Firstly, Apologies for the wait. You may want to back-read a little to get a handle on what is going on.

I've been on a cross-the-country trip, and have just returned, so hopefully I'll be able to continue this.

Ahahaha...what shall the group do, now that their tech-savy friend has bit the dust? It would seem that demons are perpetually incapable of not damning themselves. What shall become of them now? Read on to find out.

On that note, I want to remind y'all – this is a purposefully fucked up fic, and more than one of our beloved cast is liable to either die, or else become sick, injured, or psychologically disturbed. If that bothers you, for the love of whatever you believe in, leave your bloody hate comments at the door. They aren't constructive or helpful. Thank you.

Now, onwards to the continued sabotage:

WARNING: Gore, violence, and demons being demons. I'm sure nothing surprises you by now.

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

CH VII: Hate the game, not the players.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

"He who fights with monsters should look to it that he does not become a monster;

for when you gaze long into that dark abyss,

the abyss also gazes into you."

Nietzsche, Between Good and Evil

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

"Ko...neko...maru?" Yukio whispered, mind trying to process everything too fast. When had that happened? Was he dead? Most likely. Who killed him? Why? Yukio's gaze drifted back over to Mephisto, the old demon's words echoing through his crowded mind.

'I certainly won't be able to protect you from myself, nor Amaimon for that matter.'

"You..." Bon's voice came from behind Yukio, weak from shock and disbelief. "He's...dead?" In that moment, something inside of Ryuuji Suguro went full tilt – something snapped.

"Did you kill him?" He growled at Amaimon, who held his position steady.

"Yes." The answer sent a wave of movement through the group, some of which were still catching themselves up on what was happening.

"Wait," Rin said, shaking his head as if to clear it of mental debris. "Konekomaru – no, he can't be..." Rin looked at the dark form looming behind Amaimon with no small amount of denial on his face. His eyes and face quickly phased through a myriad of expressions, not the least of which was a kind of pallid nausea, before settling into a hard, unreadable expression. "Move." Rin growled.

"No."

"Move out of the way, Amaimon." Rin's voice dropped even lower. He would not take no for an answer, feeling the hair on his tail stiffen in preparation for another fight. He had to know that he knew what he though he knew. What they all knew.

Amaimon shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, deciding it wasn't worth the fight. He got up smoothly and walked away, returning, no doubt, to the side of his older sibling. In his wake, a body appeared, lying on it's side and missing the bulk of his clothes – and just like Nemu, much of his face.

"The boy was stupid." Amaimon seemed to defend himself. "He should've listened when Aniki told him not to run. But he didn't listen."

"You..." Rin and Bon both barked simultaneously.

"Don't sit there and act like it was his fault for this!" Ryuuji growled. "Konekomaru isn't responsible for any of this! He was an innocent kid!" Bon shouted now, near-blind with rage over the death of his friend – one of the longest he'd had. He felt his muscles tremble involuntarily, and cursed under his breath when a nauseating quiver of fear squirmed up his belly like a leech. Nobody ever talked to Amaimon like that and lived long after.

"But it wasn't just me who did the killing." Amaimon said flatly. Not two, but three sets of hot, hateful eyes turned themselves onto Mephisto now, Shima joining the other two's heated stares with an incredulous, angry gaze.

"I told you didn't I?" Mephisto stated calmly. "My self control is waning. Demons are not especially social creatures in the way that humans are, but we do form creches when young – or when prey is abundant." His calm facade continued as he shrugged. "I tried to tell you."

No warning was offered this time. Not a growl, not a snarl, not an outcry. In the next second, Rin took off at alarming speed, his goal obvious – he might not be able to use his flames, but he could use his fists, and right now, that was good enough for him – he figured with Mephisto's speed, he'd only get one good shot, but with the demon's delicate framework, one really good hit was all it would take.

But Rin was hardly in the state of mind to consider his circumstances or inspect them closely, and though, somewhere in the back of his mind, he half expected Amaimon to interfere, he didn't expect him to do so so violently. One minute, Rin was hurtling towards the pretty face of their headmaster, prepared to deal with whatever pain came his way for doing it; being the noble creature he was, there was no way Rin could let his friend's passing go unpunished, irregardless of the cause – nor the sickening guilt gnawing at his shamefully satisfied stomach. But it appeared that Amaimon wasn't going to have it, and slammed his entire body into Rin's with enough force to completely wind him – and perhaps crack a few bones. In the next second, he hit the steel wall of their micro-prison with a sickening crack followed by a loud, hollow boom as the steel bent beneath the weight of his impact.

"Rin!" Shiemi cried, her guts twisting agonizingly in her stomach as she watched a limp and floppy Rin hit the ground with a smack, seemingly dazed or unconscious from the blow. The sound of the metal bending still rang in everyone's ears, though it didn't stop Shura from being the one to act this time.

"Rin! RIN!" She cried, rushing to his side. She immediately checked his pulse, fearing that the sickening crack she heard had been his skull. It seemed his head was alright, so she began examining his ribs – and was promptly ripped away by her arm, yanked hard enough to numb the limb immediately as the nerves were stretched beyond their normal range of motion.

"Ow!" She tried desperately to keep herself oriented as she was dragged, then thrown away from her student. Pain exploded all over her face as it met the steel floor hard.

"Don't interfere." Amaimon hissed, indicating to her that he'd been the one to throw her. Typical of him.

"You leave her alone!" Yukio tried to defend Shura, prepared in spite of his better judgment to throw himself between them. But he knew better than to presume he could be the hero – he knew he should've kept his mouth shut. By the time the thought crossed his mind though, it was too late.

"AaaAAAAHHH!" He screamed when the younger demon came upon him in an instant, pushing him to the ground and mounting atop him, the full weight of the heavy earth demon balancing upon his fragile sternum, threatening to break his ribs as he gasped for air. His efforts to breathe were impeded further when a clawed hand found his throat, clasping it with bruising force.

"After I was so nice to you in that dream of yours." Amaimon chided. "Tsk, this is the thanks I get?" The demon looked annoyed as he pressed his heels into Yukio's chest painfully, the pressure on the exorcist's ribs becoming more acute – and more painful.

"I could collapse your ribcage with ease, you know." Amaimon stated matter-of-factly. "So maybe you should learn from this experience and show a bit more respect in the future, ne?" Amaimon bent down to say the words lowly to his trapped prey, his distribution of weight shifting so that his heels no longer dug into the cartilage of the human's ribs. In the next moment, the exorcist was freed from the demon's grasp as Amaimon stepped off of him and off to the side, leaving Yukio to gasp violently for air. The pain in his ribs lingered, making breathing feel as though a thousand needles were piercing his sides.

"You...you monsters!" Izumo, driven to tears, expressed a rare flood of emotion.

" – Yes, indeed, we are monsters," Mephisto interjected before she could continue, uttering the words as a venomous hiss. "And you, unfortunately, are just a little girl. A little human." The demon sighed exasperatedly, standing at last from his position on the floor. " I told you once, didn't I?" He frowned. " We are the predators, and you are the prey. If you run, if you cower, if you fight or flee or act like the lambs you are," He paused a moment, flashing his fangs to Izumo. "Then you'll be hunted like one, and devoured."

"You...really are a demon...no, a devil...aren't you?"

"Rin!" Shiemi called, hearing his weak voice from where he lied on the floor. "Are you okay?"

"I...will be fine..." He groaned, slowly rising to his knees. Shiemi wanted to cry as she watched him heave a deep shudder through his body while doing so, clearly in immense pain.

"Fufufu... I'll hand it to you little brother, you're tough." Amaimon jeered, a rare smirk coming onto his face.

"Amaimon, enough." Mephisto ordered, causing the younger demon's expression to falter as he looked over to his sibling.

"But he's being a pain. Can't I rough him up a bit?"

"He's barely standing as it is. Let him alone. You've done enough as it is."

"Aren't you responsible too?" Yukio, winded, asked aggressively, feeling his hair bristle in spite of himself. 'Get a grip, Yukio! They're going to kill you next if you don't pay attention!' "Amaimon said he wasn't the only one that killed Konekomaru. What did you do?" Yukio hissed coldly, fighting the urge to bear the infrequent fangs he had.

"You don't want to know the answer to that question." Mephisto replied coolly. "But let's just say you'll be glad I did...eventually."

"Glad?" Bon snarled menacingly, brow furrowed tight. "You expect us to be grateful you killed our friend, you sick bastard?!"

"Yes. Because if I hadn't, we wouldn't be breaking out of this prison cell any time soon." Once more caught off guard by the abrupt purposefulness of their headmaster's actions, all the exwires could do was stare expectantly.

"The loss of Miwa Konekomaru was not one I anticipated, nor one I had hoped for. He was, after all, the most tech-savvy of us – or had you forgotten who was supposed to be wiring through that cell signal?" Mephisto spoke to his students as if they were precisely that – small, stupid children in need of a thorough lesson. "He was the weakest of you, and has fallen prey to demons before, so I can't imagine it is so shocking that he was the first to die." The demon spoke with a sour sarcasm, indicative of growing impatience. " But that aside, I've gained something valuable from his death – and so, by extension, have you. It will take a little time, but we should be able to escape soon."

"And just how do you plan on doing that, huh?" Shura, who clutched her bruised and bleeding face, said tiredly. "I'm getting really sick of this bullshit, Mephisto!" She barked. "Demon or not, the least you could do was give us a better explanation than simply telling us, telling them, to sit and wait it out."

"Are you all stupid, or did you forget?" Mephisto replied, voice clipped. "Nothing we do in this room is private." He jerked a thumb towards the forgotten camera and intercom aggressively. "There are eyes and ears in here that have no business with our business. So no, Ms. Kirigakure, I'm afraid I can't afford to be less clandestine." A wry, pointed smirk was thrown her way, concealing within it a threat, as well as an unwelcome invitation. Shut up, or buck up and fight me the look seemed to say. She didn't take it lightly.

"You're an A-class asshole." She murmured dejectedly, but chose not to fight him further.

"I'll take that as a compliment in this situation." Shura growled at his reply.

"No...I can't!..." Rin started, trying to stand without a lot of success, eventually relying on the wall to support him. "I can't accept this!" He argued. "Konekomaru is dead, and you're all just going to accept that?"

"Shut up Okumura!" Bon snapped. "No one's accepting anything except that we are still at a severe disadvantage against those guys!" Ryuuji stood, striding deliberately towards the half demon. "Look at yourself, Rin!" He shouted now, temper getting the best of him. "The only reason you're still standing is because you're half demon yourself! Had that been one of us, we'd be dead! just like..." Bon trailed off, voice catching in his throat. Ryuuji Suguro was not one to cry when he could help it – but this was not one of those times.

"Bon?" Shima offered quietly. The tall, proud exorcist known as Ryuuji, who knew too much about too many things, could not handle himself any longer. There was only so much a man could take – and dammit, this was more than what most men could handle, never mind just a kid like him. And with that, Suguro finally caved beneath the weight of his own feelings, letting them crash down on him like a giant wave; and once the tears began their descent down his pale face, there was nothing he could do to stop them.

'That's right. We're just kids. We're all just kids – hell, the oldest one here is Shura, and she's just barely an adult.' Ryuuji looked over at her briefly. On her face was a sorrowful expression, a kind of anguish that visibly went deeper than the surface – it was like looking into a narrow pool of water that you couldn't see the bottom of. And the more he watched the varying faces of loss and even confusion in his surrounding teammates, the deeper and darker that pool seemed to get.

'Let's hope this is all over soon. I don't know how much more I can take. How much any of us can take.'

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Mephisto watched contemplatively as his students each took their turn, shedding salty-smelling tears in a way he didn't think he'd ever understand. He understood that the behavior meant sadness or pain, but failed to reconcile those same feelings within himself. Who knew, maybe he wasn't capable of doing so, despite having a kind of cognitive empathy for his students.

He didn't feel guilty for what he'd done, but wasn't happy about it either. Miwa had been an important part of his chess board, a glimmering knight that he could reasonably rely upon to keep human morality in check. While those rules might not have any significance to him, he did realize they meant something to the humans themselves. The fact that all his students were, in one way or another, upset over the death of their classmate made sense to him, at least in that respect. Having said that, he could hardly blame them for hating him for doing it; they didn't and couldn't really know or understand with any sort of competency exactly what the value was in taking his life – what the value was in taking his soul. They were, after all, mere humans – and in a similar way as Mephisto realized that he was lacking in the emotional capacity department relative to them, he also understood that they were lacking in the same kind of rationality and logic-based decision making which came so naturally to his kind. Emotions were a deep, integral part of most human interaction; while this made them easy to manipulate, it also made them incredibly dangerous and unstable creatures prone to reacting with violence upon a whim. And to know that he was basically powerless in a situation like this one, where he was ultimately held responsible for their feelings... to say that it didn't, on a primordial level, frighten him, would have been a lie.

The proof was in Amaimon's actions. His little brother was becoming exceedingly ballsy and rambunxious – something which made him all the more anxious about his own situation. Amaimon had attacked him, challenged him, because he sensed, more than rationally knew, that his sibling was growing weaker. And as Mephisto became more and more dire in his straights, so Amaimon became the perfect meter for his thinning facade. The less composure Mephisto had, the less restraint Amaimon showed. It was the mirroring effect, one common among social creatures, even those as selectively social as demons. As the hard-earned image that the headmaster had presented to his students thus far began to lose it's effect, so too did the effect of his hierarchical position over Amaimon. He had won a fight with his younger sibling already, and his position in the dominance scale was secured – Amaimon wasn't stupid enough to come to blows with him again in the near future. But he was, unfortunately, stupid enough to begin blatantly disobeying Mephisto, and that was what had ultimately gotten Konekomaru killed.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Things are becoming less and less stable. Mephisto is descending faster than he knows how to handle – and now Rin, suffering in several different ways, has to come to terms with his situation as both a predator and potential prey.

I can not guarantee a quick update, but I will try to come around to it soon.