Twins Sharing a Sacred Gear Chapter 3: Sighting the Storm

Crystal watched her sister as she sat cross-legged, face twitching slightly as she floated a few inches off the ground. With both their parents gone shopping, it was the perfect time for the girls to do some real delving into the more esoteric powers provided by their spirits.

And get some answers.

Melody had been slowly diving into the force more and more over the two years since their gear had half-awoken, and had started having weird dreams; fire and blood, light and howling madness, and reality shattering like cheap glass. Obi-wan had plugged them as some sort of vision, and now…

Crystal jerked as Melody dropped out of her trance, falling back to the cushion beneath her butt. “Well, that was bloody fucking terrifying.” The more studious twin groaned, eyes still closed, “Can I get brain bleach? I want to unsee some of that… shit. Yeah, shit works. For the lack of a stronger word at least.”

“Evocative. Not helpful.” Crystal muttered, looking up as Obi-wan detached from her sister. “So, what’s happening?”

“War. Or at least, something comparable.” Obi-wan’s voice was grim. “Flashes of combat, a pair of figures in red and white armor, and something worse roused by the chaos. Beyond that, it became too disjointed.”

Melody shook her head. “Ten years. Ten years before things start to break.”

“Well, you’ll just have to do your best to stop that, right Melody, Crystal?” The familiar peppy voice of a certain Pokemon trainer called from their side, “After all, you’ve both grown, and both of you have said you want to make a difference.”

“Ten years is a nice timescale, too.” Shepard spoke up from her spot nearby. “We had two years against the Reapers, and that was with almost everyone putting their hands over their ears. You’ve got time.”

“We can’t tell people, though. Not this far out, and not at our age.” Crystal grumbled. “I hate being magically-augmented prodigy geniuses sometimes.” She paused. “Rarely, but it happens.”

“At least you don’t have to worry about a Holy Grail War with the literal incarnation of All-The-World’s Evils embedded in it,” A dry, purposefully childish voice added, a familiar face stepping into the circle of ghosts, “Hello again Melody, ready for your magecraft lessons?”

“Didn’t we deduce that those-”

“You aren’t gonna convince nee-chan to not teach you, Melody.” A peppy voice chirped from behind Crystal, “That said, Crys, whaddaya say about going for a spin with me later~”

“Depends, are you going to let me try out that bow?” Crystal came to her feet. “Then hell yes.” She paused. “Yeah, we’re going to have to get stronger and find some allies, aren’t we?”

“Probably sis.” Melody stated sadly, sighing, “Including our spirits. We’re going to have to find more permanent ones to bolster our roster.”

“...for now, let’s focus on mastering what we have. And making some waves.” Merging with Chloe, Crystal summoned a silver, nameless sword. “You think we can sell these? We’re going to need some cash.”

“There’s no reason you couldn’t.” Illya giggled, looking at her not quite sister and summoner’s merged form, “Onii-chan’s magecraft doesn’t ever degrade, and lasts until you will it out of existence.”

“Cool, so… can we melt this down, then sell the metal?” She hummed, spinning the sword. “Experimentation is necessary.”

“We can also start making some gear with Shepard’s technical knowledge too, sister.” Melody added after a few moments thought, “And Illya’s been trying to teach me Alchemy.”

“And failing, honestly. You’ve hit a kind of wall that I can’t really help you overcome, though you are showing promise with the basics of Wishcraft.” The magus pouted, sighing, “Ah well, it is what it is. We’ll have to make do while both of us are merged, or once you figure out how to give us bodies of our own, we can start supporting you better.”

Crystal nodded, setting the sword down before releasing Chloe’s ghost. “So.. let’s get started. We’ve got some stuff to do.” She paused. “Also, should we tell Mom and Dad?”

Melody started to shake her head, only to abort and nod, “Actually, yeah. They deserve to know why we’ve been amping up our training now that we know fairly conclusively why our visions are happening. Apocalypses aren’t… well, yeah.”

“Okay. So… right now, or…” Crystal hedged. “Don’t want to worry them too much…”

“They’re our parents Crys. They’ll worry no matter what we do.” Melody replied softly, hair shadowing her eyes, “... I don’t want them to be sad or worried either.”

Illya swallowed. “If you guys are serious about all this… tell them. If something happened, they’d want to know what was happening. Just… for closure.”

“... Yes. What Illya said.” Chloe added somberly.

Melody and Crystal nodded as one. “...let’s hope they understand…”

--/o\--

“-and that is why we were both grounded ‘for the foreseeable future.’” Crystal explained to Steven. “They let up after a few weeks, but Mom is now sitting in on all our training.” She paused. “Apparently, she’s better at Magecraft than sis is.”

“Stupid mom getting science better than I do…” Melody pouted, poking the sand of the playground with a stick she had found, “Illya was giggling for hours…”

Steven blinked. “So wait– the world might end in ten years?” His eyes dilated. “What– why haven’t you told anyone?”

“We aren’t oracles; no one would actually take us seriously enough to prevent the apocalypse.” Melody winced as her unseen mentor flicked her ear, “Master Kenobi also says that it could very well be the force showing me the consequences of telling someone about this. Apparently Force Visions are notoriously unreliable, mostly because they can be influenced by almost anything.”

Crystal humphed. “It’d be almost worse if we were believed. This sort of thing doesn’t come out of nowhere; there’s got to be some people already getting things going. If we start talking about their super-secret plans, making two little girls vanish is pretty easy.”

“... Yeah, it would be.” Steven shuddered, “Can we talk about something else?”

“Sure! You have talked to Rias, right?” Crystal perked up.

“Yep! We’re friends now, actually. She apparently doesn’t really get along with anyone at school because and I quote; ‘No one except you actually bothers to get to know me beyond my public face’.” Steven gushed, “She’s a huge Japanophile, kinda like you Melody.”

“... I cannot deny that I like anime, but I’m not quite a Japanophile Steven…” The aforementioned girl pouted, “You take that back.”

Crystal bopped her sister over the head. “Nope, he’s kinda right. You spend a lot of time comparing Drag-so-ball to the Anime in Illya’s world. Like, hours.” She peered at Steven as her sister fumed. “So… you don’t seem giddy when you talk about her. Still have that crush?”

“...not really.” Steven admitted. “I like her a lot, but she’s not who I thought she was. She’s not perfect at all. Not bad, but not perfect.” He frowned. “Also a little lazy? She started training more after I won a practice match, though.”

“So competitive but also assured of her place in the world?” Melody ventured.

“That sounds about right.” Steven nodded, smiling at his two human friends, “I’m glad I met you two, by the way. I would have been content to be mediocre if I hadn’t. I’m beating several pillar heirs now.”

“My training dummy is growing up!” Crystal sniffed happily.

“Hey, he’s my training dummy too!” Melody interjected moodily, before suddenly blushing, “S-sorry!”

Steven looked back and forth between them. “Ah…” He swallowed. “I… Assume you both aren’t really interested in becoming a Devil, are you?”

“Not at the moment Steven,” Melody admitted, “Though if we do get a burning urge to go to hell, we’ll think of you first~”

“Well, that’s the thing.” He sighed. “Since I got stronger, I’ve gotten some opportunities. For recruitment.” He looked up at them shyly. “And I did check you two. I’d need to use a double Rook, all eight pawns, or my queen piece. For either of you.”

“Then we’re honored you considered us first, but we’d rather remain human, sorry Steven.” Melody sighed, “I hope that you-”

“I’m not going to stop being your friend over an honest refusal, Melody. What's up with you today? You’ve been really moody?” Steven interjected.

Crystal shook her head. “It’s… not your fault. She didn’t get the regulatory implant before Mom banned me from more cybernetics.”

“What does that even mean– wait, cybernetics?” His eyes boggled. “What did you do?”

Crystal shrugged, pulling up the edge of her shirt, not even noticing her sister or friend’s blush as she pointed to a scar on her abdomen. “See, I implanted the core there, where it reacts to–”

“CRYSTAL!” Melody roared, “SHIRT DOWN!”

“I’m not at the bra line– okay, okay, stop hitting me–” Crystal muttered, dropping her shirt. “Anyway, I’ve got full control over a lot of little things, plus slightly improved healing, and an integrated Omni-tool uplink!” She grinned, forming an orange interface over one hand. “Mom stopped me before I could integrate a micro-fabricator, so I don’t have the knife function or tech powers inbuilt yet.”

Steven blinked twice. “Umm. Did you install a prototype on yourself?” He scowled. “That’s really dumb.”

Melody nodded. “Thank you.”

“Hey, Shepard’s world has refined the design over millennia! It’s not a prototype.”

“Yes, it is!” Melody growled back, “You built it in an artisan format rather than on a production line! By dictionary definition it’s a prototype!”

Crystal stuck out her tongue. “I had to anyway, to integrate it with magic.” She drooped. “So… I guess you’re right. But it works!”

“And you scared half my lifespan away in the process!” Melody choked out, “I was the one who called mom on you in case we had to go to the hospital!”

“Hey, I had half the spirits supervising. They would have let you know if anything went wrong.”

“... Melody, Crystal, please stop arguing…” Steven interjected in a strangled tone.

“Never!” Two voices sounded, once again, as one.

“... We have… guests?” Steven ventured, finally catching the twins’ gaze as he looked past them.

As one, both girls turned to look at the group of people surrounding their table, the picnic bench now shadowed by the five figures. Crystal blinked as she looked at the five identical black hoodies, each marked with a spray-painted orange symbol. “...you know, I’m pretty sure that’s not a sports logo. Who are you guys, and why are you crowding us?”

“BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!” All five roared at once, “SOULS FOR THE DEMON FOX!”

“... What?” Melody blinked in utter confusion, having reached for and installed Obi-Wan out of pure habit, “Come again, this time without pop-culture references?” Beside her, Crystal began to laugh so hard she fell off the bench.

One of the leaders of the group stepped forward. “You have been chosen, children! Your blood shall bring about the glorious return of our master, a sacrifice to bring about a new age! Submit, and the Demon Fox shall–” His rant was cut off as Melody slammed a force push into the man, sending him arse over tea kettle, bits of mulch flying everywhere.

Steven groaned, standing as his fists lit up with green flames. “Dammit girls, are we really doing this?”

Crystal snorted as she picked herself up off the ground, still shaking slightly. “Hehe– well, I have been looking for some action.” She pulsed with red light, pulling on Shepard to form her armor. “I need to practice my biotics. So, let’s see…”

The other four cultists roared, fur spreading across their bodies as bone talons ripped through their fingers. With a howl, the cultists sprang forward, eyes alight with madness.

Melody grunted. “So uncivilized…”

With the necessary words said, the young Padawan ignited her borrowed lightsaber (there was no way in hell she could actually make one on Earth anyway) and intercepted the incoming bone-talons; blinking in surprise when the blade of superheated plasma failed to cut through. “... I call bullshit.”

“Do you believe in magic? In a young girl’s heart, how the music can free her…” Crystal hummed as she ducked a claw swipe and countered with an uppercut. “Come on, if my Omni-blades can resist your sword, so can other magic stuff.”

“... You make an excellent point sister.” Melody replied, before smiling darkly and applying pressure, “But just like your omni-blades… there is nothing my lightsaber cannot cut.” The pained howls of the werefox weren’t enough for the ten-year old to let up as the lightsaber sheared through hardened claw and dribbled the melted result onto his fur. The creature screamed as its hand burned.

Steven blocked one clumsy swipe, before smashing his first opponent with a fist. “Want to take bets on whether these were the only ones?”

Crystal sighed as she hit her opponent with a warp, sending him crashing to the ground. “No bet.”

“Dang.” Steven mumbled as his boot connected with a kneecap. “You know, this sort of thing never happened before I met you two.”

“Fate doesn’t like us, methinks.” Melody sang, her blade pointed at the throat of the fox she had burned indirectly a few moments prior, “I would rather not have to kill you-”

The cultist lunged, and was decapitated for his trouble. “... Deal with it later, okay. Put it in a box, deal with it later.” Melody continued, falling back on her Jedi training.

Crystal sighed as she jammed an Omni-blade through one skull. “I think we’ve been desentized to all this through the installs.” She muttered to her twin, before she turned to look at the last cutlist, the one still gagging from Melody’s first punch. “This sort of channeling… I don’t think they’d last much longer.”

“... I’m honestly more concerned I felt nothing rather than feeling anything at all, sis.” Melody gagged, before shaking her head, “Not that any of them were long for this world anyway, but a life is still a life.”

“Yeah. Speaking of which…” Crystal walked over, pinning the only untransformed cultist beneath her heel. “I wonder if we were the first they tried to take.”

The man looked up, fear warring with wrath as his face contorted. “Our failures mean nothing! The Demon fox will rise at the hands of our brotherhood, now that we have found the perfect vessel!”

“... No,” Melody stated, oddly serene, “You won’t. Goodbye, you poor, sick soul.”

Crystal grabbed her sister’s wrist. “First things first, mind rip him. We need to find their base.” She shot her sister a glance. “Also, anger, hate, dark side, etc.”

“... Fair.” Melody sighed, releasing the install and pulling on another soul, “Set. Install.”

“Thank you, Crystal. She was entering a feedback loop with the Force.” Obi-Wan shuddered, “And I could not stop it.”

“Lovely. More side effects.” Crystal muttered as Melody knelt beside her target and began to use hypnosis. “I know you’re not up to it, so we really need to summon a therapist soon.” She flexed her wrist, trying in vain to gain active control of her powers. “...ugh.”

“The mnemonic triggers are different for you, and I’m going to have to teach you how to access Eezo when you only have it with me installed.” Shepard grunted as she separated from Crystal, “That’s not going to be easy, sorry kid.”

“Yeah, I know that.” She muttered, looking over at their male teammate. “You alright, Steven?”

“Yeah.” He sighed. “Honestly, not my first time killing. The academy bloodies us on Stray Devils. Most of them can talk.”

“Right. Devil culture.” Crystal muttered as Melody finished with her subject, standing slowly. Before anyone else could, Crystal stepped forward, reinforced her leg, and snapped the drooling man’s neck with one kick. “Even in a pocket space, we still need to get rid of the bodies… Melody, anything?”

“... You do realize I’d already killed him, right sis?” The girl stated tiredly, “Hypnosis doesn’t make someone drool like that unless the user made them a literal vegetable. He knew too much, and he’s definitely connected to a fairly large network of cultists in Texas. Thankfully, they’re fully local, and the US apparently has a supernatural investigative branch, so they’re staying low.”

“I wasn’t thinking about that, but I’d rather not leave the bodies around for kids to find. Or show up on said government agency’s radar yet.” Crystal looked over at Steven. “So… fire, or is there a special Devil way to dispose of bodies?”

“... One second, I’m on the phone with dad. He’ll be here shortly.”

Crystal paled. “Wait, but he’ll tell mom and dad!” She screeched. “And they won’t let us go loot– I mean, search their base for prisoners to rescue!”

“... Crystal no, I am not starting a two-girl war with a cultist network that spans the entire state of Texas without backup.” Melody groaned, “Even if we would actually win.”

“We have Steven! Two-girl, one devil-boy!” Her sister shot back. “And a lot of ghosts. We’ll be fine.”

Steven coughed, “Too late, dad’s here.”

Melody blinked in tandem with Crystal, even as the bulky figure of Paul Melladux appeared out of thin air.

“... Well, this is indeed quite the mess, Steven.” Mr. Melladux grunted, “This is going to be such a pain to deal with… Ugh, the FBI’s Supernatural division is such a hassle to deal with sometimes.” He looked around.

Crystal raised one hand. “Sir?”

“Call me Paul.”

“Sir Paul?”

“Not what I meant, but go on.”

“Would the paperwork increase or decrease if we just wiped the whole cult out?”

“... you know, it would actually decrease. And we’d get money out of it too.” Paul mused, grinning, “How much information does your sister have?”

“... I know every base in a fifty mile radius of Houston.” Melody answered, her expression pained, “And I know where to find out where all of the bases are.”

“Well, well. Steven, today, I teach you breach and clear tactics.” Paul chuckled. “We’re going hunting.”

Crystal grinned. “Since my sister is too kind for her own good, I will generously allow a 70-30 split of the spoils, in exchange for your family's help.”

“Hmmm, 50-50, mostly because I need the 20 percent to bribe your parents.” Paul countered, “Otherwise you’ll be grounded for life instead of a few weeks to a year.”

“Oof, true. Alright then, I concur.” As they shook hands, Crystal blinked as she felt the contract form in her soul. “Hmm, a deal with the devil. How interesting.”

At the same time, Paul’s eyebrows rose. “You’ve got a strong soul, I can actually feel that weight.” He eyed her speculatively. “Say, if you two die, mind putting a reincarnation contract with me?”

“... Dad no!” Steven shouted immediately, “I have dibs!”

“... I am your father?”

Melody cracked a grin as the father and son began arguing, nodding at her sister, “I could use some percussive therapy now, so thanks for convincing me to go play whack-a-cult.”

--/o\--

“So, what do you think this was, Scully?”

Scully sighed. “Look, we know magic is real, Mulder. This isn’t like it used to be.” The female of the duo muttered. “Magic. Why not aliens? I could deal with that.” She crouched down, examining the bisected corpse of a twisted fox-monster. “Looks like the Local Branch of the Demon Fox Cult got whacked.” She eyed the walls. “Or maybe the main branch. This place is big.”

“But by whom?” Mulder muttered, pulling out a spectrum analyzer. “I’ve got evidence of Devil magic, but most don’t bother with projectile weapons.” He eyed the neat holes drilled through the walls of the mansion. “Those are some really big holes. Think our mysterious vigilantes were using Anti-Material Rifles?”

“Rapid fire Anti-material rifles? That set the wall on fire?” Scully replied as she inspected the edges of the holes. “I’ve seen marks like this from experimental coilguns. High-tech weapons. But none of the local factions bother with them, not when you can toss around lightning bolts.”

Mulder nodded as he walked deeper into the mansion, passing around multiple bodies before he stopped beside a puddle of blood. Crouching, he eyed the footprints coming out of the puddle. “...no normal tread, and deep prints from something so small. Scully, what size shoe is this?”

“... You want that in kids or adults Mulder?” The agent groaned, “Please tell me this isn’t a real life immortal vampire girl. Please.”

“... Adult?”

Scully eyed the prints. “Don’t lie to me. Either we’re dealing with an armored midget, or someone brought a child in battle dress to fight cultists.” She groaned, approaching an open door to the cellar.

“Oh joy.” Mulder deadpanned as the pair of agents climbed down into the basement, “Next you’ll be telling- HOLY SHIT”

“What- DEAR LORD!”

The two agents stared at a rather macabre sight of a pile of bones; old ones. Gnawed ones.

“...I think the threat rating on the Fox Cult needs to be upped a bit.” Scully managed to push out, pulling out her camera. “Damnit, this is bad…”

Further into the room, Mulder cursed. “This was definitely their main base.” Scully walked over to join him, inspecting the carved altar set at one end of the massively expanded basement. He looked over, noting the cages lining one wall. “Some of these held people up to recently. What were they planning?”

Scully walked over to one open cage, leaning down to pluck some short reddish hair from the cushion. “...they had a fox here. But…” She looked at the bars. “There are fingerprints here. Why would they keep an animal and a person in the same cage?”

“Kitsune.” Mulder answered, flipping through a notebook he had found, “Don’t worry, this one isn’t one of theirs. One of our mysterious vigilantes left it behind with very clear instructions to read it.”

“...a list of targets?” 

“Yes, with Xs through all of them. They basically handed us every base the Cult had on a platter and went to the effort of casting preservation spells on all the evidence, apparently.” The agent whistled, “Someone has a pro helping them. That or the cult pissed off a powerful family or group.”

Scully sighed. “So. We need to tell the chief that our agencies will just be on cleanup?” She sighed. “Breach and clear tactics, ruthless efficiency, and thumbing their noses at us? We’re dealing with professionals.”

--/o\--

Melody hummed happily as she braided the snow colored hair of the twelve year old girl sitting in front of her, careful to thread the strands between the two fox ears protruding atop her head. “Kaede-chan, how are you settling in?” She asked, continuing to hum the tune that’d been stuck in her head this week.

“...um. Better.” The fox-girl murmured as she relaxed. “...you do know I’m from Oregon, right?”

“I didn’t, sorry. I’ve been learning Japanese as a hobby, so I wanted to make sure I was pronouncing things right.” Melody replied sheepishly. “Born here, or did you immigrate?”

“Dad came over a while ago.” Her ears drooped. “Dad… he ran afoul of a group of mundane hunters while he was drunk. And I really couldn’t go into the foster system.”

Across from the girl, Steven watched with interest. “You’re a ways from home.”

The girl shuddered, hugging her legs. “Someone picked me up off the streets a few months after dad died. I wasn’t the only kid they had, but they were able to sell me fast.”

“... Wonderful, slave traders.” Steven growled, looking genuinely annoyed, “I’ll have to have a chat with some of my contacts. The Federal Government and Lord Lucifer have a tacit agreement.”

Kaede nodded. “Um. Good?” She looked around, in time to see Crystal walk in with a checkerboard box clenched in her hands, eyes dilated.

Crystal sat down with a thump, the Evil Pieces in her grasp landing on the table. “Melody, never try to use Structural Analysis on these things.” She breathed out, voice strained. “Feels like someone poured neon and synthwave into my skull with a LSD chaser.”

“So a mix of dubstep and synthwave remixed into some horrid abomination of music?” Melody mused aloud, tying together Kaede’s braid to keep it undoing itself, “I’m done, Kaede!” She continued in the same tone, snickering at the baffled twitch of the fox’s ears. She was so adorable!

Steven eyed the pieces and the girl that tried to study them. “Did you learn anything from my property you ‘borrowed’?” He asked sarcastically.

“Yes. These things don’t butcher the soul, they add to it.” She looked up, eyes still dilated. “The instability is why a new Devil is at risk of going Stray.”

“... Crystal warn me before you send Illya-nee into a fit.” Melody grimaced, her eyes tightening as her current install metaphorically rolled around on the floor laughing out loud, “She’s mumbling something about magecraft on the level of a true magic in an artifact now, and it’s creeping me out.”

Steven nodded. “That’s more than any of the research I’ve heard of understands of them.” He admitted.

“It’s imitating how the original Devils were shaped from demon-touched humans.” Crystal frowned. “Or… from Demon-human chimera? There’s an essence in Devils tied more to the soul than any body, and blood matters less than that piece…”

“... Nee-chan please stop sending Illya into fits of laughter. You know she’s one of those weighty souls I can’t install cheaply, and uninstalling her when she doesn’t want out is hard.” Melody continued grumbling, sending a mild glare towards the current source of her annoyance. And building migraine.

“Oh my god I have to find a way to reach the 3rd if only to shove it in Acht’s face. By the Root accepting the call of that random thing was the best decision I ever made!” Illya cackled from within the younger twin’s head, laughter slowly dying off, “Sorry Melody. But your sister singlehanded advanced my stalled ‘research’ by several decades, if not a century or two.”

“Yay… now please stop.” Crystal moaned. “...you were gonna offer Kaede a piece. Please wait until I can watch the process, if she accepts.”

“I wanna watch too. If only so that Illya doesn’t bug me to record it.” Melody chimed in.

Kaede eyed the box with some trepidation. “So… this peerage thing. Am I your slave, then?”

“Yup.” Crystal acknowledged. “Or, kind of? See, you’re technically only an indentured servant, since once you reach Middle Class, you’re allowed to petition to get released from your master’s peerage and become an ordinary devil. Of course, the courts in the Underworld are really biased, and there’s a hundred and one ways to deny the advancement to Middle Class, so that’s not something that happens a lot.” She pulled out a pen and paper. “Fortunately, since you’re not being press ganged or resurrected, you can draw up a binding employment contract first, which can lay out all the things Steven can do, cannot do, and is obligated to do in regards to you.”

Steven coughed. “I wouldn’t do anything bad! I know better.”

“Better to have it in writing, bro.” Crystal shot back. “I will note that breaking an ironclad contract like this will slowly break and drain a portion of a Devil’s power. There’s a reason devils are bound to contracts.”

“That’s why Devils and Angels are so big on contracts and promises. Ironically, it’s only the fallen that are not explicitly punished for breaking a written contract; they’ve already been punished for ‘falling’ either way.” Melody added seriously, eyes sharpening as she looked between the Kitsune and Devil, “It’s also in a devil’s nature; not that it cannot be overcome by any individual who wishes to, not to bind themselves to contracts written on a document. However, a spoken contract is also binding, it just doesn’t punish the devil for failing to fulfill it; it just removes that source of power from them.”

Kaede nodded, eyeing the papers Crystal produced out of thin air. “So… I could be a Devil, and get something in return?”

Steven nodded, even as Crystal spoke up. “We’d keep him honest anyway, but if something happened and you had to be taken in by another devil, the contract would follow you.”

Kaede eyed Steven, then shook her head. “I’m not saying no, but I’m not… I don’t know you yet.” She looked askance at the girls. “Also, I think you guys are being straight with me, but you’re also his friends, and that’s… not reassuring.”

Crystal blinked. “Huh, a smart one! Ooh, even if you don’t join him, we need to hang out more. There aren’t enough smart people close to our ages.”

“Mood.” The other twin nodded severely, her smug smile ruining the whole look.

Steven sighed, putting his board and pieces away. “Damnit.” He huffed. “Well, when you decide, let me know.” He paused. “This may sound callous, but did you know of anyone else who might want to get reincarnated? I really would like to get some peerage members.”

“Honestly, that sounds less callous and more like a good business decision.” Kaede mused, giving the devil an appraising look, “Better to reincarnate individuals who would want to be under the contract you impose than force it upon someone who’ll rebel at first opportunity. Maybe put out a recruitment ad? I’m sure you could conduct interviews for it.”

Steven gagged. “Ick no. Do you know how many crazies that sort of thing brings in?” He shuddered. “My parents both get letters from devil groupies, looking for immortality and expecting to just use their bodies to get in.” He shuddered. “You only do that if you’re desperate. Targeted recruitment is a much better idea.”

“Kaede-chan did suggest a screening process Steven,” Melody dryly interjected, rolling her eyes at the devil’s theatrics, “She also never said you had to deal with them yourself; you could always hire someone to do it, or have one of the peerage members you must have sort through the trash and only send the gems your way.”

“Hmm. When I get one, that would work.” Steven responded. “I also kinda want to recruit some folks who wouldn’t have access to the magical network, though.” He blinked, then his eyes brightened as he looked back at Melody. “Hey, you have prophetic visions, right? How much to scout me a good member or two?”

“Uhhh… Hm. Obi-Wan?”

“I do not believe we can call a Force Vision on demand; though if you wish to inform him of that and charge him anyway, I will not exactly blame you.”

“You wouldn’t approve, though.”

“Obviously.”

“Meh, sure. I can give it a shot, but I’m not charging you unless I actually see something. They aren’t exactly something I can call up on demand, but I can try.” Melody shrugged, before she uninstalled Illya.

“Aww, not going to see soul infusion today…” Illya sighed. “Meh, it’ll happen soon enough either way.”

“Give me a minute…” Melody muttered, reaching out and drawing in Obi-Wan. “Now, I can’t promise anything–” She stopped as her vision warped, showing a hospital sign. “...really?” She mumbled, even as she was warped in to view a hospital bed, a decrepit girl whose parents were arguing with a group of angry nurses. “...okay, so… there’s a little girl whose parents are refusing to let her get lifesaving treatment because they think prayer is enough? And she’s fed up with that entirely?” She paused. “And it’s partially because her sacred gear is turning her blood to iron, what the fuck.”

“Address?” Steven stated urgently, practically vibrating in place.

“Denton, Texas. Medical City, north of Dallas.” Melody replied. “Also, Illya demands to accompany you; oh god damn it nee-san.” She trailed off in Japanese, grabbing her head in keening pain as the female spirit forced an amused Obi-Wan out of install and ‘possed’ Melody herself, “Warn me next time?”

“No time, research awaits young magus!”

Crystal paused, raising one finger. “You should probably wait for nighttime. Or at least, wait until you’ve scouted the place. No need to go scaring everyone, unless you want to swoop in, capture the girl, and run off with her in broad daylight.” She paused. “Actually, that sounds pretty fun!”

“... Melody, how long does the girl have?” Steven asked severely.

“Honestly? She was pretty injured, and her blood is turning to literal iron. Fair chance she dies within twenty four hours.” The more ‘responsible’ sibling shrugged, grimacing in annoyed pain, “It’s the only reason I suggested going now rather than later.”

“Well, in that case…”

--/o\--

Eleanor grimaced as she heard her parents walk off down the hallway, feeling her bones creak as they shifted beneath her skin. The ‘calcification’ that she’d always had was always present; her scant research had shown that over time, her bones and nerves were becoming caked with… something. It was like heavy metal poisoning, from what she’d read.

This accident? The fall from her roof?

Was speeding it up. At this point, Eleanor was certain; whatever this was? It was trying to help her, fix her bones and reinforce her nerves. But it was killing her by degrees, and now every broken and poorly set bone was being wrapped in metal, and her parent’s weren’t willing to let a doctor actually put her back together properly and slow the process down!

She listened as the nurses outside her door spoke, her ears shifting as she strained to hear them speak. “...if it weren’t for how frail she was, she might make it, really. But without any sort of intervention, the internal bleeding might kill her. Can’t we–”

“No. It’s shitty, but if we intervene at all, her parents will pull her from the hospital, and from there, they can claim anything happened to her. At least here, when she dies, we can make it painless, then smash the bastards with a suit or manslaughter charges.”

“Shouldn’t we be…”

“She’s got to be unconscious from the pain, Dan. She’s likely to never wake up.”

“...god, what a mess, Mab.”

Eleanor seethed as she sunk down, ignoring the pain. She was used to it. At least it’ll be gone at the end… She thought sourly.

Suddenly, the window at one end of her room shot open, the broken girl looking up as her window was obscured by unnatural darkness. A figure seemed to melt out of the shadowy mist, an impeccable suit on a figure barely six inches taler than her. “Hello there, Eleanor.” The boy drawled, striding forward. “I am– ack!” His steady advance was interrupted as he tripped on a power cord, leading him to face-fault into the floor with a crash.

As Eleanor gaped, a pair of near-identical female faces peered out of the mist. One of them, an orange visor over her eyes and nose, smirked. “Smooth move, bat-boy. eight out of ten, no question.”

The other, wearing a white dress revealing enough skin that Eleanor was one hundred percent sure her parents would have an aneurysm upon seeing it, snickered in delight, “Actually, sis, that’s gotta be a ten out of ten. Strong entry, then properly humorous event to diffuse the tension!”

Eleanor looked over at the door, blinking as she saw it undisturbed. She cleared her throat with a gulp, her voice rasping out. “...how are you keeping the orderlies from noticing this?”

The boy came upright, brushing himself off. “Wait, all that and you’re questioning that?”

“Girl has her priorities straight,” The dress-wearing girl smirked, “After all, a trio of strangers just entered a room she’s helpless in. It’s what I’d be concerned about.”

“Nah, you’re all just entertainment. I’m dead anyway.” Eleanor tried to joke, her voice going flat. “And with my arms broken, I can’t try to grab the remote and turn on the TV.” She tried to shrug, daggers of pain running through her. “How’d you get in here?”

The other girl, this one wearing some sort of armor, drooped as she stepped fully in. “...listen, we… well.” She swallowed. “Saints and stones, this is hard.”

“You’re going to die, and we can offer two different solutions.” Dress interjected bluntly, rolling her eyes at what was probably her twin, “Solution one; I heal you, try to use my gear to fix yours, and we forget this ever happened.” She ignored the dirty looks the other two were shooting at her and continued anyway, “Solution two; We reincarnate you as a member of the devil species, and yes, the biblical factions are real. I’m offering solution one because I personally value my humanity enough to choose it. Not everyone does.”

The other girl coughed. “Ah, there is an option three and four, of course. I mean, I could probably patch you up with medi-gel, then convert you into a cyborg… eventually.” At the dirty look her sister shot her, she shrugged. “What? My augments work fine, and she’s dying anyway.”

“No human experimentation!” A paradoxically layered voice responded, both feminine, one annoyed, one flat.

“It’s a choice!” Armored girl shot back. “Anyway, the last option is you reject all offers, and die to spite your parents. If you do that, I’ll make sure they suffer, and these two guys will probably help!” She grinned, shooting a thumbs up.

“...gear? Biblical factions?” Eleanor pushed out, eyes glancing over the figures, absently taking in the fancy gilded dress, high-tech armor, and exposed bat wings on the boy. “More details, please.”

The boy coughed. “The Lord of Hosts, in his ‘infinite mercy and wisdom’, set up a system wherein great weapons, known as Sacred Gears, would be bestowed upon human souls upon birth.” He shrugged. “It’s supposed to be a way to give humanity a way to fight on equal terms with the supernatural if need be. But it doesn’t always work properly, like yours.”

The armored girl pulled out a device, aiming it at Eleanor. “This thing’s not a great example of a Sacred Gear tester, but it works pretty well for basic gears! It can only tell yours is a High-Class one, though.”

"It’s the one we looted from those insane cultists. I wouldn’t trust it that much sister.” Dress added again, moving to Elanor’s side and mumbling an incantation, “Oh jeez you’re fucked up. Yeah, I’m gonna start fixing this while you decide. I’ll just reverse the work if you decide that death is your choice.”

Steven frowned as he stepped up. “...why would anyone let a pretty girl like you die?” He muttered, looking her over. “This… do your best, Melody. I’m not going to leave her to die.”

“Even if she refuses?”

The boy shrugged. “I’m not the one healing her. She owes me nothing, so I’m not breaking any devil laws, spoken or not. This is… wasteful.”

“I don’t object personally, but we’re going to ruin her parents if she wants to die. Classic signs of abuse here, and Illya’s already feeding me… a frankly absurd amount of ways to accomplish it.” The now named girl grunted, eyes alight with inner light as she held up a hand, “Incanting a ritual now. Don’t interrupt me, Crystal.”

Eleanor glanced between the three, then narrowed her eyes. “...don’t leave me here, whatever you do.” She hissed, even as she felt her pain ebb away. “I’m not letting my parents be proven right about their prayer fixation.”

“...so, huh.” The armored girl tapped her device, and Eleanor felt something cool form on her brow, a circlet of dense material forming around her skull; a perfect circlet of iron, she could see in the black screen of the TV. “There’s a manifest function. Any idea what it could be, Steven?”

“...I’ve seen it in a book before.” The boy murmured. “Unknown Dictator. Allows the creation and manipulation of ferrous objects and machines.”

“Matches what I know about my condition…” Eleanor muttered. “Trying to help me? Huh.” She looked at the group. “So. Who’s taking me out of here? I can pay in metal magic, apparently.”

“Melody and I gave you your options already. We’re waiting on you to choose, and then Steven will draw up a contract as needed.” Crystal replied gruffly, giving her sister a look of concern, “You still in there sis?”

Melody, of course, being busy with a fairly major ritual, did not bother to reply. Crystal sighed. “Look, we could… I dunno, drop you off with one of the other factions, if you don’t take Steven’s offer. We’re already going to have to talk mom and dad into letting a friend hang out as a pet, and there’ll be people looking for you, so you can’t stay in the normal world.”

“What does becoming a Devil mean, anyway?” Eleanor mumbled.

Steven raised one hand. “If I may?” As Crystal nodded, he continued. “The Devil race was nearly at the edge of extinction after the last major war and the following civil war… well, ‘near’ extinction.” He admitted. “If everything was peaceful, we would have been fine… but it’s never peaceful, and we’d made a lot of enemies. So one of the Devil Kings, Lord Beezelbub, devised a way to turn other species into new devils, using a set of Evil Pieces.” He pulled out a folded chessboard, opening it to reveal sixteen chess pieces made of red stone, glistening as the light hit them. “So… yeah. With a bond to a strong devil, you can use these to become one yourself.”

“...has to be a catch.”

“At least short-term servitude, and possibly nasty slavery, depending on your new boss.” Crystal admitted. “Steven’s not like that, but Devils love their noble ranks and might-makes-right bullshit, so another’s offer might be at sword point.” She shrugged. “A contract would make it a lot better.”

“And it is something that I would offer, miss.” Steven stated strongly, “Melody would kill me otherwise.”

“Hey!”

“You’d kill me for shits and giggles Crystal.” Steven deadpanned.

“He’s got you there sis~” Melody chimed, wiping sweat from her brow, “You're all good, by the way. Gear is fixed, and it is now going to turn you slowly into a… pretty insane human-cyborg-robot thing. I think it got extremely inspired when I showed it Megaman ZX.”

“...man, even bootleg Third Magic is insane.” Crystal mumbled. “OP, plz nerf.”

Steven chuckled. “It’s Sephirot Graal without the drawbacks. There’s a reason I wanted to recruit you two.” He looked back at them. “Again–”

“Hard pass.” Both girls said in synch.

“Damn.” He looked back at Eleanor. “So.. how do you feel?”

For the first time in months, the girl took a deep breath free of pain. “I feel… anticipation.” She smiled. “Thank you. Now, let’s go and write up a devil’s bargain; tutoring, to start with.”

Crystal chuckled. “Another smart one! Oh, this was a great idea!”

Melody frowned as Eleanor peeled her way out of bed, the small girl marveling at the strength in previously broken limbs. “Hmm. We need a dummy. Or a corpse.”

“For-”

“Need a convincing dead body to make into a puppet thing.” Melody interjected, cutting Steven off, “Or a dummy to make into a convincing corpse. Which is… not really that easy, and it is going to be exceedingly annoying to pull off properly. Or we could have new girl play dead if someone’s decent at illusion magic.”

Steven pulled out his phone. “You do know there’s a service for this, right?” He tapped a few buttons, then reached out and pulled a hair from the discarded pillow. “Hang on, Crystal, do you have a scan of her?”

Crystal flexed her wrist, an orange glow forming around it. “I can try, but I don’t know if they can handle the scan data…”

“Magic makes everything better.”

“So, to summarize. Today, you girls raided the hideout of a cult, kid- sorry, foxnapped a the girl they had captured, brought the girl home, tried to convince her to join the Melladux family, and then when she wanted to wait, went and found another girl who did agree, and faked the second girls’ death.” Stephen stared at his daughters, one of whom was holding an adorable red fox in her arms. “Right after getting off your last grounding. Girls…”

Crystal raised one finger, than lowered it. “...things escalated quickly, and we had to adjust to rapidly changing conditions. And then we had to save a little girls’ life.” She shrugged. “Other than that… I got nothing. Melody?”

“I regret nothing.”

Stephen sighed, then reached down and gently pulled Kaede from Melody’s hands, calming the transformed fox with ear scritches. “Grounded. Again. One month, this time.” He looked up, triggering his vision spell. “You two will make certain they don’t get up to more trouble or install anyone except for training, correct?”

John Marston and Obi-wan nodded, even as Shepard pouted behind them.