What If? Saga Part 2: What if Bloodedge decided not to sacrifice himself...?

Nine gasped and took a few heavy breaths, blinking a few times as if she needed to realize she wasn´t dead yet. Then, as she got some solid ladder under her feet again and she noticed what was going on, she muttered a complaint and turned to face him.
"...thank you." Was all she said.
The heat was getting warmer and warmer, and the ground seemed closer now than it was before. It would`ve still killed her probably, but she could actually see where she would`ve landed, somewhere down below.
"Not much further now. I think that big hole in the ground there is the Cauldron."
She then turned around again, trying to keep her balance and not fall off again.
"Could you.... hold on to me until we`re on the bottom, Ragna?"

It might have taken three times as long as it would´ve needed to, but they made it to the ground in one piece, and Nine took a moment to exhale, and praise the solid concrete underneath her for being as sturdy as it was. The heat of the Cauldron became almost unbearable at this stage, but it wasn`t hard to find the package near it- it was literally the only thing there, almost as if Kokonoe had planned for this eventuality.
"There it is... seems pretty small for being so important." Nine commented as she approached the box, which was about the size of a shoe carton.... probably was one at some stage, until it was filled with printed out sheets of technical drawings, notes and books. She only briefly looked into it before closing the lid tightly. If it was as important as it looked like, she`d need to take good care of it.
Then, she turned to Ragna and smiled a little.
"Thanks for the help... i`m back to full strength again at this point. Need to be, too... i don`t want to walk all the way back up there again so i´ll have to teleport you guys out of here."

Nine turned to grin at Ragna.
"Just because i want you to carry me doesn´t mean i`m that tired, you know... Still, thanks for the lift. You´re a pretty strong guy."

Caelica blinked as she began to flirt with Ragna.
"Uhhh, did i miss something here? You`d normally throw your shoes at him by this point... or worse."

Nine waved off and still grinned.
"Its fine, Sis, I`m starting to see why you like him so much. But... we`ve got a plan to beat the Black Beast now. Its crazy, but it just might work."

With that, Mitsuyoshi opened his uninjuried eye, and his ears perked up.
"Ya do, eh? I reckon that`ll be interestin ta listen to. Crazy plan sounds like just the kinda thing Ragna likes ta do."

Mitsuyoshi gave him a fanged grin in response.
"Well, that coming from you, i`ll believe it. So when`s this plan gonna go?"

Nine shook her head slightly, giving the case with the documents over to Trinity to let her study some. "Its gonna take a bit more than that, i`m afraid. We`re strong but the Beast is nothing we should just mess with like that... we`ll need a few more allies. Strong people, willing to die for the cause if necessary- i´ll make the weapons as soon as i can, but we need people to wield them too."

Mitsuyoshi nodded slowly, thinking about it.
"Well, safe to say ol` Clavis Alucard isn`t up for it, poor fella is in a wheelchair now, an`his daughter Rachel`s too young for fightin. But that Butler of his, Valkenhayn... there`s somethin about him. Something big, plus, he´s the most loyal guy i´ve ever had the decency ta meet. "

Caelica, after smiling brightly when Ragna patted her head, spoke up as well.
"Well.. what about that white knight from earlier...? He seemed pretty determined to kill the Black Beast..."
She didn´t expect the whole room to be silent as she mentioned Hakumen- but then again, she didn`t see how Ragna ran into hiding and nearly peed his pants when the Susanooh armor entered the area.

"Is something wrong, Ragna?" Nine and Caelica asked in almost perfect unison, making them blink and look at each other, before Caelica came over and placed the warm palm of her hand on his forehead.

"Well, huh, he seems alright..." She then muttered, feeling her magic doing nothing to him whatsoever. She did wonder about her sisters concrern for Ragna though, seeing how she actually wanted to murder him when they first met.
"And whats with you, sis? Since when do you care if he`s well or not?"

Nine blinked and, yes, she blushed a tiny bit before looking away.
"Well, uh, you know, he`s... he´s not a bad guy, like you said, and he´s no use to any of us if he´s dead. In fact, i think he´s more important than the most of us... thats because he´s got a friend from the future willing to help us."

Caelica`s face was in a state of glee before, finding her sister in love like this and... then her face escalated as Nine tried to sell to her that Ragna has a connection to the future.

Nine huffed a bit, crossing her arms in front of her volumerous chest. "Feh, i saved you when the elevator fell and you caught me when i slipped off the ladder. We`re even, Ragna."
Noticing the looks from the other two witches, she sighed and nodded.
"Yeah, we`re gonna have to walk upstairs now..."
...then she grinned.
"Just kidding. I`ll snap you guys up to the surface in a second."

Caelica then put on a sly grin and moved over to her sister, whispering into her ear.... the next second, the older witche`s eyes snapped open and she lit up red, pushing Caelica off.
"You and your imagineation. We only took so long because this place is falling apart, not because of... that."

Now Mitsuyoshi had to laugh, and Trinity too started to blush.

Nine silently agreed, nodding her head also beet red and turned away from him.
"Right, thats probably a good idea... Caelica, you first, we need you to pass through the seithr."
Snipping her hand and pointing at Caelica, the witch then promptly disappeared, then she did the same with Trinity and, before he could protest, with Mitsuyoshi.
Instead of teleporting Ragna though, she came over to him.
"One more thing before i send us over as well..." She said, quietly, keeping her eyes off of him and retaining her blush.

Nine took a short while to come up with words of what she was trying to say, biting her tongue twice or more during an attempt to speak the words she thought of.
"What those three were implying... that... we would be more than just friends... whats your thought on that? Seems like an odd thing to ask about but... in truth..."
She closed her eyes and forced it out, trying to be as mature as possible.
"I wouldn´t mind that at all."
Hesitation and cowardice had been defeated, but now she was more afraid than before, her pulse was racing and she had no idea how he would react to such a bold proclaimation.
Rejection was entirely possible, that or he would just give up and complain that this was too hard. Both sounded of the Ragna she got to know during these few days.