Chapter 6: Home and away
The team of Exorcists who were assigned to the Mami demon case were in chaos, one of the children had been taken again, from right under their noses.
"Everyone, calm down!" Shiro ordered as he entered the room. "Now, it seems that Mami is working faster than expected and can reach the children despite the wards placed around their homes."
"She seems to be able to influence the children from outside the wards but can't enter herself, the Exorcist on duty reported that the child escaped the house and ran to her on his own." One of the team said.
"Mami's influence on the children is stronger than we thought." Shiro hummed. "The best way to stop a demon's influence is to kill the demon. Until then, we need to move the children to safe-houses, they're too vulnerable in their own homes."
"We're already in the process of finding safe-houses and trying to convince the families to move, a few are being stubborn." He was told. "What about your own son, sir."
Everyone paused at the reminder that the Paladin's son was among those who had been taken by Mami.
"He is being moved to the monastery tonight, its stronger wards and my fellow priests will keep him safe from the demon." Shiro answered.
No one objected, the Paladin's home was meant to be one of the most well warded places around. No matter her strength, Mami would struggle to reach Rin.
"Now that we've dealt with the placement of the children, we need to find and deal with Mami, and hopefully recover the child she's taken." Shiro said. "Do we have any leads on her and what she is?"
"We've found a few demons that are similar to Mami but aren't exact matches. We won't know if any of the exorcism methods used for those demons will work until we can use them on Mami." One of the team reported.
"We'd need to find the demon first to do that, and it's more likely to stay hidden than reveal itself." Another of the team said.
"Unless it's to go after a child." A third member piped up.
"The demon will no doubt set up another lair for itself." Shiro said. "And if it has a permanent residence, we can find it."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Shiro only hopped that they could find and kill Mami before she decided to come for his son next.
"Welcome home!"
Yukio pushed Rin on a wheelchair into the monastery, where a small party was waiting for him.
"You're throwing a party for me?" Rin questioned excitedly.
"Of course." Izumi said. "We finally have you home. Why wouldn't we celebrate that?"
"We even got you presents." Nagamato said, holding up one of the wrapped parcels meant for Rin.
"That's a lot of presents." Rin's eyes bugged out at the size of the pile.
"Well, we have seven missed birthdays to make up for." Koyodo said.
"So, why don't you come open them. Then we can have cake." Maruta said.
Rin smiled widely, wishing that he had the strength to run over to the four priests and hug them.
Yukio pushed Rin over to the group and they all sat down, handing Rin his presents to open and helping him when he struggled.
"Where's dad?" Rin asked, taking notice of an important person's absence as he opened one of the presents.
"He's going to be a little late with work, something came up." Yukio answered.
"Oh." Rin said, putting the present down. "Then I'm not opening anymore 'til he gets back."
Yukio smiled. "Okay, Rin."
"I'm guessing that means no cake either." Izumi teased, picking up the cake.
Rin's eyes widened in shock.
"No, I want cake now!" He demanded, holding out his arms weakly.
It had been so long since he had cake that he was not putting off eating it because his dad wasn't there.
"Okay, okay." Izumi laughed, putting the cake back down.
The cake was sliced and shared out between everyone, Rin quickly devouring his slice and getting a second, and then another.
"I don't feel so good." Rin moaned as he ate his third slice.
"I'm not surprised, eating so much sugar at once." Yukio said. "I think you need to stop eating and lie down."
"No, my cake." Rin protested, stubbornly taking another bite of cake.
That only resulted in Rin looking queasier as he struggled to eat the rest of his slice. He managed to eat it, but didn't look too triumphant for managing it, holding his stomach and groaning.
"Told you." Yukio sighed.
Rin stuck his tongue out at him in response before groaning again.
"It's time for a lie down, little man." Izumi suggested.
"But I'm not tired." Rin denied.
"It will still help you feel better." The young boy was told.
So, reluctantly, Rin lay down for a rest and closed his eyes while the priests wrapped up the rest of the cake and cleaned up the presents that had already been opened.
And despite saying that he hadn't been tired, Rin soon fell asleep.
Not that long after, Shiro arrived back home.
"Asleep again?" Shiro quested when he saw his youngest son.
"Yeah, the doctor said he'll run out of energy easily due to his condition, but that he'll get better. He's already able to stay awake long than a few days ago." Yukio answered.
"At least we can see that he's getting better." Shiro sighed. "I'm guessing that I missed the presents?"
"Actually, Rin only opened a few before we told him that you were going to be late, he insisted that you had to be there before he opened the rest." Yukio pointed to the unopened presents.
Shiro smiled down at Rin, sitting next to him and stroking his head.
"I'm glad he did lose his kindness and caring to that demon." Shiro said.
Shiro stood again and then picked Rin up, cradling his child gently in his arms.
While the other priests went about their duties, Shiro and Yukio walked to the boys' room, where everything had already been prepared for Rin.
Yukio pulled the sheets back on Rin's bed, allowing Shiro to place him down and tuck him in.
Yukio then went and sat down on his bed, Shiro joining him, the two of them just sitting and watching Rin sleep for a while.
"He's home." Shiro said reassuringly, putting a hand on Yukio's shoulder.
"Yeah." Yukio agreed. "He's home."
After watching Rin for a little while longer, Shiro and Yukio left to let him sleep, though they would check on him periodically to ensure that he was still there.
Yukio sat at the table, working on a small project, constantly referring to a book next to it.
"You've been working on that non-stop." Shiro commented as he prepared himself dinner.
"I want to make sure I get it finished before I have to leave." Yukio said.
"I'm sure you'll finish it in plenty time, so don't forget about your own health." Shiro told him.
"I know." Yukio said. "I just want to make sure Rin stays safe once I'm away."
"Nagamoto and the others will look after him when you and I aren't here." Shiro said. "He's safe here."
"Still, I'd like some constant reassurance that I can always find him again." Yukio said.
"Look at you, being the protective big brother." Shiro joked. "The two of you seem to have switched roles."
"Well, I am the literal big brother now. That's still something I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around." Yukio said.
"We're still trying to find out why Rin hasn't aged, just another part of the mystery." Shiro said, sitting down with his food.
But before he could take a bite, the phone rang. Moaning, Shiro got up to answer.
"Hello…ah…I understand. I'll be there shortly." Shiro said, responding to who was on the other end.
He hung up and then went to grab his coat.
"You're leaving already?" Yukio questioned.
"Another of the children has been taken while they were being moved to the safe house." Shiro explained. "We have to investigate while the trail's still fresh."
"Rin's not going to be happy." Yukio lamented.
"I know." Shiro sighed. "But I couldn't bare it if I wasn't giving it my all to catch this demon. Once this is all over, I'll take time off to spend with Rin."
"I'll tell Rin so that he understands." Yukio said.
"Thank you." Shiro said. "Look after your brother."
He then left.
Shiro entered headquarters with a grim determination. Not only had Mami taken his child from him seven years ago, she was now taking away from his ability to be with his son now that he was home. When she was finally reduced to ashes, Shiro knew he would feel immense satisfaction and relief, and he wanted to feel that as soon as possible.
"What do we have?" He asked his team.
"As I said on the phone. The Saito family had just finished packing up their things and were on the way to the designated safehouse with three exorcists watching over them, when there was a car crash ahead of them that blocked up the road, no doubt set up by the demon. The family stepped out of their car while they waited to be able to move again and the daughter, Kiki managed to wander off a fair distance before they noticed. They tried to get her to come back, but Kiki shouted that she saw one of her friends and continued running away, which is when she was snatched up by the demon. The Exorcists managed to get a few hits on the demon, but with Kiki there they couldn't risk doing much, they say their attacks hardly did anything, so the demon managed to get away." It was explained to Shiro.
"It's already getting bolder." Shiro said. "Attacking in broad daylight like that."
"We've already sent extra protection to the other families being moved and told them to keep hold of the children at all times, if it tries that again." One of the team said.
"Good." Shiro said. "Miss Saito said she saw one of her friends. If it was Mami saw, she would have called the demon by name given how the children treat it, so it's likely that she saw Mr. Muto."
"Meaning that the children are still alive." One of the team said hopefully.
"Or she's impersonating them." Said another of the less hopeful team members.
"They are likely to still be alive, this demon doesn't kill its victims quickly." Shiro said. "But it means that Mami is going to use the children she's taken to lure the other children to her."
"It's already hard enough convincing the children to not trust the demon." One of the team said. "How are we going to convince them that they can't trust each other too. As far as they're concerned, they survived hell together, that sort of situation ensures a strong bond."
Shiro frowned but had to agree.
As much as he loved his son, and as much as Rin understood what had happened and that he couldn't trust Mami, Shiro couldn't trust him to be able to resist when Mami came for him.
"I also think its strength is linked to the children." One of the team voiced their opinion. "You said that it was impossible to beat in your first encounter until the children were taken away, and then it had to run away. And when taking Mr. Muto it had to wait for him to come to it, but it got more daring when taking Miss Saito, as if it was in less danger when taking her despite their being more Exorcists on scene."
"Meaning, the more children it takes, the harder it's going to be to beat it when we do manage to find it." Another of the team said.
"This would be easier if we knew exactly what type of demon it is and what its abilities are." Said another of the team.
"Well, I believe I have the solution to that." Mephisto appeared in the door way in his usual manner.
None of the team looked happy to see him, none of them particularly trusted him.
"Is your friend who's meant to help us on this case here?" Shiro guessed.
"Yes, she is." Mephisto grinned, stepping to the side to showcase the new arrival.
A young woman stepped through the door.
"Jones." She introduced herself. "Jones Coraline."
Author's note: Please comment
Yes, Coraline from the movie of the same name is part of this story, I'll try to write it so that knowledge of the book or movie isn't needed to know what's going on, though you should definitely go watch the movie or read the book.
I didn't originally intend for her to be in this story, but as I was writing out Mami, I realised that she was very similar to the Other Mother. So, I decided to make the Beldam into a type of demon and make Mami a Beldam. But I needed a way to explain what a Beldam was in story, thus the introduction of Coraline.
Coraline is basically going to be an OC with the same name and backstory, and the Beldam has been turned into an entire species of demon, so I haven't put this story in the crossover section (mostly because I get more attention on the story this way). But I will move it to the crossover section if people think I should.
Also, I haven't given any names to the Mami hunting team because it would mean giving you guys more names to memorise, on top of the names of the children, and I know most of you aren't going to be interested about the team itself. But if you'd like for there to be a defined number of Exorcists on the team and for them all to be named so that I'm not constantly going 'a member of the team', tell me and I'll go back and give them names.