Hello, hello!
Thank you to my reviewers – you were very kind indeed. :)
Anyway, it's been a while, so let's get on with this show shall we?
OH, also, forgive my stylistic errors last chapter. didn't like my page-breaks.
Also, I forgot Konekomaru! *Facepalm* I promise that he was there the whole time, I just forgot to mention him!
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CH II: I am as I am, not as I might be.
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"...thou profoundest Hell,
Receive thy new Possessor: One who brings
A mind not to be changed by Place or Time.
The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven."
– Paradise Lost, John Milton
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Mephisto woke to a throbbing in his skull, pounding in rhythm with his unusually fast heartbeat. His chest felt tight, and there was a distant, dull ache in the pit of his stomach. He sucked in a deep breath, and felt a sticky fluid catch in his lungs, making him want to cough. His senses came back to him one by one, becoming aware of his body lying on a cold, hard surface. There were sounds around him, quiet breathing and slow, but steady heartbeats. He counted each one. 'I'm with my team. That's good – but where, exactly, am I? And when did I lose consciousness?'
"Look, he's waking up." Yukio whispered. He had the voice of one in pain and trying to hide it. Had he been injured? Where? How? "No, give him his space. He might be disoriented." Mephisto hadn't even caught another person saying anything, but didn't exactly trust his senses to be a hundred percent functioning right now.
He tried to stir, to open his eyes, and was blinded by a bright light reflecting off a metal surface. Blinking away the after-images, he looked about himself, only to determine that he was in a cell, of sorts – except it had no bars. Or doors. Or any way to escape, really. Just steel – walls and walls of solid, buffed steel, with one bright light shining from a lamp overhead. Looking around further, he spotted a tiny, shining bit of circular glass in one corner of the room – a camera, no doubt.
Mephisto rose carefully from his position on the floor, for the first time getting an idea of how big the space was – which wasn't very, since his feet nearly touched an unconscious Rin even sitting up, and, looking over to where he'd been lying, he surmised the nearest wall to be less than half a meter from his head. The space was small enough as it was , maybe two meters by three – but the half-conscious bodies of his students, packed against the wall opposite him, save for Rin, made it seem that much smaller.
"Are you alright?" Shura's quiet voice reached Mephisto's ears. His head was throbbing still, and the bright lights were not helping.
"My head hurts pretty badly," He said, rubbing it to check for injury, of which he found none. "But I think I am fine otherwise."
"You think?" Yukio asked, clearly more wary than concerned.
"I am not feeling very well overall to be honest," Mephisto felt that sticky feeling in his lungs return, coughing involuntarily. To his surprise, no blood came up, but rather a whitish mucus he'd never known his body to have problems with. He tried to move more, to at least kneel, but his strength wouldn't hold him, and he barely caught himself from collapsing entirely. He felt so weak. And nauseous.
"Hey, don't go getting sick on us now. There's no place for it to go but to stay in here. I know, I already looked for escape routes. This place is a fortress for a prison cell."
"It's probably made to contain things like me as opposed to humans like yourself." Mephisto explained, sounding as fatigued as he felt. "I have a feeling that is why I feel as weak as I do. There's an enchantment on this place to keep me from using my power to escape."
"Bingo." A voice suddenly sounded in the room, loud enough to stir the others slowly awake. They all groaned in confusion, taking a moment to get their bearings. Mephisto recognized the voice of his captor, Gray.
"You have it just right, Samael. You and your little brother won't be able to use your power much in there. Oh, try if you will, but you'll only hurt yourselves. See, we were very cautious indeed, and placed energy markers in your abdomens."That explained the dull ache. "If the reader inside registers that you are putting out too much energy, it will release a seal that binds your power even tighter. If your energy level drops to zero – oops! No more demon. Permanently." Mephisto sucked in a breath. This was not going to be very fun.
"As for escape, don't even think about – Oh! L-Lucifer-sama!"Mephisto heard the microphone of the intercom, hidden behind the plates of welded steel that made up the walls, change hands.
"Little brother Samael."Lucifer began. "I realize the situation you are in is not ideal – were there any other way of making you behave, I would not have had to resort to this...extreme, measure of control."
"You can not control me, and you know it – just as you know that when I get out of here, you are going to pay dearly for what you are plotting." Mephisto snapped back, glaring at the camera.
"But I believe I can, in fact, convince you to do things you would not otherwise be inclined to do. That is rather my gift, if you recall."
"Always one to play mind-games. What is it you want?" Mephisto asked, irritated by the suppression he could feel on his energy, like a cloud of fog at the back of his mind.
"Listen well, for I will only tell you once." Lucifer began. Mephisto looked around him to be sure everyone was awake and listening, for he really didn't care for repeating things either.
"I do not wish death upon you, Samael, understand that going into this. I would also have preferred not to hurt you if that had been possible – but you have made it clear that you will not stay out of my way unless I force you out of it. For that, I say you have brought this on yourself – but I also apologize in advance for what you will be subjected to."
"What's he talking about? Subjected to what?" A murmur went across the team of exorcists.
"Quiet." Mephisto shushed them, paying attention to where the sound was coming from. The intercom speaker seemed to be behind the camera, but there was no way of telling exactly where.
"You are a clever demon, Samael. But that will, unfortunately, become your undoing in this place. The cell I have put you in is indeed meant to hold a demon – but more than that, it is specifically designed to restrain you." Lucifer explained. "You can not use your demon powers inside of it – no teleporting, and no summoning or conjuring. You can manipulate time, if you like – but it will make the seal inside of you react, causing your spiritual self real harm. Besides which, I am a demon too.I have all the time in the world to wait.
"You may escape, however, by one simple way."All eyes and ears turned towards the hidden intercom in the corner. "But I am afraid your team of exwires must die in order to do it."
"L-lord Lucifer-sama, not to be rude, but isn't giving him a way out unwise?" Gray asked nervously.
"To leave him in there without it would be much less wise. As I said, I wish not to see my brother dead. But he will have to suffer a bit if he is to stay out of my way."
"How do I get free? And who has to die?" Mephisto asked in a too-casual air, alarming his teammates considerably.
"Mephisto!" Rin chided.
"Hush boy." The older demon chided, flicking a dismissive hand at his littlest sibling.
"I am glad you seem so cooperative." Lucifer replied, though there was a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "The meter inside that activates the seal is nullified by human energy – but only the purest, rawest form of it will suffice."Mephisto nodded in understanding, a wry, toothy smirk coming onto his face.
"Is that how we are going to play the game, big brother? My, I didn't think someone like you would be interested in witnessing such a bloody spectacle." Mephisto's voice dripped with venomous sarcasm.
"I don't have any interest in that, per-say."Lucifer replied. "However, watching you, my rival, come completely undone –that would be something interesting to observe."
"You bastard!" Rin cried, shaking an already trembling fist at the intercom, the camera. "You want him to kill us all, don't you?"
"I believe I have already said that, yes." Lucifer, holding his patience, replied.
"He may be an exorcist and live among humankind – but he is still a demon on the inside. Locked in a cage full of human mortals, how long do you think he is going to stay sane?'Gray said, an eerie laugh drifting through the unseen speakers. "You're all exorcists, right? Then tell me, what is the default diet of a carnivorous demon?" A quiet unrest swept the small crowd of exwires as Shura, Bon, the half-conscious Konekomaru and Yukio in particular gave Mephisto a hard and uneasy stare. Gray's laugh echoed in the room, sparking Rin into action. However, as soon as he, unconsciously, began to flare up, a crippling pain shot through his abdomen like a bullet.
"GaaaAAAHH!" Rin cried out loud, clutching his stomach as he doubled in on himself.
"Rin!" Shiemi called, rushing beside him.
"Moron! Don't use your demon powers, or it will kill you!" Yukio reprimanded harshly.
"Fufufu...As for that one,"Gray chuckled, insinuating Rin. "He will either eat or be eaten. One of the two." A resounding click signaled a disconnect from the intercom – however, Mephisto still suspected they were listening. A long silence then followed, broken only by Rin's groans of pain.
"Hold still!" Shiemi demanded, keeping Rin still long enough to examine his stomach. Once his shirt was pulled aside, it became evident he'd had a minor operation to implant something into his abdominal cavity.
"Ow," Rin complained, sitting up despite Shiemi's protests. "That really freakin' hurt. Guess he wasn't kidding about putting something in us."
"You dolt! What were you thinking, trying to flare up in a place like this anyway? Do you want us all to become fried?!" Bon criticized.
"I have more control than that! I managed not to burn anyone in Kyoto! And I didn't burn Shiemi that one time we ended up falling through a monastery together."
"You did WHAT?"
"Oh, shut up, all of you." Mephisto snapped, rubbing his temples. The headache was moderately more bearable, but still made him agitated. "This is hardly the time for it anyway." He looked back to the camera, thinking. He did take notice, however, of the silence that befell the room. 'Great. Now they have a whole new reason to distrust me. But, I guess it can't be helped.'
"What are we going to do?" Izumo piped up. She was remarkably calm for the situation, Mephisto noticed. Almost as if she thought Lucifer was bluffing. "We probably don't have any devices on us to contact help with, and even if we did, I don't think we would make it until backup arrived."
"She's right." Yukio agreed. It was then that Mephisto noticed that Yukio was holding his shin a bit awkwardly. So he was injured. "The Vatican knows we are in the Hokkaido area, but even we don't know exactly where we are anymore. Humans can only go three days without water, and after a week or so without food our bodies will begin eating themselves in order to survive. In the long term, it would take us about three weeks to be so starved as to be unable to move. By then some of us might even be dead." Yukio glanced surreptitiously at Shiemi, who was the smallest member of their group.
"That's if we don't get eaten first." Shima piped up. " I don't want to think Mephisto would, since he can live a long time without food, certainly longer than any of us." He added on hurriedly, sparing the demon a sympathetic glance. "But if push comes to shove, just know I will eat you if I have to."
"Oh, stop it Shima." Konekomaru, who had been entirely silent for most of their trip, finally spoke up. "I don't want to think about getting eaten by anything, certainly not you." The boy had come to his senses last, and the drugs were making him jittery still.
"I'm not joking," Shima said seriously, eyeing Rin carefully to see his reaction. "If it means I don't starve to death, cannibalism is totally on the table for me."
"If you aren't eaten yourself." Once more an eerie silence fell as Mephisto spoke. "Let us not forget, I am not the only one with a demon's appetite in here." He and everyone else eyed Rin.
"What? Me?" The half demon was taken aback. "I would never be able to eat my friends! Hell, I don't think I could even eat a human being!"
"Hunger can make a man mad, as they say. You have the instincts which make you a predator, even if you haven't used them yet, and the physique to munch through meat." Mephisto informed bluntly. "I, too, am made a carnivore more than anything – but alas, human food has some perks to it that I can't help but grow addicted to. The insane amount of sugar and salt being one of them."
"But, you will, like, not eat us, right?" Shima seemed to plead with the demon. Mephisto stopped to ponder the matter.
"I can not guarantee that, unfortunately." The shock rippled over everyone's faces, though Yukio's expression only became a bitter frown. "As Gray said, I am a demon first and foremost. I have instincts and impulses you simply do not – and as I grow weaker in body, so I will grow weaker in mind." Mephisto cautioned, supporting himself on his hands as he leaned back on them. "I can go a long while between meals, that is true – but while I consider my self-control to be superior to that of many of my siblings, I must confess it isn't impeccable."
"So, what, you're seriously going to try eating them?" Rin asked incredulously. He stood up, becoming a wall between the older demon and his human friends. "Over my dead body!"
"Funny you should say that, actually." Mephisto replied coolly. A little too coolly. "If anyone here is going to be eaten first, or at least killed, it will probably be you." A smile full of dagger teeth was both a threat and a warning. In such a confined space, neither of them could afford a physical confrontation.
"As of right now, you are competition for resources – be those whatever they may. If it comes down to it, I have no qualms about killing you in the name of keeping myself alive." His pupils became deadly slits, his ears tilting themselves back. "Call it cruel, but I am demon before I am anything. Best you decide what you are, before I end up deciding for you." The cold, clipped tone was not something Mephisto's students were accustomed to hearing from him, and so he could not blame them for the sense of surprise he felt radiating off them – except, as it were, for Shura.
"I always had a feeling you were an insensitive prick. Guess I was right." She mumbled, a humourless smirk on her face.
"It is not that I am insensitive intentionally, miss Kirigakure," Mephisto, satisfied that Rin had shrunken away from his intense stare, now addressed Shura almost casually. "I merely lack the emotional capacity of humankind. But you already knew that, didn't you?" A shadow crossed her face a moment before disappearing entirely, replaced by what was meant to be a reassuring look to her teammates. "Yeah, I know. Demons like you don't feel empathy the same way. Things like love and hate mean nothin' to ya. You aren't capable of either – not in the human way."
"That is correct." Mephisto affirmed. A long silence followed, though not as uncomfortable as those before.
"Demons are inherently selfish creatures whose purpose in life is like that of all others – to survive." The old demon voiced quietly. "I am no different. But then, are humans any better? Do they not also drag others down in order to bring themselves closer to victory, to power, to freedom?" He mused quietly, voice barely above a whisper. "And yet," Mephisto shrugged, voice growing louder. "You will all hate me because I am what I am."
No one rose to challenge that statement. It was too hard to say if it was true or not at this point.
"I am confused about one thing," Konekomaru muttered, though it might as well have been a shout in the deafening silence. "Lucifer said something about the purest energy. What did he mean by that?" Bon looked at his teammate sadly, appreciating his effort to break the tension. He also felt pity for his friend's innocence, which probably wouldn't last much longer in here. A long pause ensued after his question, those of them who knew hesitating to tell, and those who did not patiently expecting an answer. Finally, Shura broke the anticipatory quietness.
"You needn't concern yourself about it, Miwa." She reassured gently. "I think it's better you don't think about it too much." Understanding lit up his face for only a moment before a more melancholy expression took it's place.
Mephisto watched his students exchange glances, having silent conversations with each other, some comforting, others betraying the unease they all felt now – an unease that spread itself habitually onto the demon, who had for so long been taking and making his cues from these humans. 'I have a feeling that will change soon – and you, my elder brother, will have officially made my life Hell.'
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AHHH! This took me forever to get down.
So, updates might be sluggish cuz I am in college. However, I will try!
And thank you again to my reviewer! Reviews are always welcome. :)