A/N: This one hit me while I was trying to sleep haha. I wrote down most of it before it slipped my mind. Notebooks are awesome.

Published: 11/15/2017

Warnings: Manga Spoilers up to Chapter 94 and language. Lots of language. Should I stop warning for that? It seems to add itself more and more

Take My Hand

They put him in a cell.

Pacing back and forth, Yukio feels like pulling his hair out. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck! This wasn't how things were suppose to go! He hadn't meant for things to get this bad, for it to go this far, but… But… That damn smirk!

He hadn't meant to pull the trigger! But, what would it matter if he did? Mephisto was a demon! It's not like it would kill him! He would live! He would survive!

And yet, here he was.

The ice cold glare Shura had given him had been enough to knock him out of the delirium.

"You have no idea what you've done."

He hadn't known. Now he did.

Yukio holds back the urge to scream.

Damn it, damn it, damn it!

He's really screwed up this time. It makes Rin's screw ups look kind in comparison, and that's really saying something. He's brought about the Apocalypse, for what else do you call it?

The Gates of Hell were open, and Yukio had destroyed the one thing keeping them shut, the one thing giving them time and keeping them alive.

Yes, Mephisto would survive. However, Yukio had ushered in the end of days and maybe, just maybe, that's what Lucifer saw in him. Maybe the bastard knew. Maybe he knew Yukio would be his little destroyer. His Judas. Yukio certainly felt like it. He really did.

There a bang.

Eyes looking up, Yukio feels dread pooling up in his stomach, an instinct that can't be denied.

"Let me through! He's my brother! I want to see him!"

Rin. Stupid Rin, coming to see his stupid brother because Yukio, not Rin, Yukio had brought about the Apocalypse. Did that make Yukio the real antichrist?

He had always assumed that was the role Satan had wanted for Rin, the role Satan had envisioned, and had always imagined that Rin wouldn't have a choice in it, because how could he? Rin would never willingly destroy the world. He was too weak for that. But, a possessed Rin, on the other hand…

But no. It hadn't been Rin. It had been Yukio. And there hadn't been a possession.

He'd done it of his own free twisted will. Ha!

Either way, Yukio can content himself that Rin won't be getting past the guar-

"Let him through already! He won't leave until you let him pass. Don't worry, I'll take full responsibility."

"All- all right. If you say so, ma'am."

…

That stupid big boobed bitch!

Rin comes striding across the hall.

For once, his twin looks serious. The ever present smiles and mirth that Yukio had come to equate to his brother aren't there at all. He isn't used to this. He isn't used to it at all. It's not something he's accustomed to.

Rin is suppose to be obnoxiously happy and gleeful, idiotic and carefree. Serious is not something Rin Okumura should ever be. That was Yukio's job.

Rin fixes him with a stare Yukio can't quiet place and Yukio responds by sitting and staring right back. Daring him to say something. Daring him to try it. Just try. I dare you, brother. I dare you.

For several seconds, minutes, hours, Yukio can't tell, the pair of them just stare at each other, not saying a word. Rin's eyes, angry and tired and accusing. There it is. Yukio doesn't bother to hide a smirk, and he can almost see Rin start to boil over.

Ha! All too easy. Brother, you are so predicta-

"I loved the old man," Rin finally speaks, "I really did. But, right now? Right now, I kinda hate him."

Yukio freezes.

He turns his head to stare directly at Rin, to look right into eyes so much like his own, if only a few tones different, his own eyes wide in shock and horror. He expects it to be a lie. Part of him expects Rin to have said nothing at all. That the akward silence is still present and that Yukio is hallucinating. That its all in his head.

Except, it's not in his head and Rin is biting his lip in agitation and there's just a hint of a blue outline and it's not in his head.

"How the hell can you say that!" Yukio thunders, shooting up like one of the bullets in his many, many guns. He storms towards the bars and grips them tight, eyes lit with rage. If Yukio wasn't in this cell, he'd beat the living shit out of his brother right then and there.

"How dare you! Who the hell do you think you are, saying such things when you're the one that got him killed!"

The blue is no longer a hint. Yukio expects his brother to flinch away at the accusation, like usual, but instead what he gets is rage that matches his own. Blue flames dance along his brother's flesh like a second skin.

"I dare, because this is all his fault!" Rin thunders right back without a care in the world, "He started this! Him and his lies and his secrets! And look at you, just like him! Lying and holding it all in because that's what he showed you and that's what you know so that's what you do!"

Yukio bristles.

"We did it to protect you!"

"You just don't fucking get it, do you, Yukio?" the tone is poison, so acidic that Yukio can't help but flinch back. "We used to tell each other everything! We relied on each other! We trusted each other, Yuki! And now… And now, you're sitting in a fucking cell for starting the bloody Apocalypse because dad trained you not to trust, dad trained you to keep secrets! News flash, Yukio! These secrets kill! They killed him, and they'll kill you!"

Yukio can only gape at the audacity of his brother. Who in the living hell does Rin think he is? But, Rin isn't done.

"And another news flash, Yukio! He was human! He was human, and he was wrong, and if was here, I'd punch his fucking lights out!"

That's a lie and they both know it. How the guards haven't decided to interfere at this point is also beyond Yukio, although he's certain Shura's worked some sort of unholy sorcery, and he curses her even more for making him deal with this bullshit.

Yukio seeths.

"You're the one that doesn't understand, Rin! Dad trusted me!" The unsaid me and not you was deafening. "He trusted me, but he kept so much back!" Yukio revealed. "Do you know how terrible, how agonizing it is to know that you only truly have half the fucking picture?"

"Dude, are you fucking retarded?" Rin cooly cuts across, voice dipped in ice. "Do you listen to yourself speak? I knew for years, Yuki, that there was something fucking wrong with me! I knew there was something wrong, something different! I knew by the way you all looked at me that you knew! You all knew! But none of you said anything! You didn't say anything!"

Yukio feels as if he's been slapped. It makes him even angrier. How dare Rin? How dare he?

"Or… That's what this is really about, isn't it! You were fine with half truths until I knew them too! You're only so desperate now because we're fucking equal for once, and you can't stand that! You don't know how to deal with it!"

Yukio sneers.

"Are you listening to a word coming out of my mouth? Let. Me. Repeat. You. Fucking. Dumbass. I never knew the full truth! Only half, and lies, and empty promises! Aren't you curious at all, or do you lack the mental capacity to wonder about it at all, about our origins?!

"Of course I wanna know!" Rin screams right back. The stone beneath his feet is starting to glow red, starting to cackle, starting to melt. "But, not like this, Yukio! If this is the cost, then I'd rather have the secret!"

"You're pathetic!" Yukio doesn't bother hiding his disgust. "Well, I'm not like you, Niisan! Unlike you, I don't want to live in ignorance, unaware of who and what I am!"

Rin doesn't respond for several seconds. Yukio feels a surge of satisfaction roll through him. He's won. He's won, and his brother knows it. He's-

"... Old man, you really fucked him over, didn't you?"

Rin gives a bitter laugh and the fire dies away. A fist collides with stone and Yukio watches as it disintegrated beneath his brother's fist. Always stronger. Always, no matter what he did, no matter what Yukio tried.

Yukio gets ready to yell again, because he isn't done, there's no way he's done yet and if Rin wants to challenge him then so be it. Bring it. But then, he catches sight of something that shocks him to his core and has him reeling in disbelief.

Crying.

Rin is crying.

Rin… Rin doesn't cry.

Rin never cries.

Rin was always big and strong and he was always protecting him, smiles and laughs and an idiot all around. He hadn't even cried when their father died. Instead, he had stood calm and passive and strong. Rin had always been strong. So strong.

Rin had never let Yukio see him cry. Not once, not ever. That was why the shock of seeing that act alone was enough to knock Yukio out of his rage.

Rin was crying. And, he no longer cared if Yukio saw. He was crying, open and freely, and shouldn't Yukio be happy? He won, after all. Rin is crying. Rin lost. Yukio won. Then, why doesn't he feel like celebrating? Why doesn't this feel like victory?

Yukio took a step back. Another. Then another. All too soon, his back collides with the cold hard wall.

Falling to his knees, the young exorcist, child really, gripped at his head.

"Oh God. What have I done? What have I done?"

It hits him, then and there, his much he's really messed up. Yes, Yukio knew he'd fucked up the second Shura had told him just what he had unleashed, but it hadn't hit home 'till now. It hadn't hit home until he saw those tears falling from his brother's eyes, because those tears made it real. Oh so real. It's not just the Apocalypse he's started. It's something else. He's broken something, and he's not sure what it even is or what he's suppose to do and-

The bars rattle. Yukio looks up, and Rin is there, gazing down at him. The anger is still there, but it's melted away. It's melted, and Yukio recognizes the familiar echo of determination in those blue eyes.

"It doesn't matter," Rin lies, because yes it fucking does, Yukio started the bloody Apocalypse. "What matters is, we'll get through this. But, there's only one way Yukio. Only one," a hand extends through the bars. "I know the Old Man taught you to hold it all in, to carry this all by yourself, but that's insane. You can't. We can't. Please, little brother... Pleased trust me. Please, let me help. Please."

Rin's eyes are earnest and full of hope and forgiveness and… It makes Yukio's blood boil.

Yukio isn't like his brother. He can't be. Rin is kind and good and warm, and Yukio is cool and calm and- and holyshit, Rin is right. Rin right and Yukio feels like he's breaking apart. But, of course, Rin is here. Rin is always there to help him pick up the pieces, to smile and help him gather the shards because that's the kind of person Rin is.

So, against his better judgement, against every instinct in him warning him not to, telling him this is a mistake, Yukio takes the hand. Rin rewards him with a blinding smile, and Yukio can't help but smile right back.

Then, Yukio feels something he hasn't felt in a very long time.

Hope.