Disclaimer: I don't own ANE/BE or any of its characters.
Thank you for checking out my new story. I hope you enjoy it.
Act l: The Beginning
"Rin Okumura; our council has convened and come to a decision. You have been sentenced to death." A large voice boomed from where the Grigori stood.
Yukio froze. His entire body going numb. The words echoed in his head again, and again and he still couldn't comprehend their meaning. Sentenced to death? There must be a mistake.
Two exorcists neared Rin, who was now trembling. Rin's eyes, filled with pure fear, met Yukio's across the room. Yukio wanted to tell Rin that he would be okay and that nothing bad would happen to him, but the words were stuck in his throat. What comfort could he give to someone who was about to be dragged to their own death?
"Rin..." Yukio called out weakly.
The two exorcists grabbed Rin from under his arm and began to drag him out of the room.
"Rin!" Yukio shouted, his voice finding strength again. He was faintly aware of someone holding him back.
Rin paused in front of Mephisto, who was standing by the Grigori, and said something too quietly for Yukio to hear. Whatever it was, it must have been important because Rin was speaking frantically.
Mephisto nodded and snapped his fingers.
The exorcists resumed dragging Rin away. Just before they removed Rin from the room, Rin looked over his shoulder smiled, he shouted something to Yukio, but Yukio couldn't hear him over the blood pounding in his ears.
Rin was out of sight now. The chamber doors slammed shut and-
Yukio jolted awake to the sound of knocking. Panting, he tried to get his breathing under control. Yukio reached up to his face to wipe the sleep away, only to find that he was covered in sweat. He used to dream of Rin's sentencing every night but now it only happened on rare occasions. This is the first time he's had that dream in months.
His bedroom was dark, save for a bit of light protruding from underneath his door. Squinting, he could faintly see the outline of someone's feet just outside the door.
Three years ago, when Yukio heard those words for the first time, he didn't fully understand their meaning or the impact they would have later on. It was only after Rin was dragged away by the exorcists to be executed did the meaning start to sink in. He would never see his brother again. He would have to celebrate their birthday alone every year for the rest of his life. One half of a whole.
You have been sentenced to death. Those six words used to haunt his every waking hour. Now instead of haunting him during the day, they do so at night. Sometimes in his dreams he would see his brothers smiling face, the time they spent together with Father Fujimoto, or ever the adventures he and Rin had with the exwires. But on night like tonight, he would see his brothers terrified expression, fearful of what was to come.
The banging on the door came back but this time the person on the other side of it also said, "Oi sleepyhead, open the goddamn door!"
"I'm coming." He called back.
Removing himself from his tangled mess of blankets, he kicked his legs over the side of his mattress and stood up. He grabbed a pair of glasses from his desk and read the clock hung on the wall. 7:26am. He had slept in.
Since Yukio didn't live with Rin anymore, he moved into a single bedroom in the boys dormitory. They originally offered him a room with another student but since he was also a teacher, they offered him the option of having his own room. Which he chose.
Groggily, Yukio shuffled his way over to the door. Stumbling over his own feet a few times on the short walk.
He opened the door and was greeted with the equally exhausted face of Shura.
"Shura, what can I do for you?" He asked.
"Can you cover my classes today?" She asked. "We're short-staffed and they've worked me to the bone. Mission, after mission, after mission."
Yukio glanced back at his clock. His own class started in around thirty minutes. He took in Shura's exhausted appearance again and sighed.
"I'll cover for you, but you owe me this time."
"Sure," She waved him off. "Whatever works for you four-eyes. Hungry?"
"Famished. Just let me put on some clothes." He said, gesturing to his pajamas.
Shura snorted, "Sleeping in, Yukio? You're getting lazy. I'll meet you downstairs."
Yukio closed the door. He took quick shower and put on a clean set of clothes. Sliding into his exorcist coat, he looked into the mirror to make sure his appearance was acceptable. He hadn't changed much in the last three years. He still wore glasses and had a standard haircut. Maybe he grew in inch or two.
'How much would Rin have changed in three years? Would he have gotten any taller?' Yukio wondered. He shook those thoughts away, he had to focus.
Yukio rushed downstairs and met up with Shura.
"What took you so long? Were you too busy picking between your identical pairs of glasses?"
"There are minute differences you know."
Shura made a skeptical face. She just as curvaceous as always, but she dressed a little more conservatively. Dawning a full exorcist coat instead of a bikini. She also sported a jaw length hair cut that made her look younger.
Shortly after Rin's execution, Shura forced Yukio to go out and eat breakfast with her once a week. Originally she did it so Yukio had a reason to leave his room outside of missions, but it slowly became routine and they took the time to catch up with each other between their hectic work schedules.
"Hang on." Yukio said, stopping in his place.
"What?" Shura asked.
"You asked me to cover for you... But I was already covering for you today. You're supposed on a mission, why are you here?" He questioned.
Shura clicked her tongue, "Hah, nothing gets past you does it? I was hoping you had forgotten about that."
Yukio motioned for her to continue.
"Apparently we are no longer needed to aid the Malaysian Branch with their demon infestation problems. They, and I quote, 'handled the situation themselves with minimal support.' Which is mostly true, we did send in an upper ranked support team." Then she added, "Speaking of which, the support team should be back today. Have you ever met them?"
"No, I haven't."
"Neither have I. They're always on missions."
"Well, I'm glad to hear they sorted it all out." Yukio replied.
"Yeah, less work for me. Did you hear the news? Apparently one of them is the a new hot-shot. A young upper first class gunning for arc knight."
"Oh really?" Yukio asked, only half interested.
"Yes really. How about you?" She nudged him with her elbow, "You first-rate, uh, expert exorcist? Barely 18 and you're already an upper second class. That's no small feat." She nudged him with her elbow.
"Well some of us do try to do well." He teased, putting emphasis on the word try.
"Watch it. The exwires are graduating soon, right? Got anything planned?"
"They still have a few months left. As for their graduation, nothing too exciting. We'll probably just follow standard procedure. I think Miss Kamiki and Miss Moriyama are planning a surprise party that I don't know about."
"Gah," She began, "I can't believe they're graduating soon! It feels like just yesterday that you graduated. You were so tiny…" She tried to ruffle his hair but he batted her hand away.
Shura's phone started ringing from the inside of her coat.
"I would answer that." Yukio said.
Shura shot him a scathing look, but answered the phone anyways, "Hello? Right. I understand."
"Looks like we'll have to get breakfast another time, I've gotta go." She sighed, exhaustion creeping into her voice.
"Going on a mission after all then, are we?"
"No it's.. Don't you have a class to teach?" She barked at him.
He looked at his watch, 8:03am. Damn it.
"Well played." He said with resignation in his voice.
"I'll text you when I can. Later four eyes!" She called at him.
Yukio watched her leave, and she pulled how her phone and made a call. His own phone started to vibrate in his pocket. "I'm not answering your call!" He shouted to Shura, unsure if he could hear her. His phone pinged, signifying that he got a message.
'I'll check it after class.' He thought. A class that he was already late for.
On his way to class, he saw a little white dog, whom he knew to be Mephisto, following a small groups of exorcist. He was wagging his tail happily.
'That must be the backup team they sent to Malaysian branch.' He thought.
When he reached his classroom, he opened the door and nearly bumped into Kaoru Tsubaki - a middle first class exorcist.
"Yukio? What are you doing here?" The older man asked, perplexed.
"I -uh," Yukio started, fumbling over his own words. He wasn't sure why he had to explain why he was in his own classroom, "teach them?"
The words felt ridiculous as they left his mouth. He and Tsubaki have known each other for years and Tsubaki knew that Yukio taught the anti-demon pharmacology class.
"Of course, of course," He chuckled, "but I meant what are you doing here teaching? Didn't you get the message?"
Seeing Yukio's confused expression he explained, "You're supposed to be in the hospital ward doing a medical evaluation on the support team we sent to Malaysia."
Yukio pulled out his phone and sure enough, the message that he got on his phone earlier wasn't from Shura, but from HQ requesting that he to evaluate the returning exorcist to make sure they were fit for duty and that Tsubaki would be covering his classes for the morning.
Yukio looked up at Tsubaki and looked around to room and saw the exwires looking back at him with bemused expressions.
"Right," he muttered. "I'll be off then."
Yukio left the classroom and he felt as like his head was spinning on his shoulders. This is going to be a long day.
Taking the quick way to the hospital, it took his less than five minutes to arrive. He opened the door to the hospital wing and saw a small group of five or so exorcists. Some were getting treated for minor scrapes and wounds and others were getting full evaluations.
"How many?" Yukio asked the doctor on duty, slipping on a pair of medical gloves.
"We've already cleared two, the paladin and the mission tactician," he explained. "these two here are being evaluated for infections and parasites. Three are still in the waiting room. When they're done here, send them to fill in and submit their reports over there." He pointed vaguely to an area outside of the hospital wing.
"The paladin?" Yukio asked, surprised, "Why was he on the mission?"
The doctor just grunted and said, "No idea."
Medical gloves now on, Yukio walked over to the first patient, pleased to find that they had no serious injuries, parasites, or ailments of any kind. While checking the second person, he listened in on some of the nurses who were whispering in the hall.
"Dead?" One of them squeaked.
"I know, I can't believe it." Another one whispered.
"But we was an arc knight! Whatever went wrong must have been horrible."
"Obviously it was. After he died, they had to send the paladin himself."
"Who'll take his place? The arc knight, I mean."
"I've heard it'll be the arc knights second in command, the upper first class that was in here earlier."
"The mission tactician? But he was so young!" One of them gasped.
In an even quieter voice the other nurse whispered, "Some people suspect foul play. Rumor has it that he killed the arc knight so he could take the rank for himself-"
The doctor on duty noticed them whispering to each other, "Don't you lot have anything better to do than gossip?" He snapped at them.
Yukio heard a group of hurried footsteps and saw the nurses rush back to work.
"Fill in and submit your report over there." Yukio said to his patient when he was finished.
After another hour of evaluating patients and treating minor injuries, Yukio was finally finished. He sat down in a chair and decided to take a quick break. He had just closed his eyes when his phone buzzed again. Sighing, he opened his eyes and checked his phone. This time it was actually a message from Shura.
'Joining us for lunch? - Shura' attached to the message was a photo of her and the exwires in the cafeteria.
He put his phone back into his pocket and forced himself up from the chair. Trotting down to the cafeteria, it wasn't hard to find his friends. Between Shima's bright-colored hair and Izumo shouting at him about something he had said, they were fairly easy to pick out.
Bon had finally gotten rid of hair bright yellow hair strip and now sported his natural dark hair.
Izumo, like Shura, sported short hair because it kept getting in the way. Whereas Sheimi's tied her hair back in a long braid.
And then there was Shima. His once before pastel pink hair was now a vibrant and almost offensive shade of neon pink.
Sheimi spotted him at once and waved him over.
"Hello Yuki!"
"Hello." He greeted them all and pulled over a vacant chair from a nearby table.
Sheimi had prepared and cooked them all meals. Despite her first few disastrous attempts at cooking, she had gotten better over the past few years. They laughed and joked as they poked fun at Yukio for showing up to class flustered.
"You, you should have seen his face!" Shima laughed, spitting food everywhere.
Izumo gave him a disgusted look and shoved some napkins into his hands.
Yukio chuckled and retaliated, "If you're not careful, I will double your homework load for this week... and next."
While they were all talking and joking, Yukio felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He scanned the cafeteria and found nothing to be concerned about.
Shura gave him a curious look and he just shook his head. It felt like they were being watched.
Yukio's phone buzzed in his pocket again, he took a deep breath, "I'm not going to catch a break today."
'From Headquarters Division 5: All able-bodied exorcists (of all ranks) are to report to the Vatican ASAP. Thank you for your compliance.'
Serveral more phones in the cafeteria pinged, all of them belonging to exorcists. Even the exwires phones went off.
He raised his eyebrows in surprise and judging from Shura's expression, who was also checking her phone, she received the same message.
"The Vatican huh.." Yukio muttered.
Shura nodded, "It must be urgent."
"How do you even get to the Vatican?" Bon asked, reading the message on his phone.
Standing up, both Yukio and Shura shrugged their coats back on.
"Shura, do you have a key?" Yukio asked, "I left mine in my room."
"Yep." She smirked and waved her key in front of his face.
She put the key into a nearby closet door and twisted it open. When she opened the door, it was no longer a closet but the entrance to the Vatican. Stepping through the gate they were greeted with a surprisingly crowded room filled to the brim with other exorcists.
"They're from other branches. I wonder what's going on. Any ideas?" Shura asked Yukio.
"A few, but they're all guesswork."
Everyone was being ushered into a large circular room so great in size that it could easily be mistake for and observatory. Despite its size, people still had to squeeze together for everyone to fit inside.
To the far wall was a large podium where ceremonial events were held. A set of French doors sat behind the podium. During past events, those doors are where guest speakers or important figures would enter and exit from.
Once everyone filed into the room, a set of large doors shut behind them. A tall figure emerged from the doors behind the podium. A few people could be heard gasping, but Yukio just shook his head at the ridiculous grandeur at the appearance of none other than Arthur Auguste Angel, the paladin.
Arthur cleared his throat and spoke loudly, "A few of you may have heard some rumors floating around that we lost a senior member of our ranks. I am here to announce that it's true, just hours ago we lost a brave member of our ranks. He had the duty and honor of serving with us as an arc knight." He paused and murmurs swept through the crowd.
"Is he serious? Did you hear any rumors?" Shura asked, looking pale.
"I heard people gossiping earlier but I wasn't sure if it was true." Yukio replied.
"You'd think that they would have told us about something this important sooner." Shura grumbled.
Arthur raised his voice over the murmurs to silence them, "In his last moments, he requested his successor by name. As of this morning we have sworn in a new arc knight to take over the duty and responsibilities of our fallen comrade. Whether it be on the battlefield or in the planning of missions, many of you have already worked with him. Yet it only felt right to give him a formal introduction. Rin Okamura, please step forward."
Gasps of surprise and shock reverberated throughout the room.
Yukio quirked his head in confusion, "What?"
Yukio looked up at the podium and it felt like a punch to the gut.
To the right of Arthur stood Rin, clad in an exorcist uniform. Kurikara strapped across his back. His facial expression gave away no emotion, but his cold, blue eyes pierced through them like ice.