Written: May 4, 2013 11:02PM
Edit: July 23, 2013 6.44PM
Disclaimer: I don't own Ao no Exorcist.
Just Some Memories Of... [An Infant]
Chapter Ten
— Setting: Present Time —
The blood had scattered everywhere. He could not stop the flow of the crimson liquid. And no matter how much he wished, everything just wasn't a nightmare.
"No... NO!"
He heard himself speak. The body on his arms felt heavy and was losing warmth fast.
And then a cough.
"N-Niisan..."
The world seemed to stop. Rin felt his heart skip as he heard that voice. He looked at the face of the boy he was holding.
"Yukio! Get a grip! I'll take you to the hospital and—"
But he felt Yukio shake his head slowly. "Y-You don't have to..." A fit of coughing stopped him from speaking.
The older boy held his twin tighter. "Don't talk. Niisan will—"
Yukio reached for the hand that supported him. "I guess that y-you weren't just fooling a-around that time..." he said. "When you said t-that you will... a-and..."
Blood continued to pour from the wound on his chest. Rin watched the blood mix with the rain, feeling that Yukio's warmth was slipping away fast. If he didn't hurry, Yukio will truly—
"...but even if y-you ask it from me, I just can't do t-that..."
"What..." Rin said. "What are you talking about?"
Yukio laughed slightly, like what Rin asked was some kind of joke. He began to reach up to touch Rin's face. "I'm sorry..."
"What are you saying sorry for?" Rin asked. The raindrops fell on his cheeks like teardrops. But they were too warm to be just raindrops. "I-I don't understand, Yukio!"
"I'm sorry,... so please, d-don't..."
The tip of Yukio's finger touched Rin's face before falling down lifelessly. Rin grabbed that hand before it hit the ground, feeling as though he was losing everything for the second time around.
Screaming. Crying. He was alone there in that empty lot behind their dormitory. The sky decided to cry with him as the heavens poured down. But the flames of the recent battle weren't quenched at all as they continued to burn around him. He felt them burn the rain and the damp soil, but he didn't care. He felt too cold as he continue to cry and to hold onto that lifeless body on his arms.
"...Drei, Zwei, Eins, Null." A sound of snapping fingers. Mephisto Pheles appeared out of nowhere with a serious facade instead of the usual smiling one. He twirled his umbrella before folding it close, sighing. He looked at Rin, who was still cradled the head of his younger brother.
"I've successfully replaced your demon heart from the Kurikara to your body," the clownish-clad demon said without a trace of amusement. "Next is..."
Another click of fingers. Insane giggles filled the grounds as that familiar blue-and-brown sea of unmentionables appeared just behind Rin.
"...the preparation of your rebirth in Gehenna," Mephisto said. He watched as the Gehenna gate slowly spread. Rin felt like he was being pulled into the pool surrounded by glinting metal and eyes by some invisible force. He held on Yukio, whimpering.
"Lastly, dispose of Okumura Rin's human brother." Mephisto shrugged. "Via the blue flames. Which seems to have already been taken care of."
"Don't you dare hurt Yukio!" Rin yelled. "My brother, my baby brother... Help him, Mephisto...!"
"But I should follow the orders of my direct superiors." He picked up the Kurikara which lay just by the edge of the Gehenna gate. The sword wasn't enveloped by blue flames anymore. After all, Rin was already a full-fledged demon the moment Mephisto Pheles replaced his demon heart from the holy sword.
Mephisto brought up the Kurikara for closer inspection.
"This is one powerful sword and can sever a demon's regenerative abilities. A blade that is created to defeat demons," he muttered under his breath, looking at it with disgust. He picked up the scabbard and sheathed the sword, throwing it towards Rin. It clattered beside the uncaring demon. "You can still have it. It's a sword nonetheless."
"Yukio... help him, Mephisto!" Rin yelled. "He's dying—"
"He's dead," Mephisto said simply. "Your hands killed him."
"NO!" Rin screamed. He picked up his sword. "If my only family's dead, then I'll die with him!"
He was about to pull the sword out but the Gehenna gate tugged on him. He slid away from Yukio as the demonic world pulled him into it.
"There are some rules between the worlds," Mephisto started saying as he watched flames spread despite the rain. It reached the tip of Yukio's boots and lit it up. "One of them is this. Humans belong in Assiah; demons belong in Gehenna. But unless called through a specific ritual or having a host, humans and demons shouldn't cross the boundaries between the mirror worlds."
The blue flames continued to spread. It crawled all over Yukio's cold body, but not burning the exorcist coat. Rin clawed the ground but the Gehenna gate wouldn't loosen its hold on him. He couldn't reach the body of his brother and all he had was his sword.
"Now that you are a full-fledged demon, with your heart, tail and flames with you," Mephisto continued. "You are bound to stay in our world."
"Dammit, let go of me!" Rin cried. "I have to save my brother!"
But the flames had spread enough to cover Yukio's body. It burned continuously, unyielding under the rain.
"Please..." Rin managed as he felt the blue-and-brown stuff wrapping around him as he sank into the Gehenna gate. It was cold, like falling into a pool of ice.
Suddenly, a small bang exploded by Yukio's body. As the aftershocks died down, the explosion took with it all the flames that burned the late exorcist.
Rin stared in shock as he could only see the exorcist coat left behind.
"Happy birthday, my otoutou Okumura Rin."
The young demon was pulled once more and he sank completely into the portal, his will past from all the care in the world. The Gehenna gate gave one last insane giggle before closing, sealing the mirror worlds from each other.
Mephisto sighed, twirling his umbrella. A puff of pink smoke brought a gigantic elaborately-designed teapot that poured holy water upon the blue flames around him (and carefully not on him). As the flames were extinguished, the demon unconsciously turned his forest green eyes towards the place where he last saw the young professor, as if in his impossible mind, the younger Okumura was still there and miraculously alive.
A small smile. "Of course not. It won't happen... again."
He was about to leave when a small movement caught his eyes. He stared, searching the dying blue flames. The exorcist coat lay there, burnt and tattered but not ashes.
And oddly jolted.
Mephisto held up a hand, stopping the teapot from pouring out the holy water as he walked carefully towards the discarded coat. Still staring, he waited.
Another movement. He wasn't imagining things. Using the tip of his umbrella to catch the hem of the soaked coat, he flung it aside to confirm his suspicions.
A small infant lay there, almost covered by a wet white dress shirt. It was pale and shivering from the cold. A pair of glasses lay beside it, cracked and with its frame surprisingly well intact.
A laughed issued from the demon.
"Amusing!" he said, unable to stop himself from the outburst. He made a clean white tablecloth materialize and covered the infant with it, careful not to make contact with the holy water himself.
"I wonder how things will turn out," he said, watching the beautiful blue-green eyes open at the moment. "This is sure worth my time..."
TBC