Ouch, way past All Hallow's Eve. Sorry 'bout that. I tweaked the story so it would fit, though. I hope y'all had a great Thanksgiving and are looking forward to some snow! Oh, yeah, and Raidon123, I hope you're happy with this one

This story's been going on long enough without a proper cover. If anyone's got ideas, please help!


Chapter 9: My Resolve, My Truth

I was waken up by the sound of a keyboard typing.

"'Sup," Azael muttered. He was sitting under the sheets so only his head and arms were uncovered, his laptop sitting on his lap (obviously). There was a juice carton next to his hand, and as I watched he picked it up and sipped out of the tiny straw.

I groaned and flopped back on the bed. Couldn't I just go back to sleep?

Giving up on trying to go back to sleep, I rolled over to look at Azael's bed. "Hey, um, what time is it?"

"In, like, human time or Gehenna time?" Azael looked up at the ceiling while he thought. "Let's see, for Japan it would be around five o'clock right now. Does that help?"

"Ugh." I planted my face into my pillow. That was practically an hour before I usually woke up!

Azael chuckled as he continued to work. "W'as so funny?" I asked through the pillow.

"Nothing. It's just how similar you and brother Amaimon are. Both of you absolutely hate getting up in the morning, and I'm guessing that's not the only thing."

"I'm honestly too tired to care right now," I muttered after I'd rolled onto my back. I groaned and said, "And at this rate I'll have worse bags under my eyes than Mephisto!"

"I seriously doubt that. Our big bro gets practically no sleep what so ever. I mean, occasionally he does, but...you get the gist." I was not going to ask what a gist was, so I kept my mouth shut. When we found Yukio, I'd ask him what it meant.

There was a banging at our door before Egyn's voice said "Meet us in my chambers in a half an hour."

"Alright, just go away!" Azael called back, though he did it quietly. I guessed that he was trying to not wake any demons up. After a pause, I could just barely hear Egyn walk away.

"If you want to clean up and shower before we leave, I'd do it now," Azael suggested, his eyes glued to his computer screen. I followed his advice and rolled out of bed before making my way towards the bathroom. I grabbed my True Cross uniform—now apparently freshly washed—and stepped into the room, shutting and locking the door behind me. This shower wasn't as amazing as the first one, but it did feel pretty nice to wash out the morning bleh-ness. I patted my head in the shower, and I was happy to say that my horns weren't there. That meant the last time I'd acted demonic was two nights ago back with Amaimon.

I stepped out of the shower and dried myself off with a big fluffy towel before pulling on my uniform. I'd left the blazer in my bag, so it was just the white dress shirt and slacks, with my red boots (long story short, they're just that damn comfy). I almost reached for Kurikara, but then I realized that Egyn had taken it. Why did all these demon kings need to keep taking my sword?

When I walked back into the room, Azael was packing up his stuff. He jerked his head towards my bag, which was sitting on top of my bed. I looked over to thank him but he had already made his way to the door. "Come on, then."

I tried to ignore my growling stomach as I picked up my bag and followed him down the hall to Egyn's room. We didn't even make it inside when the king of water burst out from behind his doors, dressed in a green kimono with an orange goldfish pattern. Oh yeah, he was so related to Mephisto.

"Come on, brothers! Our ride is waiting!" He made his way towards the front of the palace.

"Hello, little brothers," Amaimon's voice yawned. I turned around to see the green-haired demon king, Behemoth under one arm and a giant bag of candy in the other.

"Hey," me and Azael said at the same time. The three of us then trailed behind Egyn, who was happily humming something that suspiciously sounded like the Monster Mash.

When we made it outside, I stopped dead in my tracks. There was a giant, purple sludge covered thing waiting. I knew what it was, and its hundred eyes narrowed on me.

Twenty minutes later, I was sitting inside, feeling extremely uncomfortable and out of place. The ride was surprisingly smooth, but the places we passed were obviously getting ready for the demon holiday.

Egyn lied about how long it would take us to get to Satan's palace. Instead of only being a couple hours, it turned into a few days, as he needed to stop at every single damn stop to collect a brother or go to a dinner or whatever while I stayed in the damn train alone. So on the last day, I was sitting between Amaimon and Azael on our own separate part of the Phantom Train, feeling extremely awkward and generally dissed.

Don't get me wrong; I was relieved when I found out that we wouldn't be reaching Satan's palace by Halloween. But now, a few hours before we would get there, I was so wound up that it felt like my stomach was twisting itself in knots.

"Cheer up, little bro! I'm sure father will be happy to see you!" Azael slapped my back, sending prickles down my spine.

"You should be glad that big brother isn't here," Amaimon said. I turned towards him and asked, "Which one?"

"Mephi. He'd be saying things like 'You look like such a slob! We need to clean you up for when you see father!' and drag you off to a sudden doom. Who knows, he might dress you up in one of his coats or something."

"Gah! Don't give me those images!" I felt my tail curl in horror.

"Relax, little bro. Things probably won't get that messed up. Hell knows nobody can stand his clothing," Azael said before arcing his back and putting his arms behind his head. "Amaimon's not lying, though. You'll probably need to ditch...that."

He gestured to my uniform with a floppy hand gesture, looking at me through lazy, slitted eyes.

"Like you're one to talk," I grumbled.

"Excuse me?" Azael growled and I held up my hands. "Nothing!"

"That's what I thought." The demon king leaned back against his seat and suddenly there was a poof and a cloud of white smoke. I coughed and waved at it.

When the air was clear, Azael had changed clothes. Instead of his normal shirt and jeans, he was wearing a long dark gray coat fastened with silver buttons, tiny—almost ghost-like—designs inside them. He was also wearing light gray slacks and knee-high black boots.

"Wha–?" I was startled enough to scoot backwards in my seat. "You can actually look decent?"

"Hey!" The demon king slapped me on the arm, hard, before moving to the other side of the Phantom Train to sit across from me. He began to look me over, and I instantly felt self-concious.

"What're you doing?" I asked as I leaned to my right, running smack-dab into Amaimon.

As I rubbed my head, Azael replied, "Sizing you up. Just because I said that Mephi probably won't force you into one of his unholy-forsaken outfits, doesn't mean that you're off the hook."

I groaned, dropping my chin onto my hands. "Great."

Amaimon put his hand on my shoulder. "You really don't like dressing up, do you, little brother?"

"What gave that away?" I asked sarcastically. Amaimon opened his mouth when Azael said "You're not supposed to answer that."

The king of earth shrugged and rummaged around inside his jacket, pulling out what remained of the large candy bag from earlier. He grabbed a handful and held out the bag to me. Without hesitating, I reached in and pulled out a large chocolate bar. The crunching of the wrapper was the only noise for a long time.

I heard the Phantom Train's car door slide open. Looking up, I saw Egyn walking towards me, a familiar red shape grasped in his hand. He had changed into a deep blue kimono with sea-colored wave designs, and he no longer wore a shirt and jeans under it.

"I believe this is yours," he said, ceremoniously bowing as he handed it to me. I gaped at him for a second before carefully taking Kurikara. I wasn't sure if I should bow or not, so I ended up doing a weird nod-like thing. If Yukio was there, he would've rolled his eyes and lectured me for being disrespectful. Or he would've drawn his gun on Egyn. Maybe both.

An ache throbbed in my chest, reminding me of how much I missed my twin. I felt empty without him there to tease and trust.

The king of water smiled softly, as if sensing my pain. "We are about an hour and a half from father's palace. Would you like to freshen up?"

I was about to reply that no, no I did not, when I caught Azael raising his eyebrow. I remembered what Amaimon had said back when we were on our way to Egyn's palace days ago, "They're telling me that despite everything you believe, despite how hard you try to fit in with your human friends, that your demon half is just itching to meet father and the rest of our brothers. You want our little brother here so you both can finally fit in. You want this, even though you're telling yourself otherwise."

I caved and nodded, saying, "Sure, why not?" Following Egyn out of the car, I turned around to see Azael flash me a thumbs up and Amaimon give me a candy-stained grin. I smiled weakly back and exited the car, thinking that maybe, just maybe, my brothers weren't monsters like exorcists believed.


"Damn, this suit is tight!" I hissed as I walked through the train car with Egyn and Astaroth, the brother that Egyn had picked up on our long train ride. He looked a lot like that idiot Shiratori, only with less piercings and spiraled goat horns. He was wearing a suit that was a very dark shade of tan. His jacket went down past his waist, and occasionally a coal tar would float out of it and rub against his cheek.

The door slid open to reveal Amaimon and Azael, who whistled. "Dang, little bro, looking great!"

I smiled sheepishly, shouldering Kurikara. Egyn had dressed me in clean white dress shirt, like my True Cross uniform, with a maroon and white neck-tie thing tied under the collar. He had also squeezed me into a ridiculously tight maroon vest that was cutting off my circulation and making it hard to breathe. I was wearing a pair of navy slacks, held up by a black belt with a large silver buckle. Egyn had let me keep my boots, and had given me an long navy jacket to wear over everything.

"Thankfully Mephisto had been planning the outfit out for such a scenario, and had sent it to me beforehand," Egyn said, causing Astaroth to roll his red eyes. "Uh-huh. Sure."

My tail flicked slightly, catching Azael's attention. "Yo, why aren't you hiding your tail?"

"Egyn said not to," I replied and shrugged.

"It was a difficult decision, but Mephisto and I decided to allow it," the king of water said, smoothing out imaginary creases in his kimono as the Phantom Train squealed to a halt. I felt a hand on my shoulder and saw it was Amaimon. "I would show them your horns. Nothing to flashy, though, little brother."

I nodded, my throat suddenly very dry. I willed my flames to ignite on my head and my tail, gaining an approving mutter from Egyn and another whistle from Azael.

"Alright then," Egyn clapped his hands together, a habit that I noticed he had when he wanted to get people's attention. "Our youngest brother will draw much attention to himself. If I may make a recommendation, you should probably put yourself out and keep your head down. Hide your tail under your jacket, unless you want people to know that the young prince has returned."

"Nope." I shook my head, hitching Kurikara up a little father on my shoulder. I put out my flames and held up my chin. Then, with dread and anticipation battling it out in mind, I said "I'm ready."

"Good." Egyn stood in front of the Phantom Train's door. It hissed open and he stepped out, followed by Astaroth, then Azael, me, and Amaimon exited last. I blinked and stared at what lie out in front of me, mumbling "Whoa..."

It was a lot like a cross between True Cross Academy, Vatican Headquarters, and a medieval city, then totally Hellified. Low, dark buildings dominated the streets, blue flames flickering in braziers, the sky illuminated by a blood-red moon. Demons of every type wandered through the street, some looking practically like humans and others completely earning the title of demon for looks. I saw groups and lone demons, small ones and large ones that took up most of the street. Some looked genuinely savage and destructive, while others looked friendly and waved as we passed. True to Egyn's instructions, I stayed in the middle of our group, peeking out at the demons we passed by.

Our presence was met with cheers and applause, which I was surprised by. There was also a lot of fangirling taking place. Gehenna wasn't that different than Assiah after all.

We made it to the palace doors without any complication. I had gotten looks, but most attention was centered on the demon kings. Slipping inside the doors, a collective sigh of relief seemed to be released from all of us.

"Not what you were expecting, little brother?" Amaimon asked cocking his head to the side. I shook my head, but a booming voice spoke before I could.

"Hey, look who made it!" Iblis suddenly appeared, along with Mephisto and two other figures, who I couldn't get a good look at. After much conversation and hugging and noogieing with the others, Mephisto saw me.

"Rin, how are you? Do you like the outfit?" he called with a grin, striding over to me.

"No. I'm being squeezed to death," I sighed, gesturing to the vest. Mephisto clucked his tongue and said "Everyone's a critic. You look fine, a picture of demonic handsomeness."

I instantly felt creeped out and scooted backwards to Amaimon, who cheerfully said "Hi, big brother!"

"Hello Amaimon. I see you two are getting along better," Mephisto said with a grin. "It's nice to see my youngest brother getting along with our other brothers."

I was tempted to ask how the clown would get along with my fist, but then a Naga slithered out from another set of gigantic doors. God, how many bigass doors were in Gehenna?

"Lord Satan hasss requested your presencssse," it hissed, bowing its head. The mood in the room instantly sobered. The demon kings began fidgeting and fixing their clothing. Amaimon nudged my shoulder and I got the message, once again allowing my flames to ignite, keeping them small on top of my head and tail. I followed the rest of the eight kings, Beezlebub and Lucifer (I think those was their names) joining us. The others went through the door, but the Naga stopped me.

"I wasss told to have you wait a moment before allowing you entrance," it said. I stopped and waited, my heart racing either from fear or anticipation.

"You may enter now," the Naga hissed, nudging the door open just wide enough for me to slip inside. The door shut behind me, leaving me in a dark room, lit by flickering blue torches. I could see the outlines of the eight demon kings, all with their backs to me. I stood a ways behind them, my hands curling into tight fists and my tail whipping back and forth.

After a second of silence, a voice asked "Who do we have here?"

I resisted the urge to yelp and go hide behind a rock, which was so un-me-like that it was embarrassing. The energy that I could feel radiating around me, the one that suddenly made my flames burn a little brighter, was strangely welcoming. It terrified me.

The demon kings parted and I walked forward, though it didn't feel like it was me that was controlling my legs. I stood in front of them and got my first good look at my father.


HAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAHAHHAHAHAHA! I will end it there! I feel like such a troll /)^\\^(\

Sorry I didn't update on Halloween like I said. Stuff came up, like a creative writing project for English. Guess who got a hundred for writing a story about Lucifer! (Gawd, you're such a nerd VictoryScythefang!)

On another note, I saw how many of you said you couldn't wait for the whole "Satan meeting Rin thing". Next chapter, guys! And don't worry, I'm far from done!

As always, if you have any ideas or preferences you'd like to see in the story, just review or message me.

Yours in spirit, soul, and blue flames,
VictoryScythefang