though her eyes remain fixed on my hand as I pet Nier's hair.

Seeing this reminds Grayfia of her time in the Sky Realm...

At first, she felt confused because she had been fighting her friend. But when she regained consciousness, she suddenly found herself in the middle of a forest on a floating island in the sky.

She thought she was trapped in some kind of illusion, so she tried to use all her power to break free.

But unfortunately, it didn't work at all, and she remained stuck in that strange place...

Thinking about it again she felt grateful she had tried to do that, because thanks to that someone with silver hair like hers appeared before her because he sensed the power she had used.

A silver-haired man with twelve wings, each in various colors, wings even she thought were incredibly beautiful.

"Grayfia? Are you okay?" Suddenly, she snaps out of her thoughts, feeling someone gently stroking her cheek.

She looks up to see Rei standing in front of her while caressing her cheek, trying to wake her from her thought.

"Ah, I'm sorry, I was just thinking about the first time we met." Grayfia says, raising her left hand to hold mine which is still resting on her cheek.

"I see..." I smile at her words, as I also recall everything about the Devil who got lost in the Sky Realm while being suspicious of everyone.

A Devil trying to return to her world to fulfill her duty as a Lucifuge...

And then, a Devil who fell in love with someone who, just like her, was someone who had no choice but to follow their destiny.

The two of them were able to break free from that fate. Grayfia by stopping to be a follower of Lucifer, and the man by refusing to follow the destiny laid out by the Omnipotent Bahamut.

And then, the two of them were separated because the Devil wanted to finish her business in her own world, saying goodbye with a kiss.

But what they didn't expect was the rule of that world: anyone who returned to their original world would have their memories of the Sky Realm erased.

As a result, they both forgot about each other and were separated by the difference between their worlds.

The Devil spent 500 years trying to find the man who kept appearing in her dreams, while the man spent years asking countless people about the girl who kept appearing in his visions.

"Not gonna lie, comparing you to your past self is really funny. You used to always frown and never relaxed your expression." I say to her while pinching both of her cheeks.

"C-c-can you stop reminding me about t-that!" Grayfia stammers, feeling embarrassed as she remembers her past self.

She never expected she would become who she is today... She thought she would spend her entire life as a follower of Lucifer, carrying out their every command.

"Hahaha, you're so cute."

Grayfia and I continue joking around, lost in our own little world.

Meanwhile, Nier who is watching us keep tapping her foot impatiently on the floor. "Tch..." She's really struggling to resist the urge to stab the woman named Grayfia with her Dagger of Death.

But then *BAAAMM!*, we hear the sound of a door being forcefully opened.

"Grayfia, are you okay!? I felt a really powerful energy suddenly appear in your room!" someone shouts.

We all turn toward the door and saw a woman with long brown hair, her expression filled with panic as she stare at us.

"Eh?" The woman, Venelana Gremory, looks confused when she sees Grayfia with an expression she had never seen on her face before, with her face slightly flushed as she looks back at her.