Briar Rose Syndrome

by TheBeingOfEverything

Someone wants to teach Samael some humility. That the form their lesson takes may just kill him is something Rin has an issue with. Roping in a reluctant Amaimon to help him track down the culprit and a cure, Rin begins his quest to wake Mephisto before his sleep becomes permanent.*A Sleeping Beauty AU*

5. Out of the Frying Pan & Other Euphemisms

Out of the Frying Pan and Other Euphemisms

Summary:

The boys get into some hot water with the king of fire. Amaimon is less than pleased when Iblis takes a certain interest in their prince and even more upset when they learn what their next step will have to be. In which there is a betrayal and more talking and Rin punches a sandworm in the face.

Notes:

Man I sure hope Iblis actually acts like this in the series or this is gonna be even more au :D

The usual fml's apply here as, somehow, this chapter reached 71 pages in the doc (: Also it's uhhhh 2:20 am but I was determined to get the the last 2 scenes out :D

Would you believe I'm almost done with nanowrimo? Bc with this beast I'm up to 40k words done for the month and next chapter is def gonna be another 20k'er.

...Which means this fic is likely gonna be in the 100ks by the time it's done. But I am not good at math so who even knows :D

Song of the Chapter:

Drumming Song by Florence and the Machine

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

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He drifted, feeling the aches and pains as shadows of themselves while he slept.

A thought made it through the cloud of sleep. When he made it home, Rin would sleep for a week- and maybe find a hot spring to soak in while he was at it, too. That faded away as he went further down, only two increasingly familiar scents filled his senses to let him know he could rest without fear that he was unguarded.

The ground he slept on rumbled, drawing him from the quicksand depths. Rin furrowed his brows, curling into a tighter ball as he fought waking.

"-in," a voice said, "Rin!"

Rin woke just as the earth shattered. He had a single moment to see wide gold eyes reflected across from him before something massive slammed to the sandstone cocoon again and it split.

Sand poured into the den, sending Rin's pulse racing as thoughts of suffocation under the ground filled his head. A hand grabbed his, Amaimon tugging him close and launching into the short ceiling before Rin could get a sound out.

Instead of running straight into the stone, sand parted into fine particles to release them back to the surface, freed from the prison the den had become.

He didn't need to, not having been deprived, but Rin gasped air into his lungs.

Amaimon dropped him, glaring at the still dunes around them and hissing, "we're not alone, Rin, don't get comfortable."

"What the hell was that?" Rin asked as he jerked his head to search for what had attacked them. He wanted to laugh, incredulous and a bit sleep deprived, as he realized that so far they'd been two-for-two in waking up to an ambush. He had a suspicion that pattern would only continue the longer they stayed in Gehenna.

"Sandworm." Amaimon's answer made Rin blink, trying to picture what that could possibly look like.

"Wha-"

Another rumble beneath the dune they stood on.

A pool-sized pit opened nearby and something screamed like super-heated glass shattering into splinters as it launched towards them. The super-heated glass turned out to be literal as Rin saw it swallow the sand in front of it, its core glowing to melt the sand into liquid.

White-hot glass spewed from the creature's mouth that Rin knew would sear the flesh from his bones if he let it hit.

No hesitation. Not anymore. Rin snarled, ducked the wave of glass, and met the attack.

His fist slammed into the face of a creature the size of a school-bus, halting its momentum with a booming impact that echoed over the dunes.

He followed through, spinning around to kick hard enough to break whatever passed for bones in what revealed itself to be a giant sand-colored demon whose mouth contained circular rows of fangs the size of Rin's body.

Those fangs pointed inwards down into the cavernous gullet of the creature that Rin caught a glimpse of before his kick sent it face-first down the long drop into the gully between dunes.

It reached the bottom with a crash and a long shriek as it writhed in the sand, tossing up an obscuring cloud while Rin readied himself to go down and finish the job.

"Ahahaha!" Rin flinched at the unexpected bright laughter, in the middle of jerking towards Amaimon. Fangs gleamed from a wide smile and delight shone on Amaimon's face as he gripped him in his claws and spun Rin by the shoulders.

"Magnificent!" The praise took a minute to register and Rin's heart stuttered in his chest as he realized Amaimon was happy with his takedown of the sandworm. But, before he could say anything, Amaimon left him, claws ruffling through his hair in a final rough pass as Rin watched him launch down into the gulley.

The dust cloud had cleared to reveal the sandworm recovering at the base, but it never got the chance to attack, Amaimon landed on its body with the force of a small bomb, the seismic shock reaching through the sand all the way to where Rin stood.

There was no coming back from that.

Rin's cheeks heated in a blush, still staring down at the rising figure from the corpse of the sandworm. He didn't think anyone had shown such excitement over his accomplishments since he'd learned to cook- and the failed attempts at getting his first job.

His hands clenched, squeezing, as he waited for Amaimon to float back to the top of the dune.

Amaimon grinned at him when he made it, his usual impassive expression broken by Rin and- he suspected- the fall to crush the sandworm. He'd have to remind himself to show Amaimon more rollercoasters in Assiah. Though, he hid a snort of amusement, he might get some freaked out people when Amaimon tried to "surf" the coasters again.

Hinging on if they survived and got back to Assiah, of course. But Rin refused to believe otherwise.

"You didn't hold back!" Amaimon said, nearly vibrating as he reached Rin and set down in the sand.

The enthusiasm had Rin releasing a laugh of his own, rubbing the back of his head and covering where the phantom touch left by Amaimon had been, "no, I think I learned my lesson, you make a good teacher."

Now, Amaimon's smile turned smug, "I know."

Rin didn't begrudge him the response, knowing how much pride he took in his own skills at cooking.

"Hey," Rin began as they continued, "will you teach me more?"

Slit pupils focused on him over Amaimon's shoulder, slivering with alertness, "you want to play with me?"

Play? "It was fun, fighting with you," Rin admitted, remembering the thrill of it once he'd gotten past the frustration of being so outclassed when it came to technique, "when we get back to Assiah we should fight again."

Those eyes had begun to glow with an inner light as Rin spoke and he wondered if he should have stuck to the request for more fighting lessons. Was it his imagination or had Amaimon just shivered?

"Yes! And you can use your flames when we play," Amaimon said, looking like Rin had just handed him his birthday and Christmas gifts early. Which, Rin understood exactly what he was feeling. After getting a taste of going all out and then realizing Amaimon not only wanted it from him, but actively encouraged him when he surpassed those limits, Rin had a realization of his own.

Even if things went back to the way they were before the whole catastrophe that was their current situation and Rin had to contain himself in his classes again, he could have a new outlet in Amaimon. All the excess energy he built up over the slog of schoolwork wouldn't have to be released in fidgeting or daydreaming or the million other ways he tried to burn it away.

With Amaimon, Rin wouldn't be bored.

"Only if you use your powers, too," Rin said as his own excitement welled up inside. Suddenly, he had something more to look forward to when they fixed Mephisto.

If anything, his request only made Amaimon look even more pleased.

His tail twitched in an aborted wag and Rin wondered if Amaimon's might also be showing signs of his mood where it was hidden beneath his maroon coat.

What did Amaimon's tail even look like? It hit Rin, then, that he didn't know. Was it like his? His gaze flicked to Mephisto, the same curiosity rising.

He opened his mouth to ask-

-Wait. Rin paused, halting that train of thought in an inner screech. He definitely couldn't ask Amaimon about tails. His tightened around his middle because he just knew Amaimon would try to turn it into a teaching moment and it would more than likely be hands on.

And, while Amaimon was improving in the personal boundaries aspect of his interactions with Rin, the lure of getting to mess with him about that particular aspect of demons would probably be more than he could resist.

Oh god. Rin's heart sunk in his chest and a shudder went through him.

Was Kuro's tail sensitive like his? Had he been bad-touching his familiar whenever he pet him? Kuro hadn't seemed like he was reacting to it any differently than a normal cat, so he definitely couldn't have, right? Rin wanted to bury himself in the sand until he got the mental image from his mind. Maybe Amaimon could do it for him- after he got done laughing at the reason for the request and Rin died on the spot out of sheer embarrassment.

"We're entering the inner territory soon," Amaimon's voice distracted Rin from thoughts of throwing himself down one of the dunes, "I won't be able to use my powers there."

"What? Why?" Rin asked and got a blank look back.

"Iblis will sense my aspect changing things that close to the center- as it is in any of our territories."

He couldn't imagine what that must feel like, to sense things on that level. The more he learned about demons, the more alien they seemed and the less like the beings he remembered the priests of his church droning on about.

Sure enough, on the horizon in the distance, Rin could see another wide gorge. His stomach dropped and twisted inside him as he remembered the last one they'd crossed. At least he'd be ready this time for when Amaimon had to carry him over.

Tension stiffened his body as they set down at the edge and Rin tried not to show any hints of his nerves. But, instead of an arm around the middle, Amaimon glanced at him.

Then he leapt, free-falling down the side of the vertical cliff-face.

"What the hell- Amaimon!" Rin shouted at the rapidly shrinking figure as he tried to figure out what was going on.

Amaimon grinned up at him, then pulled his legs towards his chest and, in a sharp motion, kicked off the side of the wall to launch like a shot right over the magma river at the bottom to the other side.

The acrobatics, the lack of caution, the care-free joy Amaimon showed…

Rin's lips twitched in a smile, heart thudding with preemptive adrenaline as he stared down the long, long fall to the bottom, knowing, if he messed up, he'd be in for a world of hurt-

-It sent his pulse racing. He spread his arms and dropped off the ledge.

A crow of exhilaration escaped his mouth, the wind rushing past swallowing it and muffling everything else as he left safety behind.

Rin turned midair and mimicked Amaimon, kicking off the rock wall with jarring force because he knew if he didn't give it his all he'd be finding out very soon how resilient he was to black flames.

Heat seared beneath his body, even though he was still a good few meters from the deep purple magma. The danger left him breathless, moving on instinct to flip near the end and touching down in a skid of his shoes to the other side.

Laughter bubbled from his chest, giddy with his success as he looked at Amaimon.

"That was fun!" Rin said to the toothy grin Amaimon bared at him as he stood, shaking with the after-effects of the fall.

"Can you make it to the top now?" Came the semi-teasing question.

"Can you, carrying Mephisto?" Rin sniped back, grinning wider and leaping as high as he could before Amaimon could reply. He latched his claws into the hardened magma-rock for only as long as it took to use it like a springboard to further propel himself to the ledge.

He made it, waiting for Amaimon to arrive and taking the chance to look at the land they were about to go through next.

It was less barren, not that Rin could guess if the things he was seeing were plants or if they might have been once upon a time. Pale lights as if from captured flames lit the tops of old magma pillars, like candles randomly interspaced over the ground.

As if paired together, tree-shaped things rose above the candles, so dark they seemed to absorb the light of the flames beneath them so that Rin couldn't make out any defining features. A scuff of boots came beside him as Amaimon appeared took him from contemplating the scenery and how weird it was.

"They feed off the constant flames," Amaimon said, the non-sequitur making Rin cock his head with a questioning sound until Amaimon gestured to the trees, "it's an energy source. When they live long enough, they gain sentience, so we should be watchful."

"How old?" Rin asked as they started in.

"A thousand years."

The answer sent a pang through Rin as he looked at the still forms they ran past, massive boughs shielding them from the sky, "oh, that seems… sad, that they'll live that long only for us to kill them."

Amaimon snorted, "don't pity them, more will be born, live, and die for the rest of eternity, why does it matter how old they are? The cycle will continue forever or something new will take their place."

In one sense, Amaimon was right, and Rin knew eternity must look very different from his perspective. But he couldn't shake the feeling the deeper they went into the dark forest. He didn't have the words to argue his case, though, so let it subside for the time being.

All that was left to do was the same rhythm they'd kept before, with the added obstacle of dodging past trees and ducking under low-hanging boughs.

One scratched Rin's hair when he hadn't ducked far enough, pulling strands free in a sharp pain as Rin winced, forcing himself to focus on the route.

But that focus fought him, his attention directed in another path.

This far away from the dunes, their every move seemed magnified, especially now that the winds across the crests didn't muffle sound. It set Rin's nerves on edge, the weight of the trees pressing down on him as their surroundings seemed to darken. Who knew what hid behind the shadows cast by the flickering flames and the even deeper shadows between the trees.

"Hey," Amaimon's voice, loud after so much silence, shocked Rin from the anxiety drilling into him, "don't do that."

"Do what?" Rin managed to say, ears flicking. Had that been a snapping twig in the distance? Were they being ambushed again? His fangs lengthened in his mouth and claws on his fingers, eyes beginning to glow beneath his brows as he bowed his head, searching.

A prick of claws at his nape stopped him cold. Amaimon had vanished from his sight.

"Don't act like prey."

Rin shivered at the breath ghosting over the tip of his ear, Amaimon a heated weight against his spine where he stood too close-!

Amaimon tightened his fingers.

Without his say, a low growl started in Rin's chest and his lips lifted in a curl over fangs. He straightened his spine, no longer hunched to get away from Amaimon but pressing to him. At his arm, he felt Mephisto's body, cold, despite the layers of his clothes.

"Good." That overpowering presence left him, Amaimon walking back to the lead and scanning Rin as if searching for more signs that he was prey. Rin met his gaze.

Nodding to himself, Amaimon went back to running. "This forest will try to make you prey- make you stupid- which gets you dead."

"Why?" Rin asked, the eerily beautiful forest taking on a grimmer light, though he hadn't thought that was possible.

"Lost souls," Amaimon said, shrugging as if that wasn't a little bit horrifying. But Rin wouldn't be prey, so he let the knowledge roll off him, accepting it. "They make the fires brighter, which feeds the trees and makes them stronger than the competition."

"What happens if that they get stronger? Do they get, er, smart faster?" He didn't think smart was the word Amaimon had used but it was close enough.

"In a way," came the hummed response, "they survive to the thousandth year, taking over the weaker trees and latching to their roots- that gets them access to their soul-fire and prevents another from taking it."

He waved a hand at one of the trees they were going towards that Rin was just noticing had broader branches than the rest, multiple soul-fires beneath it like they were trapped in a possessive embrace.

"So don't die here, got it," Rin murmured, wary awe in the face of the insidious nature of the forest.

They lapsed back into silence, the conversation and events that led to it going through Rin's mind. Then, Rin had to hide a wry laugh because the whole thing had basically been some kind of warped mirror of all the times Shiemi had explained various plants to him while he tried to remember terms he knew he wouldn't, given an hour.

Weird, but not in a bad way. If anything, it was funny that a fearsome being like Amaimon shared something in common with someone as kind and utterly opposite in personality as Shiemi. He tucked the thought away and amused himself with his surroundings.

Despite the caution they took in their path, the forest seemed as barren as the desert had been and Rin couldn't help the edge it set his nerves on. He hadn't been in many forests in his life, but he could have sworn there was more in them than the plants.

"Amaimon, why aren't there any demons here besides Iblis', it feels like nothing lives here," Rin said as he caught up to Amaimon, getting a side-long glance from the corner of his eyes.

"You noticed," he said in acknowledgment, frown tugging at his lips, "the fire-tar eel told you earlier.

It had? Rin tried to remember back to that ambush that felt so long ago, even if it had only been the first night, "er, something about us and not belonging?"

A nod for his efforts, "yes, Iblis wasn't playing, the order to the patrols is to eliminate every creature that doesn't carry a claim."

He didn't understand. Then he did, ice striking a cold spear straight through his ribs as he gasped, jerking his head to the passing landscape.

"No way," he whispered, eyes wide as he looked to Amaimon for confirmation, "they killed everything else in this whole place? The whole territory? Why?"

For some reason, Amaimon stayed nonplussed, the eradication of every creature that couldn't escape the territory not bothering him in the slightest. Rin had to fight another shiver, Amaimon's alienness rearing its head once again.

"We'll find out when we get there," he said instead, eyes open to half-mast and face devoid of expression.

Rin couldn't find anything more to say to that revelation, wondering, again, what it meant when someone like Amaimon helped him- helped Mephisto, owing him a favor or not.

They were forced to slow at the thickest part of the forest, the center, Amaimon informed him, looking irritated for reasons Rin suspected had to do with not being able to use his abilities like he wanted to.

Branches caught at their hair, Mephisto's already hopelessly tangled with twigs that had broken off and gotten stuck there. Rin winced, knowing he and Amaimon didn't look much better. Already his body had healed scratches from his cheeks and he had to resist the urge to just start burning things after he almost got stabbed in the eye for the millionth time.

At least he didn't suffer alone, Amaimon had that blank expression back on his face but Rin thought he saw him snap a branch in his path with a little more force than necessary after another had poked into his ear.

The forest stayed silent besides their path through it, though, and Rin almost wished something would attack them again, anything to break the chill that spread in the air despite his inner flames and the flames of the soul-fires.

When he'd thought of Gehenna- the few times he actually had- he'd always thought it would be filled with the creatures that had been damned. Multitudes crawling over each other, screams, souls trapped for eternity. Then, once he'd had the existence of actual demons and the truth of Gehenna revealed to him, his perception had lost some of that horror. Had shifted.

In his head, Gehenna had become filled with creatures like Kuro. Sure, creatures like the naberius also existed in the Gehenna of his imagination, but the landscape had changed the more he learned about demons.

Seeing this, though- Rin rubbed at his chest, not liking the heaviness that weighed on it- Gehenna wasn't supposed to be empty.

"Please tell me we're almost through this place," Rin muttered as they made it to a hill rising from the ground, having to crawl their way up the side as dirt and grit skittered under their hands to the bottom.

Was it his imagination or was the dirt wall taking longer to climb than he'd noticed at first? Soon, the dirt he clawed at grew to larger stones, tumbling in noisy echoes that he knew no one but they heard. Loose stone became larger boulders, the texture turned to hardened bubbles that had burst and froze like that.

Their climb took them higher still, until, with a last scrabble they broke the treeline and Rin gasped.

His limbs locked in place as he twisted to stare around him, taking in the horizon.

"Amaimon," he said, "are we climbing a volcano?"

"Yes."

Of course they were. Iblis was king of fire, why wouldn't they be climbing a volcano?

As if remembering something, Amaimon blinked down at Rin, "oh yes, we're almost there."

Bastard. Rin felt like laughing, unsure if Amaimon was being deliberate in his teasing this time or really had just registered Rin's question and equally as unsure which was the funnier option. Also, did he know the 'are we there yet?' joke or would Rin get to be the one to teach it to him on their journey?

"Can we at least jump the rest of the way?" Rin said in the hopes that their hours of scrabbling through the underbrush were over.

Amaimon shot what Rin was pretty sure was another irritated look back at the trees, an affirming grunt on his tongue before, with a flex of his claws, he flung himself up the long path to the lip of the volcano.

Out of the trees and ascending the rest of the mountainside meant the winds carrying purple miasma once again blew against Rin and bringing strange scents he couldn't place. Were the things he caught on the wind because they were in Gehenna or because all volcanoes happened to smell that way? It was an idle curiosity, one he didn't really care if he got an answer to. But Rin realized it might be fun to see the volcanoes that existed on Assiah too.

Now that he'd gotten a taste for it, Rin wanted to keep exploring. It might even be fun to take Amaimon with him, if he didn't just vanish again once everything was said and done.

A last heave of his arms brought Rin to the top in a breathless rush, heart pounding at how high they'd risen. At this height, looking out over the rim they now stood on, Rin could see everything.

The spired obelisks they'd traveled through were only the barest suggestion he had to strain his vision to pick up, knowing it would be impossible for human eyes to see unaided. Then, the barren desert, stretching for miles around until it merged with the beginnings of the soul-fire forest and finally the dark branches clawing at the base of the volcano.

He turned and forgot about where they'd come from.

Because there was the center of Iblis' kingdom nestled within the cone of an active volcano. Magma bubbled up from gaping rents in the crust to let lava flow like glowing rivers until they disappeared into tunnels and crevasses at the edges.

"Woah," Rin whispered, unable to take his eyes away from the behemoth in the center.

A sigh broke Rin from the dark, logic-defying tower that rose above it all.

"Iblis likes presentation," Amaimon said, chewing at one of his black claws with a decidedly unimpressed gaze.

The sudden burning desire to see what Amaimon's kingdom looked like took Rin by surprise but, before he could ask him, he nodded towards the tower in a short gesture, hand falling from his face as he leapt off the rim.

Rin didn't even bother getting upset this time, jumping after Amaimon without hesitation. Just like before, the freefall sent his heart soaring in his chest and he had to fight the laughter that wanted to burst out. Though, given the way he and Amaimon had just sent several deep cracks into the ground from their impact, Rin didn't know that his laughter would be any louder or more likely to draw attention to their arrival.

But Amaimon didn't waste time, standing and striding over the empty base straight up to the looming entrance to the tower.

Before Rin could wonder how they were even going to open doors that big, Amaimon pressed both palms on either side of the seam and pushed. Dirt shoved up under his boots and Rin saw him glare with narrowed eyes to the place between his palms that parted in a wrenching groan.

That answered that question. He couldn't help the curl of awe as doors the size of a small skyscraper opened up to Amaimon's steady strength. Then he realized that he also had that ability, that natural power he'd always struggled with until he'd learned where it stemmed from- then he had other struggles to contend with.

Amaimon didn't bother pushing the doors open the whole way, walking past the threshold as Rin followed, eager to see what the inside of an actual castle in Gehenna looked like.

His eyes adjusted to the transition from dark to light and Rin paused, startled by what he saw.

Everything inside was modern, clean, well-lit, almost nothing like what the outer appearance suggested. Rin didn't know if he would have preferred an intimidating, creepy castle or what he actually saw, which was more like a high-end office somewhere on Assiah.

"Er," Rin muttered as he caught up to Amaimon, "this doesn't look like what I expected at all."

Amaimon flicked a short gaze around the room, "Iblis likes presentation, but Iblis also likes efficiency and order."

Efficiency and order. Rin knew plenty about that from living with Yukio. In fact, Yukio would have probably fit right into a place like this. Somehow, looking at Amaimon, he thought it suited him about as well as it did Rin.

Doors- these much more modestly sized- opening at the far end of the foyer had Rin snapping towards the sound. Who or what would greet them from those doors? Iblis? Or more of the patrols? Would they have to fight?

Don't act like prey. Rin straightened his shoulders, mirroring Amaimon's firm pose and calming his racing heart even with the anticipation pouring through his body.

The doors parted and the figure of a man walked through.

And he seemed furious.

Or, not furious, but hateful. Rin prepared for an attack.

Cold gray eyes scanned them as he neared, lips thinned on a dark face beneath thick black hair. He wore the uniform of the Illuminati and Rin had to stop an instinctive growl at seeing it, reminded of the labs and the bastards that ran them- and reminded of Lucifer.

"Amaimon, king of earth," somehow, the syllables of his name from the demon could have been spat and they would have been less loathing. Those cold eyes drew to Rin and something in them changed. He didn't know if he would have preferred the hatred because the look boring into him had his hackles rising, the urge that formed within him to show the demon trying to intimidate him who he was messing with.

"And my prince," the demon finished, and, looking like it pained him, bowed his head, gesturing to the doors he'd come through, "my king awaits you."

Amaimon snorted, sneering down at the demon without responding to his greeting at all and stalking past him as if he owned the place. Taking his example, Rin fell into step beside him, though he kept his guard up because he could tell this demon would have no problems striking in a moment of weakness.

Elevators were the next thing to greet his eyes beyond the doors and Rin grimaced.

Great, this would be the world's most awkward elevator ride in existence. The scent of the demon in the enclosed space with them put Rin on edge and he hid the fangs he couldn't stop from extending behind his lips. Amaimon ignored the demon like he wasn't even there and Rin wished he could achieve that level of disinterest.

It couldn't end soon enough, but apparently they were going to the top floor. Rin held himself from darting through the doors as they slid open, tracking the demon as he led the way this time.

Then the room revealed itself to Rin and he had to fight another gasp.

His attempts failed and the small sound in the chambers seemed as loud as if he'd shouted.

"Iblis, king of fire," Amaimon spoke, not bothering to acknowledge Rin's shock, focus turned to the one who owned this tower, the one who's territory they had just fought through for two nights and who's information they needed now.

"Amaimon, king of earth," gray, slit-pupiled eyes stared down as if the demon they belonged to couldn't make up their mind about whether to set them on fire or welcome them in further. That gaze met Rin's and the fire sparked in them, energy dancing in the depths.

A smile filled with delight stretched full lips on a face Rin couldn't look away from.

He couldn't look away because if he did then he would have to look at the rest of Iblis' body.

And if he did that, then Rin might self-combust.

"Awar, leave us."

"Mother!"

Rin tore his gaze from Iblis, eyes widening as he registered the word and what it meant.

"Now, Awar."

The demon- Awar- left after a final growl of frustration and vicious glare their way. Then, they were alone.

When his gaze found Iblis' again, Rin gulped, seeing the smile hadn't faded.

"My dark prince," Iblis purred, rising from the high-backed seat that centered the room to lean towards them, a gleam of gray eyes and glinting fangs pinned to him, ignoring Amaimon entirely.

"Though perhaps not so dark anymore," Iblis raked an appraising gaze over his body in a way that left him feeling exposed, picked apart, stripped bare, "your flames burn beautifully at your core."

He blushed. Beautiful?

Iblis crossed powerful arms over an ample chest covered in fabric that really didn't cover anything. A bared midriff showed defined muscles that led to another thin strip of fabric trailing down to just above knee-high heels displaying lean legs- and why was he still looking at those legs, oh god, he was going to die in this throne-room.

Because Amaimon had completely failed to tell him that Iblis, king of fire, was a girl, one who wore about as much as Shura did.

"Amaimon," she said once she'd finished taking Rin in, letting him recover from his short-circuit in peace, "what happened."

Back to the routine, one Rin still couldn't quite believe was a part of his life now.

Was Amaimon scowling at him? Rin wanted to hunch under the look Amaimon set on him, not understanding what he'd done wrong.

"Samael is cursed, Rin stole him from the humans before they could dissect him," Amaimon began the run-down, "it's the King Killer. We've been to see Beelzebub and Astaroth already and were directed to you to find out more."

"And," Iblis said in a drawl that seemed faintly mocking to Rin, "what did you hope I could do about it?"

Electric tension filled the air and Rin knew it wouldn't be like with Astaroth. If they fought, he wasn't going to be able to grab Mephisto and run for it. And, thinking about it, he didn't want to run, anyway. Where would he go? The only option he had now was to fight with Amaimon, with or without his flames.

"Astaroth said you may know who the other amongst us was who has been cursed and survived," Amaimon said, slow and even from a placid expression that brought to mind a reptile waiting to strike, "do you?"

Gray eyes widened at that, then narrowed, "you're trying to cure him? Cure Samael?"

Amaimon didn't falter, holding his expression, "yes. Can you tell us or not?"

But Iblis only hummed, taking her time answering, "and both Beelzebub and Astaroth have witnessed this- spoke with you and our prince- and sent you to me?"

He glared, not bothering to repeat himself, Rin guessed, only crossed his arms and waited.

"Interesting," she said as a dark smile scrawled its way over her face. Rin hid a shiver at it, forcing his hands to stay steady at his sides so he didn't dig claws into his palms like he wanted to.

"So," her tone slid like a needle past the defenses Rin kept up, testing for weakness, though it stayed directed at Amaimon, "you're helping Samael?"

This again. Every time it was the same. The other kings trying to determine which side Amaimon was on because he had decided to help Rin help Mephisto. He could see Amaimon tense, his body going so still Rin thought he resembled one of the stone obelisks.

"I owe him," came the same non-explanatory response Amaimon had given Rin, Beelzebub, and Astaroth.

But it got a knowing, almost cruel smile from Iblis that spoke of something Rin couldn't place.

"If he died, you wouldn't owe him," Iblis said with a wider stretch of lips that let the points of her fangs peek out. Rin hid his flinch with pure force of will. "There's another reason but I'll let you be vague about it."

She was right, that was one of the things Rin had been thinking about each time he'd heard Amaimon's answer. He still didn't know what really motivated Amaimon into pulling he and Mephisto from that alleyway, into not just leaving them to the Order's mercy.

"If he lives, he'll owe me," Amaimon glowered, features hardening yet further. Rin's breath caught, surprise shaking him. That was the most explanation Amaimon had given to any of the demon kings when they'd asked him that question. He still wondered if it was the whole truth. Didn't think that it was.

Not if the scoff Iblis gave it meant anything, "of course, and you've always been so keen on gathering favors in the past."

Now, Amaimon hissed, his flimsy mask of calm breaking, and Rin could see he just barely kept from baring his fangs as he repeated his words, "will you give us your answer or not, Iblis?"

Was it Rin's imagination or had the temperature started to rise?

He held his breath, waiting for the snap to come, for violence to erupt and-

"Ahah-ha!"

Laughter, sharp and bright cut through the tension in a slice of a cold knife, heat vanishing from the room like the breath that rushed out of Rin's mouth.

"Wonderful, Amaimon," Iblis said between laughs while Rin gaped between the two of them, completely lost and wishing things would maybe make sense again sometime soon.

Amaimon huffed, body now lax like he hadn't been seconds from springing at Iblis as he slumped back on his heels to pull a sucker into existence and stuck it in his mouth.

Okay, Rin couldn't keep silent anymore, "wait, what? What just happened?"

A raised brow from Amaimon and a beaming smile from Iblis set Rin off-kilter. He wanted to start shaking people again.

"This is the most interesting thing that's happened since Father appeared," Iblis said as if that explained anything. Although, knowing Amaimon and Mephisto as he was beginning to, maybe all it took to understand the politics between the demon kings was if something was "interesting" or not and what they each considered to qualify.

"I'll give you what I know, Amaimon," she continued, hand cocked on her hip and the other idly brushing along the thick black braid she'd tossed over her shoulder.

Something about the movement drew Rin's gaze, much as he wanted to blush and avert his eyes from the shadows beneath the folds of her sheer clothing. Then he blinked as it hit him. Where even was her tail? How was she hiding it? His own ached as if reminding him he had one and was pissed at being wrapped up for so long. He couldn't do anything about it, though, so he just grit his teeth and hoped they could get out of the room soon.

"You're not going to like it," Iblis said but, at Amaimon's nod, continued, "Astaroth must have believed I would know more because our dear Lucifer may have told me, yes?"

"He did," Amaimon said simply, tonguing at the sucker and shrugging.

The sly grin on her face answered Amaimon, "you know as well as we all do that there's only one who Lucifer honors with his secrets- well, now that he and Samael are at odds, at least."

An annoyed grumble came from Amaimon as he scowled at the far wall, "and you know why I wanted to avoid that."

"I can think of several reasons, yes," Iblis said in a light tease, so different from the cruelty she'd displayed earlier that she could have been a different person entirely, "but, some good has come of this venture of yours."

Some good? Rin cocked his head, about to ask what she meant.

A clawed hand caressed his cheek, edges scraping over his rapidly heating skin as Rin squeaked at the sudden touch.

"You've brought our prince to see me," Iblis said with delighted purr, her other hand coming up to cup Rin's face as she tugged him to examine him from all angles, "I wondered if I would ever get to meet him before everything was said and done."

Oh god, Rin bit back a whimper. This close, her scent enveloped him, the heat she exuded higher than normal, feeling like his did, almost, but so much more apparent because it was coming from a body other than his own.

His ears twitched as a crunch pierced the room and he twisted his head to the side, cheeks squishing because Iblis hadn't let go yet, to see Amaimon had bit down to break his sucker apart in a sharp crack.

"I had to," Amaimon said, tone short. Was he irritated?

"Had to?" Rin tried to say, muffled by Iblis' hands, though with his question she'd begun running her fingers over his brows and through his hair. He shivered at the sensations, pulse picking up.

"Yes," okay, he wasn't imagining the undercurrent of a growl from Amaimon, "the worms were going to execute you. Assiah wasn't safe."

Right. Yeah. Rin dropped his gaze, a cold wash of reality catching up with him as he remembered what waited for him back home if he didn't succeed here.

Iblis sniffed, one of her fingers having taken to rubbing along the tip of his ear he was sure was bright red at this point, "Lucifer would not have allowed it of the worms, they would have found out quickly what a mistake that was."

Lucifer wouldn't have allowed it. The concept of Lucifer coming to "rescue" him from the Order made a stream of conflicting emotions wash through Rin. Though he was sure ending up in Satan's hands was a much worse fate than any execution he would have faced.

"But you're right, I can see the logic of bringing him, better to keep him from the worms entirely than risk him in their filthy hands." As she spoke, Iblis leaned into him further. Rin froze, something building in his core at the way she draped herself over his body.

"Hn," Amaimon grunted, not assuaged by her admitting he was right where Rin thought he would be normally.

She hadn't taken her gaze from Amaimon, either, Rin noticed.

Then...

In a slow, deliberate motion, Iblis pressed her cheek to his and nuzzled there.

The hand at his jaw stopped him from his immediate reaction to jerk back, wrenching in her hold as a hiss erupted from his throat and flames welled up inside- the urge to lash out overpowering in its intensity until, in a flurry of movement, Rin broke free.

He escaped with a fluid twist, snarling back at Iblis where he'd ended up by Amaimon's side, daring her to come closer and touch him again.

Rin would show her what would happen if she tried.

"So you do have some instincts after all, my prince," Iblis said to his threatening growls, "I was wondering if they'd been buried by your human half."

"It's Rin Okumura," he said, glaring from beneath his bangs and letting his irises glow with the flames that wanted to be released so badly they ached under his skin, "and don't touch me."

That same electric tension he'd seen between Amaimon and Iblis earlier came back with a vengeance, Rin not knowing what, exactly, he hated so much about what she'd just done but knowing down to his core that he would attack if she did it a second time.

Heat rose back in the room, whether it came from Iblis or Rin or both he couldn't tell anymore, could only tell that he'd entered into a staredown and he'd rather lose a limb than break from it.

His lip lifted over a fang and he saw Iblis' focus narrow on him with dangerous intensity.

They didn't get the chance to see who would falter.

Where before they'd been alone, now Rin's senses screamed that they were surrounded, hemmed in on all sides by beings- demons- that he could sense on his peripherals.

As one, they jerked their gazes to the wide windows overlooking the surrounding area.

"What?" Rin breathed the word out, struck silent again as adrenaline thrummed in his veins and flight or fight instincts kicked in.

Staring across the volcanic field, Rin wanted to go with flight.

Amaimon snarled, defensive, and with fangs bared to Iblis, "you called them on us!"

Called them? Rin's heart pounded to his ribs, claws and fangs extended and flames beating inside him, unable to force himself to look away.

Because there outside the tower were seemingly endless hordes of demons- more than he'd ever seen or knew existed- and they all seemed to have their sights set on them.

"Not me," Iblis denied in a shake of her head, "these aren't mine."

How could she tell? The claim? Rin didn't know who the enemy was and it had his tail trying to lash under his shirt.

A lone figure moved to the front of the horde and Rin recognized the hateful demon from before, horror welling in his gut.

"Awar," Iblis hissed, "he's summoned Father's forces. He must have alerted them. Such a disobedient child."

Where that statement made Rin more confused, it turned Amaimon's ire from Iblis to her son, snapping a vicious glare from wide, glowing eyes that screamed for retribution and a voice to match, "that brat."

Iblis tsk'd, "I should have realized- of course, he's loyal to Father.

"What will you do?" Amaimon said, already readying to act and facing Iblis again.

What would she do? What were they supposed to do?

"Amaimon," Iblis said with all hints of her earlier teasing vanished. Rin stilled and time seemed to slow.

She turned to the side, gesturing to a window that Rin was just realizing could open and watching as it did with her command.

But she hadn't looked away from where she held Amaimon's gaze, and he seemed to be waiting for something from her.

"Lucifer is in Gehenna, Amaimon."

Rin shuddered. Once. Cold sweat broke on his skin. What did it mean, Lucifer being in Gehenna? Was he coming for Rin? Would he look to find him in the crowd below? Was Satan close behind?

Had their time run out?

"Do with that information what you will, earth king. I won't raise the wards."

What did that mean?

It meant something to Amaimon and he jolted into action before Rin could process her words.

"Ah!" Rin shouted as Amaimon grabbed his arm and dragged them both to the window, launching through it in the next moment.

Down they fell, the tower shrinking away as Rin stared up into Iblis' unreadable gaze where she watched their escape.

"Rin," Amaimon said over the wind as Rin righted himself midair so he would land on his feet. He almost wished he hadn't, seeing the sea of demons howling for them to touch ground.

"Run, fight, don't get separated."

The orders came loud and clear, his confusion shoved aside with physical directives. Rin knew what he had to do.

"And Rin," he looked and saw Amaimon, his expression deadly serious beneath the strands of hair whipping around his face, "don't use your flames."

Right. He nodded, bracing himself for impact.

Madness greeted their descent, a wave of grasping claws trying to pull them to the earth before they'd even reached it, only to be flung away when Amaimon hit down.

Earth rose in a massive wave, the stone upheaved like the crater of a meteor around their bodies to give them room. That bit of breathing space lasted all of a minute before demons poured over the lip. They had already cleared it, jumping over the heads of the demons and into the next group.

Rin roared, putting all the pent-up energy of his restrained flames into the punch he used to devastate the demons in his way. His hit sunk deep into a body that looked like a rotting ox, though the brief contact proved it was more solid than he first thought.

It didn't matter, the demon died in a scream, corpse thrown back to leave a clear path for Rin to race down, his moves mirrored by Amaimon's at his side.

Soon, it was a rapid pattern of hit as hard as he could, clear a path, make it to the next point, repeat.

Attacks came from every angle, glancing blows that sent red-hot agony lancing wherever they managed to strike. He'd gone deaf to the cacophony around him, only aware of the next enemy, the next encounter, keeping up with Amaimon so he wouldn't get separated.

Violence buzzed in his pores and gore had begun to splash over him when he couldn't dodge in time, obscuring his sight until he advanced more by scent and memory than what his eyes actually took in.

Always, he kept Amaimon and Mephisto in view. Even with a whirlwind of scents he'd never encountered before and whose source he could never place to an individual demon, Rin could pick them from any one, using the familiar scents to guide him through the chaos.

That same instinct had him crouching and shooting upwards, having gotten to the lip of the volcano without realizing. He latched his claws into stone. His fingers ached, bones fracturing, healing over and over and finally going numb after the damage they'd taken.

A screech echoed in the air behind him and a snarl came from his mouth in response, warning the demons trying to divebomb them from behind to keep away. They didn't listen, forcing Rin to fling himself to the side to avoid their attacks, knowing if he tried to go straight up they'd cut him off.

His claws weren't the only thing aching. Rin's muscles protested the repeated strain that he ignored to backhand the next demon trying for his vulnerable blind spot.

Rin heard several cries, blinking to clear the blood from his eyes and seeing Amaimon launch stone he'd pulled from the wall they climbed into the airborne enemies, scoring fatal hits, though not all met their targets.

One of the winged demons, a chimera-like creature with a jaguar's body and feathered wings darted in with a yowl from bared fangs. Saliva gathered on its lips, matting the spotted fur down as it focused wild eyes onto Amaimon.

Amaimon, who was dealing with another few attackers at his other side.

No! Rin snarled moving before he could think to tackle the demon mid-air in a tangle of limbs.

They dropped.

He tore the demon's throat out in a savage rending of his claws that snapped its vertebrae to leave it hanging by gummy strands of flesh and tendons in his grip.

The air whipped past him, Rin gasping as he realized he'd over-shot his attack and heart plummeting with his body back to the waiting horde.

Something caught the back of his jacket and he gagged at the forceful stop yanking his collar to his throat, swinging to slam into the rock wall as his head rang when he hit.

Disorientated, Rin gripped to the arm hauling him up only to lose that grip, once more thrown skyward and taking shreds of the fabric he'd torn loose.

But he reacted in time to grab at the wall again, gaze searching to make sure Amaimon made it to him, fear sending his pulse beating wildly because how had he maintained his hold when one hand was occupied keeping Mephisto safe and he'd used the other to save Rin?

One clawed hand dug furrows into the wall, the other hanging loose after he'd released Rin from it as Amaimon already readied himself to jump.

Amaimon had pressed Mephisto to the wall, using his body to keep him in place. Rin didn't have time to breathe a sigh of relief that Amaimon hadn't fallen rescuing him from his fall.

He couldn't stop, knowing once he did, he wouldn't be able to move from the exhaustion.

They had more problems besieging them, anyway.

Demons that had been at the top began streaming down towards them, darting like a rain of bullets. Rin had to leap for handholds to the sides, playing a demented game of Frogger with the demons and not bothering to engage every one that came for him because it would be futile.

It felt like he was fighting the entirety of Gehenna. The swarming exorcists of the Order that he'd escaped at the start of it all seeming pathetic and meager in comparison.

So close. They'd nearly made it. Rin couldn't falter now.

A demon made it past his guard, slashing with its tail to draw a splash of blood where it had whipped through Rin's jacket. He cried out, spine arched at the pain as his arm went limp, a tendon cut that he had to wait to heal before he would be able to use it again, forced to cling to the wall with one hand.

Amaimon appeared next to him, fangs bared in a snarl and face wet with gore. The red made his irises glow more vividly than Rin had ever seen them as he took the next demon to reach them, bashing it into the wall until it stopped moving and he let it drop.

By then Rin's arm had healed and, as one, they leapt, clearing the rim to get a look at what faced them upon landing.

Another ocean of demons, no less vicious or fanatic in their attempts to get at them.

To capture Rin.

What were their orders about Amaimon? Mephisto?

He didn't think it would be a fight to incapacitate. If they couldn't escape here, everything was over. Rin would be taken to Satan and Amaimon would lose his vessel.

And Mephisto would die for good, trapped in his vessel as he was torn apart by Satan's army.

Not happening. Rin loosed another roar that shook the air around him, heat licking up his throat and at the insides of his mouth as he landed and struck at the nearest demon.

An echoing roar poured new strength into him, Amaimon picking up the reverberation as he sent shattered earth to rain down on the demons in their path.

Again, they fought through the endless wave until blood slicked Rin's claws and flesh built underneath from the chunks torn out of bodies by his raking attacks.

Rin rolled and surged up through the legs of a massive furred demon, gutting it before using it like a springboard to kick it into the smaller demons at its feet. He propelled himself to the next group, this time more spread out.

Feral joy sang in his veins, seeing the widening gaps between enemies and knowing it meant they were reaching the outskirts of the horde.

Just a little longer.

Cracking in the earth had him rolling to the side as a gaping crevasse opened where he'd just been to swallow some of the demons in Amaimon's attack.

His fist sent a humanoid demon back into the rest and suddenly they were past the horde. Rin took a moment to feel elation before his feet pounded over the shards of volcanic rock after Amaimon.

No time. They still had to outrun the multitudes behind them, couldn't fight them all.

New terrain greeted Rin's senses, though he couldn't appreciate it. This side of Iblis' domain was a swath of red-petaled flowers that went on until they edged up to another forest.

Or it had been a field of flowers before they'd been trampled by the horde.

He'd take time to feel bad about it afterwards.

The tree line came upon them and Rin followed after Amaimon's even more tattered maroon coat, just as stained as Rin's clothes and held together more by the seams than anything.

Wispy trees, much different than the ones they'd left in the other forest, passed Rin in a blur as they zig-zagged like a pair of deranged pinballs through the obstacles they presented.

How far was far enough? Rin remembered the days they'd taken just to get to the tower, knew he couldn't keep up this pace the entire way.

And he didn't think their pursuers would have that problem.

Couldn't worry about that now. Rin's attention stayed on Amaimon and they path they fled over. If he worried about the future he wouldn't make it, he just had to keep running and hope Amaimon had a plan.

Easier said than done. But, each time he thought the burning in his lungs and shooting pains in his overstrained limbs would become too much, he'd hear a distant shriek and knew the horde hadn't stopped their pursuit.

In front of him, Amaimon didn't let up, purpose guiding his steps as they burst from the last section of the small forest. A rugged mountain range greeted Rin's eyes and he bit back a whimper, already feeling the pain that was coming once he reached those peaks. But first they had to cross the open plane ahead of them still to reach it, hundreds of miles between them and what Rin could just make out to be the inner ring of Iblis' territory.

As if to mock his weariness, an eerie call came from the sky. The sound had Rin searching to find the source, seeing Amaimon doing the same until Rin thought he saw a dark shape flitting in the gloom.

Amaimon ducked to drag his claws through stone, wrenching his arm to fling razor shards towards the demon tracking them and glaring when he only scored glancing hits.

Rin knew they had to end this one quickly before it called the slower demons to their exact location.

"Amaimon, do that again!" Rin shouted, tensing in preparation as Amaimon moved to comply without question.

Another rain of shards, another cry as the demon rolled in the sky to evade the strike.

It didn't avoid Rin's body impacting with a bone-jarring slam to its side, taking it down in a wild tumble back to the ground. Rin won the brief mid-air battle and crushed the thin skull of the serpent-like demon under his claws when they landed.

A hand at his arm hauled him up again, Amaimon pushing him to run without words. Even that small pause to bring the demon out of the sky was too long, every moment they stalled was a moment lost.

Mountains loomed in the distance, snow-capped peaks bright against the dark sky and working like a beacon for Rin to follow.

He had no idea how to tell the actual distance of things or how far he had to run yet.

Just get to the mountains. Just make it there.

The mantra pounded in his head in time to his feet pounding on the uneven terrain.

This time when they made it to the first ravine, Rin jumped without hesitation, knees aching as he tumbled and rolled like Amaimon had shown him, springing back up the moment he could to continue on.

By now, the first of the horde had exited the edge of the forest, their cries reaching Rin's ears on the wind. He knew the rest wouldn't be far behind and it forced speed into his limbs that had been flagging.

It wasn't like the dunes had been where they might have found cover or obscured their path. Here, just flat gray stone interspaced with vivid chalk-blue pools of water met his eyes wherever he looked

More animalistic calls from demons flying at them, their speed giving them the edge needed to close the distance and quickly gaining. Any moment they'd reach them. Rin could hear a strange noise like a vibrating hum building over the calls whose purpose he couldn't place.

Amaimon seemed to know, falling back to Rin's side and gritting his fangs in grim concentration. Just as the hum reached its zenith, Amaimon snarled and slammed a fist into the ground with a sound like a thunderclap.

Rin found his arm yanked in a harsh jerk as Amaimon pulled him around earthen spears that shot out to pierce into the demons behind them, hum cutting off into death cries.

His own cry distracted him because the sudden change in momentum had dislocated his arm from its socket and the only reason he didn't stop running was the grip Amaimon kept firm.

Had to keep running- they were so close!

He cradled his limp arm in his hand once Amaimon released him, a sharp ache stabbing with every step he took, but Rin didn't know how to reset a dislocated shoulder.

There wasn't time to stop and figure it out, wasn't time to see if Amaimon could help him with it- since Rin didn't doubt he knew.

There were just the mountains and the miles yet to reach them.

Not that it prevented his body trying to mend anyway. The numbing pain of healing over and over joined the rest of the repeated injuries running caused until he was consumed by it and couldn't comprehend anything else.

Then, blinking to clear the haze encroaching on his vision, Rin saw the second ring, still so far away but they gained on it every second.

Time passed, agonizing and nebulous, after that realization. How long had it taken them to cross these rings the first time around? How many times had they paused for rest? Rin couldn't make his mind remember.

Demons that parted from the horde and flew quicker than they ran interrupted their single-minded path until it became an exhausting pattern again. Each time Rin was forced to pull his mind from running to killing whatever demon made it to them next and each time he came away with more injuries or less energy.

Above them, the dark sky loomed, heavy with the purple miasma that drifted all around them until finding their footing became precarious.

Hours, Rin thought he might have been running for hours. Knives raked his lungs with each breath, shattering past his lips on his exhales.

A hand at his spine had him flinching away with a snarl of confusion until he caught the scent and saw Amaimon.

"Jump." The command croaked out, though Rin couldn't tell if it was because neither had spoken for what was probably an entire day by now or if Amaimon had started wearing down, too.

He hoped it was the first option, didn't know what would happen if Amaimon tired and faltered.

They leapt, crossing the second ring. Finally. Soon they could rest. He just needed to rest.

He did know what he would do. Rin's tired mind drifted back to the train of thought.

He would use his flames, even if it brought Satan down on them.

Another rattling hiss from the sky, Rin used the determination that had settled in his bones to grab at one of the vicious limbs coming for him and fling it into the spear of earth Amaimon held up to impale its skull.

Blood splashed to coat the layer that had dried and started to flake off his face already. The sensation mixed with the others, joining the slew of things he could no longer comprehend with the crossed signals blipping in and out of focus in his body.

The peaks grew higher, Rin's perception of them changing the closer they got. Miasma clouds hung midway around them so that Rin couldn't see the tops of the mountain range, only that they never seemed to get taller while he watched them. Just when he zoned out or blinked away did he make any real progress.

But they did make progress, even when Rin's arm sent an agonizing electric shock after he was forced to roll on it after another demon made it to them and he thought he might pass out from the pain.

After this, he would get Amaimon to show him how to pop a shoulder back into place.

After…this...

Rin cast a bleary stare, was he drifting? Floating? Why did everything feel so numb?

And why was he staring at the horde instead of at the mountain?

Heat around his middle and familiar scents now filling his nose had Rin dropping his head, the effort of holding it steady too much to deal with.

He saw a maroon coat and Mephisto's upper body beside him and frayed green leggings blurring over the ground on reptilian legs. Then he forced his head to turn and saw Amaimon had an arm gripping his spine with massive clawed hands in the same scaled green as his legs had transformed into and understood what had happened.

"M'aimon," Rin mumbled the name, not knowing if he would be heard over the wind but unable to speak any louder.

"You fainted, your body can't handle any more," came the response, as cool as ever but Rin thought he detected a burble in the back of his throat, like he spoke around a mouthful of liquid.

"Sorry, m'sorry," Rin said in a whisper as shame welled up in him that he'd been unable to keep up, unable to hold his own. Now, Amaimon would be solely responsible for protecting them and Rin didn't know what they would do if they were attacked again.

Because despite the numbers they'd killed already, there were still so many left.

His eyes burned with tears, half exhaustion from finding himself off his feet after so long, and half caused by the fact that they'd come this far only for his own weakness to be what held them back.

On they ran, Rin's stomach starting to bruise with the repeated impact of Amaimon's shoulder and Rin wondered if Mephisto had one too from being carried that way the whole time. But he wouldn't be complaining, not when Amaimon had no other options.

And not when, even with the speed they went at, he could see more fliers coming towards them.

Something else stole Rin's attention, a darkening of the ground around them like they'd passed beneath a cloud. He struggled to raise his head, turning it to glance over his shoulder. Then he saw why everything had taken on a different shade.

They'd entered the shadow of the mountain, still far away but so massive it seemed to eclipse the world around it- and the last ring of Iblis' domain sat nestled at the base.

Relief had a shivering breath break past his lips, eyes closing as he dropped his head. Soon, they could stop. Soon.

He lost time between one blink and the next, might have passed out again, for all he knew.

When he opened his eyes and searched for the demons a gasp stuck in his throat.

"Amai-!" Rin started to shout, gripping at his arm in fear as alarm set his pulse racing and panic stringing along his nerves.

Everything happened at once.

Amaimon leapt as high as he could go into the sky, shifting Rin and Mephisto around in his arms so that Mephisto had been shoved into Rin's chest, head lolling over his shoulder. Rin scrabbled to get his arms around Amaimon's neck and Mephisto's back, yelping in confusion.

"Protect him," Amaimon said, eyes cold, resolved. Then he flung Rin and Mephisto towards the mountain.

"Shit!" Rin swore, eyes as wide as they could go and heart thundering now, as he grabbed Mephisto to his body and prepared for a hard landing.

Behind him, Amaimon roared so loud Rin knew the horde could hear him, the whole of Gehenna could probably hear his challenge.

What was he doing? Couldn't think about that now. Rin had to focus on sticking the landing or he'd be healing shattered legs and possibly more than that if he hit wrong.

If Amaimon was making some kind of sacrifice play Rin would go back there and set fire to everything. He didn't care. He wouldn't let another person give themselves up to save him because he was too weak.

Never again.

Rin tightened his arms around Mephisto and made it to the ground, rolling in a chaotic tumble of bruised limbs and fractured bones before coming to a stop in the dust and coughing.

He lurched to his knees, ignoring the piercing pain in his body from where Kurikara had dug into his back as he frantically looked for Amaimon.

He found him shooting to the ground like a meteor, massive reptilian hands fisted and body moving with singular purpose.

A series of kaleidoscope snapshots flicked like a choppy movie.

Amaimon hit the earth.

The demons in the sky dove towards him.

The world

d

It was like the entire barren plane they stood on dropped, Rin floundering as he found himself kneeling on empty air. The dust and stone that had been displaced rose, blowing outwards on the wind in all directions from ground-zero.

Then the sound reached Rin.

A wave that knocked him off his feet, deafened him in an instant. His head rang, pressurized until he thought it would explode. Warmth trailed from his ears, his eyes, his nose where it made it to his gaping mouth and he realized he was bleeding, blinded and shaking and laid out in a dazed heap.

Was he even breathing? The world spun on its axis and Rin was helpless to resist it.

But, Rin healed, body fighting through the damage in a sudden snap of sensation and from one minute to the next he opened his eyes, hearing returning with his vision.

In his disorientation, Rin had maintained his hold on Mephisto, claws furrowed into his back and clinging to him for all he was worth. That was secondary to what had revealed itself to his eyes.

Kneeling in his impact site, Amaimon looked small.

He looked small because behind him was a smooth wall that reached into the vast sky and went on for miles on either side like great, dark wings.

Like some kind of god.

Rin forgot to breathe for uncounted time.

Amaimon stood. He wobbled, swayed, stumbled a step forward and- Rin inhaled, sharp, hand coming up from his stricken hold on Mephisto as if he could catch Amaimon as he fell.

"Amaimon!" Rin called across the distance, the syllables of his name tearing from his throat in the booming silence after the devastation.

Time sped back up. Amaimon caught himself on a flat step, shaking his head where he bowed over his bent knee, hands twitching in their held place at his sides.

Gold glowed over the distance between them from beneath Amaimon's bangs when he raised his head. Something else floated at his chest.

Another breath.

He blurred into motion, sprinting from the wall to rejoin Rin. The sight had Rin scrambling to his feet, Mephisto held bridal-style in his arms and ready to run again.

When Amaimon neared him, Rin began running, keeping slow until he made it to his side, then picking up the pace.

"That was amazing, Amaimon, I-" Rin said, looking over. He stopped talking, eyes going wide again when he saw Amaimon from up close.

Placid gold eyes slid to meet his gaze and Rin saw the way he looked reflected back. Worried. Afraid. But more than that, more than his own features, he couldn't take his gaze from what he saw in Amaimon.

Blood seeped from his eyes, staining the gold red with every blink. Could he even see from them? The whites of his eyes had vivid red beneath the sclera with the broken vessels there that had yet to heal. More red dribbled from his nose, the purple bruises under his eyes looked like he'd let someone hit him in the face.

Suddenly, Rin knew what that wet sound had been when Amaimon had spoken before.

"Keep. Going," Amaimon said in a low rasp, blood flecking his lips, not that it meant anything with the trails already coming from his mouth around his fangs.

And those trails made it down his chin, his neck, the wind pulling drops to spatter onto the plant-like heart Rin had only seen once before that floated over his chest.

Last time Amaimon had brought it out he'd collapsed, his vessel couldn't take the power he'd called up to attack Rin with.

Tendrils of fear for Amaimon had Rin's own heart clenching. Even now he could see the only thing keeping Amaimon on his feet was sheer will, the trembling in his limbs apparent despite the speed they went at.

Would Rin have to carry Amaimon if he fell like he had earlier? Could he?

"Rin," his name growled out from Amaimon. It shook him out of his thoughts.

"Don't stop."

The grim order made Rin grip Mephisto tighter in his arms, nodding and forcing himself back to their destination.

How long would it take the demons following them to get to and make it over Amaimon's wall? How much of a grace period had it given them to gain headway before they were besieged again?

A gagging cough rattled out of Amaimon and Rin flinched, desperation shooting through his limbs- his still dislocated arm pressed agony along his nerves, just using it to hold Mephisto nearly unbearable. He did bear it, had no choice but to.

Somehow, between one excruciating flare and the next, they made it to the final ring.

Rin leapt, putting every last ounce of energy in his body into the effort and still unsure if it would be enough to get across the gap.

Claws gripped to his elbow and Rin jerked his gaze to see Amaimon glaring, hand outstretched for the earth on the other side.

He watched as the ground rose to meet them in a long slope and they tumbled in a tangle of limbs over the barrier to Iblis' territory.

His groan that poured out cut off when he noticed the hand Amaimon raised over his heaving ribs where he lay next to Rin, bloodied fingers shaking.

Then he snapped.

Reality warped, twisting around them to reform in a new location far from the border, at least, Rin suspected that was what the snap had done.

That didn't give him relief, he didn't have time for it.

Amaimon gasped, choked, strangled in a pool of his own blood that spread from his gaping mouth to mix with the grit beneath his body. He arched his spine in a painful contortion and something cracked inside, breaking Rin from his frozen observation.

Setting Mephisto to the side, Rin crawled to Amaimon's seizing form, hands hovering over him and heart beating a staccato rhythm in his chest as he tried to think of what to do.

He wasn't a medic like Yukio! Frustrated tears prickled at his eyes as Amaimon convulsed and he was useless!

Seizures, what did he know about seizures? Did it even apply to demons? Rin turned Amaimon on his side and leaned him against his knees, struggling to keep from restraining him too much or let him flip back over. He had to get the blood out of his lungs, right?

There wasn't anyone to ask, he was on his own.

A last, wrenching gasp and Amaimon stilled under Rin's hands, skin ashen in the places not covered in his own blood or the dust he'd picked up. His heart still floated over his chest, held there by some invisible power.

Rin would have mistaken him for a corpse or cursed like Mephisto if he hadn't felt the faint rising and falling and beat of his heart where he pressed his hands, if he hadn't still seen that demonic heart.

They stayed like that, Amaimon recovering in slow increments and Rin waiting for the moment they were ambushed again or Amaimon somehow stopped healing and worsened or Satan and Lucifer both decided to show up and he failed.

Breaths came fast from his lungs, shuddering out of him as all the possibilities spiraled out of control with nothing to distract him, no demons to fight but the ones in his head.

After what felt like forever fighting and running and pushing his body far past the breaking point, Rin floundered with the sudden peace.

Claws scraping at his hand shocked Rin from his spiraling thoughts, gaze jerking to see Amaimon staring up at him from eyes opened to slivers as he finally got a weak grip around his wrist. His heart had vanished along with the reptilian features to leave him looking smaller.

The thin air escaping from barely parted lips had Rin leaning in, wondering if he could even speak.

"Rin," Amaimon's voice came like gravel, tongue thick in his mouth. Another hacking cough to the side brought up a black glob of congealed blood, but he seemed better able to breathe after so Rin tried to ignore it.

"Sleep."

What? Rin furrowed his brows, "sleep? Are you gonna be okay?"

His questions only got a twitch of Amaimon's head back and forth and his face scrunched as he tried to figure out what Amaimon wanted from him.

"Rest, Rin." Rin startled as Amaimon used his elbow he had trapped beneath his body and the hold he had on Rin's wrist to push himself up like he was a rusted doll on creaking hinges.

"Woah- hey!" Rin yelped, shoving Amaimon back to the ground and glaring down at his wide eyes, hands pushing at his shoulders to keep him there, "why the hell are you trying to get up?"

A stubborn gleam entered those gold eyes and Rin felt a battle building as Amaimon made to rise despite the hold.

"I'm fine, I'll heal," Amaimon said in a dark grumble, claws flexing where he'd gripped both Rin's wrists, "your body can't handle as much. Sleep, I'll wake you when we need to move again."

"Seriously?" Rin snarled, then gasped as Amaimon heaved upwards and flipped out from under him in a move reminiscent to the one he'd taught Rin, though it seemed to pain him and wasn't nearly as graceful as usual.

He felt his lips pulling over his fangs as Amaimon made his way, hiding a wince that Rin caught- and if Rin could see it then he definitely wasn't as healed as he said he was- to Mephisto's side. Amaimon stooped to grab the back of his collar, dragging him to a nearby boulder and slumping down with his back to it, meeting Rin's stunned gaze with a glare as if daring him to say something.

Rin dared.

Jolting to his feet, he hissed at Amaimon, seeing him bristle at the challenge.

"Come here, dammit, have you slept once this entire time?" Rin spat the question, Amaimon's shoulders hunching in defense like a cornered animal, "I'll stay up and watch us."

Before Amaimon could argue again, Rin continued, gesturing around the empty gulley Amaimon had transported them to, "if something happens you can say I told you so."

Was it his imagination or did Amaimon look lost, that wide-eyed look back on his face as Rin gave up waiting for him and marched to his side. He reached down to Mephisto, undoing the button on his cloak to yank the torn and stained material from around his body. Another motion and he had it settled on Amaimon, getting a hiss for his efforts.

"What are you doing?" Amaimon said in a clack of fangs.

"You're shivering, Amaimon," Rin said, blunt, and received a deeper glower for pointing out his weakness, "we're in the mountains, I don't feel cold so much but you don't have flames, so take it."

"You'll leave him in the dirt, then?" Amaimon sneered, getting cruel in the face of Rin's actions. That was fine, it wouldn't stop him from what he had to do. "This is new. Are giving up on your human displays?"

"No," Rin said, and the firm response sent Amaimon pressing back to the stone, head bowing to stare from beneath his matted bangs, a feral cat that wasn't used to kindness.

So, when Rin dropped to sit at Mephisto's opposite side and adjusted him until he had his head resting in his lap, even more confusion filled Amaimon's eyes. His pupils darted from where Rin tried to fix the mess his hair had become, though he couldn't do much without a comb and settled for brushing it back from his forehead until he was satisfied.

"I don't understand," came the words, and from anyone else Rin thought they would have been whimpered out.

Rin sighed a long breath out, shutting his eyes as he leaned his head back to the chilled stone and tried to ignore his own body's pleas for rest to think about how he would answer Amaimon.

"It's like…" he hesitated, eyelids opening to slits as he gazed at the boulders across from him without seeing them, "just because he's got this curse thing, it doesn't mean he's gotta look like it. He'd hate that, if we let him just fall apart."

Amaimon didn't say anything, staying quiet.

"Dignity," Rin found the word, head tilting to look at Amaimon, "he's gotta have his dignity."

Silence met that, and Rin guessed Amaimon was trying to understand what he'd said.

"What's the point" Amaimon finally spoke, words slow off his tongue as if he searched for their meaning.

That made Rin snort, amused despite himself, "well, do you want to be the one to tell him why he looks like shit when we save him and he wakes up?"

His humor startled a cut-off laugh from Amaimon, nose wrinkling like he didn't know where the sound had come from. It faded to a wry twitch of his lips and Rin read the concession there as Amaimon untensed from his curled position.

"Our punishment would be unending," Amaimon said with odd delight for what Rin didn't doubt would be a horrible punishment from Mephisto if they didn't keep his body pristine. But, he lay down, Mephisto's cloak pulled up so that only that strange point of his hair stuck out the top.

Rin kept his gaze from Amaimon, knowing it would just set his nerves on edge, and instead prepared himself for however long Amaimon would need to sleep for.

Fingers scratching idle patterns in Mephisto's hair to entertain himself, he settled into his watch.

---

Amaimon curled tighter beneath Samael's cloak, inhaling to take in the scent. At this point after being carried by both he and Rin, it smelled like the three of them, their scents mingled in the fabric.

When we save him. When he wakes up, Rin had said. He'd shown no hesitation when he'd said that, had no doubts that Amaimon could see.

...He would have to process their escape from Iblis' domain when he awoke next.

Shelving the millions of thoughts fighting for prominence in his head was normally an impossible thing, but his body's fatigue won out and Amaimon drifted into sleep for the first time since they'd begun.

In this, he would trust Rin.

---

His voices hadn't been with him when he'd woken, but something new occupied him all the same.

Knowledge of his other half.

Abduxuel.

He toyed with the syllables of that name, imagining how it would sound coming from his mouth, spoken aloud. It almost wasn't worth the undertaking, having come to bitter terms with the fact that he couldn't gather the energy to speak no matter how miserably he wanted to.

But, something within him pressed him to try. Lips parted, lungs strained, he thought his body trembled once with the effort.

Nothing. He gave up, untensing in the water what miniscule amount he'd managed.

Even that pitiful attempt left his vision hazy and exhaustion numbing his bones in his body.

Sleep didn't come for him yet, though, so, with little else to do, he amused himself with his thoughts.

When he'd remembered Abduxuel, the massive information flood had nearly sent him under the moment it entered his mind, but he could pick it apart at his leisure now.

A claim. He'd had a reciprocated claim with the being that embodied the concept of space.

Brother, other half, lover, he didn't think there was a term in any human language to describe the bond he'd shared with Abduxuel. They'd been formed from the same cosmos, the same concept ran between them, almost indistinguishable from one another.

How could he have forgotten?

And, now that he'd remembered his other half, why then could he not remember himself? What did it mean that they shared a concept? It answered nothing. He still didn't know anything about himself, only how another related to him, like ties leading to nowhere.

Even more, that was only the concept making up Abduxuel, the personal details about him still fought his ragged memory, more impression than bright clarity. Surely, if they had been so close, they would have memories shared together, interactions and time spent in each other's company?

It did no good to force it now.

He just had to simplify his task, focus on one aspect he wanted to know and dig until he discovered it. Anything more would only frustrate him and wear him out quicker.

So, what did he most want to know about his other half?

What does he look like, taste like, feel like, sound like

No, too much, he would never be able to press for those minute details so soon.

Perhaps...

His nose twitched, something was different.

Was that...a scent on the air?

Something other than the empty, lifeless scent of the water that carried no hints about where he floated had reached his senses.

Earthy, like the air after a rainstorm. Petrichor, the humans had termed it. Suddenly it was all he wanted to smell, the newness, anything other than the same bland, stale air he'd grown numb to in this hell.

Where was the source? Where did it stem from? Surely that must mean he was near to something, or something neared him.

A ripple. He didn't hold his breath this time, inhaling to take in more of that scent, as much as he could until he could have drowned in it. His voices were back. Could the scent be linked to them? And was it more of his imagination playing cruel games with his mind that the scent seemed stronger now that it accompanied those voices?

"-Ahahaha!"

Laughter, bright and sudden in the silence sent his heart skipping at the unexpected joy.

"Magnificent!"

And it sounded as if it came from right behind him, so much closer than last time, where it could have been hidden in the clouds. Now, he felt as if he could tilt his head and there would be the owner of the first voice. Close enough to touch, if only he could move.

How did it compare to Abduxuel's voice? Was his higher or lower in pitch than theirs? How did his laughter sound?

What did he look like? The question came upon him suddenly and he realized he'd gone this whole time without thinking about the appearance of his two voices.

And, what did Abduxuel look like?

Abduxuel. Such a strange thing, how names had become so important that just knowing a single one occupied his thoughts and stirred him from the sleep his body kept trying to slip into. He got stuck running the one name he held now over in his head, waiting for more from his voices.

By this stage he recognized when that strange record-skip happened to signify time advancing for his voices. Though, another question he considered was whether they moved in a linear fashion at all, assuming they existed and weren't figments of his imagination, of course. It was possible they bounced around various points in their lives together and he just caught snippets of those interactions out of order or even in a short span over the course of their lives together.

Not that he would ever know without more of their dialogue to guide him and help him uncover the puzzle that was his two voices.

"...Don't act like prey."

Where was the second voice? Was he the one the first voice spoke to in both the recent occurrences? At turns praising with unfiltered pride for an accomplishment and then the next scene showing a hint of threat.

With the supposed youth- or possibly just inexperience- that the second voice had established with his lack of knowledge about claims or the vulnerability of a tail, he guessed the first voice had taken the role of tutor and guide.

The record skipped again.

"...Of course, and you've always been so keen on gathering favors in the past."

A new voice? This one sounded like a dark crackle, flowing magma and a spark of violence on her tongue, goading. Mocking. Dangerous.

"Will you give us your answer or not, -?" Of course, another hidden name. But he didn't expect anything else, listening more to the rapidly building drama with the hissed response of the first voice.

He could almost feel the electric tension in the air, a dry forest waiting for a match to set everything ablaze. Without his notice, his heart had begun to pound waiting for the strike.

"Ahah-ha!" The tension dispelled in the next moment with bright laughter from the new voice.

Fascinating. What was the relationship between these two that such a stand-off could resolve without violence? Though, he suspected the potential for another occurrence existed at all times.

"Wait, what? What just happened?" Ah, there was the second voice. He wanted to smirk at the bewilderment he heard. How sweet, the unconcealed emotion in his voice. He made no efforts to hide how painfully out of place he was.

"This is the most interesting thing that's happened since - appeared." Certainly the most interesting thing that had happened since he'd awoken. Now he had a motivation for the new voice. It was one he well understood. If something held interest, it then also held worth, if only to be studied and its components broken down until all parts of the mystery were uncovered.

"I'll give you what I know, -. You're not going to like it. - must have believed I would know more because our dear - may have told me, yes?" So many names hidden from him. Was the topic concerning the previous voices he'd heard his voices interact with or other players he had yet to meet- a combination of both?

"He did." Perhaps they referenced the other unnamed voice from before that had infuriated the second voice so much. It was impossible to know.

"You know as well as we all do that there's only one who - honors with his secrets- well, now that he and - are at odds, at least." Who were at odds and what had set them apart? How long ago had the rift occurred? He nearly vibrated out of his skin with the desire to know the answers to his questions.

"And you know why I wanted to avoid that." A response that spoke of long history and past strife between the first voice and whoever this other who had been mentioned was.

"I can think of several reasons, yes. But, some good has come of this venture of yours. You've brought our - to see me, I wondered if I would ever get to meet him before everything was said and done." That was even more interesting. Was she speaking of the second voice? Did he hold some importance in the drama of the revealed story?

Now that he thought about it, what was the second voice's role in things? Why was the first voice bothering with guiding him?

Clearly there was something more to the second voice than he'd realized. He would have to pay attention for any information that could explain why.

"I had to."

"Had to?"

"Yes, the worms were going to execute you. Assiah wasn't safe." An execution! Now the mystery deepened. He was giddy with the unexpected twist to the story. The second voice was important, at least enough to have an execution order on his head.

The first voice had become protector as well as guide to the second voice. He filed the new information away, rearranging his building web of the players and their roles.

"- would not have allowed it of the worms, they would have found out quickly what a mistake that was." Wonderful. Just wonderful. This being she spoke of had enough power to halt an execution but for some reason his two voices were avoiding that protection. Another mystery. What kept them away from someone who could help them in their quest?

"But you're right, I can see the logic of bringing him, better to keep him from the worms entirely than risk him in their filthy hands." So, the humans were a factor in this little drama as well, and not on his two voice's sides. Yet they also weren't going to the other faction- the one the new voice spoke of- for help, either.

A record skip. He was immediately paying attention.

"So you do have some instincts after all, my -." Danger had returned to the new voice's words, sly venom coated them and he got the impression of a predator about to pounce.

They'd returned to the threat of violence.

"It's - - and don't touch me."

He shivered, nerves pricked with the low growl darkening the second voice to a deep rumble. Suddenly, his perception of the voice shifted on its axis. This one who he had dropped into the neat category of harmless youth, good for a tease and little else, had broken from the box with one simple utterance.

It made him want to test the second voice, to figure out how to pull that dangerous tone from him again, to see what he could unleash from those hidden depths.

What had the new voice done to him to garner such viciousness?

Waiting became agony. Would this be what caused the breakdown between the three voices?

"What?" The mood shifted, the second voice losing that edge as fear colored his words instead. Had they been interrupted?

"You called them on us!"

"Not me. These aren't mine."

Was this a betrayal?

"-. He's summoned -'s forces. He must have alerted them. Such a disobedient child."

"That brat."

"I should have realized- of course, he's loyal to -."

It was a betrayal, but not one by the new voice. He didn't have time to consider it, the conversation happened rapid-fire after that and he had to keep up.

"What will you do?"

"- is in Gehenna, -. Do with that information what you will, - -. I won't raise the wards."

So, she wouldn't interfere, was offering information, but wouldn't assist his two voices, either. The reasoning could be personal or political or a mixture of both and it didn't seem he would ever know.

"Ah!" The yelp of surprise from the second voice suggested movement.

In fact…

Just like the last time he'd been awake, his surroundings changed as if through a screen.

More outline, impression than anything solid, flickering in and out of existence in the uniform haze of clouds above.

But he saw-

-A body, leaping from a tower before him, hand outstretched as if gripped by something.

Could it be the second voice? Where was the first?

"-. Run, fight, don't get separated." Close by, it seemed, possibly the one holding the hand of the second voice.

He drank in the sight of him, roving over the form to take in every detail he could pick up, then doing it again. Some sort of uniform, black, perhaps, and short, dark, wild hair that whipped around a determined face with eyes a vivid blue he had no trouble seeing the hue of even with the faded quality of the rest of his body.

Here was more proof that the voices existed outside of his mind, that they were real.

Something else stole his focus, a low sound emerging on the wind like a thousand voices screaming, calling out for blood.

The form of the second voice hit the ground, breaking into a fluid series of attacks, basic though they were. He moved like he raced towards something, leaping and lashing out in a repetitive pattern where every crack of his fist to some invisible enemy sent blood splashing to his face.

A roar past bared fangs from the second voice shook the air, coming loud, clear, making his breath hitch in his chest and his head tilt back in the water, eyes shuttering as the sound consumed his senses.

It was visceral, savage, a pounding rhythm in the second voice's gait he witnessed once he could open his eyes again that sent his pulse pounding in tandem.

Then the cries for blood he'd heard must be multiple enemies, baying like dogs at his voices' heels and they the fox fleeing from the jaws of death.

Glorious and utterly riveting. Would his two voices survive the storm chasing them down? What would happen if they didn't? If they perished, killed by their pursuers.

What would happen to him? Would he sit in silence for eternity or would new voices join him?

The thought had him pressing his lips together, something in it sitting wrong. It wasn't because he couldn't find another's presence or life fascinating- although he thought that most would pale in comparison to the mystery that was his current voices' lives- but he had already come so far with these two that to begin a new web of players would be tedious.

Watching the way the second voice snarled in pain at some attack, his impression coming in and out of focus, he hoped they survived.

He saw the second voice move like he'd just jumped. The single-minded focus on his gore-coated face had bated breath coming from his lungs. Even as multiple strikes seemed to hit their mark on his body, he bared his fangs without fear.

One especially cutting attack sent his arm hanging limply at his side, left him vulnerable, exposed from whatever he clung to.

Blue eyes pierced through the haze, looking right at him and stopping his heart in his chest. They simmered with flames that warped the iris in a shifting dance around bright red slit pupils and the weight of existence pressed in on him until his breath burned in his lungs.

Was he looking at him? Could the second voice see him in his cage? Did he know that he was there?

But in the next moment fear entered those eyes and the second voice leapt, desperation sending him flying as if straight towards him, tearing into another invisible enemy. Then he fell, too far from whatever he'd clung to and unable to bring himself back.

Just as he thought the second voice would be lost to the screaming voices in pursuit, he was caught just overhead and yanked to slam into some solid surface.

He knew where the first voice was now, mind mulling it over as the second voice was flung upwards. It seemed he was viewing things from the perspective of the first voice. Would he continue that way? And why that perspective? Why not that of the second voice's?

Why-

The second voice leapt, his perspective following at his side.

Ears elongated, fangs bristled, bared from a mouth twisted in a snarl, and those piercing blue flames in the eyes of the second voice bore down at what could only be his enemies.

He roared.

He roared and i y.

Shattered reality.

Broke the haze in his mind that had been clinging there even through his current awareness.

His pulse sang wildly in his veins, body thrumming with the defiance inherent in the voice and ringing in his endless cage.

A beat.

A second roar answered in turn.

An aching fever built in his chest, tightened with a pressure until he thought his ribs would crack to release the pulp his heart must surely have become with the way it swelled to bursting.

The two voices- his two voices- had declared for all their enemies to hear that they would not falter, would not flinch from the challenge.

He wanted- needed to answer their call! The desire burned in his body, squeezed his throat, a constricting fist as if he fit into a too small vessel and it was moments away from tearing apart at the seams.

Please…

Please!

If there was ever a time to force something from his lips, why couldn't it be now?

Desperation tore bloody claws at his insides, suffocated him from within, just vaguely aware that his two voices had begun fighting their enemies again.

Their calls had woken something in him that railed at his imprisonment, eyes shot open but unseeing, mouth gaping like he could loose a roar and- and something, anything!

All that he managed was an exhale past stretched lips that may have been sharper than any of the others he'd given before but didn't feel like it, didn't express the current like a livewire jolting new life in his bones.

Alive. He felt alive.

Like the life this cruel place tried to sap from him had returned with that one reverberation, then sped up at the roar of the first voice in response.

He lost sight of his voices when the burst of energy they'd brought him receded like a wave pulled back to sea. The image of the second voice flickered behind his fluttering eyelids, cutting out with more of the record skipping and black spots dancing in his vision.

It took more strength than he imagined he had to force the vile sleep away. He couldn't go back to that, not yet, not when he needed to see the outcome of this trial more than he'd ever needed anything besides his own name.

So, body fighting viciously against the exhaustion dragging him down, he kept his eyes opened to slits and watched the way his voices fled.

Violent confrontation interrupted their path, though it had become infrequent as they gained distance on their enemies.

But they still wore down, the record skipping in and out of focus showing the second voice getting more ragged, new tears appearing in his clothes every time he flickered into view.

The second voice was clearly moving on complete instinct, no longer conscious of his struggle over whatever terrain he crossed. Those vivid eyes had glazed over, movements flagging and breaths rasping from his mouth. How much longer could he last? How much further did he have to go?

And, what would happen if he faltered now? There were so many possibilities and he had so many spots of missing information needed to narrow them down. He couldn't guess without knowing what their destination was and how much further they had to reach it.

He couldn't guess, but that didn't stop him, anyway, his mind filled with all the outcomes and scenarios.

A falter in the second voice's pace brought his attention back to him, seeing him leap over something and roll in a graceless tumble. The form was there, but the energy needed to perform it correctly seemed beyond him now. He didn't give the second voice long before he fell and didn't get up again.

Time skipped, the second voice ran with an arm that looked dislocated and, by the way he didn't move to set it back in place, he had no idea how. That handicap would exacerbate his fatigue.

Any moment now…

His gut twisted. Seeing the weakening form still so desperate to keep running kept his own drained reserves from vanishing entirely.

"Jump." The sudden croaked out directive from the first voice had his heart leaping just as the second voice snarled in confusion, snapped out of his haze by it like he had been. But he did follow it a moment later, though, just as before, his movements betrayed his weariness.

This jump was more graceless than the last.

He didn't expect him to get back up but the second voice did, wounded arm cradled in his other and wincing at what must be agony lancing from each jolted slam of his feet to the ground.

Perhaps he would make it wherever they ran to.

Perhaps-

A stumble. The second voice fell, face slackened in unconsciousness and eyes closing over those blue irises.

What would happen now? What was the first voice doing? Would he leave the second voice? Surely, given the apparent importance of the second voice he'd glimpsed in the earlier scene, that outcome faced a lower probability than others?

The form of the second voice faded, a bare outline- he held his breath- it vanished, falling towards him, then disappearing from view.

No!

Go back for him! Was he an idiot?

Just as he felt tendrils of true frustration at the first voice for leaving the second voice to his fate, his vision of his cage flickered again and a shape began to define itself.

Like the barest snapshot, he saw the wide eyes and startled expression of the second voice.

Then…

A new form shaped into being, revealing the features of a face. A sharp jawline, strange green hair shaped in a severe point on his head like that of a horn that framed an expression that could have been carved from stone and golden eyes that glowed brighter than any star.

Energy poured from those eyes, the sliver of slit pupils swallowed in the light that welled up within them and he couldn't look away from that hypnotic gaze if he tried.

"Protect him."

The first voice- the first voice.

This was he who had spoken with such wry, teasing humor, or blunt truth where others might use a pretty, sugar-coated lie. This was the form of the one who guided the second voice, who hadn't left him to their enemies that chased them down.

But before he could get a better look at him, the first voice flew backwards, falling away to a faraway point on the uniform horizon of his cage. His arms and legs were like that of some massive reptile, the sight stirring something inside him he couldn't place but which sent his heart racing regardless.

What was he doing now? A suicide gambit? And what did 'protect him' mean?"

It all happened both faster than he could process and as if in slow motion.

That reptilian clawed hand of the first voice clenched into a fist where he floated in the sky.

A roar shattered the cage, or just his mind.

His eyes rolled back in his skull.

Challenge, so loud it couldn't be ignored, couldn't be denied.

Louder, still, than the ones his voices had called out before.

Loud enough to strike him straight to his core.

Loud, to wash away all else.

The world swept away on that savage cry, his pulse drummed a frantic beat that eclipsed every other sensation he was capable of feeling.

If the first roars had let their enemies know they would be met, this roar told them they would be conquered.

His breaths, thin wisps, still, panted from between his teeth. He may have gone under, drowned in his desire to go to the source of that power, to consume like it was the most necessary thing he could do.

Any thought to add his voice to the call died before it could fully form, mind short-circuited, pulled beneath the black tide as his nerves set alight and burned.

His vision skipped out again. When it came back, the first voice dropped like he'd been shot from a gun straight towards the waters of his cage.

Time stretched, an event-horizon of a blackhole extended for eternity and swallowing all else in its path. Energy trailed like great wings behind the first voice, massive and enough to blot out the weak light of his surroundings until all he could see was that form plummeting down.

He hit like a star going supernova.

He hit and it rendered his reality obsolete.

Devastation.

Ruin he couldn't take his eyes from if all the world's forces came for his throat.

Instincts had his body whipcord tense, taut with the urge to arch his spine and go towards that destruction.

That scent like new earth still reached him, nostrils flaring to catch it and inhaling deep as he filled himself with everything he could get of the first voice.

He stared out over the water to see the first voice look up from his kneeled position before an impression of dark wings, saw the gold of his eyes pierce the haze, saw him rise, sway, stumble, begin to fall.

His eyes widened. It was a suicide gambit, a sacrifice play to give the second voice time to flee and live.

Would the second voice leave him? Would he ignore his efforts and go to rescue him? Would it all be in vain?

A strange wind picked up, caressing his cheeks like a touch. Those gold eyes began to close.

Everything stilled.

Silence like a watery grave.

The voice on the wind wasn't a whisper.

It didn't come softly to his ears.

It screamed over the open waters and slammed into his mind with all the desperation a being could express in one wrenching cry.

n

The first voice- Amaimon- stopped his fall in a solid stance. Gold gleamed.

Then he couldn't comprehend anything at all as knowledge poured into his skull and drowned him in-

Growthlifedeath

-Earth. Constantly changing even as it stayed the same, as it would until the sun collapsed and swallowed everything in its path.

Evolution in motion.

Amaimon Amaimon Amaimon Amaimon

He wanted to crow the name that he finally recalled, the euphoria rushing through him a release he'd been aching for the moment he heard Amaimon's voice in his cursed space.

A name! He had a name to one of his voices!

Who was Amaimon to him? Why was he seeing him over another in his cage? The curiosity about what he might have shared with the embodiment of the concept of earth set fire in his veins.

Fire to beat the exhaustion threatening to send him back to the abyss. But he didn't want to go just yet, fought to keep afloat even a second more.

What would happen to his voices, to Amaimon, now? He had survived the fall, but what about the enemy on their heels? If he slept now, allowed himself to listen to the siren song clawing at his tattered energy, would he wake to find one or both of his voices gone?

Weariness had his vision blurring, seeing vague flashes of color, of gold and muted green snapping in and out of focus.

Running again. Still fleeing. They couldn't rest yet. He couldn't rest yet.

A snapshot of Amaimon's face forced his eyes open further because he saw the effect those efforts had on his body. How much could he take? He couldn't possibly perform another feat like he'd just done. Not with the way blood had poured from his ruined body.

So, they must be close to their destination. There was no other reason to use such a debilitating technique if he didn't know there was a good chance of survival, either his and the second voice's or just the second voice.

"-eep. Going." Amaimon. The second voice had no doubt also seen the damage and, with the way he'd shouted Amaimon's name, the way he'd called loud enough that it had allowed him to remember that name when he'd watched him fall, the concern was obvious.

But Amaimon was right, the second voice's concern wouldn't help their escape.

"-, don't stop." The second voice needed more convincing, it seemed.

Time skipped. It was even harder to open his eyes after the last blink.

His voices jumped. The agony on Amaimon's face was overshadowed by vicious determination as power glowed from his bloody, near-blinded eyes and around his body. When he landed, it was in a pitiful heap and he could see he wouldn't be able to rise.

They'd reached their limits.

But had they reached safety?

Amaimon raised a hand, the flickers of his energy feeble around it. What was he-?

A snap. His voices disappeared and when they reformed it was so that he saw Amaimon convulsing and suffocating in his own blood. That last action must have stripped him to the bone, pulling the dregs of his energy to accomplish.

So...tired.

Would he make it? With power like what he'd displayed, a being like Amaimon couldn't succumb in such a way.

He couldn't…

Another blink, longer, eyes weighted down and unbearably heavy.

"-eep."

"What? Sleep?"

Someone speaking.

"-ou gonna be okay?"

...The second voice. His eyelids opened to slivers. When had he closed them? Why was he keeping them open? Why was he fighting so hard?

The barest outline of a body- Amaimon, it was Amaimon's, the first voice- lay there on the hazy sky.

His body wasn't seeping blood anymore.

Good.

Go…

---

White walls stared at him in a silent room. Only the metronome ticking of a clock filled his ears.

It should have been peaceful. It used to be peaceful.

Now, it was just empty.

Yukio stared at his apartment with its open floorplan, wide glass windows, and marble countertops and set his phone on the cold surface.

The mess looked out of place in the minimalist space.

He had a mission in the morning. He needed to head to bed soon so he would be rested.

Knocking shattered the still air.

"Hope you're decent in there, kid!"

Shura. Again? Would she be here every day?

After the announcement she'd had to give to the upper-class exorcists the other day, he hadn't thought she would feel the need to visit again so soon.

Repressing the urge to grumble about the interruption, he went to open the door.

His eyes widened, stunned.

"Wow, they really went all in on the sterile lack of warmth in these places, huh?" Shura said, voice loud and out of place, echoing around the apartment.

"Yeah, I'll say," Shima walked in behind her, brown eyes taking in the lay of his furniture, what little there was.

"Sorry for the short notice, Mr. Okumura," Bon said as he came in followed by Konekomaru and Izumo with something in his hands that he set on the counter, "we brought a housewarming gift."

Yukio got a short sound of thanks out before he faced Shiemi in the doorway and trailed off.

Green eyes watered with tears as Shiemi met him with her saddened gaze and a smile trying to stretch on her face.

He hadn't talked to her outside of class besides the short conversation to tell everyone what had happened to Rin. He hadn't wanted to see what he saw now.

"Um, I thought," Shiemi said, mumbling as she fidgeted with her skirt, gaze dropping to the side. Her hands came up, sending him a step back as he realized he'd stalled her in the doorway. He should let her in, it was considered rude to leave a guest in the hallway.

"I thought I would give you a plant- for your new home, you know?" Something green rose to his nose and he blinked in a flutter of lashes behind his glasses until he made it out.

"I had Nee grow it and chose one of the pots from my grandma's garden."

She raised her head and smiled.

"Do you like it, Yuki?"

Blue flowers, delicate, small, but a spot of color in his colorless apartment nonetheless, rose from an earthen clay pot.

"Er- yes, thank you, Shiemi, it's really nice," Yukio said as he took it, the clay warm on his fingers from where Shiemi had held it in hers. He set it on the countertop next to his phone. "What kind is it?"

The question about a subject she was comfortable with shook some of the hesitance from Shiemi and her smile had less strain in it as she came in and shut the door behind her.

"It's a Miss Ruka- uh, I mean, a Chinese forget-me-not-"

Yukio had stopped listening, eyes pinned to the innocent plant that seemed to draw all the attention in the room with its now achingly familiar colors.

Forget-me-not, the color of blue one he'd know anywhere.

His fingers spasmed with the urge to throw the plant from the window to the streets below. He shoved them in his pockets and made some sound to let Shiemi know he'd heard her answer.

"Man, isn't there anything in this fridge yet?" Shura said, her loud complaint jerking him from his staredown with the plant to glare her way.

"I haven't had time to go shopping, I'll likely be eating out most days, anyway," he said in the hopes that it would get her out of his apartment sooner so he could have quiet again.

"Huh? Why- oh, yeah," Shima piped up from where he was watching the view outside, "Rin's the cook in the fami-urk!"

"Shut up, dumbass," Bon hissed, smacking Shima over the head as if the damage hadn't already been done. Though, really, Yukio wanted to tell them that it was too late for that. Just the noise and mess in his once spotless apartment was enough of a reminder.

When was it considered polite to send guests home? How much time? Half an hour?

"Thank you, everyone, for the gifts," Yukio said as he went to open the other one, hands undoing the decorative knot of the fabric carrying satchel wrapped around a wooden box.

He opened the lid.

Yukio froze again.

"We figured you could use a little warmth in here, just you and Kuro can't be good all by yourselves," Shura said, voice coming from right over his shoulder and way too close too suddenly.

By themselves? Yukio forced his hands to move, detached as they lifted the solid wood frame from the box to place it next to the plant.

"Yes, it'll fit right in with the plant, thank you," Yukio said on automatic, unable to make his gaze leave the photo contained in the frame now mocking him next to the plant.

Rin's smiling face beamed up at him from the long-ago picture they'd all taken together at the Kyoto Tower.

Eyes the same color of forget-me-not blue burned into his.

Wrenching away with a bright smile, Yukio ignored the careful look Shura appraised him with, "I don't want to rush everybody, but I have a mission tomorrow I need to prepare for and was planning on calling it a night soon, so..."

"They really didn't give you a break, Mr. Okumura?" Konekomaru said, and his expression held pity that Yukio wanted to glare at but knew it wouldn't be fair to his student.

"Yeah, wait, can't you just give him some time off now, Miss Kirigakure?" Came the obnoxious and tone-deaf question from Shima that he would expect from Rin.

Shura sighed, leaning back on the arm of his lounge-chair. Didn't she know that was how you ruined chairs? If she kept it up every time she visited, he'd have an indent there.

"Not on this one," she tapped a finger to her neck, "can't say anything but there's something important brewing and we need all hands-on deck. You exwires will probably get told all the fun stuff soon."

"Great, that's not ominous or anything," Izumo said, sarcasm in her voice and her crossed arms. Though Yukio suspected she hid worry over the situation. Well, she would be crazy not to be at least a little bit terrified about what was coming for them on the horizon.

"Um," Shiemi said as they gathered by the door to leave, "would it be okay to stop by to check on Miss Ruka every now and then to make sure everything's okay?"

"Sure," Yukio stuttered, mind blanking on his words. Was she just talking about the plant or was it a thinly veiled excuse to check on him? "That's okay, just give me a heads up beforehand so I know to expect you."

And maybe that request would sink in for the rest of them so he didn't have to deal with more unannounced arrivals like he had.

They said their goodbyes, the cheerful smile Shiemi had darted at him before the door closed on their departure clearing the thoughts in his head for a moment.

Then he turned and saw the gifts.

He set the plant in a corner by the window, out of the way but somewhere it would get light.

The photo he tucked into a drawer. Shiemi would tell him the next time she planned on visiting, so he would take it out then.

Yukio went to his room to get ready for bed, ignoring the slit-pupiled eyes that Kuro tracked him with where he curled on the sheets.

In his hand he had a key to take him to Russia tomorrow for his mission, dropped off by Shura.

Tomorrow, he would see the Gehenna Gate.

---

"Wow, that still blows my mind every time I see it."

Lewin grinned, knowing Angel would be sending him one of those scrunched-brow looks of confusion but unable to contain the giddy excitement at seeing the view from their vantage point.

Below them, the light barrier they now knew belonged to Lucifer shone with an ethereal shimmer around the fully formed Gehenna Gate.

"We should at least try to destroy it, there must be some way to close this damned gate ourselves," Angel said when he didn't elaborate, growl in his voice and itching to follow through with his words.

"Ahaha, that's a pretty aspirational idea, Angel," he said, knowing Angel wouldn't sense the sarcasm but taking a special joy in using it anyway as he rubbed at the back of his head, "I don't think anything but Satan can destroy a Gate, but you're so strong, maybe you can do it."

By the gnashing teeth, Lewin figured his point had gotten across to Angel.

They wouldn't be closing this gate on their lonesome, and nothing but the time spell Mephisto had placed on it could stall it.

In essence, they had to do damage control.

"Back to base then?" Angel said after he must have gotten his fill of staring at an unchanging scene. Lightning didn't think he could ever move past something like an artificial Gehenna Gate created by their enemy, the ever-elusive Illuminati, out in the Russian wilderness and guarded by a barrier put in place by Lucifer, Demon King of Light and Second in Gehenna under Satan, himself.

But he knew time was of the essence, especially without their own king if time to extend it.

Still. Lewin hummed at an idle thought, tossing one last glance at the gate before trailing after Angel. "I'm real bummed I never got to meet the Satan spawn before he went to Gehenna. Now it looks like I never will, huh."

The derisive scoff from Angel wasn't unexpected, either.

"He was a foul, dangerous beast that should have been put down before this whole mess happened," vitriol burned in the air, "he's brought ruin to Assiah with his very existence."

Well, the odds weren't in their favor on that front, so Angel wasn't too far off the mark. But, after having met Yukio Okumura, somehow Lewin didn't think foul would be a word associated with Rin Okumura, not by the people who knew him, at least.

Dangerous beast, maybe, but not foul. Which just made him all the more cheesed off that he'd missed his golden opportunity to meet the infamous Satan spawn and study what made him tick!

Never mind getting to interact with the equally as fascinating Mephisto Pheles in a one on one setting. He had more than a few questions about the strings that particular puppet-master pulled and how it all tied into a certain night.

Steps took him down the path they'd cleared back to the temporary base set up on the foothills around the gate.

A lower-class exorcist running towards them had a frown tugging his lips, especially once he saw the disturbed expression on his face.

"Sirs, you need to come check this out," he said in a rush, already gesturing to bring them into the communications tent.

He jogged after him, brushing aside the tent-flap and getting a slew of stony expressions his way.

"What's up?" Whatever it was, it couldn't be as bad as, say, an artificial Gehenna gate poised to release the armies of Satan at any moment.

"We're getting reports of- well, just look." Lewin walked around to the screen, wishing for a moment that Osceola were there so he could get concise reports without having to actually do the reading. The big guy was good for number crunching and data collecting in a pinch and then presenting it to him so he could avoid sifting through the noise.

Lucy would call that lazy of him, Lewin called it outsourcing your resources.

The words on the screen took a second to sink in. He froze, eyes going wide and breath catching in his throat.

"And this just started happening now?" He whispered the question.

"We need to prepare everyone for immediate combat readiness!" Angel shouted, panic eating into his words and long blond hair whipping around his face.

Maybe. But he didn't know. How many reasons could there be behind the information he was seeing come in from around the world from every branch of exorcists.

Demons were vanishing from Assiah.

There was only one other place for them to go.

Gehenna.

---

Notes:

Alternate titles were as follows:

-Rin Gets Yeeted
-:REDACTED: Has Questions, None of Which Get Answered
-Amaimon kicks so much ass this chapter, u guys don't even know
-The boys: going berserk
-Don't u get tired of being nice, don't u just wanna go ape shit