Unexpected Bloom [OCs X Highschool DXD]

Chapter 23

The scent of lavender soap filled the air as Marinoah's sleek, red scales glistened under the warm shower spray. Water cascaded down her long, orange hair, washing away the grime of the day and, perhaps, some of the lingering shock of her recent revelations. Her mind, however, was far from clean. It was a chaotic storm of memories, fragmented images and chilling truths that had emerged like venomous vipers from the depths of her subconscious.

She'd returned home, her school uniform a tattered mess thanks to Issei's ravenous slime familiar. Professor Aventus, her guardian, had barely had time to register her arrival before the sight of her ripped clothes had him sputtering in mild bewilderment. But Marinoah hadn't been able to focus on anything but the lingering echoes of Silas's voice, a cruel whisper that had haunted her even in death and now, even in this new life as a devil.

The memory was vivid, like a scar etched onto her very soul. Silas, his eyes gleaming with a sinister light, had revealed the terrible truth about her past, a history she'd never known. The war her father had waged, the bloodshed, the countless lives extinguished under his command. And then, the chilling revelation - the one surviving member of the Dawngate family, the girl her father had spared, the girl who had been her friend.

"When you were just a babe in a blanket, your father wage war against the Dawngate Kingdom in another world," Silas's voice echoed in her mind, a cruel symphony of guilt and pain. "He and his dark armored knight slaughtered thousands, including the Dawngate family. Did your father also tell you that he only spared one Dawngate member? The queen and king had a daughter named Nana Dawngate. And your father spared her."

Marinoah's heart hammered against her ribs, a frantic drumbeat of horror. She remembered the insidious torture Silas had inflicted upon her, the slow, agonizing process of dismantling her very being. A torture that had led to her death.

"You haven't realised it?" Silas's voice taunted, echoing in the dark spaces of her memory. "You and Nana Dawngate have been friends since you two were children!"

And then, Aebelle's face, bright and warm, filled her memory. The girl who was so kind, so gentle, and who, without her realizing it, had been her friend since childhood.

The pieces clicked into place with a sickening thud. A wave of realization crashed over her, leaving her breathless and trembling.

"Aebelle is Nana Dawngate," she whispered, the words choked with a mix of grief, horror, and a deep, profound sorrow.

Marinoah's knees buckled, and she collapsed to the cold, tiled floor of the shower. She wrapped her arms around herself, her body trembling as the full weight of her discovery pressed down upon her.

"Oh... god..." she sobbed, the sound lost in the rush of water, a desperate cry of anguish and despair for a truth too terrible to bear.

The Hyoudou residence buzzed with an unexpected influx of visitors. Issei, ever the eager host, flung open the door, only to be met with a rather...intimate view. Echo, one of the Larue siblings, stood there, her ample bosom practically greeting him first. A crimson torrent erupted from Issei's nose before he could even utter a word.

"Well, damn!" Melvin Larue, a quiet and brooding young man, exclaimed, his voice laced with a hint of exasperation.

"I know Echo's, uh, sexy," Merida, another of the sisters, began, her tone a mixture of amusement and slight awkwardness, "but..." she trailed off, failing to articulate the sheer inappropriateness of the situation.

Just then, the Hyoudou parents, Gorou and Miki, materialized in the entryway. Gorou, sporting a hairstyle reminiscent of his son's but with a slightly different flair, was dressed in a crisp, formal suit.