Rin felt like he was in a dream. His thoughts were sluggish, half-formed -hovering in that place between sleep and awake. He floated past distant memories and daydreams, letting the flow of his thoughts carry him wherever.

"I should probably wake up soon..."

He concentrated, trying to open his eyes, but something in his chest was throbbing, and the light hurt his eyes. It was easier to keep sleeping.

He heard someone call his name from far off. He paused, trying to pinpoint where he had heard that voice before.

"Oh...right...Logan..."

He tried to remember what had happened to Logan. They were in the cave...and then that rock lady had appeared...

He winced, feeling a sudden cold tighten his chest. It was as if someone had reached inside and grabbed his heart with icy claws, squeezing the blood out of him. He panicked, squirming, trying to get rid of the terrible feeling creeping through the rest of his limbs. The throbbing in his chest grew more vivid, more painful. He had been peacefully floating in oblivion a moment before, but now he suddenly realized the darkness surrounding him was evil. The malignant force pressed against him on all sides, making it difficult to breathe, impossible to move.

"...we're not animals!"

It was Logan again - this time his voice more clear and distinct.

"Help me!" Rin cried, but when he opened his mouth all that came out was blue flames, singing his lips and burning his throat. The pain snapped his eyes open, and he saw Logan lying before him, burned and bleeding, pleading to someone.

To Rin.

Rin looked on in horror as he held his sword threateningly above his friend, flames raging around him.

What...what am I doing?

He tried to move his limbs, to lower the sword, but his thoughts didn't seem to connect with his body. It was like when he got to their dorm after an exhausting day and plopped down on his bed, sleep pulling at his eyelids - he would look over at his homework and tell himself to go do it, but his body just rebelled and went to sleep instead. Except this time, his body was wide awake - and about to kill Logan.

Suddenly, the cold squeezing came in his chest again, digging its claws into his heart, scraping his ribs.

Destroy the mutant. Destroy the mutant. Destroy the mutant...

"No...I don't...wanna..." he tried to concentrate, but his thoughts were scattered and sluggish, as if his brain had turned to molasses. Of their own accord, his arms swung downward. Luckily Logan leapt out of the way at the last moment.

Two shots rang out, and two bullets buried themselves in Rin's chest, but he was so numb he didn't feel the pain. The throbbing in his chest wasn't from any external wounds - it was coming from inside him, pulsating through his body. The darkness, the cold - the evil force that was controlling him.

His body continued to attack Logan while Rin tried to gather his thoughts. Maybe he had just finally cracked, and this was what he truly was. He had lost control of himself before. Maybe this darkness wasn't from some evil external force controlling him - maybe he was the darkness, after all.

He watched as Logan attacked the goddess, then as his own flames flowed forth, brilliant blue and deadly.

This was it. He was about to kill a human.

He had lost his humanity after all.

He was no better than any demon.

Tears spilled down his cheeks. He wanted to get angry, but all he could feel was sorrow. He had always known he was a monster, an animal. Everyone who has trusted him had been wrong. Bon, Konekomaru, Shima, Izumo...Shiemi...Dad...Yukio.

The cold inside his chest was heavier than ever, its grip so tight he was pretty sure his heart had turned to dust. Maybe the force would kill him, and he could finally escape.

Then all of the sudden the cold vanished, replaced with warmth. He stood stunned as the sorrow changed, apathy turning to rage, strange memories and emotions not his own flooding into his mind. Yet somehow, they were familiar.

Love, friendship, loneliness, alienation, loss, fear, anger - they all gushed in at once - his heart no longer felt like it was being crushed, it felt like it was going to explode.

Suddenly, he remembered Iha-naga had been the one controlling him. She had been the darkness, not him. And now, this new force - it was Logan. The grizzled mutant who was all blood and rage and wit was holding Rin's heart in his hand. And he could hear his voice in his head, screaming with his dying breaths, trying to save everyone. Even Rin.

The cloud of confusion and apathy lifted from Rin's mind, and the strange stiffness and sluggishness disconnecting him from his own body burned away. He felt his eyes focus, the pain of the gunshot wounds in his gut, and the heat of the flames surrounding him. The heat of the flames surging towards Iha-naga and Logan.

With a scream, he reclaimed his flames just as they began to bite into Logan's back, forcing them to part like the Red Sea, flowing around Logan but not harming him. Instead, the flames crashed into Iha-naga. The goddess screamed and fell to the ground, Satan's flames engulfing her form completely. Her rocky flesh turned black, then began to glow orange with the heat. When her cries diminished to moans and Rin felt the last of her energy seep away, he released her from the flames and turned his power onto the demon hoards gathered on the mountain. Driving his sword into the ground, he screamed and sent out a blast of fire in all directions. The demons screeched and hissed as they were turned to ash, popping and sizzling momentarily in the intense heat.

Then, in the next moment, the mountain was quiet.

The last of Rin's flames died away, and the golden light of morning once again reclaimed the mountain.

Blinking, feeling strange in the body once again his, he glanced around, seeing the scene for the first time with his own, true eyes.

The first thing he noticed was that Logan was lying on the ground, unmoving.