"There are many myths surrounding the Fair Folk. Like vampires, fae are believed to be the spirits of the pagan dead. Since the pagans are unbaptised it was said that they are neither god enough to move on to the heavenly afterlife nor bad enough to fall into hell. These spirits are therefore said to be sent to the Abyss after death, becoming Faeries."
"What type is it?" A greedy looking fat man asked as he leered into Rin's cage. The caretaker sitting on a nearby crate looked up from his cards.
"We think it's some sort of cross between a Salamander and a Spriggan. It's got both fire and a sword. Quite the unique catch. We managed to summon it straight into the cage just the other day." he said absently and turned back to his game of solitaire. He didn't notice the ugly gleam his boss gives the caged faerie but Rin does and he doesn't like it.
"What's the most it can go for on the market?" the boss was now rolling his hands over in glee, "A Spriggan/Salamader hybrid could mature into quite the power house, wouldn't it?"
The caretaker hummed in agreement and looked up to examine their newest stock a little closer. The faerie had jagged black dragonfly wings that give off no shine and its black hair casts a shadow over bright blue and red eyes. If he didn't know better, the caretaker would say that the faerie is all Spriggan but it's the eyes that gives the little demon away. The bright red tint of its pupils as well as the fact that its little sword catches fire each time it slashed at the iron bars of the cage tell any decent collector that this little fae is different from the rest.
"Yeah, boss." he said at last, "We can get about one-seventy off of it."
One hundred and seventy thousand for a juvenile faerie could be considered a little steep, even on the black market, but the cost of the summoning supplies and the risk of getting caught by exorcists demands it to be so. Looking at the venomous glare the little demon was giving them, the caretaker couldn't help but wonder if one hundred and seventy thousand would be enough to keep them safe if the devil ever got out.
Fae were never known for being forgiving little creatures after all and one that could potentially grow to the size of a normal human was bound to be trouble.
The smuggler grinned and struggled to keep his composure. A hybrid like this was going to make him rich.
Rin wasn't exactly sure what was going on but he didn't like it. The shady ass guys in suits gave him the creeps and the cage he was in stung like a bitch every time he tried to touch the bars. As it was, he was forced to sit on the wooden pole that was lodged firmly between two bars of the cage in order to keep his skin from being burnt straight off him.
It was irritating, Rin thought, that he was forced to sit around in a cage like some pet. The last he knew he was a human. A formerly dead human, yes, but still a human! He was not a fucking parrot. He did not appreciate being forced to cling to some wooden bar hanging on a chain because the floor burned his bare feet. He did not appreciate having to drink water from a dish and have to put up with being half starved because his stingy ass captors would forget to feed him. It wasn't even as if he ate all that much! The least the bastards could do was remember to drop some friggin' sunflower seeds into his cage every now and then. Instead, Rin had to deal with the near constant pang of hunger settled deep in his gut.
Rin took out his sword and started to carve things into his perch. It wasn't like there was much of anything else to do so lately he had been taking to trying to remember things from his old life.
He still remembered things like his name and that he lived in Japan and spoke no other language but Japanese. He also knew that he liked cooking and sappy romance but not bullies and homework. He knew he died from a head wound created by a heated pipe to the temple.
The things he didn't know were a bit more numerous.
It was embarrassing... but he couldn't remember his father's name. He knew it was a sa-row name but nothing more than that. In his fragmented memories, he had only ever called his father 'Old Man'. Rin knew it was a form of endearment but he really wished he could have called his dad by his name more often, maybe he would have remembered it then.
He also remembered that he used to live in a religious building. He can dimly recall days spent kneeling in a hallowed place. Where spoken words were whispered and songs reverberated through your very bones. Where meals were always warm and the table was filled with welcoming faces.
He couldn't remember who he lived with though. He knew that there were many men and no women but that was about the sum of his knowledge. Everything else was a big blot in his memory. Just about the only thing that was somewhat clear was his brother.
Turquoise eyes behind square glasses. Neatly brushed brown hair and more moles than he cared to admit. A calming voice that worked wonders on Rin's temper. That serene smile and an ambition to be a doctor. His little brother.
Rin remembered all of this. He could very clearly remember what his brother looked like and a little of what he was like. He could even remember his birthday! (Near Christmas, he knew, but don't try ask him when Christmas actually was.)
…
He couldn't remember his name though.
He was an absolute failure as a big brother. He couldn't remember his very own brother's name, not even a hint of it, and his heart ached every time he reminded himself of this fact. It hurt and Rin was torn every time he thought of it. Should he carry on trying to bring up painful topics or should he focus on something else?
Like the fact that he could light things on fire with his mind now.
Rin wasn't entirely sure when he became aware of the fact that he had fire powers but they weren't very helpful in his endeavour to escape his prison.
When he first attacked the cage with his sword on fire, the bars had gotten a good couple dents before the smugglers came around and doused him with some water that burned. Rin had fallen off his perch and writhed on the floor as the water clung to his skin and just about killed him.
After, they carved some runes into the bottom and outside of his cage and suddenly it became impervious to his fire. Nothing he did would even nick the metal anymore. To make matters worse, they had a spray bottle of that crazy water near his cage now, so every time he even tried to spark a couple flames, he would get a face full of acid water. A painful reminder.
Rin's wings buzzed in irritation.
He couldn't play with fire because they would burn his face off and he couldn't try remember his past because it hurt his heart. He literally couldn't win. Rin wasn't sure whether it would be the monotony or the acid water that would end up killing him first.
A sliver of wood shavings fluttered to the ground. At least he could still vandalize his perch.
One day the smugglers bring in another creature to Rin's side of the warehouse. This one a little different to the normal mutated beasts that they usually had.
She was small, absolutely tiny, in comparison to everything around her. Including Rin. Where Rin was about the size of a cockatiel, she was the size of a finch. Her hair was a light chestnut colour that matched her wings, which look like fallen leaves. Her clothing was unlike anything Rin had ever seen and he wondered how hard it was to make something out of what looked like spider webs and leaves.
She also gets very wide eyed at the sight of him and tumbles off her perch in her haste to bow down to him.
"Young master!" she chimed, absolutely reverent. "My prince!"
It's there, on the ground, that she took note of the runes carved into the iron of his cage. She then flew into a violent rage which the smugglers struggled to keep contained. She hissed and screamed and threw sharp leaves at the men as they tried to take her away from where Rin was being kept.
Rin was left with absolutely no idea what was going on. Prince? He thought, bewildered. Young master? Just who did this chick mistake him for?
The fae is moved away from him after that and didn't return.
Three days after Rin is shoved into a bigger, fancier looking cage, he is moved to the section of the warehouse where all the other fae are kept. The smugglers are briefly baffled by the fact that all the other fae refuse to give anything other than Rin any of their attention but eventually leave it alone. They had other things to focus on.
Like the customer in the suit currently perusing their wares.
The fact that the man in the suit looked exceedingly normal (brown hair, brown eyes, boring cut, somewhat cheap-looking suite) did nothing to dissuade Rin that he was dangerous. There was an apathetic look in his eye as he looked over the tiny humanoid demons that put him on edge.
There was also the fact that the man, once noticing where all the fae's attention lied, turned to Rin's cage and looked him dead in the eye. Nobody in the warehouse had yet to look him in the eye. It was unsettling.
"What about this one?" the man asked tonelessly. "What would one be able to do with one?"
The smuggler turned and briefly looked over at Rin before turning back to whatever he was doing on his phone before.
"That one is a bit of a special case." He started. "We've pegged him as a Spriggan/Salamander mix. He's got fire and weapon capabilities. I don't know what anyone would really want with a fae outside of assassination though so I don't know how you would put the pyrokenesis to use. Maybe setting the place on fire after slitting somebody's throat? I dunno."
The smuggler scratched his head and put his phone aside.
"Either way it's the Spriggan qualities you want. Brilliant for quiet kills. In and out, really. Almost impossible to track and just as hard to defend against. Hard to defend against something you don't know exists, never mind can't even see without a Temptaint." The criminal laughed. "That's if you can see him at all. Assassins smaller than pigeons tend to be hard to catch after all."
The man hummed and leaned in a little closer. Rin fingered his sword.
"What does it come with? A command phrase?"
The smuggler shook his head.
"No command or termination phrase for this one. If you want it, you'll have to get it Bound."
The man hummed once and nodded. Rin felt his stomach drop when he stood straight and fixed his crummy suit.
"See to it that that gets done." He said. "I will be here to collect this one and the others in three days."
The next day Rin's cage was picked up and placed into a steel box. There was nothing he could do as white gas filled the chamber and sleep forcefully overcome him.
He woke to find two metal bracelets sitting tightly on each hand.
"What the hell is this shit anyway?" Rin groused as he pulled at the bracelets. At the moment, they felt more like shackles and Rin hated what they represented.
Placed in a cage, shackled and examined by people who wished to buy him. Like he was a pet or an object to be owned. Like he wasn't a person.
A small cough from the adjacent cage distracted him from his depressing thoughts.
"If I may," a lightly glowing fae demurred. He looked to be a fair bit older than most others of their kind, Rin absently noted. He also sounded like bells or chimes when he spoke unlike Rin whom spoke Japanese like his human captives. When he did not speak again Rin jolted and gave him a spoken reply.
"Uhh, yeah, sure. Go ahead." The old fae dipped his head and bowed slightly.
"Those are Chains of Binding. They are used to tether a denizen of Gehenna to a human so that the demon becomes a Bound demon." The fae explained, never once lifting his head. "A Bound demon is a forced familiar. A demon whom was not summed through a summoning circle nor one who agreed to allow humans to command them." The old fae hesitated. "They are creatures forced to follow the word of those whom have bound and Named them."
"So basically, a slave?" Rin asked with his heart in his throat and the old fae visibly gulped before nodding.
"There is no escaping those who activate the Chain once you are Named. For Names have power over ones very soul."
Rin's heart felt like it was drumming in his ears. A slave? He thought hysterically. He was a slave?
Rin teetered to the side and had to brace himself against his perch.
"My lord?" the fae asked hesitantly. Rin snapped, suddenly angry with everyone and everything.
"Don't call me that!" He near snarled. "I'm not anybody's prince or master or lord or pet! I'm just a guy who died and was punished for something he can't even remember by being reborn into this shit hole. And I already have a name! Why would being given another suddenly make me a slave?"
The old fae shrunk under the force of Rin's ire, hesitated, and then chugged on. His body violently shook as he dared not look directly at the irate teen but he dared not stop either. This was something Rin had to know. It was vital.
"Be that as it may, my Lord, but it still does not change that you are the Prince." He murmured. "Our prince. The son of the god-king and lord of the In Between."
"Wait, what? The In Between?" Rin really couldn't understand it. Ever since day one, he had been called lord by the fae and the other creatures, the ones who could speak at least. They would stop, look at him for a couple seconds before either dropping to their knees (the fae) or stop growling at him (the beasts). Rin hadn't really known how to deal with it all so he ignored it entirely and hoped it would go away. "Also, the son of who?"
"The son of Satan, my lord." The fae clarified. "The demon god-king of the realm of the demons, Gehenna. You are his ninth son. The son whom was neither of Assiah nor of Gehenna. The son whom died but never moved on. The son whom every Fae recognizes as Lord for he is the strongest of our kind.
The son whom will be king of the In Between, home of the faeries."
Rin slept after that. He literally had no more energy to deal with the world and all its crap.
When Rin woke up from his drug induced slumber, it was to the very unwelcomed face of his would-be owner.
"Your name," the scum bag intoned with a smile, "is Oberon."
And Rin feels the power of the Name settle onto his bones like molten steel. It burned and bubbled under his skin before beginning to settle and harden. Rin writhed under the force of its strength.
Somehow he knew that if he let it, the heat of it would burn away everything he was, everything he would continue to be. This Rin knew with the same certainty that he had felt when he woke up and had known instinctively that he had been dead.
If he let this Name settle, Rin knew, then he would never be free.
So he fought. He fought with every inch of power he had packed within in tiny body. He would not, could not, let the will of this insignificant man overtake and overwrite his own. He was not anybody's assassin. He was not their toy nor their slave. He was not something that had no Name. He was Okumura Rin and he would not be chained.
With a colossal shout, Rin pushed the molten power up and off of him. The Chains of Binding snapped and the douchebag outside of his cage screamed as he was hit with the backlash. The plain-looking man fell to the ground clutching his head and wailing but Rin couldn't bring himself to care. He was too preoccupied inspecting the leftover damage.
It was unfortunate but his potential buyer had chosen an immensely powerful name. A name with a history and a belief system that stemmed decades. A name that nobody had yet to claim. A name that would have fit Rin like a second skin had he let it. Even now, Rin could feel remnants of its power cling onto him; too stubborn to let go of the being that would fit it so well.
It wasn't something Rin's new instincts protested against but it was enough that it could coat his original Name in something else. His true Name wasn't lost, just hidden. Somehow, Rin thought that he would be able to live with this. The thought of handing out his name to anybody outside of his family had always brought a foul taste to his mouth. Now he had something akin to a pseudonym he could use in the face of strangers, seeing as the plain-bastard succeeded in offering him the name but not Binding him. All in all, it was not a bad outcome.
Rin's eyes dropped down to the plain-bastard moaning on the floor. He was frothing a little at the mouth and his mouth looked blistered but otherwise he was physically fine.
Too exhausted to go on, Rin slipped off into sleep. He would deal with the repercussions later. The name of the failed ritual echoing dully in his head.
Oberon. King of the fae.
So as per usual this is about version... eight? Eight of this particular fic.
I've always been infatuated with the idea of the faeries. And I especially love the way SAO portrays their faeries. So I've blatantly stolen the stencil. Anyway, tell me what you think. I might continue this, what with how much fun it was to play with, but I might not. it depends. I really didn't plan that far ahead.
oh yeah! also forgive any tense errors you find. this was an adapted version that used to be in present tense. lol, dont hate me.