Summary: Yukio's not so quick on the uptake this time, probably it's the lack of sleep and hauntings.
Notes: Ah yes, finally the appearance of my usual chapter length lmao Annnnnd next chapter is my favorite for the sheer Angst coming your way :D Until then, enjoy Rin realizing maybe Yukio has a bit more on his plate than a serial killer ;D
Song of the Chapter: Cradles by Sub Urban
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"Come on, pick up, pick up, pick up," Rin muttered into his phone, shaking in place and almost wishing he was still frozen because the effort of holding himself up after the shock had left him limp was almost too much.
The glint of light off the tripwire drew his eye back from every flick of his gaze away, Rin darting glances as if the one who'd left it in place was waiting for a moment of distraction to strike.
Why wasn't he answering?
A chill ran over his shoulders like a touch, but it wasn't the frostbitten claws he'd experienced the past weeks, more something almost grounding and Rin let out a shuddering breath to steady himself from the edge of panic he'd been on the longer Yukio didn't answer.
Just because he wasn't responding didn't mean the worst had happened. He needed to make sure.
But first, "You were trying to warn me the whole time, huh," Rin said as he turned to face the cold spot at his spine. Not that it responded, but by the lack of howling in his ears or violent ice shards in his shoulders, he thought his guess had been right.
"Sorry I tried to kick you out of my house," Rin offered in apology, the surreal concept of talking to the thing that had haunted and hurt him and he'd done everything in his power to get rid of had him shifting in place on his doorstep.
"I have to go find Yukio now," he said to the empty space in front of him, letting the words and plan of action stop him from screaming and panicking and worrying about if he'd been too late and Yukio wasn't ok–
"Coming?" he asked and got another sweep over his shoulders, taking that for a positive and shutting his door. The tripwire vanished from view, but Rin left it to deal with another day.
After he checked on Yukio.
His apartment was the closest stop, so Rin darted onto the bus headed there, panting at the run he'd just had to do to make it and dropping into his seat with a gasp. The lack of sleep really wasn't doing his body any favors, but he was used to running on fumes for the restaurant shifts and now that he didn't have a ghost hounding him, he felt lighter than he had in weeks.
The rest of his mind weighed with the need to see Yukio. He would know the next steps to take. He would know if they should call their parents or not. Rin couldn't think that far ahead, not beyond the current situation.
He scanned the people around him, knowing it wasn't going to help anything because it's not like he really knew who he was looking for anyway.
It had been eighteen years since anyone had seen a single sign of the killer who had haunted their city, and he could have changed so much by then. The thought that it could be anyone and the seemingly slow pace of the bus had Rin's leg bouncing as he urged the speed to pick up.
Suddenly, getting a car and a license looked worth the cost.
But his stop arrived eventually to the apartments given to students in the area, and Rin leapt from the bus, ignoring the affronted sounds of the people he'd shoved past to bolt to Yukio's. He took the steps two at a time, mind blank of everything but the next movement of his body upwards until he fell against Yukio's door in his haste to knock.
Nothing.
"Yukio?" Rin shouted, pounding again as his heart slammed to his ribs and his breaths came out raw from the exertion.
"Shit–come on, Yukio!" He tried again, about to pull out his phone and call when his skin prickled with goosebumps from another touch, stilling him as he tried to figure out what it was for.
A click echoed from the door, and Rin twisted on automatic, watching it open easily and blinking as he put two and two together.
"Thanks!" he was quick to say, pushing into the apartment his ghost had unlocked for him and getting another touch in response.
Looking around showed him a silent room, small, as most student housing was, but meticulously neat, like Yukio was. The only thing out of place was a photo frame face down on the small table that made up the combined kitchen-living area. Rin knew what picture would show on the other side, the same one his ghost had thrown at him when he'd asked what it wanted.
Beneath the frame, a piece of paper lay as if set there waiting for someone to lift the edge. Rin reached for it, slowly, because the paper had the same symbol on the front as the flower tied to the wire on his door and that had been meant to incapacitate or more likely kill him, so who knew what this one would do.
Ice froze him in place, except this time Rin stopped willingly, heart thudding again but for a different reason as he pulled his hand back.
"Is it another trap?" he asked his ghost, eyes darting for something and cursing himself for not turning the lights on, even if it was still day. Who knew what he'd missed in the dimmer lights inside.
The ice left him, and Rin waited, tensed for some kind of explosion or something. Shifting on the table caught his attention, and he watched as the paper slipped free from beneath the frame, tugged as if by the wind until it fluttered to the floor at Rin's feet and he could lift it.
It was addressed to him, not Yukio.
Another sound snapped Rin's head up and he saw the frame lifting. The motion drew Rin's gaze to what looked like a sliver of light reflecting the weak sun from outside, and it was then that he realized the frame was attached to a fishing line, which…
"Holy shit," Rin whispered as his gaze traveled the length of the line to the other end of the room where several familiar chef's knives were strung. "Are those my set?"
Somehow, without his notice, his house had been broken into and his knives taken and, worse, the killer had known he'd come here first to look for Yukio. Fear trickled into his heart, harder to ignore through action like he had just to get to the location in the first place, and only heightened as he flipped the letter in his hand over to begin reading.
'Hello, Rin.
A haiku, or any poetry at all would be wasted on you, so I hope you'll enjoy these arrangements of mine instead.
How has it felt these past few weeks to be strung along so coldly? Have you always enjoyed looking out for someone who returns the favor with half-hearted excuses and empty promises?
Have you ever thought about what it would be like to exist without wondering if your brother wants you in his life or not?
Do you ever grow tired of making meals for someone who spurns them?
I'm not sure these thoughts have ever made it to you, but then, most don't seem to.
Nevertheless, you too will appreciate knowing what it's like to shuck your shackles and live without chains on your heart.
You will know freedom.
Or die.'
The twinflower sketched into the letter ended it, and Rin shook once, face tight with the snarl wrinkling his features before he folded the letter and shoved it in his pocket.
"What a pretentious jackass," he growled, already stalking to the door and knowing he'd have to check the school next for Yukio so he could find him and they could figure out how to show the bastard thinking they were easy targets just how wrong he was.
His phone rang, Rin scrambling to answer it as soon as the vibrations began, a wild pulse almost drowning out the voice on the other end.
"Rin!" Yukio shouted, voice terrified and sobbed from the speaker as Rin exhaled in sharp relief.
Ok, he was ok. "Yukio! I'm at your place, it's–"
"–The twinflower killer!" Yukio completed for him, and Rin raced out the door without a second thought.
"Where are you?" he asked, jumping as many steps as he could until he'd reached the bottom and ran for the bus station. "I'm coming. Are you safe?"
"Mom and dad's place, I was feeding Kuro," Yukio answered as the sounds of a door shutting reached Rin and he hoped it meant Yukio was locked up and barricading the entrance.
"Wait for me, I'll be there as soon as I can," Rin said, a glare on his face that sent people moving out of his path until he'd made it to the stop, hating that he had just missed the last bus and considering running the entire way.
"Rin, I'm–" Yukio cut himself off, voice unsteady in the words– "I'm sorry."
Rin's hand trembled, clenching so hard he felt plastic creak under the force.
"Don't worry about it," he said, hard, but not about to let Yukio hear the fear sending his pulse rocketing, and repeating, "Stay safe, I'm coming."
He managed to hold off from doing something stupid and survived the painful time it took to get to the other side of the city from the university using public transportation. He caught gold flares in the reflection in the window and it comforted him, even with the red that trailed from the corners of a closed mouth.
They weren't alone. They had help, even if it was unusual.
The bus slowed, then stopped. It was his. All at once, between one slam of his foot to the ground and the next, Rin faced the door to his parents' place, knocking and mind empty except needing to see it open to show–
It opened. "Ri–oomf!"
His arms wrapped tightly around Yukio as Rin clutched him to his chest, eyes squeezed shut and unsure if the sounds leaving his mouth were sobs or laughter from between his clenched teeth but not caring either way.
"I was so scared, Yukio," he rasped, wet sounding because he might have been crying after all.
A breath shuddered against him from Yukio as he collected himself until his hands came to grip at Rin, too, flexing in the fabric of his jacket and head dropping to his shoulder.
"Me too." The words came out so softly from Yukio that Rin felt more than heard them, tightening his grip to assure himself that his twin was still alive and feeling a return squeeze.
The door slammed shut behind them with an icy draft along Rin's body and Yukio tore away with a gasp. His eyes snapped up, wild and pupils dilated, glancing between Rin and the door as if checking that it had actually closed without being touched.
"Rin, I–" Yukio began.
Rin waved his hand, his smile sheepish as he hurried to explain, though he knew it was going to make Yukio give him that look that meant he questioned his sanity. "Ah, don't panic, Yukio, it's okay."
"Okay?" Yukio's mouth worked soundlessly after that word.
It was then that Rin saw the purple bruises under his eyes and the red veins in the whites of them that he knew he also carried from lack of sleep and realized Yukio might need to sit down.
"Hey," he said, soothing as he pressed to Yukio's shoulder, guiding him from the room to sit him at the kitchen table, "I'm going to make us lunch, ok?"
The shudder under his hands steeled Rin as he left Yukio to see what he could use from the fridge. Not much, it turned out, since they'd been gone so long. But he found some things in the pantry he could make a soup out of and began boiling the water, adding seasoning to it and some dried vegetables until the smell permeated the air.
Cooking for Yukio was a familiar comfort, until Rin flashed to the card in his pocket, heart jolting, but leaving it because he was going to get one nice meal with his brother before they had to deal with psycho serial killers back from retirement, or whatever the case was.
Steam drifted from two bowls Rin set on the table with a sigh, slumping into the seat opposite Yukio and breaking in with a 'Let's eat!' to cover that Yukio had flinched upon seeing the food. Warmth filled him for the first time now that his body wasn't fighting a ghost-induced chill, and Rin took full advantage of it as he slurped noodles in a way that would have gotten a frown from Yukio at his lack of manners before.
As he ate, he slowed, then paused, gaze narrowing to see Yukio picking at his food. When Yukio noticed, his eyes darted to the table, not hiding the move from Rin and the fact that he hadn't worried Rin more than the lack of appetite.
"Rin," he said, settling his hands to the table carefully, but pressing there with enough pressure to whiten his knuckles, like he tried to sink into the grains of wood, or used it to ground himself in the present. "I have to tell you something, it's important."
Probably. Probably it was important to save their lives and make sure they survived whatever was coming for them, but there wasn't anything immediately attacking them, so Rin raised his hand.
"We both look like shit. I feel like shit," he said to Yukio's pale, stress-lined face. "Nothing is going to happen before we eat. Then we can figure this out, okay?"
Nothing happened before food, Rin was unyielding about that.
And Yukio, once he saw Rin wouldn't budge, curled his hands into fists as if testing that they existed, before nodding and beginning to inhale his food like he hadn't seen it in months.
His body looked thin enough that that might have been the case. Rin chewed at a mushroom and determined to find something more solid when he had the chance. He'd take his own directives, though, and finish before letting in any of the million terrors waiting for them just outside that front door.
Sooner than he'd have liked, their empty bowls ended up pushed aside. At one point Kuro had jumped to knead at Rin's lap and he'd accepted the furball's sharp affection with a laugh, scratching at his ears and using it to collect himself for what he had to do.
A brush of cold at his shoulders settled it for Rin and he coughed, matching the grim expression Yukio wore with a wry grin as he spoke. "So, you'll never guess how the last few weeks have gone for me."
The lines beneath Yukio's eyes from lack of sleep practically dared Rin to try him.
"It started with a pot lid at work flinging itself at my skull," Rin's gaze shot to the cold prickling at his skin and his smile widened into a crooked smirk. "Then a lightbulb exploded on me and I almost choked to death after I woke up with a bloody nose in the middle of the night."
Saying it, it all seemed comical in a way Rin attributed to too many movies. Even though he'd spent his time worn to exhaustion without any explanation for what was happening to him, it made a laugh try to escape, humor bubbling up as he tried to remember the string of events leading to his current situation.
"And then I saw a face in the mirror at work and a shit-ton of blood in the sink and realized I was being haunted," he said and his grin weakened, waiting for the disbelief from Yukio.
Silence filled the space between them, Yukio's face empty and his eyes locked on Rin's without betraying a thing to say he'd heard.
"Ah, so, like, it turns out ghosts are real and mom wasn't lying to all those people," Rin continued when Yukio didn't say a word.
"Yukio?" He trailed off on Yukio's name, wondering if he should let his ghost reveal itself just yet or if Yukio needed more time to process. "I'm not trying to joke or anything. Seriously, I've got the bruises to prove it."
"Ah-ha," laughter trickled from Yukio's mouth, startling Rin. His lips twitched, stretched over his teeth, though Rin hesitated to call it a smile, not the way it warped, or the wild look in the eyes beneath Yukio's glasses.
"Ahahaha!"
It leapt from him, sending Rin back in his seat and frowning as concern began to take over the longer Yukio failed to contain his laughter, letting it grow until tears filled his eyes and he hunched over the table.
"Hey, what's wrong? Yukio!" Rin stood, half out of his chair and leaning to grab Yukio's trembling hand before his head jerked up and a broken smile met Rin, stopping him in his tracks.
"Ghosts are real!" Yukio gasped out, laughing again. "Of course they are!"
"Er, yeah, it's–Yukio, come on, man, when's the last time you slept?" Rin completed his motion and felt Yukio flinch at the contact.
"I don't remember!" Yukio said in a burst, fingers spasming under Rin's hand. "I can't remember when I slept last, and ghosts are real."
Rin couldn't think of anything to say, his heart rushing in his chest as Yukio slumped in his seat with an arm over the back, grin lopsided and clothes wrinkled, Rin just realizing how very not normal his appearance was. How out of control he was.
Clattering snapped his head around to see a floating bowl, the other on the floor having scared Kuro into the hall just as the second fell as if released from a hand.
"And that's your ghost who's been haunting you, hm?" Yukio said, still in that way that sounded so far from right and scared Rin to hear.
"Y-yeah," he said, eyes wide on Yukio because he didn't know what was happening, "it's been trying to warn me about the–you know."
"Did you know, Rin?" Yukio started in a drawl, something bitter under the thin layer of humor. "That there hasn't been a single day of my life that I haven't seen a shadow of a dead person over someone's shoulder or heard them talking–screaming!"
"Sometimes," his eyes narrowed, manic as he leaned in like he imparted a secret to Rin, "their screams were all I could hear until I could escape somewhere without another soul around."
His hand slipped from beneath Rin's, a chuckle loosed from his lips and gaze falling like he couldn't look at Rin anymore. His voice came out in a brittle whisper. "And do you want to know the funniest thing?"
Rin's pulse thundered in his ears, everything narrowed to what Yukio would say next.
"They were always stronger around you."
He exhaled like Yukio had punched him, it hurt about the same, breath whistling from his lungs as he flashed back over every instance of his childhood with Yukio.
"You knew?" he said and didn't hear himself speak.
All Rin could see was Yukio's face and the tears running down it and the image of him as a child when Rin would proudly say he would protect him from the monsters. He would protect Yukio from the ghosts and nightmares and he didn't have to worry because Rin was there.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Why?
"Why?" Rin croaked the word out when he wanted to scream.
The chair Yukio sat in screeched back as he stood and snarled down at Rin.
"Because you and mom all loved it so much!" His hands shook in the fists he pressed to the table, boxing Rin in and making it so it was impossible to avoid him, as if Rin could even consider doing that after what he'd said.
"You both were so happy talking to those people asking mom to call their beloved dead into the room so they could get some kind of closure!" Yukio yelled, and every word dropped like an executioner's axe onto Rin's neck, but they wouldn't stop, Yukio wouldn't stop.
Everything poured from him like a wound excised and spewing the rot that had built and festered for years. "But neither of you could see them–you couldn't even hear them–and I could!"
More tears fell, but it didn't even seem like Yukio knew they were there, his eyes burning and body shaking as if he'd fall apart the longer he went.
"I could," he repeated, hoarse and voice raw, "I saw so many horrible, twisted shapes. And the worst part was when they stayed behind and didn't go home with whoever brought them."
"They," Rin's throat clicked on a dry swallow, "they stayed?"
Yukio's laughter came out cruel, bitter, and his smile wasn't nice. "Yeah, of course, because anything else would be too kind."
"They stayed, and I didn't realize until I finally left home why that was." The way Yukio said it made Rin want to flinch back, press himself to the wall to wait out the storm of the revelation being laid out at his feet. He sat frozen instead, because he could never run from Yukio.
"It's you, Rin," Yukio hissed, but it sounded pained instead of victorious, like he didn't want Rin to hear it but couldn't stop himself from letting him know. "Wherever you go, they flock to you."
A void had encased Rin, gravity pressing in on him until he struggled to breathe under the weight of it. He couldn't see anything but the broken expression Yukio wore. Couldn't feel anything except the hard chair he'd shoved to where it dug into his bruises.
Ice brushed him through the chair, a refreshing chill that cooled the burning pressure in his skull and let him think clearly, despite how much he wanted to join Yukio in breaking down.
His own chair slid back as he rose from it with a heavy breath, head bowed and teeth grit because he caught the whimper Yukio released when he moved, like he was scared of Rin. He should never be scared of Rin.
"I'm an idiot," Rin said, a growl joining the low words as he met Yukio's wide-eyed gaze and held it. "I told you I would be there and I never had a clue you were going through this."
When he'd gone to Yukio's in the past, he'd brought horrors with him, things that would linger and cause who knew what kind of hell long after he'd gone, completely ignorant to the things he left behind.
"I'm sorry, Yukio," Rin said, firm, and making sure Yukio wouldn't hear anything else.
He stalked around the table and dragged Yukio into another hug, tight enough to keep him from shaking apart like he felt he'd do if Rin let him go.
"Don't be stupid, Rin," Yukio spat out into his shoulder where he refused to lift his head from, his own shoulders hunched and hands balled into fists that whitened his knuckles with the force of his trembling. "How the hell were you supposed to know?"
Rin snorted, rubbing at Yukio's back until the trembling felt less like Yukio would crumble at a moment's notice. "We've both seen my grades, right?"
The attempted humor got a huff of breath from Yukio so Rin chalked it up to a win and patted his back before pulling away.
"So," Yukio coughed, looking awkward now that he'd recovered somewhat from his meltdown, face flushed as he adjusted his glasses, "you have a poltergeist?"
"A what?" Rin blinked, trying to figure out what the word meant.
"Your ghost," Yukio gestured to a spot at Rin's side. The spot was empty, but a glance of cold ran up Rin's arm from that spot and made him realize that Yukio could actually see his ghost without a reflective surface. "It's able to move objects and interact with the physical world."
"Oh, yeah," Rin laughed, "I thought all ghosts could."
"None that I've seen so far," Yukio said in a shake of his head. "Most only interact with a person's dreams, from what I've experienced. Even the ones I normally see only ever sounded like a background noise–until this last month when they started screaming."
He scrubbed his hands under his eyes to take away the last of the tears, though now the bags lingering there looked twice as deep. His lashes stuck together with the dampness he couldn't entirely get rid of, but he wasn't looking so fragile anymore.
"Wait!" Rin said, energy coming back to his body as he jerked to look at where his ghost was. Yukio startled when Rin gestured at him in excitement. "You can talk to them! Or hear what they say, right?"
Dawning realization drew over Yukio. "Yes, we can ask about the killer!"
At Rin's shoulder, a cold pressure tapped, and he saw Yukio stare towards it. His eyes were still wide, tracking movement like a deer in headlights as Rin shrugged and said, "I think it's trying to talk, right?"
By the tap to his shoulder again, he figured he was right, or his ghost would let him know quickly if he'd gotten it wrong.
"Er," Rin paused, blinking as a thought occurred to him, "is it talking now? I was just hearing screaming this whole time."
Yukio frowned, biting at his lip. "It's hard to hear, I never picked it up very well, it was always easier to see them."
That was strange, but no stranger than anything else about the situation, so Rin accepted it.
"Maybe," Yukio said, hand coming to his face as they turned to the hall leading to their mom's study, "mom was able to hear them clearly with all those things she's got."
"Hey yeah!" Rin said as he opened the door once the chill on his shoulder pressed him to. "That's why she's always bringing that bag with her on cases."
"Probably," Yukio agreed, and Rin beamed at having uncovered something.
A slight layer of dust had built up when Rin turned on the lights in the room, though not so much that it made it look any less inviting than it ever had. His gaze flicked to see Yukio freeze in the entryway and Rin frowned, remedying it in his head because it hadn't been to Yukio. Yukio had seen their mother's room as a place of horror, where monsters came and no one saw but him. He'd been alone in his fear.
Still, Rin couldn't help himself, he loved the simple table in the center with its colorful fabric and crystal ball in the middle. He loved the old wooden shelves their dad had stained and put together himself for the room and the various odds and ends their mom filled them with.
It was a place Rin could breathe deeply in and feel at ease.
Rattling turned his attention to the tall standing mirror in the corner and he wandered over to it with a questioning hum.
"I think," Yukio began, brows furrowing as if concentrating, "I think it's saying to bring the mirror to the table?"
"Oh!" Rin smiled and hauled the mirror over, setting it up at one side and taking the two chairs to sit in on the other sides. "Yeah, that makes sense. I can usually see it in mirrors."
One moment, the mirror was clear, another, and blood spilled from the corners of a frowning mouth beneath yellow flares and Rin grinned, giving a light wave and feeling a little ridiculous.
Now that he was looking and not actively avoiding the sight of the ghost, Rin tried to actually take in the features. Thin, almost skeletal, and tall, in a strange outfit that happened to include green tights. It–he, apparently–looked like he'd crawled out of a circus act, or just had weird fashion tastes.
–And bled from more than his mouth. Rin caught sight of several holes that he thought might be punched through straight to the other side of the thin body, and the skin had a bruised tinge to it like it hadn't seen sun in years, or had been sitting in the snow for a few hours too long.
Rin shook the morbid thoughts off, turning to Yukio. "So how about now?"
More blood came from his ghost's mouth when it opened, clearly trying to speak, but Yukio sighed and shook his head again. "It's no good, it's like static."
Grumbling and frustrated, Rin started pacing the room, looking at the things on the shelves because there had to be something that would help them–shifting behind him had Rin turning to see his ghost stalk out of view, a brush of cold passing through Rin before one of the bowls on the shelf rattled and Rin went towards it.
"Flowers?" Rin sniffed, though aside from them smelling vaguely nice, had no idea what they were. "Will these help?"
It couldn't hurt to try. He brought them to the table, then heard another rattle and by the time he'd raised his head, a matchbox dropped to the surface by his hands with finality.
"Thanks," Rin said just to be polite to his impatient ghost. To be fair to him, he was also impatient to finally talk instead of just getting screamed at or having things hurled at his head.
A floral smoke filled the air, the scent familiar to Rin until he realized it must have been what their mom used to talk with the spirits she'd summoned more clearly. His heart flashed with a brief ache as he tried not to wish she was there to help them, not when they had to focus.
Yukio stiffened beside Rin and he looked up, mouth dropping as he saw another figure in the mirror besides his ghost.
"What?" he breathed the question. Revulsion welled in his gut and he swallowed around nausea bringing saliva to pool in his mouth as he took in the horror staring back at them with flames where its eyes should be.
Charcoaled skin flaked as if a strong breeze would send it scattering into ash, it exhaled plumes of it, a forge with bellows for lungs and an ever-burning core. Rin shivered as he felt heat puff against the back of his neck, warring with the chill from his ghost as he tried to understand why there was a second ghost there in the room with them.
"Oh," Yukio laughed, his cheer off-kilter, crooked and looking more like the earlier manic episode he'd had than Rin was comfortable with. "Let me introduce you to my ghost, Rin!"
He sounded too bright, his eyes glossy again. "I've been haunted by him from the moment I can remember."
"Tch," a scoff jerked both of them to the mirror, but Rin realized sound hadn't come from the room, but inside his head, the same way he'd heard the screaming the last few weeks.
"Are you two done yet?" The voice sounded young, a drawl that said the speaker was incredibly bored and coming from…
"I can hear you!" Rin yelped, finger stabbing towards the mirror at the slowly blinking flares of his ghost.
At his attention, his ghost scuffed pale hands to his chest, some of the blood perpetually coming from his wounds staining them further. Another casual motion brought the bloodied fingers to the ghost's mouth and he idly tongued it clean–as clean as he could when more blood poured from his open mouth.
"It worked," Yukio said as he gaped, though he tamped the expression down after a few seconds. His gaze flicked to the burning man, frown flattening onto his face before he drew in a long breath. "And you?"
"Er, yeah," Rin started, unused to this side of Yukio and growing increasingly more concerned the longer he saw it. "Who are you guys?"
"I've just kinda been calling you 'my ghost' this whole time." And demon, damn ghost, bastard, stupid ectoplasmic ice cube…He wouldn't be telling his ghost that. "Do you have names?"
"Ambrosius," the voice startled Rin again, even though he'd been expecting it. The name confused him even more.
"Amber-Ambr–er," Rin stumbled over the mouthful of a name, brows scrunching on the strange syllables.
Yukio sighed, "Ambrosius, Rin."
Still difficult, but Rin managed it on the next few attempts until his ghost–Ambrosius–looked less irritated with the butchering of his name.
"Also," Rin leaned in, "how did you know where to find me? Or that I was connected to Yukio?
It had been bothering him for a while now. How had his ghost–Ambrosius–decided to go after him? Why now? It had thrown that picture at him, but it would have needed to track him down from wherever it had been, and somehow known they were being targeted in the first place.
"You're so loud," Ambrosius grumbled the non-sequitur, Rin trying to understand what that had to do with his question. "And bright."
"What?" Rin tried again. He got the loud part, but bright?
"It's impossible not to know who you are. We all do," Ambrosius added, confusing Rin further.
"We?" Other ghosts?
"You won't stop calling us," Ambrosius said and his scowl deepened as if Rin had done something insulting. "It's annoying."
Now Rin was well and truly baffled, about to ask how he was the annoying one when Ambrosius had been the one to insert himself in Rin's life, not the other way around.
"That's why," Yukio breathed out as if coming to a conclusion. His eyes were wide and mouth parted when Rin glanced between the two. "That's why there were always so many around us as kids."
Oh. Rin ducked his head. The pieces clicked and he knew what they were talking about. He still didn't get it, though, he couldn't even see ghosts before this whole thing happened, Yukio had apparently been the one who saw them, and their mother who could communicate.
But Rin…
"He's also been tracking you these past weeks," Ambrosius added, uncaring that Rin and Yukio blanched. "I followed him to you. He was looking for your father."
Somehow, despite the several bombs Ambrosius continued to drop, Rin was able to move on. Not that he had much choice. He began thinking about their next steps, but a shift from Yukio stalled him from speaking.
"What about you?" Yukio said with a narrowed gaze, and it took a moment before Rin realized he'd directed it towards the burning man. All he got for his efforts was an exhale of ashes and a tilted head; a faint glow from the cracks in the burning man's skin that could have been nothing, or could have been an acknowledgment of Yukio's question.
Fists clenched at Yukio's side and Rin bit at his lip to see the rage there without attempts to hide it. How long had Yukio been hiding this side to himself?
"Don't expect an answer from this one," Ambrosius said, eyes rolling as he stuck his thumb towards it. "Something messed him up and he's basically mute to the living."
The sweep of his eyes over the burning man looked judgemental as Ambrosius snorted, a sly smile on his face. "I'm guessing…whatever killed him."
Ouch. Rin winced, making his own glance at the body that had undergone some kind of immolation and trying not to picture how it must have gone. His skin crawled with the thought, although…
"You kinda look rough too, why can you speak?" Rin said in what he hoped wasn't an offensive question.
Sniffing, Ambrosius answered, "Unlike this one, I'm not weak."
A beat, and his eyes flared, a sickly yellow glow that drew Rin in. His heart picked up in his chest as something like a growl rumbled up, felt more than heard and activating fight or flight instincts that said something dangerous watched him in the room.
"I'm angry," Ambrosius hissed, blood flecking his lips that had been peeled back in a snarl too wide and baring too many teeth for a human mouth to hold. "And I won't rest until I've had my due."
Rin believed him, viscerally.
"And," the word shivered from Yukio, his head bowed when Rin glanced at him, seeing his hands squeeze where they intertwined in over his knees, "I'm guessing that involves your murderer."
"Yes," Ambrosius said in a low crackle like rocks ground to dust by grit teeth that resembled fangs before his lips covered them again. "And you're both going to help me."
Gold flickered over them, cold and distant, Ambrosius cocking his head in a glacial appraisal. "Or don't, and end up like me."
"Yeah, no, we'll help," Rin said through the rapid flutter of his heart at what came for them and how he would do anything to keep that future from happening. "What do we need to do?"
"Great," Ambrosius picked at his nails, the edges sharper than they should be, or Ambrosius just uncaring of the damage as thin lines appeared when he nicked his skin and welled with red drops. "We're going to see my brother."
Brother. Rin didn't know why the word surprised him, maybe it was because he thought whoever Ambrosius' brother was must be dead like him, too. Except, if he'd been a victim of the twinflower killer, then of course his sibling would still be alive, just like all the others who remained.
"Who?" Rin began, only for Yukio to interrupt.
"It's Faust, Rin."
Huh? Rin blinked. "Mephisto?"
Ambrosius raised a brow, stating the next word clearly as if he thought Rin was slow, "Johann. He'll be at his desk, avoiding work and playing those boring games of his this time of day."
Now that Rin actually looked, he saw the resemblance, the drooping eyes semi-hidden by gold flares, and his hooked nose. Mostly, it was the way Ambrosius looked like the world was beneath him and he wasn't afraid to let anyone know.
"Yukio," Rin said then, chewing at the insides of his mouth at what he had to say. "Before we go, should we–do you think we need to call mom and dad back?"
His question sent Yukio frowning at one of the far walls, gaze falling and Rin knew he'd be thinking the same thing.
"I–" Yukio shifted– "You know how dad is about this killer. How bad it'd be for him."
He did. Rin could remember exactly how the mention of Shiro's own personal nightmare made him get. "Nevermind how scared it'll make mom. And they're working that case…"
Flame flickered brighter from the burning man's eyes and sent Yukio tensing, though when nothing else happened, he continued. The wariness lingered, Yukio deliberately not looking at the silent ghost as if determined to pretend it didn't exist.
"We can go to Shura," Yukio said with a decisive breath, squaring his shoulders. "She'll be able to keep objective about this."
Yeah. Rin exhaled slowly. Yeah, that made sense. They could trust Shura.
Shifting in the wake of their decision crinkled Rin's pocket, and he realized the letter there would qualify as evidence they'd need to give to Shura so she had some kind of lead to go off of.
"Okay. Okay, we have a plan, then, right?" Rin said, suddenly anxious to get up and move or pace, some kind of action. His leg bounced, and a glance at Ambrosius tapping a finger to his arms made him think he was ready to get going too.
Just as he began to rise, Yukio slammed his hands to the table and jerked him back.
"Wait!" Yukio snarled, glaring from beneath his bangs at the mirror. His hands gripped the edge of the table, and clung there like he'd shatter it if he squeezed any harder; or it'd shatter him, that brittle sharpness to his body where he bent forward that kept reminding Rin something was very wrong.
"Who are you?" he shouted as if in accusation.
It took Rin a moment to realize he wasn't talking about Ambrosius, who watched with a faintly curious expression on his face around the rivulets bleeding in slow pulses down his body, both disaffected by the outburst.
He was talking about the burning man.
"My whole life, you've been there!" Yukio continued shouting, each word torn from his throat. "And now you're here and you won't go away!"
"Why won't you go away?" Yukio broke on his last word, voice cracking as his face crumpled the longer an answer didn't come.
Ash exhaled from a parted mouth. A scent registered to Rin, of smoke–though it must have been the still smoldering flowers. The burning man raised his hand and Yukio flinched violently when it rested on his shoulder. It might have been comforting if Yukio hadn't looked so ill the second it settled in place.
Rin began to stand, prepared to do…something, he wasn't sure. But he wouldn't let some ghost hurt Yukio. He'd–
"You really don't know?" Ambrosius asked, snapping their gazes to him at his dismissive question.
"Don't know what?" Yukio said in a growl that Ambrosius eyed like it meant nothing.
A careless wave indicated the other ghost, Ambrosius flicking a finger to him and breaking away pieces from the perpetually burning body.
"This is your uncle," Ambrosius said, but Rin didn't comprehend, "he's apparently been watching over you since he died."
"You know," Ambrosius' eyes gleamed, hypnotic over his bloody smile as the information whirled in Rin's head and tore the footing from beneath him, "after he was murdered by the same worm of a man that killed me."
What?
Rin floundered, unable to look from the still form of the ghost standing there, silent in the wake of the revelation.
"Goro?" Yukio whispered, Rin taking a moment to register the name. It was their uncle's, one they'd heard so rarely, often only outside of their home because Shiro refused to speak the name.
"He's been protecting us too," Rin said as the realization struck him, mouth parted as he searched for what he could say to that. "This whole time."
He'd never known. All those years, only Yukio had been aware, unless…
"Does mom know?" he asked, wondering if she'd ever tried to communicate with their uncle, if Shiro had ever let her try. Thinking about his reactions to even a mention of the name, Rin couldn't picture it. His heart ached, knowing it might have helped, although, the state Goro was in–mute, a shade, more than fully there like Ambrosius was–had Rin wincing.
"I–I don't know," Yukio said, something disconnected about the way he stared, and the earlier signs of emotion had vanished to leave him in that polite mask Rin had never realized was a facade before now.
"Well, now you do. Can we go to my brother?" Ambrosius cut in, stalking to send a wave of cold down Rin's spine and fixing a glower on him with his impatience.
Go to Mephisto? Rin tried to picture how they'd even get an appointment. "Er, we can't just walk in there, we'd get arrested or something for trespassing and my dad would have to bail us outta jail."
At least they'd be safe in jail, or safer, Rin was betting, laughing to himself at how Shiro would react to hearing they'd gotten tossed in a cell for trying to talk to the governor without an appointment.
"Then get an appointment," Ambrosius growled, arms crossed and scowling as if insulted he'd been denied.
Yeah, he was definitely related to Mephisto.
"What?" Rin crossed his arms right back at Ambrosius, feeling somewhat stupid for having an argument in a mirror but not wanting to turn from actually being able to see who he was arguing with. "And just call up his office like, 'Oh, hey! I'd like to talk to the governor about a serial killer, no! Don't hang up!'"
"That'll go over well," Rin said with a snort.
Irritation bled into Ambrosius' features, his words mocking as he sneered at Rin. "What's your alternative? Just going to stay here with the mute until one of you dies?"
No. Rin wasn't capable of sitting still and waiting. He had Yukio to plan these things.
"I'm not that dumb," he snapped, "I came here because I knew Yukio would have a better idea."
"Right, Yukio?" Rin said and turned, then stilled. He scanned the mask in place, the vacant eyes and lack of expression.
He realized Yukio hadn't said anything in a while.
"I guess there are two mutes," Ambrosius mused, and Rin caught him bending towards Yukio out of his peripherals in the mirror. "Is he damaged?"
"Shut up," Rin said with a hiss, the worry building in him the whole time cresting as he reached for Yukio.
"Yukio, are you okay?" He touched Yukio's shoulder.
The mask melted away, or shifted to another, Yukio blinking in a flutter of lashes and pasting a slight smile on his face. It hadn't been fast enough to cover the gasp under his breath, as if he'd just come to from deep sleep. "Yes?"
"I," Rin licked at his lips, searching Yukio and seeing him shift in growing awareness, "think you might need to sleep."
Definitely needed to. In fact, the longer Rin saw Yukio taking to process the shift in discussion, the more worried he grew.
"We don't have time," Yukio said, shaking his head and tucking whatever his earlier moment had been behind a wall again. "We need to contact Shura and let her know what's going on."
Had he missed the entire discussion earlier? Ice crept through Rin's veins that had nothing to do with Ambrosius. His heart thudded with the chilled blood and paused his words from the immediate demand that Yukio needed to sleep right now, possibly not leave the bed, and they'd let Shura and Mephisto come to them, instead.
"Yukio," Rin started, unsure what to do when the one who was usually so steady…wasn't. "I can call Shura, Yukio."
"You sleep," he pressed and finally brought his hand to Yukio's arm, getting a tension that he didn't think had actually ever left. "I'll call her, and she can get us an appointment with Mephisto, and we can get through this, okay?"
At that point, Rin wasn't sure what he said, continuing to make soothing sounds and structuring how things would go because Yukio liked structure, like having a plan and knowing what he would be doing.
Rin wasn't great at plans or structure, but it looked like even his attempts were enough that Yukio didn't resist. Much.
"It's too dangerous," Yukio protested, but his eyes were unfocused, they hadn't stopped staring ahead as Rin led him along to their old room. "He knows we're here. He knows we're here."
"Yeah, sure," Rin fought not to breathe too fast, fought the panic putting cracks in the ice in his veins, "but what he probably doesn't know is we've got two ghosts who are gonna protect us from him, right?"
And that was the only reason Rin wasn't immediately tearing across town to the police station and Shura. Not when Yukio looked one step from collapse and had gone non-verbal again. His mouth had opened as if to respond to Rin, but no sound came out.
He settled him beneath the sheets, letting him curl so that his legs didn't go over the edges.
"Rin." The soft whisper of his name jerked him in place, and the blue eyes he saw without the glasses he'd removed were wide, childish in the way they settled on him as Yukio spoke. "Will you check to make sure it's safe?"
A thin breath left Rin's lungs in recognition of the request from Yukio. He'd gotten them so many times when they were still living in their parent's home.
"Okay, Yukio," he said and tried not to let the fear show on his face, moving to check the bed, the closet, window–because there was an actual monster waiting for them outside it, and Rin would be watching for him the same way he did for the monsters under Yukio's bed.
"You're safe, I won't let them get you." Rin made his promise, and it held all the weight in the world.
Then he left to Yukio shutting his eyes and went to make a call.
Yukio woke in violence, tearing at the sheets and grasping, clawing into his chest to rip the ashes from his lungs.
In the distance, a thud echoed, but it was secondary to the desperate need to clear his lungs of the caked layers of ash.
"Yukio!"
Had to get it free, he couldn't breathe!
"Hey, Yukio!"
Hands at his shoulders sent him exhaling in a whoosh, and Yukio's eyes snapped open to a dark room, lost in the confusing shades he could barely distinguish. His chest heaved, eyes wide and unseeing.
He'd seen–where was he? His room? No–that wasn't–he should be in class–the final!
"Snap out of it," Rin's voice–real? Or another figment–in his ear took him from the familiar-unfamiliar ceiling he just recognized as the underside of a bunk bed, and all at once, Yukio came back to himself with a shudder.
Soothing noises came from Rin, close because he'd pulled Yukio to his chest, rubbing at his back until the shivers Yukio became aware of the longer he was awake diminished.
"Nightmare," Yukio said as if in explanation, though to who, he wasn't sure, knowing Rin wouldn't push him, he never did, always letting Yukio escape with his excuses and–
"Was the bu-Goro here?" Why would Rin know? He couldn't feel that shade, he'd never been able to. Why had Yukio asked that?
"No, no he wasn't, he poofed after you knocked out, Ambrosius told me he left," Rin said in a slow voice that had Yukio drawing back to see obvious concern painting Rin's features. He wasn't a figment. This Rin was real, which meant he'd just seen Yukio waking from one of his haunting-induced nightmares. That was wrong too. He'd always thought the nightmares were from the shades, but if what Rin said was true–and Rin would never lie to him, not like he did–then Goro hadn't been near him to cause it.
So it was just Yukio's own mind attacking him in his sleep. Maybe it had been the whole time. Maybe–
"Do you need more sleep?" Rin said in a way that meant he clearly thought Yukio needed it.
"No." Yukio refused to have Rin look at him like that, not now. He wasn't the terrified kid asking for his big brother to check for monsters under the bed anymore.
Except that he had last night, or had that been something he'd dreamed too? The pieces of his mind felt fragile, held together more by the memory of where things should go and less the actual shape of things.
"The longer we hold off, the more time we risk running into him, or him coming to us," Yukio added to convince Rin and himself that he should leave his bed.
"Ok," Rin said after a while, rising and leaving Yukio with a last look.
"Oh!" He said as they moved down the hall to the kitchen, "And Shura's here!"
They went through the entryway and a vibrant spot of color from the flame-colored hair Shura kept in a long ponytail took Yukio's immediate attention, and next to her, a scowling face beneath cropped brown hair pulled him up short. Both wore uniforms from the station like they'd just come from work.
"And Bon, too," Rin piped up through Yukio's shock, jogging him from where he'd frozen as he entered the kitchen.
"It's Ryuji Suguro," Bon said, scowling at Rin.
Rin just blinked at the stern reminder, gesturing at Shura where she leaned back on the counter with one of Shiro's beers in her hand. "Then why does she call you Bon?"
"Because he just gets so cute when he's about to blow a fuse," Shura cackled, then cocked a finger at Yukio.
"Always knew your ma' wasn't scamming people, Shiro's just a fuddy dud stick-in-the-mud," she said while Yukio glanced and saw that the standing mirror had been brought to the kitchen and flowers trailed smoke into the air where they burned on the counter.
"Rin's caught you up, then?" he said as he moved to make himself some tea, knowing he'd need it to steady himself for what lay ahead. "What do you recommend we do?"
Stating it like it was an assignment and not the life-threatening nightmare it actually was let Yukio stay in the detached frame of mind he had to be in to survive. "We didn't think we should bring this to father and mother."
His subtle question about their decision had Shura sucking in a long breath, shoulders dropping as she nodded. "Yeah, you guys chose right on this."
"I can't say much–classified, you know?" Her gaze sobered. "It's been rough so far, but they might be close, and things are critical, so we have to keep them out of it."
"Dad's gonna blow a gasket when he finds out," Rin mumbled from where he stood next to the mirror holding the horrifically bleeding figure of Faust's younger brother. He'd begun fidgeting with various things by the sink, and Yukio knew if it continued long enough, Rin would eventually begin to cook.
"Anyone would if they found out something like this was going on," Ryuji growled as if frustrated, but Yukio thought he meant it in concern. He could see why Shura had brought him as back-up.
"We're going to have to play it cool here," Shura said as if in reminder, Yukio was guessing for Ryuji. "Right now, no one knows this bastard is back, and we need to keep it that way for as long as possible."
"Huh?" Rin glanced over his shoulder. He'd started making more of the soup that had brought slivers of sanity back to Yukio the day before, at least until they'd been shorn away by the following revelations. "Why? Shouldn't we make sure everyone knows so they're looking for this guy?"
That had been on Yukio's mind too, what would happen when the news broke? When attention poured on him and Rin and he had to keep up his act for more than just his classmates and professors?
But Shura just shook her head, sending sharp relief through Yukio. "No, the last time he was at large, they had a string of copy-cat killers that confused the hunt and made it hard to find him. They lost him so many times because some fanboy of his decided to start targeting people."
"Sick bastards," Ryuji said with a scowl and rage burning behind his eyes.
"Yeah," Shura agreed, lips tugging into a hard frown. "Anyway, that means I need to make sure you two keep your pretty heads so Shiro doesn't take mine when he gets home."
"And that means you're both going into protective custody," she said decisively.
"No!" Metal clattered to the floor.
An empty pot Rin had been about to pour the noodles back into flung off the counter. The shout had come from three sources. Shura stared in shock at the rattling pot on the floor before turning to the snarl painting Ambrosius' face, then eyed Rin and Yukio.
"What the hell?" Shura said, confusion taking over her frown as she pressed her hands to her hips. "What alternatives are you guys thinking we have? We have to get you somewhere secure."
"Well?" She raised a brow at Yukio.
"I have finals, just one more week of classes and I can finish my year," Yukio said, suddenly feeling stupid for thinking about school when there was a killer after him.
Shura's muttered, "Unbelievable," sent red to his ears.
"And?" She turned to Rin, who flushed and looked about as abashed as Yukio.
"I think my boss will definitely fire me, even with a serial killer," Rin said as he scratched at his neck. Then paused and glared at Ambrosius. "And you! I thought I told you not to mess with my kitchen?"
An unapologetic sniff came from Ambrosius, and Yukio saw him lightly toe at the pot on the floor like the world's worst pet cat. "That was at your place."
"It still applies here!" Rin shrieked, waving a ladle at the unrepentant ghost.
"You two can't be serious?" Ryuiji said, disbelief heavy in his voice as his arms dropped from where he'd crossed them so he could gape. "There's a murderer after you and you're thinking about school and a job?"
"When you put it like that," Rin began, only for a growl to pull them back to Ambrosius.
"I told you already," his sickly yellow flares where eyes should be glowed in sulfur trails, "we're going to my brother."
"And I told you," Shura spat right back, apparently unafraid of the creature she hadn't known existed until that day, "there's no way in hell I'm bringing these two anywhere near that crooked politician."
The blood perpetually dripping from Ambrosius scattered in flecks Yukio half expected to appear over the floor where they landed as he stalked towards Shura in the mirror. Around him, the temperature dropped. He looked less than human, a vicious thing that seeped rage and breath-stealing cold and Yukio had almost forgotten that this was something that only resembled a human now. It wasn't.
"We will go to my brother, or one of them will be joining me after they've been murdered because you thought they were safe."
Yukio saw a line of sweat bead at Shura's neck despite the raised bumps caused by the ice-box the room had become. His own hands curled into fists as he tried to think of what he could do. Could Ambrosius hurt her? Rin had said bruises, earlier, and Yukio had forgotten many things, recently, but he hadn't forgotten that.
Which meant Ambrosius could hurt them, too.
What would Shura do? What could she do?
"Hey!" Rin snapped, coming forward into the storm surrounding Ambrosius as if it didn't affect him and standing between the endless rage and Shura. "Knock it off–and Shura, who cares? We're not going to him for favors, or whatever."
Somehow, against all reason, the temperature in the room began to normalize, Ambrosius folding back into human skin and stepping away from Shura to watch Rin with a considering tilt of his head as if asking what he would do now.
It sent Yukio's hackles rising and made him want to topple the mirror to the floor as if it would do anything to Ambrosius. He shivered and tucked the impulse behind his skin.
"Cool." Rin dropped his hands and peered at Shura where she'd straightened, hiding how shaken the reminder of Ambrosius' inhumanity had left her in the time Rin had given her to recover. "So, explain to me why it's such a huge problem to go to Mephisto–and you, why we should go to him at all."
Ambrosius met him with a petulant look that still somehow managed to be condescending. "Johann knows more about that sniveling waste of space than anyone else alive right now. If you want to catch him, or outsmart him, you'll need my brother's help."
That was true. Yukio grimaced, waiting to see what Shura would say. He'd always been curious about Shiro's abject hatred for Faust, and Yukio had done research, but really, it could be any of the various scandals or mysteries surrounding the enigmatic showman.
"That guy," Shura said, head bowed when Yukio turned to her, something dark in her voice. "Shiro told me once, then never talked about it again."
A flash of her eyes went to Ambrosius before she continued. "He's ruthless, willing to do anything–especially to catch that man."
"Faust found out he was targeting another set of siblings–triplets, this time–and used them as bait to lure the killer out." Her breath left on a shaky exhale, though from disgust, fury, or a mixture of both, Yukio couldn't say. He could grasp the picture she painted, though. It felt like something he might do, if things had been the same for him, if Rin had been the one taken and left him alone to track his killer down.
"He let that poor woman die–and her fiance when he tried to defend her–and Shiro has been trying to get him on those charges ever since," Shura finished on a hiss, glare acid where it seared into an uncaring Ambrosius as if he could do anything about his brother's crimes.
"I knew there was a reason I didn't vote for him," Ryuji said after the wake of her revelation.
Yukio wanted to be horrified by it too. He knew it was horrible. His nerves couldn't seem to respond, deadened, and the space where his mind should be recoiling at the callousness necessary to sacrifice innocents refused to spark.
"Yeah, he sounds like a bastard," Rin said and sounded as affected as Yukio was, something hard in his eyes that matched Shura and wouldn't be cowed. "And dad wouldn't be starting shit with someone unless they earned it."
In the end, it didn't really matter.
"Our alternatives aren't great," Yukio spoke up, understanding then that he and Rin agreed on their path. "But there aren't many besides father who can give you the information you'll need to protect us and catch him."
A grudging nod came from Shura as she acknowledged the point.
"It won't do any good to hide them," Ambrosius said, back to picking at his fingers as he peered down at Shura. "He's good at worming his way into places like the parasite he is."
"He'll find them one way or another." He shrugged as if their deaths were old news, already happened, and Ambrosius was just waiting for them to figure it out. "His obsession won't let him stop."
"This is completely outside of procedure," Ryuji said with a glance to Shura, clearly out of his depth, though also, Yukio couldn't imagine who wouldn't have difficulties with their current situation. "We can't just bring a couple of targets to the governor!"
"There's no procedure for ghosts, Bon," Rin said, not that Ryuji seemed to appreciate it, glaring over at Rin with grit teeth and looking about five seconds from pulling at his hair.
"That's not the point!" Ryuji's hands came up, fingers curled like he would shake Rin.
"Cool it, Bon Bon," Shura cut in, and to Ryuji's credit, he immediately fell into place, waiting for her instruction despite the clear urge to strangle Rin. Yukio understood it well.
"Normally," she continued when she had his attention, "I'd stick to procedure, just because the last thing I want to deal with is red tape and more paperwork than I have to."
Her lips twisted in a wry smile. "But Rin's right, ghosts fall outside procedure, and honestly? We need whatever information Faust has on him and we need it now, before we get any more behind than we likely already are."
"So, I'll go call and see who's wrist I have to twist to get an appointment with that clown," she finished, setting her empty bottle on the table and leaving for the living room to make said calls.
"We're not supposed to twist anyone's wrists, either," Ryuji said after her in a mutter, though by the pained look on his face, he knew it was to deaf ears. The level of by-the-books that he exhibited shocked Yukio, though he couldn't tell if it was just his personality or he was just so new he hadn't been beaten down by the realities of that line of work yet.
Rin shuffled over with bowls in his hand, somehow holding the four of them without spilling, which Yukio knew he'd picked up at the restaurant, and cut into the tension building in the background as they listened to Shura's conversation.
"Here, Bon," Rin said and smiled, the ire the nickname caused in Ryuji softened by the food and genuine kindness, as Yukio so often saw when others interacted with Rin. He'd never had that same ease with people, but when Rin turned that smile on him, he forgot to care about it as much.
The spoon in Ryuji's hand rose, but he paused instead of taking a bite. Yukio sensed the heaviness in the air and focused on his own food
"Aren't you two scared?" Ryuji murmured, looking guilty right after as if regretting saying anything and going back to his soup with a glance up at Yukio.
Scared? Yukio considered how he felt as he stared into his own bowl. He'd lived with shades of fear his entire life. Not a day had gone by without something sending chills down his spine at the sheer "wrongness" of its very being.
To know that it was a human after them was almost a relief. Yukio kept that thought to himself.
"I mean, yeah," Rin spoke up, mouth full of noodles and getting broth on the island counter. "But it's not like there's anything freaking out will do, and I kinda got all that burnt out of me the last three weeks by Ambrosius digging his damn claws into my spine in the middle of the night."
Rin's reminder of Ambrosius' presence sent Yukio to dig further into his meal, ignoring that the ghost had taken to stalking around Rin. The ruddy tracks he left on the floor circled him, passing in and out of view in the mirror set up in their kitchen. By that point, the cloying smell of flowers made his nose itch.
Another thing to ignore.
"And–" Ryuiji couldn't seem to help himself– "what about being used as bait by Governor Faust?"
It was simple, really. Yukio had known the moment he heard from Shura where their father's long-standing grudge had stemmed from.
He set his spoon down, smiling and letting it show teeth as he responded.
"We'll go to Faust," his gaze flicked to Ambrosius and he hoped he saw the contempt, "and we'll see who's baiting who."
His words quieted Ryuji, and Rin just nodded, content with Yukio's decision. They ate in silence until Shura joined them with an answer.
"Okay, guys, pack what you need, we've got a meeting in an hour."
End Notes:
Yukio's full of Spite and Rage and literally no one ever realizes it until it's too late in every au. Except Mephisto. Mephisto knows exactly how much rage is built up under all the repression bc he's like 90% of the source of it lmao
