Thank you all for the reviews, they make me really happy! Well, here goes chapter two^^.

Disclaimer: Ao no Exorcist and all its characters belong to Kazue Kato.

"Well Amaimon, let me tell you that your lack of restraint in regards to your fight with our little brother did fortunately not have any irresolvable consequences."

Amaimon merely stared at his brother, not bothering with a reply seeing how he didn't really have anything to say to the information given – he couldn't possibly care less about their younger sibling right now. Besides, he was fairly certain that Mephisto didn't expect or even wanted an answer from him. So he merely listened attentively as his brother continued.

"So while you did indeed get rather close to ruining the game, I managed to save it. Meaning there are no problems and absolutely no reasons left for me to be angry with you whatsoever, nein?" The older one smirked devilishly, his fangs showing more than ever.

Amaimon frowned. His brother was playing mind games again. He absolutely hated it when he did that, but unfortunately that was just the sort of demon his Aniue was. He knew he deserved to be punished, but obviously Mephisto wanted him to say it out loud like some stupid little child admitting their wrongs. He gritted his teeth. If he didn't play along, the impending punishment would only get worse, but he didn't want to ridicule himself. He didn't want to play his brother's game. Lips tightening, he stubbornly kept his mouth shut.

For some reason Mephisto's smirk only widened and without saying a single word he simply snapped his fingers, causing the younger to flinch instinctively. The expected pain didnt come. Instead both Amaimon and Mephisto were suddenly surrounded by a cloud of the latter's usual pink and white magical smoke. Then Amaimon could feel solid ground under his feet for the first time in what must have been days suggesting they weren't within that strange void space of purple swirls anymore. Once his sight cleared again he was able to ascertain that what he stood on was a rather elaborate carpeted floor. What met the Earth King's eyes when he looked about was a room full with a rather colourful and expensive looking interior. He recognised the place as the headmaster's office of True Cross Academy. Mephisto's office.

Said demon leisurely strolled over to a coat hanger in the corner to take off his top hat and cape and then went to sit in the finely polsterd office chair behind his mahagony desk. Picking uo a pen he pulled a stack of papers towards him and started to work his way through it, apparently completely forgetting about the other demon who was standing dumbfounded in the middle of the room.

Amaimon frowned. His Aniue was ignoring him. He was deliberately not paying him the slightest bit of attention when he was supposed to be punishing him. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists drawing blood when his sharp nails punctured his skin. It wasn't as if he wanted to be punished, but he knew there was no way around it anyway, so he at least wanted for it to be over as quick as possible. That obviously wasn't going to happen what with his brother toying with him like this. He really had to force himself not to start shouting at his brother right now.

Then it suddenly occured to him that Mephisto had never acted like this when it came to punishing him before. He usually would just either beat him up a bit or make him do some very unpleasant chores and that was it. Once he was done, Amaimon just had to apologise properly and they never spoke of it again. Mephisto had never kept him isolated for days and expected him to tell him exactly what sort of crime he had commited in his eyes and why he needed to be punished for it. Then again, he had never attacked his brother before either. It had always just been a cause of him not following his aniue's instructions properly or disregarding them completely. Those instances had always just been something between the two. As the Earth King he didn't have to help his brother with his plans after all. It was only if he agreed to do so that he deserved to be punished should those plans fail due to a fault of his. This time was a completely different matter as it started to dawn on him now. He had attacked his older brother, Satan's eldest son, which was not only a bad deed in Mephisto's eyes, but also in the eyes of all of Gehenna, including their father.

Amaimon felt his blood run cold and a shudder run down his spine as his eyes grew wide. He now had a pretty good idea what all of this was about and he didn't like it one bit. The brightly coloured room suddenly seemed rather threatening to him and when he looked at his brother sitting in that office chair he couldn't help feeling himself reminded of a very different room, or rather hall, with a far darker interior and only one fairly huge throne in the middle of it. That room was usually lit by the infamous blue flames every demon knew to fear. Amaimon had witnessed more than one punishment taking place in there. He knew what was expected of him, how he was supposed to act if his assumptions were correct and his aniue truly intended for this to be a "proper" punishment.

The first time in his life he actually felt like running away. He couldn't help but wonder briefly whether this was how his many victims had felt before he had killed them. Shaking his head vigorously he took one deep breath. He could not allow himself to succumb to such a weakness as to start to panic like some mere lower ranking demon. He was the Earth King after all, so he would endure this as dignified as possible.

He glanced at his brother who still appeared to be completely immersed in his work. Still slightly unsure if this really was what his aniue wanted him to do he started taking his coat off and draped it over one of the chairs close to him. He then took a few steps towards the desk and consequently his brother. Mephisto finnished one paper and pulled the next one towards him not ackowledging the younger demon in the slightest. Suppressing a sigh he simply let his legs give in slamming his knees on the carpet. If he did this slowly he would only start hesitating. Amaimon looked up. The older still hadn't budged.

Gritting his teeth slightly he reached behind himself and pulled his shirt out of his trousers to allow his tail to unwrap itself from his torso. It had been his aniue who had taught him to keep the green furry appendage hidden a long time ago. Not only was their tail every demon's weakest spot, but it also was a complete giveaway for their emotions, which could be rather dangerous in itself. Amaimon's tail was clearly showing how agitated he really was, lashing around wildly. Willing the appendage to calmly rest on the floor to his left draped around him like a cat's while only twitching slightly his sensitive ears suddenly picked up the sound of a pen being dropped. Looking up he was met by poisonous green eyes.

Mephisto was staring straight at his younger brother making Amaimon gulp slightly. So he had been right. Seeing the older raise an eyebrow he knew he was getting impatient. Tearing his eyes from his aniue's pointed stare and horribly pleased smirk he leaned forward till his forehead was touching the carpet placing his hands to both sides of his head. He couldn't help but grit his teeth harder, clenching his eyes shut. This was probably the most demeaning position he had ever been in in his entire life. Hearing his brother's chuckle right in front of him made him jump slightly. He hadn't even noticed when the other had gotten up!

"You know Amaimon, I was starting to get worried whether I needed to instruct you on the proper etiquette seeing how long it took you to adopt the right position."

The younger demon suddely felt a hand stroke along his neck and the back of his head. A clawed hand. His aniue had taken off his gloves. He supressed a shudder when he felt the sharp claws grace over his artery. His jaw started to hurt when he clenched his teeth even harder to stop himself from hissing when he felt the hand fist his hair and yank his head up sharply forcing him to look at his brother. Mephisto wore a truly frightening smile on his face.

"Tell me."

Amaimon could feel his eyes water. It wasn't because of the pain inflicted on his scalp due to the pulling of his hair. That was pretty much laughable. It was out of sheer humiliation and the feeling of utter helplessness.

"I- I disregarded your direct orders and I- ah-I punched you in the face and broke your nose. I was bad. I have to be punished."

"You have to be?"

"I must. I deserve to be punished, because I attacked you, my elder, a higher ranking demon."

By now Amaimon's voice was pretty much void of any emotions just like it usually was and he was just giving in to the inevitable.

"Guter Junge."

With that the grip in the younger's hair suddenly got stronger and his head was slammed face first into the floor. The noise of breaking bones was audible even over Amaimon's slight hiss. A part of him that wasn't feeling dizzy couldn't help but notice how his aniue had started his punishment by inflicting the same injury he had caused him when he punched him in the face. The difference being that it wouldn't remain the only one and that he wouldn't heal that qickly seeing how his brother kept pushing his face into the floor successfully crunching every single bone in his nose and making the blood stream forth and soak the expensive carpet.

When Mephisto finally let go of the younger's hair and stood straight, Amaimon immediately turned his head to the side and took in some huge gasps of air. He hadn't really been able to breathe properly with his face pressed so thoroughly into the carpet. He could feel his nose throbbing badly and saw the blood steaming. Juding by the wetness he felt under his ear it had left quite a stain on the carpet. While he was still busy taking deep breaths he suddenly felt his brother's foot pressing down hard on the side of his neck and throat, completely cutting off his airways effectively strangling him.

He cursed mentally. Of course he should have considered how appealing the sight of a victim being completely out of breath, for he was little else right now, was to any demon his brother included. He willed himself to remain still, hoping Mephisto would lose his interest if he didn't react as expected. That resolve was destroyed when he felt a hand take hold of his tail and squeeze hard, claws digging deep into the sensitive skin. Had he been able to he would certainly have voiced his pain quite audibly. Things being as they were he could only open his mouth in a silent scream, his own claws frantically scrambling on the carpet, while his whole body was tensing up due to the feeling of burning needles shooting up his spine. It hurt so badly! He couldn't control the maltreated appendage anymore, causing it to twitch wildly which only resulted in his aniue's claws digging deeper.

Amaimon could feel something wet other than blood run down his face. He truly started to feel the lack of oxygen now and couldn't think straight anymore. He only wanted to get away from the pain in his tail and he needed air! He looked up at his brother through teary eyes to be met by the older's calculating and completely merciless stare. The younger started to feel panic creep into his mind. There was no way his aniue would actually kill him, was there? He couldn't supress the trembling which shook his whole body. He started to dry heave which even worsened his need for air. And all the time the foot remained in place while it felt as if his tail could be torn off any minute. His lungs constricted painfully. His heartbeat sounded unusually loud in his ears and he could hear it getting slower. He made sure to once again make eye contact with his brother forcing himself to stare straight into those bright green orbs as he felt the overwhelming wish to simply close his eyes. His heart made a few last attempts to pump his blood through his body and then it stopped.