Chapter 18: Peace

Author's note: Final Chapter

The light was bright but pleasant in the field, a light breeze moving the grass and leaves of the trees ever so slightly.

The only sound was the laughter of many children as they ran about the field, playing with each other before it would be time for them to head towards that light.

Rin himself sat on a large picnic blanket on a hill, leaning contently against one of the other children that occupied the blanket with him.

A wing rested over Rin, a comforting weight to the young boy, who had no wings of his own.

All but a tiny handful of the children sprouted wings from their backs, as well as glowing halos held above their heads by seemingly nothing.

Daisuke, Emi, Kiki, Jiro and June were the only other wingless children in the field, the tiny group of survivors split between the large picnic blanket and running around the field with the winged children.

"It's nice here." Rin noted.

The winged children around him nodded.

"It's been so long since we got to see colour." Akiko said.

"And there are flowers!" Suzie bounced excitedly on Rin's lap, showing off a half-finished daisy chain.

Rin smiled down at her.

"Thank you for freeing us." Ken spoke up.

The other winged children nodded, expressing their own gratitude.

"I didn't do anything." Rin denied, shifting uncomfortably. "I just suddenly caught on fire. I didn't even know I could do that."

He still didn't understand just how he suddenly lit up with blue fire, let alone why it burned Mami but not him.

"Well, your fire still feed us from the Beldam." Chiro said. "Don't take away your own credit just because you didn't mean to do it."

"I guess." Rin hummed. "But I wish I'd known to do it sooner. So you didn't have to suffer under M-the Beldam for so long, even after you were already taken."

"And how exactly could you have known?" Yamato rolled his eyes. "We weren't exactly able to communicate. The only fault lies with the Beldam."

The winged boy spat out the demon's title with disgust, unwilling to use her actual name.

Rin nodded.

Logically, he knew that Yamato was right and that there was nothing he could have done to free them sooner, but emotionally he still felt guilty that his friends had been suffering for so long after they already died.

"I wish we could all stay together now that she's gone." Rin expressed.

"Sorry, kid." Osamu reached over to ruffle Rin's hair. "But we can't stay forever. Now that we're free, the light is waiting for us."

"And we don't want to catch you following us into it anytime soon." Chiro added.

Rin sniffed, internally raging at how unfair it was.

"It…it's not fair." He hiccupped. "I only just got you all back and you're leaving again."

"It's okay, Rin." Kagami comforted. "At least now, we get to say goodbye."

"Smile!" Suzie cheered, holding up a completed flower crown and placing it on Rin's head.

Rin smiled.

He, at least, found it a slight comfort that his final memories of his friends was this moment in a beautiful field, and no longer their horrible fates in the fake city.

"Be happy, Rin." Akiko said as the children gathered around him for a group hug. "For you are still alive."

All around, the children joined in the comforting hug.

"And for that, we are at peace."

Rin couldn't tell who said that, lost in the hug as the field faded away.

Rin blinked awake to an unfamiliar, stark white, ceiling.

Due to how much cotton had to be in his head, it took Rin a moment to register the continuous beeping filling the room. It then took a little longer for the young boy to recognise that he was in a hospital room.

Turning his head, Rin looked around the room, finding his brother sitting in a chair next to their father, who was in a hospital bed like Rin, the two staring intently as some papers out of a large pile of them.

Registering a weight on his legs, Rin looked down to find that Kuro was sleeping there, quietly purring away in his sleep.

This made Rin question whether he really was in a hospital after all, as he was pretty sure that animals weren't allowed in a human hospital, even if Kuro wasn't a regular cat.

"Mmh…" Rin mumbled, unable to form words from how tired he was.

Yukio and Shiro immediately turned their attentions towards Rin at the sound.

"Rin!" Yukio quickly leapt to Rin's side, overjoyed to see his brother awake.

"O-ii…an." Rin mumbled, attempting to bring his arms up towards his brother.

Being careful not to disturb the various equipment surrounding Rin, Yukio pulled his younger brother into a hug.

"How are you feeling." Shiro asked his younger son once he'd managed to pull himself out of his own bed.

"Da…" Rin made grabby hands towards his father instead of answering.

"I guess you're tired then." Shiro laughed slightly as Yukio reluctantly passed Rin over to him. "Not a surprise, considering all that's happened."

Mindful of his injuries, Shiro lent over and pressed the nurse-call button, knowing that he shouldn't put off calling a health professional to prolong their family reunion.

Thankfully, the nurse that arrived didn't need to stay long, reporting that Rin was still recovering well and recording Rin's current state before leaving. Also giving news that the other children were waking up themselves.

"It over?" Rin asked, able to speak better after being given a while to fully wake up.

"Yes, Rin. It's over." Shiro promised. "The demon's gone and you and your friends are all safe from her."

He wished that he could say that Rin was completely safe, but with the burst of fire Rin had given out, he knew that wouldn't stay true for long.

"I'm glad." Rin stated, snuggling closer to his family, pulling a still sleepy Kuro into his arms.

Yukio smiled.

If Rin was expressing that he was glad Mami was gone, then that had to count towards his recovery somehow. Right?

"I am too." Shiro said, running his fingers through Rin's hair. "It means that I can finally take those holidays that I was promising you." He then messed up Rin's hair.

Rin giggled.

"Yay." He cheered quietly.

"Where shall we go? Maybe a theme park, I'm pretty sure I can force some tickets out of a certain headmaster."

"Beach!" Rin jumped excitedly in Shiro's hold, before quickly sinking back down as he became dizzy.

"You both need to recover before you can go anywhere." Yukio told his father and brother.

He didn't want his father and brother going anywhere but their own beds once they left hospital, until they recovered.

"Ah, how could I raise such a stick in the mud?" Shiro joked.

"You raised me to be responsible." Yukio replied. "Something that you've apparently lost in your old age."

"Hey, who are you calling old?" Shiro demanded, reaching over and messing up Yukio's hair.

Rin giggled as his brother complained and tried to neaten his hair.

Despite all that had happened, he found himself happy, being there with his family.

And he hoped that it wouldn't change again.

"No, the sand needs to be wet, or it won't make the castle." Rin told Yukio, gesturing with his plastic spade.

"Okay." Yukio replied, already well aware of how to construct a sandcastle, but wanting for his brother to be able to express himself by being in charge.

"Don't add too much water, or it'll melt and stick in the bucket." Rin then said as Yukio poured water into the sand to wet it.

"Alright." Yukio responded with a small smirk.

Shiro smiled at his sons from the blanket he was sat on, Kuro lazing beside him in the sun.

True to her word, Coraline didn't make one mention of Rin's flames in her report, meaning that the family didn't have to worry about scrutiny from the Order for a little longer.

It was almost sad for Shiro when Coraline eventually left to go back to her home country, now that the Beldam case no longer kept her in Japan, it would have been nice for Shiro to have someone else who know Rin's identity close.

Though, the two did remain in contact, Coraline promising to send Shiro a copy of her Beldam book once she had finished updating it with the information about Mami.

So, Shiro was free to enjoy his accumulated paid leave days with Rin, and Yukio when his elder son was able. Unfortunately, school was still a thing, and now that Rin was back home with Mami being gone, Yukio was able to resume his usual studies.

Thankfully, Rin wasn't alone as he was before, and that was even taking into account that Shiro was home full-time for a while.

The other living victims of the Beldam were finally able to see each other now that the threat of Mami was no longer preventing them from meeting up. Some of their meetings were just play-dates set up between Shiro and the other parents, but a lot of the time the children met with each other during their group therapy sessions.

Each child had their own private therapy sessions, but the group sessions were also there to help them work through their issues collectively, using their strong bond to aid in their recovery.

Even Rin himself finally had a full trained and certified therapist, allowing Miss Brook to just focus on getting Rin back up to speed on his education, one who Shiro could trust with knowing the truth about Rin, since a therapy session could end up with the young boy bursting into flames if his emotions got too high.

With Rin himself remembering how he'd burst into flames, Shiro had been forced to reveal his son's demonic heritage. Rin had winced and looked sad when he'd been told that he was half demon, though didn't have as bad as a reaction as he could have, probably because being labelled as a demon by everyone was a seven-year-old wound that took a backseat to far more recent issues.

Still, Shiro hadn't been entirely truthful with Rin yet. He and Yukio had agreed to keep the exact identity of the brothers' demon father a secret, at least until Rin had properly acclimated to the world of demons and exorcists. They didn't want to overwhelm the young boy.

At least with Rin being aware of his abilities, Shiro could work on helping him control them, so that there was less risk of Rin exposing his flames in front of the wrong people. Due to Rin's outburst against Mami, the seal on the sword had all but burnt off already, but as long as it remained undrawn, Rin would get to keep his human appearance.

The family was in a rather precarious situation, even with the thread of Mami gone. But Shiro was just glad that he got to see both his sons smiling and being happy again.

…

Rin smiled proudly at his sandcastle.

It was on top of a large hill to look out on the vast kingdom of the beach, had many layers and even a moat. The perfect place for a crab to live, once he found one.

All it needed now was decoration.

"Onii-chan, we need shells." Rin said.

"Okay, let's go look for some." Yukio said, getting to his feet.

There was no way he was going to let Rin wander off on his own again, after the last time.

"Dad, look after the castle! Okay?" Rin called to their father.

"I'll keep a close eye on it, kid." Shiro promised, waving from the blanket.

Content in the knowledge that his sandcastle would be safe under the dutiful watch of his father, Rin dragged Yukio off to find some nice shells.

"This one looks nice. Aw, this one's broken." Rin commentated on his finds, dropping his shells into his bucket. "Oh, sea glass for windows."

As he reached down for another shell, Rin took notice of a small rock beside it.

It was just a stone, nothing special about it over than a naturally formed hole that was slightly off-centre.

Rin picket the stone up and turned it over in his hand, noting how different in shape it was to the stone that Miss Jones had given him.

Peaking through the hole, Rin looked around but found nothing different, just like when he'd first been given a stone by Miss Jones.

But this time, instead of it making him feel disappointed, it made him smile.

Pocketing the stone, Rin vowed to find a string for it later.

As he went back to picking shells, Rin remember that strange tool Miss Jones had worn over her eyes that held her holed stone for her, and wondered whether he'd need one for himself when he became an Exorcist.

And Rin would become an Exorcist. He'd vowed it to himself that he would become someone who protects people, like he did for Yukio when they were younger, or rather when Yukio was younger, that he'd save people from things like what happened to him and the others.

Yukio had pulled a funny face when Rin had told him that he wanted to become an Exorcist, immediately denying him. Thankfully, their father's word still trumped Yukio's, and the old man had agreed to start training Rin, though he said that Rin was just going to be taught the 'basics' for a while, because Rin still had a long road of recovery in front of him.

"Rin, I think you have enough." Yukio interrupted Rin's thoughts.

"Huh? Oh." Rin looked into his bucket, which was full up of shells, sea glass and even some nicely patterned sea pottery.

Satisfied that he had enough, Rin turned around and began to head back towards their sandcastle.

On their return, Rin's face shifted into an annoyed glare when he noticed that their father was napping, instead of keeping an eye on their sandcastle as promised. Luckily, nothing had happened to it in the old man's negligence.

"Hey!" Rin marched over to his father and kicked sand at him.

"Ah." Shiro spluttered, trying to get grains of sand out of his mouth.

Kuro yowled as he woke up to sand in his fur, quickly shaking to try and get it out, looking at Rin in betrayal.

"Sorry Kuro." Rin apologised to the familiar first. "Next time, watch the sandcastle." Rin huffed at his father, turning back to said sandcastle.

Shiro glared at his youngest son, not appreciating the taste of sand in his mouth.

"You brought this on yourself?" Yukio shrugged to his father.

The old man really should have known better.

Yukio went over to join his brother, helping Rin to sort out his beach treasures and handing him pieces to decorate their sandcastle. Now awake, Kuro crept over to them to eye the shiny pieces of sea glass, and so see if any of the shells still had sea food in them.

Quickly getting over having sand kicked on him by his own son, Shiro once again smiled at his sons playing together.

Grabbing an old camera from his bag, Shiro snapped a picture of the scene. It reminded him heavily of the last picture he had of his sons being the same age, which made him wonder if Yukio would manage to get sunburn again.

…

The family stayed at the beach for another hour, until the sun was dipping low in the horizon, before deciding to head home.

"Noo, don' wanna go." Rin mumbled, rubbing his eyes.

Thankfully, Shiro had washed Rin's hands, so he wasn't rubbing sand or salt into them.

Shiro just shook his head.

He knew that Rin didn't actually want to stay, the tired young boy was just operating on tired kid logic, not really understanding what he wanted.

"Come on, I want to get home before it gets too dark." Shiro said, holding the car door open for Rin.

With some mumbled complaints, Rin crawled into the car and onto his booster seat, letting Yukio fasten him in as Kuro clambered onto his lap.

The car had barely started on its way home before Rin's head lolled back, the boy tired out by the day's activities, causing Shiro and Yukio to chuckle as Yukio shifted Rin's head to be in a better position.

It was almost completely dark by the time Shiro pulled the car up to the monastery.

"Yukio, can you carry Rin inside?" Shiro asked as he turned off the car. "Yukio?"

Shiro turned around at the lack of response, only to find Yukio with his eyes closed, leaning against Rin with one arm around his younger brother.

Shiro had to stifle his laugh as he took out the camera again to snap another photo, though he knew it was going to be bad quality with how dark it was.

Calling on one of the other priests to carry Rin and Kuro inside, Shiro summoned the strength to carry Yukio all the way from the car to his bed like he was a young child again, being careful not to disturb Yukio.

His ribs screamed at him for it, but Shiro found it was worth it to keep Yukio as relaxed as he was.

His elder son had been too up-tight lately.

With one last smile at his sons snuggled up in their beds, Shiro closed their bedroom door and let them sleep in peace.

THE END

Author's Note: Please comment

And finally, the story comes to its end

I don't know if I'll ever return to this story for a rewrite once I've read the manga, I'll probably leave the story as is.
Similarly, there likely won't be a sequel to this story, since it's been capped off and I don't feel the need to continue it.
Though, I might make a list of changes that would happen once I'm familiar with the lore and characters of Blue Exorcist beyond the first season that I watched, for those who are interested. So, keep an eye on my Tumblr in case I do write one out.

Also keep an eye out for that Madoka Magica crossover I have planned, because I've really fallen in love with the idea and have a lot of notes for it.
I'll still need to read the Blue Exorcist manga, as well as watch the Magia Record series most likely, and then organise my notes and new knowledge into a chapter-by-chapter plan. So, the story may take a while to come out, but do keep an eye on the Blue Exorcist crossovers or just follow me for when I start uploading.

And if anyone wants to rewrite this story for themselves or use this story for inspiration in their own works, feel free to use it.