Disclaimer: Ao no Exorcist/Blue Exorcist belongs to Kazue Katou. May Yang, Quian Li Yang and all the new demons are invented by me.
I would like to thank Poisonsnake23 for beta-reading this chapter and making some suggestions/corrections.
Chapter 1 - Like rain
March - Shanghai, China
"Okay, everyone, since we're almost arrived, I'm gonna brief you one last time on our mission, so give me your attention, please." Shiro begins as he walks to the front of the airplane's corridor. All the exorcists turn toward him and carefully listen to his explanation. Yukio is sitting on the first line of seats, right in front of where Shiro's standing, "We're currently headed to Shanghai... 'Cause of the Longtaitou festival currently taking place in China, most exorcist personnel are on vacation so we've been summoned by the China Branch's headmaster in order to fill up the missing spots and offer our support... The situation is as it follows: because of the unusually abundant rainfall during these last few days, a group of dangerous dragonfly demons have started to make their appearance around some of the main Shanghai's temples. As you all know, dragonfly demons are kin of the King of Insects, Beelzebub... Our mission is to join forces with the Chinese squads and help them get rid of these demons. As the Paladin, I'll be in charge of the group who will have to deal with the strongest demon, the Akitsu... And this is it, for now. So well, let's work hard together!" Shiro finishes with his trademark smile.
He goes and sits down next to Yukio, who looks visibly lost in thought.
"Feeling nervous?" Shiro asks him. But Yukio doesn't answer, "Test time!... According to the diagram of demonic elements, what's gonna work against the kind of demons we're gonna deal with today?"
"...The Akitsu and dragonfly demons are naturally attracted to aquatic places. That's why their number tends to increase during rainy days... Since they're water type demons, they're weak against the fire element and the best way to exorcise them is through a firearm loaded with incendiary or dragon fire's blessed bullets." Yukio answers, raising one of his eyebrows.
"Hahaha! You're right, that was too easy! But well done, my son!" Shiro exclaims and jokingly ruffles Yukio's hair to get him to loosen up a bit.
"W-wait! Stop it!" Yukio begs him, while trying to shove away his hand.
After a while, they reach their destination.
The groups are set and each of them starts heading to their assigned location.
"Remember, son. Always approach an enemy keeping into consideration its element. When you're in a pinch, use your knowledge to turn the situation to your advantage." Shiro advices Yukio with a smile, "Not like you need this kinda advice anymore..." he adds, laughing, "You're gonna be a great exorcist, one day... I know it."
Yukio suddenly stops walking. Shiro senses that something's bothering him and stops too, waiting for him to spill it all out. Rain starts falling on the both of them.
"Father Fujimoto, why are you raising us?" Yukio asks, and the atmosphere instantly turns tense, "Why does Lord Pheles let us live?"
Shiro turns to face Yukio, "You've researched it in the records vault and online, haven't you?"
"...But I didn't learn anything!" Yukio admits.
"You're an adult now, so I don't intend to fool you. But I can't talk about it now." Shiro explains.
"Not now? So you will sometime?" Yukio asks.
"You'll find out eventually." Shiro says, his tone final.
In that moment, a Chinese exorcist approaches them, "Excuse me, are you the back up squad from the Japan Branch?" he asks in a rushed tone. He doesn't wait for an actual response from Shiro, "We need your help! Our comrades are trapped inside the temple and the building is about to collapse! We can't rescue them! The Akitsu is blocking the entrance!"
"Lead the way!" Shiro orders him. The squad starts running toward the temple.
"Two of our Dragoons and an exwire girl are trapped in the highest storey. They're the ones we're most worried about!" the Chinese exorcist adds.
As the squad reaches the destination, they are welcomed by a dramatic scenery. The Akitsu is giving the Chinese exorcists a hard time. Shiro takes a quick look around and notices that most of them are lying all over the ground, heavily wounded.
"Doctors, take care of the injured!... I'll deal with the Akitsu... While I keep it busy, you Dragoons go rescue the exorcists trapped inside the temple!" Shiro orders.
Everyone nods and prepares to take action.
"Yukio, you join up with the rescue team." Shiro orders Yukio, while taking a few steps toward the Akitsu. As he notices that Yukio is still standing on his spot, he turns to slightly face him, "We're here to save people. So focus on the mission."
Yukio slowly raises his gaze to take a look at the collapsing temple. The conditions of the building look quite tragic, "...What if we can't?"
Shiro smirks, "Don't think like that before you even try."
In the top storey of the temple, the exwire girl is sitting on the floor, hiding behind some fallen wooden boards, bracing herself, trembling. The corpses of the two Dragoons who ended up trapped alongside her are lying at a few meters from her. The whole area is packed with low and mid-level dragonfly demons. A sob escapes the girl's mouth and the demons instantly turn toward her position, taking notice of her presence.
"This is the last storey before the highest one. We're going to clean this area. Okumura, you go ahead!" one of the Dragoons orders him, as he and the rest of the rescue squad engage a fight with the demons surrounding them.
Yukio rushes to the next floor and, as soon as he walks inside it, he catches sight of the dragonflies that are about to attack the girl. He shoots them all and saves her right in time. He makes sure that all the demons of the room are taken care of. After that, he takes a look around and notices the two Dragoons bodies lying on the floor. He approaches them to verify if they're still alive. But they aren't. So Yukio walks toward the girl and kneels in front of her.
"I'm with the Japan support squad. I've been sent to rescue you. Come with me!" Yukio urges the girl, but she keeps her head lowered, refusing to move, "Are you injured?"
"...Leave me be." the girl whispers.
"This temple can collapse any moment. We need to evacuate as soon as possible!"
"Leave me here... and go." and she slowly raises her head, just a bit, "I don't deserve to live anyway... Not a weakling like me."
"Those exorcists over there died to protect you, didn't they?" Yukio points at their lifeless bodies.
"They were not protecting me! Nobody would want to die protecting a useless being like me! They didn't even notice I was here..." and she's about to break into tears. Her body starts to shake even more, her hands form into fists.
"...I am here to protect you." Yukio declares with a reassuring tone.
The girl slowly raises her gaze to finally met Yukio's. But she lowers it the moment after and catches sight of the gun Yukio's holding in his right hand.
"You're... a Dragoon." she states with a sad smile, without averting her gaze from the weapon. Yukio turns to look at his own gun too.
"Yes... I am."
"I wanted to become a Dragoon too..." and a tear starts rolling down her cheek, "But... I'm too scared of the demons. So scared I... have trouble even taking aim." Yukio stares at her, in silence, "I'm a member of the Yang clan. And one of them is among the most powerful Arch Knights of the China Branch... But I'm a failure... My hands... would never stop shaking." and she stares at both her trembling hands.
In that moment, more demons break inside the room. Yukio instantly gets on his feet and starts shooting them down, one after another. A few manage to evade the bullets trajectories and launch to assault Yukio. One of them hits his hand, causing it to loosen its grip on the gun, which drops not too far from where the girl's still sitting. Yukio grabs his second gun from the holster on his back and keeps shooting the demons with it.
"Run while I keep them busy!" he screams.
The girl stares at the scene, scared, unable to move. The bugs' number keeps increasing.
"Why... Why would you put your life in danger for me?"
Yukio takes down a few more demons and recharges his gun, "When I was a kid, I used to be scared of the demons too..." the girl starts staring at him, "Whenever I saw one, all I could do was just cry and tremble... I was weak."
"Then... how?... How did you become so strong?" the girl asks him.
Yukio fires another round of bullets, and recharges his gun again, "I'm not strong..." and he sadly smiles, "...I'm still weak."
The girl is taken aback by his words. Then, her gaze falls to the gun besides her. She stares at it and, after a while, she finds the resolve to grab it.
"Stand back! It's too dangerous!" Yukio warns her.
But she doesn't listen to him. She starts shooting, and at first fails to hit the demons. But the more she shots, the more her aim gets better until she manages to take down some of them. The building starts shaking again.
"Let's get out of here!" Yukio screams.
This time, she nods and obeys, and they escape just before the temple collapses.
On the outside, Fujimoto has already got rid of the Akitsu. Eventually the situation settles down. Lucy Yang makes her appearance and thanks Fujimoto and the Japanese exorcists for the help.
"My name is May Yang." the girl introduces herself, giving the gun back to Yukio.
"I'm Yukio Okumura... Junior Second Class." Yukio introduces himself, while grabbing the gun.
May smiles at him.
In the evening, before the exorcists take their leave, May reaches Yukio and gives him a little wooden case. Yukio opens it.
"These are magic bullets which were blessed by the Naiads." May explains him, "They belonged to my sister... She was given them back when she went to the Greek Branch to study exorcism... She died when I was five years old..." she adds with a sad tone, "I want you to take them as a sign of my gratitude... I hope that they'll be useful to you, someday."
Yukio stares at the bullets, "Thank you..." he says with a small smile.
"You probably know about this, but Chinese exorcists were the first to conceive the use of firearms as weapons against the demons... One day, they thought about blessing regular bullets with the flame of a sacred dragon demon, as they commonly used to do only with their swords... The Dragoon Meister takes its name from this."
"Sorry... Honestly, I didn't know about this..." Yukio admits, closing the case. He stares for a few moments at the dragon engraved on its lid.
"Our clan's idol is the Sea Dragon King."
"...Dragons symbolize strength, right?" Yukio asks her, without averting his gaze from the case.
"They are important creatures to us... They're very fascinating. You should take the time to study them, someday." May suggests him, "...Why did you choose to become an exorcist?"
At her question, Yukio turns to look at Shiro, who's talking to the other exorcists, a few meters away from them.
"...I wanted to become strong enough to protect people."
"Did you have someone you looked up to?..."
"...My Father... and my brother." at this, Yukio slightly lowers his head, in an attempt to hide his face. But it's too late. May has already seen it.
"Hey, Yukio!" Shiro calls to him, waving a hand, "Time to get moving! The plane's waiting for us!"
Yukio turns to face May, "I have to go now." he tells her with a smile.
May smiles back at him. Yukio heads toward Shiro and the rest of the exorcists. May keeps staring at him until he disappears from her sight. As a warm sensation starts flooding through her body, an even more radiant smile blooms on her face.
"I want... to become someone like him." she says to herself.
December 24th, 1 year and 9 months later - Dominus Liminis
Lucifer and a few Illuminati members are gathered around a table, conferencing.
"And this concludes our report, Mr. Lucifer."
"I see. Thank you for your hard work, Lund, Strom..." the two men respectfully bow to their commander, "What about our spy at the Japan Branch?"
At this, a woman with striped hair stands from her chair, "Since his movements are being monitored by one of the Knights of the True Cross through a sylph, we are currently working to find a way to deactivate it."
"One of the Knights of the True Cross?" Lucifer asks.
"Lewin Light, Arch Knight, member of the Angelic Legion. He recently requested to be moved to the Japan Branch." the woman answers.
"Inconceivable!" comments another man, "This is too much! We cannot allow those bastards to keep interfering with our plans! We have to find a way to stop them! At this rate-"
"What are you so worried about, Mr. Quian Li Yang?" Todo interrupts him, "As our commander suggested, we've reached an agreement on not putting any pressure on our target, for now... Given this, being temporarily unable to communicate with our spy, doesn't pose a problem at all... Or, maybe, do you have another reason to feel so... anxious?"
"We're running out of time... And this is taking too long! We can't risk for the situation to get worse and lose any chance to get our hands on-"
"Mr. Yang!" Lucifer interrupts him, "...Are you implying that you don't trust my judgment?"
"N-no, Mr. Lucifer. It's not that..." the man cowers before the mite of his lord.
Lucifer sighs, "...I admit that I may have underestimated our target. I was sure that it was going to be easier to bring him by our side. But it looks like he's strongly determined not to give in." at this, Todo smirks. Lucifer continues, "I like that kind of spirit. But this is also the problem. Winning someone like him over by force could be troublesome... And I'd rather avoid any risk."
"Maybe, what Mr. Yang here is trying to say is that he got a plan to persuade our target into joining our cause on his own free will?" Todo insinuates.
"Is that so?" Lucifer asks Quian Li.
"...I..." Quian Li starts to sweat, "...I-I humbly request you, Mr. Lucifer, to grant me the permission to take on this task!"
"Saburota Todo." Lucifer turns to face Todo, "As the one who uncovered Yukio Okumura's potential, I want you to express your opinion on Mr. Yang's proposal."
"Oh, I don't mind who's in charge of his recruitment as long as we get results. As we just said, my spy's hands are currently tied. If my colleague, Mr. Yang here, is offering us an option to save some time, I suggest to accept it."
"As you wish... Mr. Yang, I grant you my permission."
"Mr. Lucifer... I-I'm not going to disappoint you!" Quian Li bows at him and walks away.
"What do you really think about this?" Lucifer asks Todo.
"Mr. Yang has been trying to put me under a bad light ever since the very first day that I joined this organization. In his eyes, we're opponents... He knows that succeeding in this mission is going to favor his position. Especially if he succeeds before I do... That's the only thing he cares about. That's why... he will fail."
NOTES:
- Theme Song of this story: UVERworld, THE OVER. I suggest you to listen to this song now, and again at the end of chapter 10 (*cough* you'll understand why when you get there), since it's a song that sums up May's feelings quite perfectly (the first time I heard it, I was amazed. Those lyrics are simply PERFECT. And, well, the fact that's a -UVERworld- song (Core Pride and Itteki no Eikyou, anyone?) makes it even more perfect).
- I wanted my new character to be related to one of the foreign branches of the True Cross. The Chinese one is the one I found more intriguing. About the girl, her name's May Yang. In the 69th chapter of the manga, we're shown a meeting where we're introduced to some "international" True Cross figures. One of these is Lucy Yang, Arch Knight of the China Branch. I wanted my girl to be somehow related to her. I guess Yang is just a surname (in the manga), but for this story I thought about turning it also into the name of a clan. And May is a member of it, thus her surname is Yang too. About her looks, I took inspiration on the Hoshiota/Astronerd oneshot from Kazue Kato. If you take a look at the main female character, Tezuka, you'll have an idea of how I invision May.
- The Yukio/Shiro confrontation in the first part of this chapter is the same exact scene we're shown in the 44th chapter of the manga, a Yukio's flashback.
- I wanted to give the story some sort of consistency and so I did some research around the net. Longtaitou Festival exists. Yes, rainy days are usual during this time. Yes, insects wake up during this time. Dragonflies because, well... China, dragons... It sounded fitting. I wanted to introduce a new Ba'al, so I picked the King of Insects. Akitsu is a Japanese word for dragonfly, so I used it as the name of one of the demons. Just like Chuchi is used for the moths in the manga. So yes, I used references, but since I'm kinda lazy, I rearranged them a bit, so take them with a grain of salt.
- Last, some of the other things are made up by me, like the origin of the Dragoon Meister title.