Hello Hello!

As I stated before, this is a rewrite of the original Blazes of Ice. There will be some parts similar, but the storyline will change, someone drastically. I hope you all enjoy it!

High school is killing me at the moment as I am on my finals as stated before. Also, who are you, the one who sent the mysterious love letter on Selective School Love Letters…?

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters, only whatever I make up.

Now, without further ado, shall we begin?

Chapter 1: Remembering the Past and Moving Forward

Being the younger brother of a sister who was talented at pretty much everything sucks. Whereas the older girl would receive love, admiration, attention, the younger boy would be left ignored, unwanted, unloved. This was particularly true in the case of Issei Hyoudou. His sister, Hiromi Hyoudou, was the perfect child in every sense. Smart, beautiful, athletic, she was the dream child of every parent, whereas Issei himself was flawed in their eyes. With no particular talent to show off, Issei was considered subpar by his parents. The only ones who did see his suffering was his sister, and young childhood friend Irina.

Irina met Issei in a park when they were both seven. Issei's parents had gone out of the city with his sister for some national sports event, followed by an art exhibition, which left Issei alone at home. Being the young kid he was, he headed to the park after school, where he found his usual spot, the swing, being occupied by a young person with short brown hair and a wide smile upon their face as her father pushed her along. Issei saw this, imagining himself in the child's position. A small sad smile formed on his face before he aborted his plan to go to the park and headed home. It was then that the young brunette was approached by the other child, her father behind her. This scared Issei, as he thought he would be in trouble again, facing the punishment of another older human being. The young child before him beamed at him, before announcing herself.

"Hi! I'm Irina. What's your name?" she asked brightly.

"I-I'm I-Issei," the young brunette replied hesitantly.

"Wanna play with me?"

"Umm…" Issei stutters out hesitantly looking at her dad.

The older man looks down towards the young child, a small smile adorned his face. It was a friendly smile, not one of pride that his parents used for his sister, but one of care.

"Go play with my daughter. I'm sure you two will make great friends," The man says before heading over to a bench at the edge of the park.

Leaving his bag next to the bench the man was sitting on, Issei hesitantly follows the bright young girl to the playground, where the two spent their next hour enjoying themselves. Issei laughed along with Irina, both thoroughly enjoying the time spent together. As it approached sunset, Irina's father decided it was time to head home, making Issei visibly upset.

"Don't worry, we can play again tomorrow!" Irina says brightly.

Issei returns the smile and nods before waving goodbye to his new friend. Irina waves back before heading in the opposite direction, holding her father's hand. Every small gesture of affection from the older man to his daughter was caught on by Issei, from the smiles to the soft scolding to the hand holding. Grabbing his bag from the seat, Issei starts his small trek home. On the trek, small thoughts pop into his mind; thoughts that should not be going through a young boy's mind.

'What does it feel like to hold someone's hand? What does it feel like to be cared for? What does it feel like to be loved and wanted?'

The young boy stood in front of the house that he called home. Opening the door, Issei was greeted by a silent dull hallway. Closing the door softly behind him, a small click was heard as he locked it. Taking off his shoes, Issei walked down the corridor into the kitchen. On the table was a simple meal he made for himself in the morning. After putting the meal in the microwave to heat up, Issei went to the bathroom to take a short shower. Inside, thoughts swelled around within his mind.

'Does anyone actually care about me? Was that girl, Irina I think she was called, was she just being nice to me?'

Issei quickly finished his shower, drying himself and getting changed. As he was getting changed, he sees the signs of neglect upon his body; skinny, bony, not much colour on his skin. After putting on his clothes, albeit slightly tattered, he returned to the kitchen to find his microwaved food, still warm. Setting it down on the table, he turns off the kitchen light and turns on the light for the dining room.

"Itadakimasu," he says to himself before eating.

After finishing, he washes the cutlery and dishes before retiring to his room with his school bag. Taking out his homework, he completes it quickly before going to bed, the only place where he can truly be happy. In his dream, he sees a white environment, snow-like ash falling from the sky. The environment was blank, empty, save for a large rock, and… a girl sitting atop it? She had long wavy silver hair, pale skin, and wearing a light blue sundress with white snowflakes decorating it. Noticing the stare from the young brunette, the girl atop the rock looked at him with ocean blue eyes, mesmerising the young boy.

{Hello Issei. I believe this is the first time we are meeting} the mysterious girl asks.

"W-where am I? Who are you?" Issei asks.

The girl gives Issei a soft smile, before gesturing him to come sit next to her. Walking up cautiously, Issei approached the girl on the rock, taking in her beauty. The girl reached her hand out to Issei, gesturing the young boy to take it. After taking her hand, Issei is jerked up onto the rock and plopped next to the young girl. She looks at him and smiles a soft, calming smile. Issei is taken back by her ocean blue eyes, her long, silver hair and mesmerising aura that surrounded the mystery girl. When her hand reached to touch his face, Issei unconsciously leaned back.

{Do not worry, I'm not here to harm you} she said in a soft voice.

Her hand continued on its intended path and landed on Issei's face, softly caressing it. Issei's hand rose up to hers, feeling the back of the girl's hand. Her skin is soft as silk, her touch like a cool wind.

{Poor child, you're so young, yet you've been through so much} she says with a sad look in her eye. (My name is Tundragosa, the Frozen Fire Dragon, but you can just call me Tundra}

"I-I'm I-Issei," the young boy stutters out.

Turning his head to observe the white environment around him, a question comes to his mind.

"Where am I?"

{This} Tundra says while gesturing, {this is your mindscape. Whatever you want to appear will appear, so for example, try imagining a river,}

Within seconds of Issei imagining said environment, a flowing body of water appeared before the two. Its crystal blue water, flowing in endless loops around the rock the two were sitting on. He was amazed at the sudden appearance of his thoughts.

{You're free to have any environment you want here, the only limit is your imagination. It looks like the sun is rising Issei. I believe it will be time for you to wake up soon} Tundra says.

Issei's eyes start to water. He doesn't want to leave. Here, he felt safe, loved, cared for while outside, he felt pain, torturous emotional pain.

"Please Tundra-nee, let me stay here! I don't want to go back! You're the only one who's looked after me with care!" Issei cries, his hand out desperately trying to hold onto the girl.

{You've been so brave Issei, so brave. But now is time for the next day to start. Don't worry. I'll see you again very soon} Tundra says with a smile, watching Issei disappear back into the real world.

Opening his eyes, Issei was given a little light from the crack in his curtains. After getting out of bed, Issei begins his daily routine: changing into school uniform, brushing his teeth, packing his bag, then walking out on an empty stomach. There was almost never breakfast for him, save for the odd slice of extra bread. After locking the house door, Issei slowly made his way to his school.

The school day felt long and dragged out. It was tiring for the young boy, but at least he had something to look forward to after school. Irina said she would be in the park again to play with him. This got Issei a bit happy at least, knowing that at least someone would want to play with him.

Arriving at the park, Issei was greeted by the sight of the familiar brunette girl and her father. A small smile made its way onto Issei's face as he approached the father-daughter duo. He put down his bag next to the same bench as yesterday and went over the duo. Irina spots him, and her eyes widen with excitement and a bright smile formed on her face as she rushes towards Issei.

"Issei Issei! You're here! Let's go play!" Irina shouts happily.

Issei lets off a soft smile before replying to the enthusiastic girl.

"Hmm, let's go!"

The two children played for about an hour and a half before Irina had to return home, just like the previous day. Waving goodbye to each other, the two parted ways from each other. It was just like the day before, except Issei had a smile upon his face. That was quickly replaced by fear as he sees his parents and his sister in front of the door, in their hands the luggage they took with them on the 3 day trip. Whereas Hiromi had a smile on her face, their parents had faces with frowns.

"We have been gone for three days, and the day we come back, you're late?" The woman, Issei's mother says.

"I expected you to be at the door, with a bath ready and meal on the table for us by the time we get home!" Issei's father yells at him.

"Where were you?" The patriarch asks sternly.

"I-I w-was at the p-park…" Issei says as his voice trails off, becoming quieter.

"And why were you at the park?" Another question fired at him.

"Dad! That's enough!" Hiromi yells. "Can't you see, you've already neglected him enough! He's already so skinny and pale, and yet, you still treat him like trash!"

Tears were forming at the edge of Hiromi's eyes. She has had enough of her parents bullying her younger brother. She had been on the sidelines, scared of her parents, but enough was enough.

A slap to the cheek, an angry red mark and a raised hand later, Hiromi was on the floor, her hand on her stinging cheek.

"Do not, talk to me like that young lady. Boy, open the door."

"Y-yes sir," Issei replies, quickly going to the door and opening it for his 'family'.

After doing so, the young seven year old walked over to his sister, helping her up from the ground. A small smile adjourns her face for the young boy, a little blood leaks from the side of her mouth.

"It's ok, I'm ok. Nothing too big, alright? No tears for the strong young man, ok? I'll talk to mum and dad tonight" She says soothingly as she hugs him.

That night, Issei heard argument between his parents and his sister, with his sister threatening to leave if they abused her, or Issei again. This brought a small smile upon his face as he hears his older sister

After that, Issei had a relatively quieter life. His parents would ignore his presence, still only focusing on his sister. This was a change from all the yelling and abuse that he had endured since he was four. The three years had been hell for Issei, but only made bearable as his sister was there. That was, until his father lost his job. With the loss of his job, the patriarch of the family often stayed out late drinking, coming home in the dark of the morning screaming and yelling through the house, waking it's occupants.

It was the last straw when a drunken ramble by their father that Hiromi and Issei decided to leave. He had finally taken things too far and hit Issei again, calling him useless, worthless, a waste of space. Following her threat, Hiromi packed her bags as well as Issei's and prepared to leave. That was the original idea, until the patriarch stood in front of the door in a drunken mess.

"Where do you think you're going little girl~?" He asks, alcohol reeking from his breath.

"Away, I said it to you before, if you hurt me or Issei again, I said that I would leave," Hiromi says firmly.

"Aww, don't run away, papa here will look after you both sooooo well,"

Issei looks back and sees his mother on the floor, some blood leaking from her head. Despite ignoring Issei, their mother had never laid a hand on Issei. Seeing her on the ground, Issei rushes over to help his mother up.

"I-I'm sorry I-Issei, for all the years, I-I'm sorry," his mother says, tears falling from her chocolate eyes.

"Mum…"

"I understand if you hate me, if you want me to disappear, if you never see me again. I understand, but please, all I want is your forgiveness…" she cries.

A scream was heard from the door and the mother and son duo turn around to look. There, they see Issei's father grabbing onto Hiromi, pulling her clothes apart.

"Shh, now be a good girl and listen to papa," he says with a grin.

Without warning, Issei's mother gets up and rushes over, grabbing the older man and shoving him off her daughter. The man falls over, rage etched on his face.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing you stupid cow?!" He screams

"You. Will. Not. Lay. Your. Hand. On. My. Daughter." their mother says sternly.

"You bitch, who is the man in this family?" he says as he slowly gets up from the floor.

"Not you anymore," she says before slipping her wedding ring off her finger, throwing it on the ground. She turns around and ushers her kids out the door.

Issei and Hiromi look back at their mother who had just protected them.

"Please forgive me, my children. I-I'm sorry for not being the perfect mother that you both wanted. Now go,"

"If you know what's good for you woman, you will stand aside," their father says.

"As I said before, you will not touch my children,"

As Issei and Hiromi turned around, they see their mother hitting the floor, their father withdrawing his fist from the air. Except, this time their mother did not get up. Her head was leaking a little blood.

"MUM," Issei says before trying to reach her.

Their father approaches them slowly, a maniacal grin upon his face. Hiromi grabs Issei's hand, along with their luggage and runs, both with tears in their eyes. With no particular destination, the two ran, ran as far away as they could. They both wanted to go back and help their mother, to take their mother away from the maniac of a man. But there was nothing either could do. He could easily take them both on and win. So the children ran.

As the two ran, they were pulled into a quiet alleyway by a pair of strong claws, dropping their bags on the pathway. A sinister voice echoes from within.

"Well well well, look what I caught," its voice boasted. "A nice catch, must I say myself. Some fresh meat is always worth dying for,"

The monster licked it lips and held onto Hiromi tighter. Her face showed a look of pain as it started applying pressure to the grip.

"HIROMI!" Issei yells out, fearful of losing his sister.

A blue ball of ice comes flying from Issei's extended hand, hitting the monster in the chest. It screamed out in pain, its other hand touching the impact site. It dropped Hiromi, before falling over, seemingly unconscious from the cold pain.

"I-Issei? What did you just do?" Hiromi asked, her voice shaking.

"I-I… I don't k-know. I just… extended my hand out, and… I don't know," Issei replied, himself shaking.

The two children, however, did not realise that the monster was getting up after falling over. As the two children were about to run, three claws struck out with a slash, slicing Hiromi on the back. Her eyes widen and a cry of pain escapes from her as white hot pain sears her back. Blood is leaking from the wound on her back as she slowly begins to lose consciousness.

As the monster was about to finish off the two children, three large icicles flew from the opening of the alleyway, embedding themselves in the monster's torso and head, killing it instantly. The body of the monster falls over before disintegrating into dust. The two siblings looked at the end of the alleyway, seeing a sinister shadow with their arm extended. The two were scared, whispering words of love to each other as their inevitable end awaited them

"I love you sis. Thank you for taking care of me" Issei whispers while tears flowed down his face.

"I love you too my little Issei," Hiromi replies as she closes her eyes, holding Issei tight.

But pain never came for the two siblings. Instead, the sinister shadow transformed into a beautiful woman with long silver hair in plaits that sat on her shoulder, a soft sad smile adjourned her face.

"You two kids, why are you out here so late? Shouldn't you two be at home asleep?" the woman asks.

The two children look at her, their face a mask of confusion and fear as they had assumed that she was here to kill them as well. The woman crouched down, to the height of crouched down children.

"Hey, don't be scared. I'm not going to hurt you, see?" she says as she lifts her hands into the air.

The children release their hold onto each other, but their hands still held one another. The silver haired woman sees both children still with a scared look on their face and holds her arms out, ready for a hug. The two children were hesitant, but approached nonetheless. At least they won't be attacked again. As the two children were close enough, the woman closes her arms around them, holding them.

"Don't worry. There aren't any more monsters here," she says soothingly.

Hiromi winced as soon as her arms wrapped around the teenage girl, and that was when woman noticed that the girl was still bleeding. Using her quick thinking, she slowly formed some ice in her hand and tore a bit of cloth from her maid uniform. She further ripped more strands and wrapped one around the block of ice she had formed.

"Little girl, what's your name?" she asks.

"M-my n-name's Hiromi," Issei's sister replies.

"Hiromi, that's a nice name. Hiromi, could you please turn around? I would like to clean your wound before it becomes infected,"

Issei watches as his sister has her wound cleaned with the block of ice before the other strips of cloth were used as bandages, wrapping around her torso.

"My name is Grayfia Lucifuge, and you, young man are?"

"M-my name's I-Issei, I-Issei Hyoudou," Issei says, trying his hardest to stay strong.

"Why are you two out here anyways? It's really early and shouldn't you two be in bed at this hour?" Grayfia asks the two children.

"W-we ran away from home. Our dad is very abusive, and we wanted to get away," Hiromi answers.

To further push her point across, Issei lifts his shirt slightly, showing scars of his time at home.

"And your mother didn't do anything?" Grayfia asks in shock.

"She… She couldn't, more like, didn't," Issei says. "But she said sorry and… " He couldn't trail on. The memory of his mother's crying state, her weakened state, and falling state all came crashing down, replacing all the years of negligence with a woman smiling brighter than the sun.

Grayfia sees Issei about to cry, so she holds him, like a mother would to her child. Hiromi goes in too and joins in a small group hug.

"I'm going to guess you two aren't going home?" Grayfia asks.

She is replied with a nod. A small smile formed on her face. She stands up and holds her hands out for the children to hold. Hiromi hesitantly took her left hand, in which Grayfia gave her a warming smile. Issei followed his sister's example and held Grayfia's right hand. The three then left the alleyway, the two children glad that the terrifying ordeal was over. Grabbing their small cases that held their clothes, Issei and Hiromi followed Grayfia until they reach where she resided.

"I know it isn't much, but please, make yourself at home," Grayfia says as she approaches a moderately sized apartment block. It looked as if it had recently been painted a new sheen of white. Compared to the other nearby buildings, it looked clean.

"Umm, which room will be ours?" Hiromi asks.

"Choose whichever you want. The building is vacant right now,"

The two children's jaws fell open. An entire apartment block, and it was all hers?!

"Umm, Miss Lucifuge?" Hiromi asks

"Please, just call me Grayfia,"

"Ok, umm, Miss Grayfia, which room is yours?"

"Oh, mine? I'm on the top floor, first room to the right"

The two children walk up the stairs with Grayfia. A question then popped into Issei's mind, and he decided to ask Grayfia about it.

"Why were you out so late Miss Grayfia?"

"Well, I could sense that a monster was nearby, and I need to protect my master's sister and her friends. You see, they are sleeping over tonight, and it wouldn't be good to have them killed by that monster, would it?" Grayfia replies before giving the two a small smile.

"The three girls took the room right next to mine, so if you want to be as close to me as possible, you can take the room next to theirs. Don't worry, everything in there is clean and dusted," Grayfia replies before leading the children into the room.

She turns on the lights that reveals the interior of the apartment unit. It had a three-seater couch, a moderately sized kitchen, and a small hallway on that lead to the rooms and the bathroom.

"This is all yours now. You two should probably just get changed and take a shower before going to bed. Unpack in the morning. I can tell you're both very tired."

True to her word, before Grayfia had finished her statement, the two siblings had fallen asleep on the couch. The silverette giggled at this, seeing the innocence of youth once again. She went to the bedroom and brought a blanket out, covering the two children.

"Goodnight, little ones," she says and smiles before turning off the lights and closing the door.

By the time the two siblings had woken up, it had already reached midday. A light knock on the door and the door opened, revealing Grayfia with four young girls behind her.

"Good morning Issei, Hiromi. I brought some guests over to have fun," she says with a small smile. "Ah, but first, Hiromi, let me check your wounds really quickly.

Hiromi and Grayfia went into one of the two bedrooms, with Grayfia holding a fresh packet of gauze and some medical tape. This left Issei alone with the four girls, one with green eyes and long vibrant red hair, one with purple eyes and shoulder length black hair, one with pink eyes and blonde hair in a ponytail and one with blue eyes and long white hair. An awkward silence filled the room as the three girls stared at the young boy in the middle of the room. It was broken by the excited voice of the red haired girl.

"Hello! My name is Rias Gremory of the Gremory Household. What's your name commoner?"

"Rias! That's not how you speak to guests!" The black haired girl exclaimed before she approached a visibly shaken Issei.

"My name is Sona, the girl with the blonde hair behind me is Seekvaira, the one with white hair is Valentina, and the one with the excessive personality is Rias," the girl says.

"Hey!"

"I-I'm Issei," he introduces himself.

"You don't feel like a human…" Seekvaira said sceptically.

"Huh?"

"Now that I think about it, you're right Seek. Issei, are you sure you're fully human?" Sona commented as she pushed her glasses up.

"Mou! Stop picking on him!" Valina says before pulling Issei away from the three girls.

It was then that they heard the door to the bedroom open.

"How are you feeling?" Grayfia asks Hiromi as she cleans the younger girl's wounds, hiding her shock behind starting a new conversation.

"I- I don't know…To be completely honest with you, I don't know what to feel. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm extremely grateful for what you've done for Issei and I. You protected us, took us in, and provided a new place for us to live. Just a few days ago, I would not have imagined this," Hiromi replies before wincing a little at the pain.

Grayfia gives off a little smile. The girl in front of her expressing her full trust into someone who she had barely met reminded her of the innocence of youth.

"Is there anything you want to do right now?" Grayfia asks.

"I want to see my mother. I want to thank her, for standing up for Issei and I when that man tried to stop us from leaving. She helped us get away, to leave the house… and… and…" Hiromi started crying as she remembered the events of the day. "And she paid for it… She…"

Grayfia, having finished with cleaning and applying a new bandage the wound, hugged the younger girl, holding her head to her chest.

"Let it out, it's not good to keep all your emotions bottle up. I'm sure your younger brother would be telling you the same thing," Grayfia says, rubbing the girl's hair. "Let's go see the others outside. I'm sure they'll be glad to have another friend," Grayfia says as she gets up from the bedside.

Hiromi nods and wipes the remaining tears off her face before following Grayfia outside into the apartment's living room. In the living room, she sees four girls, surrounding Issei, each with their own unique hair colour, with the white haired one holding Issei away from the other three.

"It seems like they have gotten along well," Grayfia says as hides her giggles behind her hand.

The four girls turn around and Issei manages to escape from the four girls, getting to his sister.

"How you feeling now? Does it still hurt?" Issei asks worried as he wraps his arms around his sister. .

"Don't worry, Miss Lucifuge here helped cleaned the wound and wrap it for me," Hiromi replies with an assuring smile.

"You don't need to thank me. Your sister is very tough. She can make it through this no problem," Grayfia smiles reassuringly before turning to the three young girls. "Shouldn't you girls introduce yourselves?" as she directed her tone to the four girls who had gone quiet.

"I'm Rias Gremory of the Gremory Household!" the red haired girl states.

"I'm Sona Sitri of the Sitri Household. It's nice to meet you," the black haired girl introduces herself politely with a bow.

"Seekvaira Agares of the Agares Household," the blonde girl introduces herself in the same way as Sona did.

"I'm Valina Lucifer, descendant of the original Lucifer," The silver haired girl says.

At the mention of the name Lucifer, the Hyoudou siblings began to piece the puzzle together.

"You are all devils?!" They yell out.

The five devils in the room cover their ears and closed their eyes. Their enhanced hearing does have its drawbacks, that being, loud noises affected them more.

"So, who are you?" the four girls question after recovering from the ringing in their ears.

"I'm Hiromi, I'm Issei's sister," Hiromi introduces herself.

"Ne sis, can we go visit mum? I… I want to thank her, for protecting us," Issei asks.

Hiromi thought about it for a little while before remembering what happened to their mother. She vividly remembers her head hitting the ground, her body not getting up after hitting the floor. Her eyes widen as she now realises that she should've gone back to help their mother. Ignorant or not, she was their mother, and it is in these times that the children should be there to support a family member… unless it's their father.

"Do you want to go back home and check? I'll come with you to protect you from your father," Grayfia offers.

She is replied by two nods and the two children go to the bedroom to change their clothes. Outside the bedroom, the four girls looked at Grayfia with a questioning look, curious about the development of their new neighbours. Grayfia shakes her head, not going to reveal the dark secrets of the two new residents of the apartment. However, her heart was heavy, holding a secret from the two siblings, a big secret that will lead to bigger events within the near future.

The two siblings emerge from the room in fresh clothes from their luggage and look to Grayfia.

"Are you two ready to go?" she asks.

"Yes please," Hiromi says before taking Issei's hand in her own.

The seven leave the apartment room and head towards downstairs. Grayfia turns to the four girls that follow them.

"Girls, I think it's best if you stay here. It might not be the best option for you to come along. This stuff is quite private for these two kids," Grayfia explains.

Whereas three of the four girls were ok with it, Rias was not.

"And why do we have to stay behind? We have the right to know what they are up to," Rias says with a haughty tone.

"Rias…" The other three girls deadpan their friend.

"Rias, just this once. You have to respect their privacy, please?" Grayfia says in a requesting, yet stern voice while leaking a miniscule amount of her aura.

"O-ok…" Rias says as she turns around to her friends and prepare to return to her apartment room with her friends.

"Now, shall we be off?" Grayfia asks as the takes hold of Hiromi's hand and starts their journey back to where it all began.

That's it for Chapter 1 of the rewrite.

I thoroughly enjoyed writing this much more than the original. Also, I have my mind set on a much smaller harem due to the fact that some comments did make a good point on developing characters of an extremely large harem.

Also, many of you will probably wonder why Issei forgave his mother so quickly. That is due to his young age and innocence (he is 7) and his mother doesn't normally associate herself with him, only their father really hurt him. Just an explanation, so DON'T SPAM COMMENTS WITH WHY HE FORGAVE HIS MUM SO QUICKLY! Thank you!

Well that's it for now

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Until I see you next time!