Prologue

I don't own Ao no Exorcist, Kazue Kato does.

Shiro Fujimoto stood over the remainder of a mess of a scene that had taken place just a few days prior. He had been sent to investigate a burnt building had from the inside to the out and from the looks of it, had been left completely abandoned. The whole thing was supposed to be a hospital for sorts, and it sure didn't look like it. He was supposed to accompanied by two other exorcists, but since he's such a great exorcist (sarcasm), the other exorcists decided not to show up. How lucky.

The place already looked creepy as it was, but to add to the unpleasant atmosphere, he was informed about how some exorcists that had been sent a few weeks ago, had disappeared. Logic fails for some people, huh? Why send someone else to the same place where a group of already strong exorcists had already gone missing and not expect for a smaller group of exorcists to go missing as well? Yeah, Shiro was paladin, but knowledge and skill won't always save one from every situation. Life's logic.

Fortunately, he wasn't completely alone; The Order had sent a temporary partner just in case.

Unfortunately, it was top bitch Mephisto, who ironically, as the demon king of time and space, was late. Shiro could only sigh at this while whispering to himself how he was too old for this shit. Oh, how were things about to get worse?

Shiro barely opened the door before a single ghoul in rat form made a run towards the now open door. The paladin shot the demon before it could even have a chance to take a sniff of outside air. Shiro sighed again as he entered the building and closed the door behind him. (Oh wow, how polite of him.)

After clearing out the first two floors, Shiro decided he needs a small smoke break.

Usually, he would exit the building before turning on the lighter, but this time he just decided to do it inside because to hell with it. The old man leaned on a wall that looked a bit safer to lean on than most people he knew and lit a cigarette. He looked up and glanced at a "No smoking" sign before chuckling to himself.

A single coal tar floated past Shiro and right before could reach out and pop the small demon. The lights came on. Shiro may have flinched. I said "may have" because he himself wasn't even sure.

He frantically looked around for maybe some kind of clue as to why there's electricity. Shiro hadn't even checked if there was electricity. He had merely been using a small flashlight along with the bit of sunlight the evening sun was providing. Shiro knew there were demons in the building, but maybe something, no, someone else was in there with him.

Shiro threw his cigarette on the dirty floor and got his guns ready. He gripped the gun tightly while hovering his finger over the trigger. The sound of light pattering resounded through the hallways, telling the old paladin of the presence of some sort. Shiro stayed close to the wall and rounded every corner, following the sound while ignoring the burnt walls. He got closer, and the faint sound of pattering and hopping became clearer.

Shiro was about to turn the corner as he heard crying. It was... A child's crying. It was the crying that came from a baby. "What's an infant doing here of all places?" Shiro thought.

The crying softened as Shiro heard someone calmly whisper "Shhh" to what he assumed to be the child.

The man immediately turned the corner and was faced with a small boy with dark raven hair that was holding a tiny pale baby. At the boy's feet was a medium hobgoblin who was ready to attack. Before Shiro could have time to do anything, the goblin jumped at him, giving the two boys time to hide.