Author's musings: It's been 4 years. I'm so sorry that I left this so long, that I left so many of you without the end to this story. I have had this planned out for a while, but many things happened – university, a gap year, we moved house. It's no excuse, but I want to finally finish this so I can finally satisfy you all. Hope you enjoy it. Without further ado, please enjoy chapter 12 – Ahriman.

Whispers of sound echoed through him. He floated, nothingness surrounding him. He was nothingness. What had happened? Try as he might, he couldn't remember anything.

Who was he?

What was he doing?

No good… need more sleep…

Alvar's head fell to the floor, followed by the resounding thump of his body. Shiemi stared at the two pieces of Alvar, unable to comprehend what she had just seen. Had Rin's body just been used to…

to…

She was not far from Rin, the stairs that led to the room's altar had carried her most of the way. She was barely 10 metres away from him now, and she saw how this monster wearing Rin's flesh now looked at her.

He stared at her with contempt, his eyes showing nothing but anger. She heard the next four words too – how could she not? But she couldn't quite grasp their meaning

"You are a liability."

Suddenly she was pushed back; flipping, twisting, falling. Her head hit the wall on the other side of the chamber. Her breath was forced out of her chest, and she fell to the floor.

She went limp, her eyes wide in shock. Nii-san had somehow come with her, and the Green Man now pined in worry at his fallen master. Shiemi touched the back of her head with her almost-numb hand, and the hand came away wet with blood. Her red hand froze in front of her face, as a bright blue light flashed before her. It rose from beyond the ledge that she now lay upon. Deep down in altar, the Not-Rin was fighting.

Her hands twitched as she tried to move, her whole body convulsing slightly as the muscles rejected the pain rushing through them. She could only just see her crimson fingers through her darkening vision, which pulsed with each throb of pain that wracked through her. She couldn't move. Her vision darkened, as her now heavy eyelids were forced shut by pain. Blackness and nothingness followed.

Yukio jumped to the side, as blue fire rushed past his ear. His heart jumped; had he been a second too late, his head would be on fire now. No chance to worry though, he had to move! Satan flung his arms out, trying to catch Yukio with his clawed hands. They connected. Yukio's head snapped to the side, as the claws struck his face. He staggered back a few steps, glaring at Satan.

"Okumura-sensei!" Shima roared, jumping at Satan, flinging his staff. Satan's mouth widened, as he clenched the staff in his hands. Satan shrugged him off without a second thought. Rin's body jerked round, slapping the charging Bon away without a second thought.

Bon's feet slipped on the slippery stone surface. He didn't want to look at the ground that he knew was stained crimson. Satan stepped towards him, raising a bloody claw, and flinging him away.

Bon flew a few feet, his body tumbling, rushing through the air. Satan suddenly bent down, thrusting his fists to the floor. A shockwave perpetrated outwards, and flung the Exwires and their sensei backwards.

Satan waited as everyone wearily pulled themselves to their feet. Yukio, Konekomaru, Izumo, Bon and Shima stood in the hemispherical stands, from where they had been blasted to by Satan's attacks. Shiemi was nowhere to be seen, as she had been thrown to a higher ledge in the amphitheatre. Satan grinned evilly, his mouth pulled into a sneer wider than any human face should be able to manage.

Don't you think it's funny? He smiled, That I, the most powerful being in Gehenna, was presumed to be an easy kill?

Yukio sighed, his heart clenching in fear. This beast was wearing his brother as a skin. This must have been how Rin had felt when Shiro had been taken by Satan.

Yet this time, there was no time-limit; Rin was fully compatible with Satan's soul.

Satan sneered again, raising his foot. His body was still wreathed in the blue flames, as he began to walk towards Yukio.

You would also be a suitable fit for me. Satan whispered, as he climbed the steps that lead to Yukio. He was only a few feet away. He was drawing close. Yukio recoiled back, instinctively, fear spreading through every recess of his body. His foot caught something. A lump on the ground. A body. He fell.

Satan grinned wickedly, bending down and putting his face just in front of Yukio's. That face he knew so well. That face that he had recognised since birth, twisted and warped with cruelty.

Satan raised a blue, clawed hand and stretched his finger towards Yukio's face.

Perhaps I could use you as a backup when this body starts to tire…

Yukio gasped – Satan's body could tire?

Before he could ask, Satan had grabbed his throat and lifted him into the air. Yukio gasped, fumbling with the gun in his grip, trying to find a way to fight back as his precious air was stolen from him. Suddenly, a gnarled, thorny root slammed into Satan, tightening and squirming its way around him. Satan was restrained, and flung back, forced to drop Yukio to the floor.

From above in the amphitheatre, Shiemi stood, the side of her face dripping with blood, breathing heavily.

"You give Rin's body back!" She screamed, as she ran down the root that her familiar had made. Bon watched with a mixture of horror and admiration, as she gripped Satan's shoulders and shook them.

"Give him back, give him back, give him back!" She screamed, "Rin! Wake up!"

"SHIEMI!" Yukio screamed, rising from where had fallen, and pushing her away from Satan, standing between them. Satan sneered, even as the roots tightened on him. The thorns pierced his skin, making him leak small welts of blood.

But Satan was Satan, and Satan was still the master of the blue flames.

Erupting outwards, the flames spun and shot out and engulfed the students and their teacher in their searing hot grip. Yukio flung his hands up, surprised at the intense head emanating from the beast hiding in his brother's body.

"Nii-san!" He yelled, just as all the other Exwires yelled out Rin's name. And suddenly, as quickly as the flames had engulfed them, they were suddenly released from the heat. Satan collapsed to his knees, his eyes wide with surprise

Rin was floating. The blackness surrounded him and choked him. And then suddenly, he heard his own voice.

"You are a liability" He said. His arm flung out, and connected with something. The monster that was controlling him had taken his sight, but he could suddenly feel everything. Rin knew that he must be fighting something, though what he could not work out.

He felt his body move, almost in a sickening, graceful dance. Whatever he was doing, it was not deliberate – it was reactionary. There was something that he was fighting, that was causing him to move this way. Rin couldn't help but let himself go with the flow, his mind an unwilling passenger in this dance that his body was taking part in.

"You give Rin's body back!" Screamed that voice, the voice of the girl that had accepted him. He almost rose to the surface, yearning to see that face, yearning to see that she was okay.

You can sleep now said the menacing voice in the blackness, and the darkness covered him completely. He could no longer feel his movements – he was supressed in the cage of his unconsciousness.

"Give him back, give him back, give him back!"

"Rin! Wake up!"

"SHIEMI!"

"Nii-san!"

"Rin!" "Okumura!"

They weren't going to let him sleep, were they. These irritating, lovely voices, of people that had finally chosen to trust him. He felt a fire rise from within him. It wasn't his choosing, but the fire engulfed his friends. Rin's awareness travelled with his flames, and he could see his friends suffering. These blue flames, the characteristic of Satan, were under Rin's control somehow. Rin felt determination surge through him, as he withdrew the flames from his friends. It took all of his strength, but he could kidnap the flames from Satan for sure.

You fool! You will doom us both!

Satan looked at his own hand with shock. The flames had receded and were barely even alight anymore. The room plunged into darkness, the only light being some battered torches on the wall.

"Nii-san?" Yukio whispered, stepping forwards Satan.

Satan snarled, Your brother is persistent, is he not?

Bon smiled, and then realised that this was his chance. He searched his memory, trying to think of any verse that could possibly prove a weakness to Satan. Perhaps a verse to ward against possession? Bon began to recite the verse. Without warning, Satan pounced, his clawed fingers flinging outwards.

He may have taken my flames, but I am no weakling He snarled, as he jumped towards Bon. Two fox spirits tackled him out of the way, flinging him to the ground. Izumo was crouched behind Bon, her summoning paper between her fingers. She smiled. Satan snarled. He wasn't going to be beaten by this. Satan seemed frantic, as he flung himself off the floor, and jumped through the air. He landed back in the middle of the hall, growling angrily.

Satan looked around, and saw Yukio.

Satan smiled. The backup would do.

Rin felt the new idea shudder through Satan, felt the monster's gaze fall on Yukio. This was not okay. Rin thrashed inside his own mind. Anything he could do to escape this prison.

Anything.

Satan felt the new internal struggle and smiled.

If you give me back control, I will not possess Yukio. I will let him die in peace.

Rin snarled. That was not good enough. He was not going to stand by and watch any more of Satan's plight. With the last reserves of his strength, he blasted through a wall of pain and took control of himself once more. He flung Satan to the back of his mind, and opened his eyes.

Rin fell to his knees, panting. There was a fire in his lungs, a fire in his body, an inescapable heat that was rising within him. He couldn't place the source, but it was no matter – he was finally in control.

"Y-Yukio…" He muttered, his voice strained with pain.

"Nii-san!" Yukio replied, running forwards, falling to his knees in front of his brother. He hesitated, and then touched his brother's shoulder with uncertainty.

The other Exwires came from behind him, and began to gather around Rin.

"S-stop."Rin screamed suddenly, "I don't have control, I don't know how long this will last!" His hand shot out and gripped Yukio's charred shirt,

"P-Please Yukio," He cried, "Please kill me now, before it takes over again!"

Yukio reeled back in shock. Seeing his brother in this state was strange and scary. Rin's hand jerkily let go of Yukio's shirt, and instead travelled down to Yukio's gun.

"Please!" He shrieked, pulling Yukio's gun upwards, to his forehead, "You j-just have to p-pull the trigger,"

Yukio's eyes widened with fear, his mouth quivering. This was not what he wanted. His grip on his gun was weak and fearful and sad. Yukio couldn't do it.

He couldn't do it.

His eyes, full of defeat stared at his twin, and he slowly shook his head. He couldn't do it.

Suddenly, something seemed to snap within Rin. His eyes were wide, his mouth open in pain. He threw back his head and screamed. He thrashed his way to his feet, and he gripped his face.

His eyes were dripping with blood. It flowed from his mouth, his ears, his nose. It was almost as if…

It was almost as if his body was rejecting Satan.

Author's musings: Well there you have it. I hope that was worth the wait. I will write the next chapter over the next week, and it should be uploaded next Saturday. I will now reply to your reviews – I am so grateful for these, I have been receiving them as emails for the last 4 years, and they always inspired me to try and pick up the pieces and write the story. I'm so so sorry once again for leaving you all in a cliffhanger for so long. The next chapter will be the last

Chapter 11 review replies:

Hartanna: Thank you, I like Satan a lot. Hopefully it will end well for Rin, but who knows :)

SatanicAsh: I'm so sorry. I hope that this is okay. I promise the next chapter will be soon

Lokithenightfury: …oh dear. I may have killed you. Please, take this chapter as consolation 3

KaeBird13: Thank you for your kind words! I know, I love hurt/comfort genre a lot. I love stories where the good and evil is not so black and white – I always love to add some depth to my enemies. Hopefully this has come across suitably in this story. Thanks for reading!

DreamxtoxlivextoxDream: Thank you, I apologise for making you wait for so long!

ShiroHichi891: So… I didn't rush myself, but I do believe that I may have pushed it for a little too long, eh? Thank you for your kind words – it really means a lot to me. When I was writing this story, it was because I wanted to practice my story-writing skills, so I'm very happy that you appreciate the descriptions. Thank you so much for reading.

Rin-rules: Thank you, I really hope you stopped checking over the last 4 years though xD

Panda Master X: Thank you! I wasn't able to update soon, but I am really very grateful for your continued support. Thank you so much 3

Khaching: You are most welcome, my apologies for being so delayed on this update…

Josiphii: What can I say, I'm a whump addict ;)

Kage kitsu no yami: Thank you so much for the kind words – it's humbling to think that a story that I wrote so slowly on my own affected you this way. Thanks for reading!

NarupokeeAurorafan: Yeah, Alvar was a bit of a douchebag. I didn't update soon, I am very sorry 3

Guest: There is! Now at least. My apologies for leaving it for so long.

GothQueen01: Thank you. I apologise that it is now 2017 D:

ShadeAllure: It may have been a while ago, but this review really stuck with me. Thank you so much – you very nearly spurred me into action. I believe that when I read it I did actually write the first few paragraphs!

Jordan: Here you go?

NyteXade: Here you go! Thank you for the kind words 3

Guest: Soz m8, I started to do a degree that wasn't in any related to writing, and got very swept up by that

Guest: Now! And also hopefully next Saturday!

beanie-art1: Soz, I really am very sorry for it. I hope you've enjoyed this chapter as consolation

Natsuki D: 3 thanks! Here you go!

MidnightRide129: Thank you for the kind words!

Guest: Yeah… all of your reviews have been coming through by email for the last 4 years. I was really tempted to turn it off and pretend that this story didn't exist. But I do want to finish it actually.

BeesForMituna: Here you go! I will get to work on the next one asap 3

Dragneel777: Thank you, it has still been a while, but I hope you've enjoyed it.

BeesForMituna: Wow, I'm glad that you love it so much that it spurred you to review twice – I'm honoured 3

Mary Allen: Thank you. This was the review that finally made me feel guilty enough about this unfinished piece of rubbish that I got off my lazy butt and began writing again. Thank you so much for reading.

Some random chapter 10 reviews:

Guest: Sounds intriguing, but I think I'm going to keep the story as I've planned. I don't want to bring anyone back from the dead, as I wanted it to be as close to the manga as I could make it. I'd love to know the idea regardless anyway though

Tid: It has indeed been a while, and I apologise. Hope this makes up for it in some way.

Some random chapter 3 reviews:

-account: 3 love you too

JackFrost-300-TrueFrost: So I appreciate your feedback, but please note that the name 'Kuro' means black in Japanese. When I was first writing this story, I was trying to keep it consistently English as I have not ever had to write a manga/anime fanfiction before. As such, I used the translated name at first. I believe I switched this to Kuro later. But thank you anyway, I hope you were able to see past the naming choice and read the rest :)

Guest: Thank you also for the feedback. It's gone on so long now that I can't change this stuff because I have since lost all my files. Please see above for an explanation of why it's Blacky in the first few chapters