Valerie—l

A/N: sorry for the delay, I haven’t been able to actually write this until I finished planning the first few chapters of my Dumbledore FanFiction idea… the inspiration was strong for this one…

Don’t worry I will post it here first, you know to get your opinion on it once I’m done with the finishing touches…

Anyway, thank you for the support, it means a lot…

X_

[ Valerie( Tepes) potter ]

“Come on, Gaspy!! How long do you intend on reading that manual… we could be adventuring right now… fighting monsters and leveling up!!!" she whined as she looked at her friend/cousin.

He had been reading that damn instruction manual for an hour now. She knew he was not that slow of a reader. He just wanted to know and plan everything beforehand…

"But, Val, I need to understand everything in here if I want to win…" his hushed, slightly feminine voice replied.

'Don't hit him, he's your friend… don't hit him, he's your friend,' she repeated inside her head, reminding herself why she couldn't hit Gasper. Even if it was really hard not to. Plus, if she did, he'd start crying and then everything would take even longer.

'Maybe trying to turn him into a girl was not a bright idea…' a thought occurred, as if trying to be helpful, but it was not.

'No, don't back up now, Valerie, you are just a few steps away from your dreams.' She reminded herself; she could not chicken out now. Not when she was already halfway.

"Hey, Val…" Gaspy called, snapping her out of her thoughts before they started to spiral, "there's something I still don't understand. Look here…" he said as he pointed at the caution section of the manual. "It says, beware that the gender, race, and alignment are not changeable after selecting the first time. Be warned that actions have consequences and the choices were yours," he reiterated. His cute face making an adorably confused expression.

This is not good for my heart… "Hmm, oh, I remember that. Harry said something about absolving himself from the responsibility… I don't remember, I was not paying attention back then," she threw him a half-baked excuse.

Like she could ever forget anything anymore. The mind arts she trained daily made sure she wouldn't. Still, Gaspy didn't need to know the reason; he just needed to agree with her and select female as his core gender. She was already helping him make the right choice, even if he didn't know. His slow-changing hormones were conditioning his brain, making sure he wouldn't have any sense of dysphoria when the time came.

'It's all for his own good,' she reminded herself. 'He'll be happy with me; I am sure becoming sister-wives with me in Harry's inevitable harem is going to make him happy.'

'But what if he doesn't make a harem?' her ever-present traitorous thought asked.

Hehe, who was she kidding? Of course he will; sooner or later he'll crack, and then he'll accept the advances of that damnable black cat… and that's when she'll have her in…

All according to Keikaku…

"Al… Val~" Gaspy shook her shoulder.

"Cough, sorry, Gaspy, I was thinking of something."

"Whatever that was, don't think about it. You had a very scaaaaary face."

"Hehe, sorry…" she scratched her cheek in embarrassment, "so, are you finally done?"

"Hmm, yeees, I think I know everything I need now," Gaspy replied, eyes darting to the manual once again, and she knew if she didn't make him start now, he would just go back and do it all over again.

"That's great! Come on, let's lie down on your bed. Then we can start with character creation." She quickly grabbed his hand and started dragging him with her before he started reading the damn manual again.

"Uh, um, can I get like five minutes to check out if I forgot anything…." Gaspy started to say something, but she cut him off. "Nope, you had your time; you read the damn thing more than ten times. It's enough. Now is time for action."

"…But what if I missed something important about the races and how to choose your ideal build…"

"Ugh, you know that was just an example, right? It's a game where you can live like you want to. Whatever race you want, and whatever gender you choose." Once again, she had to hammer it into him that he could actually choose what he wanted, and if what he wanted aligned perfectly with what she'd love for him to be, then that was just pure coincidence.

"Do you think Rias-buchou will be mad if I choose not to be a devil?" he asked her in a hushed voice, and she had to try really damn hard not to squeal in happiness.

"I don't know, and I don't really care. If it was up to me, I would have loved for you not to be turned into one in the first place…" she tried to play it cool. Did she succeed?…

"Uh, it's not that baaaad. Being a devil, I mean. And Rias-buchou is nice. She treats me like family…" Gaspy tried to defend his master, as was proper, she supposed.

"Ugh, let's not talk about this again. You're saying that because you don't know how the Evil Pieces work. If you did…" she stopped talking when she saw Gaspy's expression. That face when someone is expecting to hear something hurtful and is trying to soldier through it…

"Ugh, let's not talk about this now. There's a game to play, quests to complete, and levels to gain… come on." She tried to sound enthusiastic, a little too enthusiastic maybe, but it seemed to work.

As they finally started to prepare to enter the game, they heard a knock on the door. The knocker was obviously familiar with Gaspy as she did not wait for an answer and just opened the door and went inside.

The red-headed devil named Rias Gremory was Gaspy's master… in every sense of the word… Valerie didn't like her much, but she was taught to be polite. Even if the one who taught her was anything but…

'Harry really was the epitome of do as I say and not as I do, wasn't he?' she mused.

"… why haven't you tried it yet? Do you know how hard it was for me to stay still all this time? Waiting for you to play and tell me about it?" She heard Rias whine like a child as she complained to Gaspy. But then she turned to her and opened her mouth, "And you, how could you let him waste all this time when he could have been testing the game?" Her tone of voice was not so much accusatory as it was complain-y…

"Ugh, don't even start… as if you could have done any better," she shook her head as she replied.

"Of course I could have, but someone didn't help me get the game early…" Rias said in a matter-of-fact tone as she gave her a pointed look.

Okay, this bitch was just asking for it now. "And why would I do that? Gaspy is my best friend, you on the other hand are the annoyance that kept trying to get me to become your sla… ahem, servant. If you wanted a favor, you should have offered something as valuable or better…" she could have gone on and berated Rias, but then Gaspy would have been saddened and Rias was not worth it. She was just a dumb teenager that still thinks the world owed her for being born into it…

"Hmph, it's your loss. Being a devil is so much better than being a dhampir…" she said and then mumbled, "and it's not like I had a choice in dropping the matter of recruiting you."

"What was that?" Valerie asked as if she didn't hear her mumbling. She wanted to know the story. She had no doubt that Rias's family instructed her to stop, for the sake of not wanting to tangle themselves with her brother.

They'd be right too. Harry was very scary. Sure, he treated her like a younger sister. Taught her, trained her, and took care of everything she needs, but that didn't mean he was her brother. And even if he was, she wouldn't have cared. Incest was hot…

Anyway, she was digressing. Her brother, for all his faults, power and rumors-filled reputation, was actually an idiot. She had figured this out way back, when he came back late and found her watching his first ever public sighting, the one where he erased a person off of reality.

She had asked him to sit with her, which he did. And then after watching the same video from different perspectives, and angles, showing different things, she decided to ask. Why? How? And a myriad of other questions.

The answer was not what she was expecting. His exact words were… "Uh, hahaha, you see, I didn't notice it happened back then, I was kind of new to my authority and kind of unconsciously wrapped the reality around me, in an effort to impress Yasaka—don't tell anyone this, but the attack was kind of my fault too…" she could tell he was embarrassed by what happened. She tried to ask more questions, but all she got was an hour-long lecture on the dangers of reality wrapping, how mental state affects it, and how to avoid making the same mistakes if she ever found herself with reality-wrapping powers…

"…Al, Val," she heard Gaspy's call when she felt something tugging her sleeve. "Ah, sorry about that. I zone out sometimes. It's a side effect of the mind arts I practice," she made up a reason. She can't tell them she does that only when thinking about Harry.

"Ahahah, it's no problem. Anyway, I leave you to your game, but please, tell me everything about it as soon as you are done… please," Rias didn't seem to believe her excuse, but she wasn't interested either. She just wanted to know about the game.

"Okay, Rias-buchou…" Gaspy replied softly as Rias let him go from her bear-like hug…

"Ok, enough distractions. We are going to start this game now… come on…" Valerie said as she took the palm-sized neon-glowing, glass-looking card, slid it into its designated slot on top of the sleek, futuristic-looking VR-helmet, until she heard that satisfying clicking sound.

She then handed it to Gasper, who was already sitting beside her on the bed, as she took the second helmet and did the same thing…

Putting the helmet on, sliding the tinted glass, and laying down on the bed. She took Gasper's hand into hers and said, "link start," and then everything went white.

X

[ Rias Gremory]

Walking out of her only bishop's room, she sighed as she started heading back to her own room. Disappointment gnawed at her; if only she could convince Valerie to join her peerage by her own choice… but she knew that was nothing but a pipe dream.

She softly shook her head as she opened the door and entered her room before closing it behind her. She took a deep breath, walked a few steps, and threw herself into her very comfortable mattress.

Click~

She heard a clicking sound coming from the walk-in closet, but she didn't as much as twitch, for she knew that it was her queen—Akeno, who's in there.

"Ah, Rias. What did Gasper say? Is the game worth the hype?" was the first thing her queen asked. Akeno truly understood how hard it was for her to stay still and just wait for the news.

"Ugh. Don't remind me. They still haven't entered the game when I left." She threw her body back onto the bed, face first this time, in an effort to muffle her own groan of frustration.

"Ah, it's Gasper being Gasper again, isn't it? He tried to read and plan everything first, didn't he?" Akeno asked, deducing everything from one sentence. And as if adding salt to injury, she continued, "You should have expected that. After all, we already knew about this habit of his…"

She was right too. They knew about his habit of trying to know everything about a game before playing it, and the compulsive need to plan everything about whatever he does on a daily basis. She didn't see the need to try and correct this habit of his because it helped keep him stable, as the less surprised he is, the more stable he becomes and thus less uncontrollable bursts of time-stopping shenanigans.

"So, did you try to get Valerie to join your peerage again?" she heard Akeno ask as she laid next to her on the bed.

"Ugh, you know I didn't," she grumbled as she lifted her hand in an attempt to swat her best friend's arm, only for her hand to land on her soft boob instead.

"Hmmm~" Akeno moaned softly, "so we really can't do anything about this, huh?" Rias heard her mumble…

"No, we cannot," she replied. "Mother specifically said not to try anything with her."

"You told me that already, but why?"

"Well, because the devil race can't afford the wrath of her brother should anything happen to her while in the underworld," she stated, reciting her mother's exact words…

"So he really is that powerful, huh?" Akeno murmured, more to herself than to her.

"Yes and no. He's powerful, yes, but he also has the two strongest beings in the world manning his shop, so…" she tried to paint a bigger picture for her friend.

"Yeah, I get it… don't poke the sleeping dragon," Akeno summed the situation up perfectly.

"So, what are we going to do?"

"Nothing. We train as we usually do, and hopefully, with all the problems the Phenex clan is having, they wouldn't try anything any time soon."

"Hmm, so it's business as usual then," Akeno commented as she felt her hand slip past her shirt and unhooking her bra…

"Yeah, it's business as usual," she confirmed as she started taking her pants off.

She needed to do something to get her mind off things, and Akeno was about the best thing she could do…

Hmmm~ she moaned softly as she felt Akeno's hand tracing her inner thigh… yeah… this is the best way to take your mind off things….

X

[ Great Red]

He sat at the counter of the massive shop he's manning these days, looking at the mumbling, stuttering idiot that is the customer in front of him.

The man was short, fat, and had a face not even a mother could love, and guessing by his shifty attitude, he gained access to the shop somewhat illegally too. Not that he'd bother to check in the first place.

Still, he was at a loss of what to say; should he say 'as expected?' or 'how cliché?'… he couldn't decide, for what else could one say about an ugly bastard, visiting a magical shop, only to end up buying a love potion, a magical anal hole, and asking for anything that gives a mind-control power…

In the end, he could only shake his head, already foreseeing how disappointed this guy would be. Those things didn't work on anyone below twenty-one, or when used to commit a crime against the sanctity of self.

He had wondered why would a man like Harry sell those things if they didn't work like people wanted them to? The answer he got was obvious. He sold them for those with fetishes to satisfy themselves.

He knew that wasn't the whole answer though; the kid didn't care about anything beyond his skewed-up sense of morality. That much was clear to him after the first few interactions he had with him. And to be honest, the Great Red didn't care… not in the slightest.

"Here you go, sir. I recommend you read the shop's guidelines and rules before purchasing anything next time," he smiled and said as he pocketed the golden coins.

Ah, how he enjoyed playing the role of a mortal for a change.

He had always observed them, lived in their dream and through them, yet he had never, ever played the role of a mortal…but now he does. He eats like them, talks like them, interacts with them and like usual—observe them.

It had nothing to do with how entertaining he found their reactions when coming into the shop. A shop that can be opened anywhere, anytime because he and Ophis were the ones operating it.

All in all it's a new and exciting experience.

He hadn't expected any of this to happen back then, back when that being came by, escorting a baby, and putting it in front of an orphanage in the mortal realm. Great Red didn't even sense him until the being himself approached him.

It was the first time the Great Red experienced anything close to a heart-attack like feeling, the jolt, the dull throb of pain that feels almost imaginary, and all in all exhaustion and breathing trouble.

He—the Great Red—had never felt so insignificant, so helplessly weak and so, so mortal...

It was a humbling and sobering experience….

He had been watching over the kid since then, so when he got the chance to do something productive, and help creating something great. He took it. Why wouldn't he, if the things they have worked on actually functioned as intended, then he, the Great Red would finally be able to experience the feeling of being weak, the feeling of getting stronger and stronger the more he fought…

Yeah…This is going to be glorious…