Dresden Files, High School DxD/ハイスクールD×D 1. Out of the Night that Covers Me

**I own neither Dresden or DxD, sadly for me.**

**Prologue**

Ow. Ow ow ow. I would probably continue to say ow until I passed out if I didn't get up. I suppose it was a good thing I couldn't remember how I got here. All I could call to mind was being onboard the water beetle waiting for Karin to come back and then…I got shot! Some bastard shot me. I hoisted myself to my feet and patted myself down to check for wounds…only to notice a startling lack of clothes.

Those sons of bitches! They shot me AND stole my clothes? Who even does that?! Also Stars and stones, when had I become so lanky? I must have been down for a while if my muscles had atrophied this much, I couldn't remember being this thin at any time since I was maybe sixteen. After I pulled myself together I took a look around and saw…well a lot of red. I was standing on a rock in some kind of swirling vortex of crimson oblivion.

I thought maybe I was dreaming, so I tried pinching myself. Again. OW. "You should probably stop doing that." Rumbled an earthshakingly deep voice from behind me "I put a lot of effort into making that body and it'd be a shame if you were to damage it, it's quite a bit stronger than your old one physically speaking, so you'll need to be careful." I froze immediately in place.

That voice sounded like it was coming from something very large, and I was honestly a bit afraid to see what could be making a sound like that. I turned around… and wished I hadn't. The creature in front of me was, in a word, titanic. As in…as big as the ship, and that was just the horn on its massive snout. And that massive, unstoppable, nightmare's glowing golden eyes were pointed right at yours truly.

"Guh" I said wittily. The behemoth chuckled, or there was a series of short violent earthquakes, one of those. "Speak boy, you're of no use to me as a mute, if the body was improperly prepared I'll need to start over." I blinked "I…what?" The dragon (because the giant red monstrosity really obviously was) "This conversation is going to be very boring if you're just gonna sit there babbling like a moron."

I pulled together the tattered remains of my courage and managed to force myself to speak in actual sentences "You…are very large." Ok so maybe not INTELLIGENT sentences but hells bells the thing had teeth as tall as the Chrysler building. Those massive burning pools of gold actually ROLLED at me, but I continued. "Or I suppose from your perspective I'm just very small."

The beast snorted, and billows of stinging, searing air swept over me "So it can make some sense, good I thought I'd wasted the effort of creating the new body and stealing your essence." My eyes narrowed at that "And not that I'm not grateful but why and how exactly did you do that." The dragon made a hmmm sound as if to acknowledge that I had made a point

"Boredom ,for the most part. That, and opportunity." I blinked. "Run that by me again?" The burning gold eyes rolled at me again "I took you because it was easy. At time of death your soul momentarily severed connection with your world. Something about your nature allows your life force interaction with forces outside you realm of creation. And the white fire that burns in your soul acted as a beacon for my attention upon your death. Such fires aren't usually touched with mortality and never with the essence of the realms between creations."

I blinked, stunned at the momentous being's words "So wait…you grabbed me because I was SHINY?" The fires must have been soulfire and the other aspect must have been the thing lash had told me about being able to affect Outsiders, before she sacrificed herself for me in the Raith deeps. The dragon gave a grunt in the affirmative "A bit simplistic but a fair enough description. I took your soul and crafted a new body of my own flesh, as your soul was already infused with the white flame it was able integrate into my flesh perfectly." I looked down at my body. I hadn't taken much time to look myself over since my awakening, aside from a cursory bullet-check. My flesh really didn't seem red or scaly though, the dragon noted my glance

"Oh, that. Obviously a giant scaly red beast would hardly make a useful agent in the human world, so I crafted my flesh into a human semblance. Given time for your power to expand to fill the gap your current energy leaves in the vessel's energy stores you'll be able to manifest yourself into the form of a full dragon when you wish. But I suppose you might think of yourself as a dragon/wizard hybrid."

I sputtered at that "Hells's bells you turned me into a Dragon? Why would you even do that? And what do you mean agent in the human world?" Its eyes flicked away for a moment and then back to settle on me "I get so bored here, all by myself. All around the mortal world lesser dragons plot and scheme employing their agents to play games among the humans. I get so tired of watching it all.

I want to play too I want to have my own agent in their world, so I got you. You have a talent for chaos and havoc, and for bloodying the nose of powers greater than yourself. I've given you this new body and the power that comes with it so you can continue to do so in my name. I will watch through your eyes as you go forth into this world and show the other beings that wish to rule it that even from here im a threat to be feared."

I scowled at that, it sounded like this thing wanted me to be its puppet, and I was no one's puppet. "Im not just going to roll over and obey your every wish, and if you thought I was you have a hell of a surprise coming." The beast laughed "I don't want a puppet boy, I want a show. And from what I've seen no one puts on a show like you. I can hardly wait for the trouble you'll get into in a world where no one knows your name. They'll never see you coming." "No one…?" But before I could finish a swirling vortex opened at my feet and I dropped into the scarlet oblivion.

**SCENE BREAK**

For the second time in as many hours I found myself flat on my back in pain. At least this time I was in cool grass, though it appeared my dragon boss had failed to leave me with clothes. The only seeming upside to all this is that apparently my new malicious winter-fresh flavor hadn't come along for the ride. Of course, I was a dragon now and apparently stranded in a world that could be so different from my own as to be unrecognizable for all I knew. I sat up and looked around to see…a school.

I wasn't sure what I'd been expecting but it had hardly been what appeared to be an upper tier private school. "Well, looks like I took a left turn at the wrong Albuquerque." I glanced around to try to gain some sort of perspective on what kind of school this was. Tennis court, sprawling lawn, giant marble buildings, so far all I could tell was that this place was a hell of a lot nicer than where I went to school.

"Excuse me?" I heard a voice squeak, and turned around expecting to see some kind of deformed demon chipmunk only to come face to face with an absolutely adorable little blonde girl of about sixteen in a school uniform "Im sorry" she said blushing profusely "Are you a student here?" I raised my eyebrow at the girl "No I don't go here…"

I trailed off I was fairly sure that I didn't look nearly young enough to go here, but then a horrifying thought occurred to me. I glanced frantically around till I spotted a reflective surface bolting over to glance at my (still naked so that's why she was blushing, oops) reflection. I stared at myself in dawning horror, I was still me but puff the terrifying dragon hadn't made my new body to the exact same specs. I was looking at my face alright, at the age of sixteen.

I desperately tried to think up some explanation that wouldn't land me in a mental institution "I was…um...kidnapped." I said blurting out the first thing I could think of and almost immediately regretted it as an almost unbearably sweet expression of worry and sympathy flooded the girls features "Oh no that's terrible, I'm sure we can help get you home Dear God who art in heaven…ow" She trailed off from the prayer that shed started, yelping in pain. I couldn't help but smile at how cute she was, but I was a bit concerned by the apparent headache that had just hit her.

I could almost feel something supernatural coming from her but I really couldn't understand enough about my new senses and the way this new world worked to be able to say for certain. Something in my new reptilian gut was telling me that her sweetness was on the up and up, I had seen plenty of fantastically gifted monsters pretend to be all hugs and puppies (the former Summer Lady Aurora had been pretty much a gold medalist at the sally sunshine act) but something about this girl rang more…genuine. I decided that I'd have to trust my new dragon-y instincts at least a little I doubt Clifford the Big Red Dragon would get much entertainment value out of me if I wasn't around for more than a few minutes so they probably weren't too far off the mark.

She seemed almost heartbreakingly upset about the sudden headache and I couldn't help but melt a little at the sight "Hey are you feeling alright? You seem like you might have hurt yourself." She shook her whole head vigorously (So cute!) "No I'm fine we should really find you some clothes to wear." This accompanied by resurfacing of her adorable blush (god being a teenager must be messing with my hormones I was paying way too much attention to how cute this girl was) I turned my attention back outward as she continued

"I could take you back to our clubhouse." I didn't really have many options here so I decided to take her up on that. I mean hey, how bad could a club be if it had this little cutie in it? "Alright" I said "I'd be really grateful for the help. My name is Harry by the way. What's yours?" She smiled sunnily at me "My name is Asia Argento pleased to make your acquaintance." I had a good feeling about this girl, I was pretty sure this club of hers would be a nice quiet place for me to lie low and figure out what to do.

**Ok this is a new fandom for me. I'd like to start by saying I love this fandom and all the fics posted in this category so far, if you haven't read them I highly recommend you do so. ****Beyond the outer gate lies ****by Gabriel blessing and ****Devil you know**** by Surrarin are both brilliant and I just hope that my fic doesn't mess up the fandom too badly. I love the direction those two fics have gone but I'm going to be trying my own angle and I hope I can do it justice. Keep in mind this is just the prologue and id love some feedback and even suggestions(not promising to take them but I love hearing ideas) I plan on the future chapters being much longer I just really wanted to get the beginning out and kind of asses the reactions to see what direction I feel will benefit both the fans(assuming I get any) and I the most.**


	2. Black as the Pit from Pole to Pole

It took us only a couple minutes to make the walk to Asia's clubhouse. I was starting to feel a bit more like my old self and was beginning to wonder exactly why I'd trusted this girl so quickly. I mean, she was adorable and apparently my seeming age but I didn't usually trust people this quickly. I could only assume that apart from the dragony instincts I seem to have now my brain seems to be functioning like an actual sixteen year old (I hate you Clifford).

So aside from having to second guess all my decisions in case of hormone poisoning, I also have to worry about being even more irrational around women than I was before. But somewhere deep down I couldn't help but feel like this sweet girl couldn't possibly wish me harm.

I decided to keep my guard up as we approached what looked like a…big spooky house. Well Harry, this is obviously not a trap you had no reason to be suspicious at all. I followed the cheerful (and more and more suspicious) little blonde in the front door of the house and was confronted with…an even smaller cuter girl.

She was sitting on the stairs eating a lollipop (one of those big ones creepy little kids eat in horror movies) with a placid expression on her face. She glanced my way as I came in, silver hair swishing and simply said "Tall" before apparently dismissing me from her world and returning to her unfinished treat. I raised an eyebrow at Asia, who blushed prettily "Oh that's Koneko, shes one of the other members of our club, Im sorry that was nothing personal Harry she just doesn't talk much."

We climbed the stairs having plenty of room to shuffle to the side as we passed Koneko and as went by her I noticed that the girl had what appeared to be cat ears on her head. Not fake cat ears like some cosplay girls wear, but actual honest to god cat ears. Before I could stop myself I reached out and ran my fingers over one of them, and almost fell over as the girl sat up ramrod straight and let out a deep rhythmic purr.

She tilted her head towards my hand for a moment before seeming to catch herself and jerking away. She turned a ferocious glare on me over her lollipop but the effect was somewhat muted by the adorable blush covering her face.

I heard a muted chuckle from up the stairs a pale athletic looking guy with blonde hair was smiling sheepishly at me "You'll have to forgive Koneko, she never has been very good around strangers." He turned to look at Asia "I got your text and briefed the Pres, shes aware of your new friend and is waiting in the study with Akeno to greet him."

Asia looked (cutely) puzzled "Why would Pres want to meet with Harry?" She got a worried look on her face "Should I have brought him straight to her? Oh I'll never get the hang of being a devil! Hail mary full of grace…OW" This last was uttered with bowed head and clasped hands before she squeaked in pain, which would have worried me more if I wasn't just catching up to her words a minute ago.

My eyes widened and I spun getting my back to the wall as I threw out a hand and thundered "DEFENDARIUS" A wall of blazing blue force sprang into being in a semicircle around me blocking off my sides and all undefended spots that the wall at my back didn't protect. And then it just…stayed there. From the look of the blazing wall I'd used a bit too much magic and I should be passing out any minute now…except I wasn't. My spell just hung there and the damn thing wasn't draining my powers enough for me to even notice.

Ok, my kung fu was definitely strong. I shook off the amazement at my new juice and glared at Asia and the guy, and partway down the stairs at Koneko. "Devils?" I felt the words snap from my mouth, colder than any of the ice I'd wielded as the winter knight. Asia looked startled and pretty-boys face was hard, his jaw set as he held a fricking sword he'de apparently snatched from mid air.

His eyes glittered coldly at me "Yes, we're devils in service to House Gremory,do you have an Issue with that Harry?" I met those eyes dead on, glaring back just as harshly until…I was Alone. Now when I say Alone I don't mean there was an absence of people, though there was definitely that, I mean Alone.

Some people get nervous being in the dark, or being out on the street at night, but fear like that is only really about being alone. Sometimes when youre in a place you can feel the emptiness, the hollow space where human life is supposed to be, and you feel scared, because it's like no one can ever break it, and youll be Alone until you die. Theres no way anyone can ever save you because no one could ever be anything but this Alone and for them to come and save you, both of you would have to experience a grade-A miracle. Pretty-boy's soul was like that.

I was Alone, but I was surrounded by people, surrounded by his dead, pulling at me, weighing at me, begging me for justice or for help. He felt this every day, trapped in the dark, being slowly frozen by his dead, and that's when it hit me. I was in his SOUL. This was a SOULgaze, the important bit of info being that this guy had a soul for me to gaze at. Which meant either this kid was an absolute idiot some particularly sick demon had tricked into thinking he was a devil…or there was a HUGE knowledge gap between my universe and this one, and the kid didn't look that stupid.

I eased off my spell a bit allowing the shield to fade from the visible spectrum, though somehow I didn't think its transparency was fooling anyone in this house. The kid looked…pale. I've never quite been sure of exactly what people see when they look at my soul and honestly I'm A-ok with that, I have enough nightmares without seeing exactly what manner of person those nightmares have made me. "I'm Harry Dresden." I said cautiously "Im sorry for the reaction but I've never met anything friendly that called itself a devil."

The guy smiled at me tightly but relaxed just a hair "My name is Kiba Yuuto, I'm a Knight in the service of lady Rias, heir to the house of Gremory. You've already met Asia, our bishop and Koneko, our rook." I took it that these odd chesslike titles had some significance here, so I decided to keep quiet and take in what information I could to piece together some information. My old mentor, Ebenezar McCoy used to say no one ever looked stupid by keeping their mouth shut.

To be honest it's advice Ive rarely taken, choosing instead my own patented brand of Harry Dresden wiseassery, but I thought maybe since I was sixteen again maybe it'd be a good time to heed the old mans advice, if only just this once. Not that I'd ever tell my grandfather that, itd ruin my reputation as a professional cracker of wise. Kiba's sword was at his side now, and he was gazing at me with an unreadable expression. "Will you give your word that you mean us no harm, if I give mine of safe passage?"

I hadn't picked up a huge amount in my nightmare tour of Kiba's battered soul but I had seen enough to know the pride that he took in being a member of this 'House Gremory' If he gave his word as a Knight he'd damn well keep it. I clenched my jam and nodded tightly. "You have it." I relaxed the invisible shield as I did so. I suppose he must have seen something similar about me, because the sword disappeared (literally just vanished, what the hell).

He gave me a serious look " I think that you should talk to the President, that is, Lady Rias, you seem a bit confused and out of place, and she and the student council president await you upstairs." I must have looked dubious because he assured me "They simply wish to greet a powerful visitor to the school and make sure you aren't a threat, as I promised you're perfectly safe within these walls as long as you offer us no violence."

I exhaled and nodded "Fair enough, but can I at least get some damn clothes. It's a bit embarrassing to be walking around naked like this." Which wasn't actually strictly true, my new sixteen year old body was in much better shape than the old one had ever been and the temperature wasn't really affecting me at all. All in all I could've walked around naked for the next year and it would have only bothered me because…well Hells Bells I was naked.

Kiba nodded and disappeared, returning a minute later with what looked like some kind of cloak, or woulve been on a five and a half foot sixteen year old, on me (who even at sixteen had been taller than your average bear) It only managed to serve as a sort of triple wrapped kilt.

We continued up the stairs, Asia looking adorably upset and still to timid to speak after my magical muscle flexing act (which for lack of a good reason I was starting to feel kind of bad about) and Koneko trailing behind us silently letting out a steady air of menace. If my little bout of heavy petting hadn't already alienated her she didn't seem to impressed with me after my lightshow. As we drew to the end of the hall at the top of the stairs I was a sturdy wood paneled door made of a rich dark wood, and Kib stepped forward to knock.

I heard a musical voice from behind the door say "Come in." The door swung open (I was disappointed I couldn't hear an ominous creak as it swung slowly inward, I guess even devils know about WD-40) to reveal a room with several very attractive girls of about my apparent age. As I glanced at them I could feel power rolling off of each one, in varying strengths and flavors, but the strongest and most ominous power was roiling from a very…ahem…well-endowed redhead, who Kiba seemed to be paying extra attention to. I took it then that this was Kibas master "Lady" (I cant say titles like that without making air quotes in my head) Rias of the house of Gremory.

I had to remind myself not to get bogged down in preconceived notions, this universe obviously worked very differently than mine, but at the same time I had to exercise some of that good ole' white council paranoia. The second girl at the head of the table, a pretty slim girl with glasses framing violet eyes, and short dark hair framing a serious face, was giving me an impassive look and the pretty girl in the ponytail on the left of Rias (who was about as busty as her friend) was giving me an almost salacious look of interest. The final girl, a very pretty serious looking girl with friendly but guarded eyes behind functional glasses, and long straight dark hair, rounded out the group, who all seemed fairly intent on me at the moment. To be fair I suppose a giant bursting into your study in nothing but a makeshift skirt is the sort of thing that most people notice.

The short haired one spoke first "You must be Mr. Dresden, my name is Sona Sitri, heiress of the Sitri devil clan, I bid you welcome to Kuoh academy. That welcome extends for as long as you follow our rules, and not a moment longer." I had to keep reminding myself to keep an open mind, the energy they were pouring out wasn't malicious per se, just really thick. I bowed my head the heiress "I thank you for the offer of hospitality Lady Sitri and will do my best to abide by your wishes while im within your territory." Translation I'll try to play nice, but if you mess with me ill rip off your entire as. See, I can be diplomatic when I want to be.

Rias cleared her throat "And my name is Rias Gremory heiress to the House of Gremory, I also bid you welcome, and offer you use of the accommodations in my clubhouse. We could feel your presence when it appeared and are most anxious to hear what brings you here to our school." I grimaced , I couldn't just tell them I had appeared here with no one to miss me, even if I was reasonably sure they meant me no harm there was no way in hell I was exposing a potential weakness to these people after having just met them, even without taking into account their infernal nature.

I put on my best inscrutable wizard face "I thank you for the invitation for lodging and would be happy to stay with you and your household, unfortunately my business here is of a sensitive nature and I cant currently disclose it, but I do swear that I mean no harm to yourself or your household nor any being on this campus. I would also love an opportunity to interact with yourself and your household and see more of this school of yours, might I be able to sit in on some classes."

God, playing the mysterious wizard after all these years of being talked down to by the council felt good. Rias tensed her jaw but she nodded to me "Of course Mr. Dresden I'm sure we can accommodate your wishes, we're always happy to have new guests, Kiba will show you to your room."

I nodded to the girls both the heiresses and the other two (who I took to be subordinates from their silence) and followed Kiba down the hall, this entire night had been nothing but surprises and I didn't see tomorrow being boring either. As we stopped outside the door that was apparently mine Kiba turned to me .

"Pres had this room made up on the off chance that you decided to accept her offer, we keep it mostly furnished for guests anyway." He stared at me stoically "I'm not sure what that was earlier Harry, but I think I know something about you now, and I suspect somehow you know something about me too. I just want you to know, we aren't your enemies, we don't hurt those weaker than ourselves. We have a lot in common and I hope you'll give us a chance to show you that. Well…goodnight I'll see you in school tomorrow." He gave me a little half smile and walked away, leaving me with a feeling of unease and plenty to think about.

I turned the knob on the wood-paneled door and stepped inside, closing it behind me and, closing my eyes, leaned my head back against the cool wood. There was s much going on and I had no clue what to do, my friends were almost definitely out of reach and even if I could contact them Mab would just find me, I had no money no clothes no place to live long term, hells bells I wasn't even a human being anymore. I probably would have stayed like that for quite some time if I hadn't heard a pretty usical voice ask "Are you alright?" I bolted upright and my eyes flew open searching the room until they found…a girl.

I've seen a lot of supernaturally gorgeous women in my life, fae, monsters in disguise, vampires and even a fallen angel preying on my own deepest fantasies, but I'd never seen a girl like this. Helen of Troy went to bed at night as a kid wishing she could grow up to look like this girl, freaking Aphrodite would've wanted to look more like this girls. And as she stared at me out of those insanely beautiful cobalt blue eyes, gorgeous flowing golden hair waterfalling around slender pale shoulders I couldn't help but be dumbstruck at the awe-inspiring Beauty of her.

She let out a silvery tinkling laugh, like silver sleigh bells rolling into the cleanest most refreshing spring in the world and smiled a bright engaging smile at my expression. "I'm sorry to surprise you, I had to mask my presence so Lady Gremory couldn't sense me and I forgot you wouldn't be able to either. Oh, but I'm being rude, I know your name is Harry but you haven't heard mine yet. My name is Gabriel, one of the four archangels of heaven, and I'd like to talk to you about a job."

**So heres chapter two. Hope you all like it, I'm still finding a good balance on exposition and detail for this one, its an uphill battle for every story. I want to thank everyone for their reviews and suggestions and I'd like to put a few peoples minds at rest. I know the first chapter was a bit rough (as is this one honestly) I take a while to hit my stride in a story and im particularly bad at beginnings, I usually compensate for that by jumping in headfirst and doing my exposition retroactively, which is how I prefer to read stories anyway. I realize that's a bit jarring but I hope that maybe this chapter will be better that way, I tried to take my time more. Also I want to make it clear that Harry wont become a devil, I know his soulgaze with Kiba was a turning point and he'll be interacting with them civilly and even in a friendly fashion, but he wont become one it feels sort of against his nature to me and if he did it's be in either Sairorg of Seekvaira's peerage not Rias or Sona mostly because I want to take the story in my own direction. I am toying with making him a Brave Saint. And finally yes Great Red taking him was a bit cheap but there WAS a reason that will be explained later and it has more to do with Harry being starborn than anything else. As to Harry being OOC im working on fixing that but he's going to be at least sort of OOC since he has the brain chemistry of a sixteen year old and hormones to match. Well I hope you guys continue to give this a chance and im gonna go before this note becomes longer than the chapter its about. Cant wait to hear your reviews, night all.**


	3. Under the Fell Clutch of Circumstance

I was understandably pretty speechless here. I mean, it only makes sense that I'd be shocked at seeing the most wholesome beauty of my life sitting on a bed in a devils house only to find out that she's an archangel of the lord (all of whom to my knowledge were men I might add).

She smiled indulgently at my expression and…it took my breath away. I've seen my share of beautiful, monsters and maidens and fairies and every other gorgeous face under the sun. The fallen angel that had lived in my head had taken immense pleasure in trying to find combinations of features that worked best for me. But that wasn't what this was, beauty is commonplace and usually accompanies a proclivity for bloodshed when found in large quantities but Gabriel…she wasn't beautiful, she was Lovely.

You could sense the benevolence and good will in that sunny expression, I think even without my newfound dragony senses I would have been able to FEEL the peace and love flowing off of her. I've met some pretty horrible creatures with some pretty monstrous abilities, but I'd never seen one with this kind of aura of purity. The being in front of me was benevolent, she couldn't be anything else, and I knew that in a way so profound that even my natural paranoia and skepticism couldn't do anything to detract from it.

I bowed my head to her "Lady Gabriel, its an honor to meet you." She let out another tinkling silver laugh and graced me with another of those beautiful smiles "Please Harry, just Gabriel is fine. Your entrance into this plane made quite a bit of noise to those of us who were listening. I thought I'd come welcome you to our world." I smiled wryly at her "Seems like you were a bit late."

Her grin widened and took on its own rueful tinge, chased by a bit of a blush "I'm afraid I was a bit distracted, my favorite television program was on." I grinned at that, apparently angels in this crazy mixed up world were as human as the rest of us. Huh, who knew? "So, Gabriel, what brings you here, aside from drawing the short straw at heavens barbecue and ending up as welcome wagon for yours truly?" She giggled at that, hells bells an angel of the freaking lord, gods own holy hand grenades, actually giggled. And it was adorable.

Her face became serious "But in all honesty Harry, as I said I'm here to offer you a job. I'd like you to agree to become a part of a group of people in my service. You'de be given wings and the power of an angel, though I sense that will do little to encourage you. Possibly the largest motivator for you I suspect would be that being part of my Brave Saints would put you in a position to help a great many people." I smiled politely at her "With all due respect, I already help a great many people all on my own, and with my new powers I can do so on an even greater scale."

She bobbed her head in admission of my point "That may be true, but there are a number of things about this world that you don't know, if you'de allow me to fill you in perhaps you might reconsider." I was skeptical of that but nodded at her to continue "Well a long time ago there was a war, some would argue that it was THE war.

The three sides, devils, angels, and fallen angels all took the field, for years it raged, all sides being decimated at they sent their best and brightest to the front lines. When the dust cleared more than three quarters of the forces of the three powers had been utterly destroyed, including the four satans, the demon kings who ruled the underworld, and my own father the lord God."

My head snapped back in shock "GOD is DEAD!? As in having shuffled of this mortal coil, an ex-creator, this deity has ceased to be? Can that even happen?" Gabriels eyes started to shine with moisture and tears began rolling down her face, and I felt like an asshole because I was talking about her Father, but there was no change in her voice.

"After the deaths of the leaders of the three factions there was a cessation of hostilities. All three sides decided to focus on rebuilding their own forces rather than wiping the other's out. The devils, after some time developed a system they call "Evil Pieces" a system based on the game of chess that reincarnates mortals into devils with specific traits depending on their piece. The angels, in response developed a system called the "Brave Saints" our own answer to the evil pieces that reincarnates mortals as angels with varying traits depending on the playing card chosen."

Her tears had slowed as she spoke and I saw her take a deep breath (which I guiltily noticed MUCH more than I should have, stupid teenage hormones) before continuing to speak "We recently signed a peace treaty but heaven is still far from at its full strength, so you see Harry, we need you. Heaven is weakened and in dire straits, please join us, become an angel, stand with us against our enemies, and we can protect the mortals together." She said this last bit with such fire and conviction that I couldn't help but know she meant it.

I frowned at that. "I appreciate all the information, the better informed I am the safer I'll be, but I don't know enough about this world to enlist to fight a war, not even in heavens army." She opened her mouth to disagree but I cut her off with a look "And that's what it would be, heavens army, someone would always be there to fight. And I'm not saying that you wouldn't be in the right, but I've seen enough of the devils here to know they aren't the same as back home, I don't know enough to join up, and if you truly have the best interests of humanity at heart youll be able to understand why."

She smiled sadly at me "I had assumed you would answer that way, though I'd hoped you would not. It will be a great loss to us Harry, but I do understand why you want join us." She smiled at me radiantly "As a Seraph of the host of heaven I'm permitted to know many things. I have a certain talent for seeing the hearts of others, and to sometimes see the path they'll take. Not seeing the future but more of a…sense of importance."

She leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to my mouth "You have a good heart Harry. And you will do some amazing things with it, I don't know what those things will be, but I'm sure they'll be right ones." And with a scent of sunshine on grass in spring and a rush of wings, she was gone, and I was alone. It took me quite a while before my mind calmed enough for me to drift off to sleep, thinking of how very different things were here, and how maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

_**Scene Break**_

I woke up the next morning better rested than I'd been in a long time. There was something freeing about not having all my old responsibilities. My friends were taken care of, my daughter was safe and I had even managed to give Mab the slip. Ok I was a dragon-teen in an alternate universe but hey, as far as outcomes go this one wasn't the worst.

I stood up out of bed and stretched, allowing myself to feel my new muscles rippling under my new skin (which I suspected was a bit tougher than the old stuff) and put on the clothes laid out for me (which were mysteriously my own size, as if I didn't have enough confirmation of the infernal nature of my hosts). I wandered through the rather sturdy wood paneled door and down the hall to the conference room I'd seen everyone in last night.

There was a pretty distinctive feeling of wealth in the hallways and I passed through them, expensive brocade curtains, lots of gold trim. I felt sort of out of place here, like someone had hung a child's finger painting at the Louvre. As I passed the expensive marble busts and weird looking paintings, the feeling of displacement started to become less fancy and more ominous.

I didn't belong in this place. I didn't feel like I was in danger so much as this place was just…other. I stopped short at the door as the feeling intensified. I could sense something inside now that I was looking for it. The entire time I'd been in this world I'd kept my wizards sight firmly shut, mostly because I enjoyed my brains in one big piece instead of dribbling out my ears as was sure to happen if I looked at say, Gabriel in the magical spectrum.

But the feeling was ominous enough that I felt the risk was worth it, so I took a deep breath in and opened my wizards sight…and nothing really changed…until my eyes were able to focus, and then I could see. The entire house was a chess board, hell the whole school was a chess board, and the devils I'd met the night before were all pieces. Based on Gabriels description of the evil pieces system that wasn't really surprising, but what was fairly shocking was the two MASSIVE forms standing over them.

One of them was cloaked in shadow, pale skeletal fingers reaching out to slide the pieces gently into each other's paths. The human images superimposed over the pieces never even noticed the motions, deftly sliding into their new places ignorant of the machinations of the pieces themselves. There was something insidious about the first player, and its motions reminded me of a demo-man placing explosives, carefully setting things up before the big boom.

The second player gave an impression that he didn't notice the first player, he wasn't shadowed at all his bright crimson hair reminding me of Rias's , he seemed to be moving the pieces into defensive positions without being able to see the other players moves. His face was twisted with worry for the pieces, and the gentleness with which he handled them belied real caring about the pieces and the people they represented, I decided I liked him, and I obviously preferred him to cobra commander over on the other side.

The last being on the board only had one piece, a King, and it towered behind me as I gazed at the board through the outline of the chess piece surrounding me. Cliffords massive reptilian eyes looked highly amused as I gazed up at him and I knew without a doubt that he was really aware of my gaze. In any normal situation it would be impossible for a theoretical construct of my sight to be a viewing point for any being but to be fait he had said he'de be able to see through my eyes.

I shut down the site and had to brace myself against the wall. I could infer a lot of things from what I'd just seen, and most of them were about my situation here. First, Clifford had given me a similar power to the angels and devils. I assumed the reincarnation would be into a dragon, like I was now, as opposed to a devil or an angel, but the fact remained he had given me a way to transform people into dragons. Second if his presence on the board was anything to go by, and judging by the skill the other players showed in their moves, I really didn't have a choice but to try to create my own little court of dragons.

Going out on a bit of a limb it seemed like Clifford had gotten sick and tired of all the other kids on the playground not inviting him to play ball, so he decided to make his own team. My new dragony instincts told me I was on the right track and that if Clifford was anything like I was now it would kind of piss him off that dragons were in too much of a minority to be considered one of the three sides. I was guessing that the big guy wanted the home team to have their own forces if things hit the fan again, and he wanted me to make it happen.

Which explained my presence in the abstract but not remotely in a specific sense, I didn't believe his crap about grabbing me out of boredom for a second. If what I had seen a minute ago was any indication the scale of the board I was standing on was massive, and there was no way I'd been put into play with anything less than the utmost deliberation. Now all I had to do was pick out my group and pray they could help survive whatever clusterfuck my new benefactor was about to move me into.

I turned back to look at the door and winced, the chances of me being able to find any competent help fast enough to avoid a horrible death were much higher if I knew the score around these part. Diplomacy had never been my strong suit but it looked like id have to make nice with the devils, at least until I figured out what the hell Cliffords game was. Well…aside from chess.

_**Chapter three everyone. I've decided to do my own thing as far as High School DxD crossovers go. I've never heard of any of the crossover characters getting their own peerage so I decided I'd like to see it. I'm gonna be using a few characters from other things maybe and a couple originals. I'd love to hear from everyone as usual, I thought the pacing on this chapter was less rushed and I really hope everyone is enjoying it. Any requests of suggestions for peerage members feel free to drop it in a review. Thanks again for all your kind words and encouragement as well as all your helpful suggestions. I tried to include them where I could and I cant wait to hear what you all think of this chapter.**_


	4. I am the Master of my Fate

I braced myself before going in the door, I couldn't help but be just a little woozy after all that I'd just seen. I made a mental not never to use my sight in this world again if at all possible. There were too many weirdly powerful beings running around, though to be fair I guess you'de have to count me as one of them. I knocked briskly and opened the door before anyone had a chance to respond.

The president and Rias were sitting at the table as I entered, all the retainers remained standing except the two others (the really busty one and the pretty long haired one in the glasses). There were a few more retainers in the room than there had been last night. I glanced around sheepishly as I entered "Sorry for barging in but I don't really have time to wait around…I need a few answers from you people."

Sona looked indignant at that "What do you mean you people?" I had to suppress a cackle at that, and fought to keep a straight face as I replied "What do YOU mean you people?" She frowned at me with a skeptical look on her face that made it clear she thought I belonged on a bus of diminished length. I just grinned at her "Sorry that was a reference to something you probably wont get, do you guys even watch movies?"

I shook my head to clear away the stray thoughts, I went on to explain to Sona and Rias everything Gabriel has explained to me, I decided to keep everything about my peerage to myself. The explanations didn't take to long and by the time they were all said and done we had burned up most of the morning. Sona glanced over at me inquisitively "I believe earlier you said you wanted to accompany us around the school for a day or two?"

I was fairly relieved she remembered that so I didn't have to bring it up. If I was right and this was a game with stakes as high as I thought I'd need a full crew to be able to deal with what was coming. I hardly had any idea what I was doing but I'd have to figure out how everything worked as I went, Clifford struck me as a 'push your kid into the deep end' kind of parent, and I was damned if I'd fall in without floaties.

Our little tete-a-tete went on like that for a few about an hour, the devils covered most of the things Gabriel had already mentioned, thinking they were filling me in on all this for the first time, they hadn't mentioned the part about God being dead so I wasn't sure they knew about it and felt like I should keep any extra information to myself.

After the meeting we all dispersed to our respective rooms to get ready (aside from me, as I was already dressed I just went because I had nowhere else to go) I sat on the bed Gabriel had been sitting on the previous night and thought about everything that had happened over the last few days.

It worried me that I'd been so certain that I shouldn't take her offer, it made me wonder if what I thought of as dragon instincts might be Clifford influencing my mind somehow. There was no reason not to assume that the gut feelings that had guided me so far might have been some kind of implanted behavior that Clifford had left in this body to steer me in a certain direction.

But I suppose in the end regular instincts would have been the same thing, just less direct. They would be guiding my actions a little in any case, whatever the source. I was going to have to deal with being manipulated, at least until I got enough of a footing to change the rules, once I was playing the game I'd make sure the other players wouldn't even know they were losing until it was too late. Besides man had been ignoring his instincts for centuries. If I could learn to ignore my hormones when I was a teenager (a real teenager I mean) I could sure as hell ignore them now.

After rejoining the others I was taken on a tour of kuoh academy. I had to admit it was one of the nicer places I'd seen, it wasn't as flashy as the white councils ostentatiatory or as imposing as the Raith house but it had its own kind of elegance that gave an overall impression of safety and luxury. As Rias and Sona's peerages bantered and Sona and Rias themselves chatted about the days upcoming events, Kiba hung back to talk to me.

"I see you're getting acclimated pretty easily. Kuoh academy is one of the best places I know, and its heavily protected so you'll be safe here for as long as you decide to stay." His smile was genuine and friendly as he spoke "I'm glad you decided to give us a chance, I could tell from your reaction the other day you may not have had the best interaction with devils before, but not all of us are the same." It made me feel a bit better that I had someone like Kiba around, after soulgazing him I could definitely tell the guy was solid, and he was the kind of person I wanted watching my back. I returned his smile as we continued on the tour, and I hoped that whatever he'de seen in my soulgaze didnt prevent us from becoming friends. He seemed like a good guy.

I was fairly amazed as I walked through the campus with them, this place beat out one of Marcone's clubs for sheer opulence and functionality, all of the sports equipment looked state of the art, and my newly re-teen brain couldn't help but notice all the very attractive girls around. I kept a look out as I walked, unable to shake the feeling something big was going to happen. So far all the beings in this world had been a total surprise, and i wasnt reallt expecting that to change anytime soon. I may have met mostly friendly ones so far, but I was betting I'd eet plenty of things that were just a surprising and a hell of a lot less pleasant soon enough. It was probably best to stay on my toes.

The feelings I had assumed before to be my dragon instincts, and now feared were some kind of programming left in my new body by Clifford the big red super dragon, were twigging to some kind of nearby disturbance and if they were alerting me to it I could only assume it would somehow end up being trouble for yours truly. I could feel some part of my power reaching out and searching for something, and the piece of me questing for the unknown made me pretty uneasy.

I was about to mention this departure to Kiba when I heard an earthshattering crash from off to the east. Screams tore from that direction and Kiba and I went bolting off in that direction, I'm sure much like myself Kiba was expecting to lay a smackdown on some monster ass. I was fairly certain the timing wasn't a coincidence, our mysterious bathrobed friend was clearly making a move, I suppose Cliffords surprise entry into the game had pushed him to something more overt than usual.

But before we could reach the spot where the monster was we heard a collective gasp. We rounded the corner to see a guy with messy black hair standing in front of a pretty blonde girl, who I only after a second realized was Asia, holding the fist of a large green Ogre at a dead standstill with two crossed forearms. His teeth were bared in a vicious and mildly terrifying grin of excitement as he stopped the monster in its tracks and with a grunt of excited effort shove it back to waver off balance.

I wasn't sure of the specifics of how the Ogre had gotten onto campus, as I was under the impression there were some fairly impressive wards keeping this place safe, but I was certain the mystery player had something to do with it. I was almost as certain that they'de better hope Rias and the red haired player never found out who they were or they'de be in for the asskicking of a lifetime.

I didn't think from what I'd seen that Rias was the kind of person that took threats to people under her protection (and based on what I'd seen in Kiba's soul these people were ALL under her protection, if only because they were under his) lying down. I was guessing this was going to piss her off something fierce.

The guy howled with triumphant glee before throwing himself straight up and bringing his heel scything down in an overhead heeldrop. "OGA KICK!" The massive beast staggered under the impact and we all stood frozen in shock at the sight of this totally normal street thug beating the hell out of this massive monster. He slipped his hands into his pockets as he pushed off the ogre's head as he cooly landed lightly on his feet, looking very impressed with himself.

He had just heeldropped this big-ass beast and the only real emotions he was displaying were excitement and smugness. This guy had to have been absolutely crazy not to be scared in this situation. It just didn't make any sense at all. All of which probably explained why we didn't notice until too late that a second ogre was swinging a huge club of misshapen metal at him from his blind spot.

The poor guy, as impressive as he may have been for a human, didn't have the chops to stand up to a quarter ton of steel being slammed into him at speed. The blow took him right off his feet, and with a sickening series of cracks sent him hurtling into the wall of the corner we'de just come around.

I almost felt sick looking at him, cracked and broken on the ground. Kiba had a similar look on his face and he rounded on the Ogres, murder in his eyes as he materialized a pitch black two handed sword and prepared to hurl himself into the fray. But he pulled up short before he could launch himself at the monsters. I looked down at a slight noise to see the street punk holding Kiba's leg to stop him from moving.

Blood dripped from his open mouth as he gasped out "Stop! Those bastards are mine! I'll kill them!" I couldn't help but feel bad for him as he sat there bleeding. In a sudden moment of clarity I felt what my instincts had been trying to tell me. This guy was strong, and I needed strong dragons id I was going to win come out of this game alive.

I looked at him seriously and held out my hand "I can save you, if you want the power to beat them all you have to do is tell me your name and swear your loyalty to me as your king." He glanced up at me, his eyes boiling with impotent rage and released his grip on Kiba, who was staring with eyes the size of dinner plates, to grasp my hand. "My name's Tatsumi Oga, and ill do whatever you want if you can give me the strength to kick their asses!"

I couldn't help but grin as I felt the power of the rook flow down my hand and into the street thug on the ground, remaking his body into the first reincarnated Dragon that had ever graced the face of this planet. And I felt myself burst out laughing with joy as the rules of this game changed forever. Because hey, who doesn't like to be on the winning team.

_**Ok Guys sorry about the wait. I had to move this week and things have been insane but this will definitely mark the beginning of more weekly updates. As I mentioned I made some characters from another series part of Harrys peerage. Any of you that don't recognize the ultimate child-rearing badass are seriously missing out and should watch or read Beelzebub stat. Speaking of Beelzebub, Baby Beel and Hilda will definitely be making an appearance when I can work them in and they'll have DxD backstories too, and I think I'm going to make Toujo Harrys other rook. To clarify on that since they aren't made the same as the evil pieces, the dragon pieces are all mutation pieces with the exception of the pawns, each person uses one regardless of their strength. Also I had some trouble with this chapter but I think I did ok with it, I know I rushed in places but I was just so excited to intro Oga. Things are gonna really start getting good from here.**_


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