Colors of Fire Ch. 14
Disclaimer: I don't own Blue Exorcist or its characters.
I was listening to Hang On Loosely in the car and it reminded me of Rin. Funny how that works… So yeah, this chapter is inspired by music! Pretty neat, huh?
Okay guys, I need to get something off my chest. So many freaking plot bunnies. SO MANY! And all of them are for Fullmetal Alchemist! I even got a plot bunny in a dream. Now that story is gonna be a twisted one. I'll need to mentally prepare myself before writing that one.
I'm also at a loss for how to draw a cool avatar picture for myself. I have no idea how to use Paint as of now. I think I'll just watch some how-to videos and try again later. By the time you even read this I'll already have a picture up, and it will either be my own crappy work or someone else's and I'll label it as such.
So yeah, enough rambling! Let's get to the chapter!
o.O.0.O.o
Rin's POV
Her day hadn't exactly been the best of days. Even the incident in the Cram School she was able to shrug off, but everything started going downhill on the mission.
Bon, Takara, and she had been assigned to take out a pack of naberius over by the old barbershop. The task required the skills of a Knight and an Aria. Takara, of course, sat back and watched the fight from the sidelines, so she and Bon were stuck with the fighting.
"Demon's Fury!" she shouted, slashing her sword toward the enemy, sending a huge barrage of concentrated flame sailing. The orbs of fire exploded against the rotten flesh of a naberius and covered it in a huge bonfire-sized layer of fire. The demon instantly perished and a statue of ash was left where it had been previously standing.
Rin wasn't really sure how and when she'd come to discover the skill, but she quickly found that it was more effective than her normal attacks. She noticed it was similar to how Shura used her sword.
One of the filthy things snuck up on her when she wasn't looking and chomped onto her arm. Screaming, she shook the thing off, further damaging the limb. With a venomous snarl, she sent the naberius flying into the side of the building. It was knocked unconscious and, in its weakened state, Bon went in for kill by delivering the last verse.
Rin hissed as the skin of her arm started to sting.
"Rin! Watch out!"
She whirled around too late. The zombie dogs plowed into her before she could even react, sending her sprawling on the parking lot pavement.
"Arg!" she grunted, lifting her sword just in time to stop one of the beasts from sinking its fangs into her neck. She'd stabbed it right through the heart, turning it to ashes in a matter of seconds.
Ugly number two lunged for her neck, same as the other one, but dodged around her raised sword in a complicated dance. The snarling naberius was right on top of her now, its face inches from her nose.
Suddenly, the beast disappeared in a flash of purple flames, along with the other five remaining. Rin pulled herself up, heavily leaning on her sword with her one good arm, and glanced up to see Neko casually walking towards them. The purple fire was still burning at her fingertips.
"Yo!" she shouted. "Didn't think I'd find you here! You looked like you were in a tight squeeze, so I thought I'd lend ya a hand!"
As she came to a stop in front of Rin, the girl noticed that Neko's wings were folded neatly against her back. Out of the seal. In the middle of broad daylight. With people staring from the sidewalks.
"Um, thanks for the hand an all but… why are you here?" Bon questioned.
The witch pointed to the sky above them. "I was flying over when I spotted the two of you. I was on my way to the library to see if they still had that old alchemy book."
Bon frowned in confusion, but shrugged it off and stood up. Rin's arm was getting progressively worse. She'd received a temptait, and even though she was half demon herself, she'd still need to get it treated as soon as possible.
"Hey, Neko?" Rin ventured. "You know where Yukio might be?"
The chimera tapped her chin, thinking. "He's probably at the dorm by now. After all, it is seven 'o clock, and he said his mission would end at 'round six or so."
The pain pulsed in Rin's arm, causing her to wince. "You think you could give me a ride home? That stupid dog tore my arm apart…"
Neko's eyes brightened at the opportunity to fly with someone. "Sure! Er, if that's alright with Suguro…?" She looked at him questioningly.
His eyes widened and he threw his hands up in a peaceful gesture, not wanting any part of flying with the raven chimera ever again. "No, I don't mind! Go ahead!"
Neko laughed at his response. Then she took off in a sprint and launched herself into the sky. She tilted her wings and turned sharply, swooping back towards them.
"See you tomorrow?" Bon asked Rin.
"You bet." she replied.
Neko hooked her arms under Rin's and lifted the girl into the sky with her as she passed overhead.
o.O.0.O.o
Shima's POV
He'd been able to get away with ditching Cram School, but Mephisto hadn't let him weasel out of the mission they had that evening. For the most part, Shima was actually glad to have an excuse to take that… event off his mind. He was happy to have a reason not to think about it. Best of all, the mission didn't involve bugs this time.
They were investigating the mirror monster in the hotel again. Poor Shiemi was chosen to come along because of her first-hand account on the incident. She was shaking the whole bus ride. Shima evidently sat next to her. However, sitting next to Moriyama now held no awkward unrequited romance like it used to. Hell, sitting next to any girl now felt like he was just sitting next to a friend. Someone he would never date, but still wanted to keep relatively chill relationship with.
Izumo seemed to pick up on this. She now sat right behind him, as opposed to in the very front of the bus, farthest away from Shima as she could get. Shima was a bit disappointed that the reason why Izumo was being nice to him was because of the ordeal he'd been put through.
Shima realized something just then. By thinking that, by being disappointed, he still harbored feelings for Izumo. Granted they may have been reduced to tiny embers, but they were still there. This thought comforted him as he gazed out the window at the passing country side. At least he wasn't completely stripped of his former personality.
The whole thing had shocked him to his core. Shima was broken down and crying like a baby in that bell tower, and he felt so ashamed for doing so. Once he'd stopped crying, one of the janitors joined him in the tower for regular maintenance and cleaning.
"Problem there, son?" the old man asked gently.
Shima sniffed. "You have no idea."
The man grunted. "I'm not gonna pretend to know the solution of every problem, but keep in mind that the world changes. Nothing is constant, and almost everything can be fixed eventually."
He sprayed the old copper bell and started polishing its rusted surface.
"Whatever it is I'm sure things'll turn around in the end." he continued. "Twenty years from now you'll be looking back at your problems from the past and laugh. Mostly at yourself, but you'll laugh."
Shima scratched his head. "Ya think?"
The pink-haired monk seriously doubted that something like this was just going to blow over quickly. But looking at it from the old man's angle, he could see now that this would all just be a funny story to tell his kids someday when he got old.
The monk smiled. "Thanks, man. Never thought about it like that before."
The janitor smiled back, the skin around his eyes crinkling. "Eh it's no problem, kid. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a family to return to."
With that the old man exited the bell tower, leaving Shima thinking about the world and how things always seem to work out on their own.
Ever since the encounter with the old man, Shima had been thinking about the situation over and over again. He still found it painful to directly address the issue in his mind, which was why he chose to avoid it for now. Shima wasn't so freaked out anymore, realizing that the dilemma would just be a temporary hell.
As The pink-haired monk and his fellow Exwires got closer and closer to their destination, he let go of his thoughts and wiped his mind blank. Blank was the best state a mind could be in. Absolutely nothing to worry about, just plain whiteness all around.
"I wouldn't be too sure about that, Renzo." a distant voice cackled.
Shima was thoroughly startled, but when he opened his eyes he saw the same white void all around him. Momentarily panicking, he let out an undignified sound and glanced around his habitat, looking for the speaker.
"I am called by many names," the voice continued, "I am God. I am One, I am All. And I am Truth. I am also You."
Suddenly a white transparent figure outlined in black smoke appeared before him, grinning with disturbingly sharp teeth. It was vaguely human, about the size of Shima himself. It had no eyes that Shima could see, but he got the feeling that the thing was looking right into him. Into his soul, his being, his existence.
Shima knew that he couldn't hide anything from this monster. And he was terrified. Suddenly he forgot all about the mission, his time and place in the universe. All he was aware of was the fear.
Truth let out a fit of cold laughter. "Sometime soon a foreigner will enter your side of the mirror. He will try to take what's rightfully yours. If you stop him, more than one life will be saved. I will give you the means to do so… if you're willing to make a deal. An equivalent exchange."
Shima was practically shaking now. He had no idea what the thing was talking about, but he didn't like the sound of it. He didn't know if this was a trick of the mind, or if a demon of sorts had invaded his mind. One thing was for sure: he was completely opposed to making any kind of deal with the monster.
"Come now," Truth reasoned, "I would never lie. You can trust my word, Renzo. I guarantee that, even if you don't heed my warning, this man will still come after you. Take it from me: you don't want to face him unprepared. He's practically immortal. And you are just an ordinary human saddled with an unfortunate fate. Let me save you! Let me save the people you care about! Let me save man-kind! All you have to do is give me something in return."
The pink-haired monk swallowed. "W-what exactly do you want from me?"
o.O.0.O.o
Rin's POV
"I said I was sorry!" Neko explained, "The only way I can carry someone in flight is by the arms!"
"Well next time how about a warning?" Rin shot back maliciously. "My arm was already screwed up before you had me dangling in mid-air by that arm only!"
The chimera crossed her arms. "Well, we're here now! Go see Yukio!"
"Fine, I will!"
She stormed down the stairwell, carefully avoiding bumping her arm on anything else for the tenth time. She made it all the way to her and her twin's dorm room, and she slung the door open carelessly, hoping to find said twin.
To her disappointment, he wasn't there.
Rin growled. She checked the kitchen next, but still came up empty handed. She was damn near ready to shout for him when he rushed into the kitchen holding a stack of suspicious-looking books.
"Rin!" her twin said, noticing her, "Where have you been?! I've been looking everywhere for you! I called you seven times but you didn't pick up!"
She rubbed the back of her head, laughing nervously. "Yeah, I was on a mission. So what'd you call me for? What's up?"
Her disheveled twin fixed his posture and let out a slow breath, as if to brace himself for a stressful discussion. "We got a letter from the Vatican, Rin. They want us to report to their headquarters in forty-eight hours. They want to run a series of intelligence tests on you. In other words, their checking to see if you're even worthy of taking the exam."
o.O.0.O.o
Ooohh! CLIFFY!
Yeah, I ran out of plot bunnies for this story, so I'm making stuff up as I go along! I've got a feeling that this story will come to an end soon, because I'm slowly losing the motive to write it. I've got twenty or so plot bunnies lined up for Fullmetal Alchemist, and I'm just itching to write them.
I'm so excited about writing them that somehow Truth has leaked into this one. That creepy bastard has no business being here, but at least he's making things interesting.
Seriously guys, I think I'm gonna have to re-watch Blue Exorcist and get re-inspired. I'm running out of things to do for this story. I'll have Neko fix Rin soon, because I honestly think that's why I'm drawing a blank. Rin is supposed to be a guy, anyway.
So yeah! That about wraps it up for this chapter.
Fare thee well, strange ones!