#ADRIAN REYNOLDS/MC POV#
I watch through the window as we leave Kuoh in a private pickup plane from the church
Looking around, I am still in shock that the church has something like this
I rub my eyes a bit as I try to think about the number of people that we brought with us
Only the 4 Fallen Angels came with us, and 5 Rogue Exorcists
Griselda's contacts killed the rest
Sighing, I stand up from my seat as I put a blanket over Asia's sleeping form and go below deck
Arriving, I see Samantha, a childhood friend and ally of Griselda, who came to pick us up
She has brown hair and eyes, and is rather on the short side...she is around 5 feet tall...
"Are they awake yet?" I ask her as she nods
"Yes, they woke up a few minutes ago and have been getting interrogated..." She stops for a moment before taking a deep breath
"On behalf of the church, you have our gratitude. In other words...you may have saved our bacon with this," She says with a grim smile
"They talked???" I exclaim at that
"They are strangely cooperative, and some of the questions that we have found have been... unsettling," She continues
"I bet..." I say as I frown
"You destroyed the machine that they mentioned, correct?" She asks me, and I nod as I know what she is referring to
"Yeah...something like that would draw a lot of attention if it ever got out," I answer her
"Did they say anything else?" I ask her to take a deep breath
"Yes...they extracted the Sacred Gears of 4 people while in Kuoh. One of those people was...Irina's childhood best friend," She says as my mind goes blank as I hear that
"Where is she?" I ask her
"She is in the upper deck of the plane," She says as I nod and walk to go look for Irina
If I remember right, her childhood friend was a boy called Issei Hyoudou
I shake my head as I stop walking, as I find Xenovia comforting Irina...and failing at it. While seems to be clutching a small red orb with a green light in the middle as she cries.
I sigh as I approach and place my hand on Irina's shoulder
I blink as she wraps her arms around me and Xenovia
We hug her back as she cries
I stay silent for a few minutes as Irina starts to calm down...sort of
I moved us over so that we could sit down on some seats, and thankfully, managed to move us over
As we sit down, Irina lets us go and goes back to holding the red orb in her hands
"He...he didn't know anything..." Irina whispers as tears fall down her cheeks
I stay quiet as I place my hand on Irina's shoulder again
Despite wanting to say something, I chose to keep my mouth shut, as I have no idea what else to do in this situation...wait...
"Is that his Sacred Gear?" I ask Irina as she looks at it
"Yeah..."
"Thinking of keeping it?" I ask her, causing her to turn toward me at that
"How would I keep it? I guess I can use it to remember him by..." She says with a sad look on her face as she lets out some more tears
"Actually..." I start causing both her and Xenovia to look at me
"The Fallen Angel that I dragged out crushed one of the orbs in her hand, and she was able to use the Sacred Gear called Staring Green. Maybe you could crush it and get his Sacred Gear," I explained, and quickly mentioned how I asked some of the Exorcists that came with Samantha to pick us up
"What...that wouldn't...is it really possible... no I shouldn't...this belonged to Issei...maybe I can give it to an angel to give back to God to give to someone else," She says with a sad look on her face
"Agreed...we should give the Sacred Gears back to Heaven," Xenovia inputs, and I just nod at their suggestion
Maybe God will do something about the Sacred Gears being taken from their hosts
I shake my head as I decide to follow their lead...
#TIMESKIP 1 WEEK LATER#
"...OF ALL THE STUPID THINGS YOU COULD HAVE DONE..." I wince as Griselda screams at us
We arrived back at the estate 5 days ago and have been waiting Griselda's arrival
"DO ANY OF YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED IF YOU WERE CAUGHT IN DEVIL TERRITORY?" She continues to scream at us before taking a deep breath while pinching the bridge of her nose
"What possessed the 3 of you to go there...as a matter of fact, where did you even hear the information about the Excaliburs being in Kuoh?" She asks us
"We heard it from an informant within the church," Irina answers
"An informant...the church doesn't even know who the ones were that took it...tell me everything," She demands as we explain everything that we know
Irina and Xenovia received the Excaliburs and told the information about the other blades being in Kuoh...
"Those blades were under lock and key...the church was keeping an eye on them...there is no way you could have gotten them unless...unless..." She says, repeating as the realization hits her, and my eyes widen at that
"Unless there were traitors within the church itself," I say for her as my mind catches up with her thought process and the consequences of what could have happened finally hit me like a ton of bricks
"Someone wants to restart the Great War again," I say out loud as that horrifying realization hits everyone in the room
"What...?" Xenovia asks out loud with a shocked look on her face while Irina gasps at that
"Think about it....that's why we were manipulated to go to Kuoh. A group steals Excalibur. Then they get the rest from some traitors in the church and trick us by giving them to us. Suppose the Devils had caught us in a supposedly abandoned church. They would have called their siblings...Leviathan and Lucifer," I start explaining
"Not only that, the box filled with Sacred Gears that were collected would been damning on the side of the Fallen Angels, if we manage to explain that part. While the 2 of you were wielding Excaliburs. It would have been easy to frame us as being there to kill Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri. Case in point, the Great War starts again," I finish explaining
"What about Asia?" Xenovia asks as I frown at that
"A priest made a deal with a devil," Griselda explains while sighing
"What?" I ask her
"The priest who had her excommunicated from the church made a deal with a devil. To make him disappear with a lot of money to enjoy his life. While the Devil would most likely force Asia into his peerage," She explains as a cold rage starts rising inside of me due to what may have happened to Asia
Who is outside tending to the Garden of the estate as the 4 of us talk
"Vasco Strada managed to discover this plot once he was able to examine to case more thoroughly and brought him to justice. Especially since the deal didn't go through after Asia disappeared...