Merry Christmas everyone! :) This is my gift to you, so I hope you like it! My Christmas was very nice; my grandparents came to visit and we hung out with them all last week (they left early this morning) and today I went paddle boarding with the sharks (there were literally dozens) and then went to my grandma's house for dinner! We walked Candy Cane Lane down at their place for a bit and talked for a while. It was a ton of fun! Now I'm going to write this, read a bit, then go to bed and play Pokemon Pearl xD My nuzlocke game is so epic. I literally have the best team.
(But you know what I really want to play? Pokemon X. I've seen the beauty of it and I'm just so ^_^~)
Anyway. This will be a Mirror Chapter - Both Yukio and Rin! :D I hope you like it!
...
Yukio's POV
...
Gehenna was as dark and dreary as Yukio had envisioned it. Thick clouds lingered in the air and the hillside he, Angel, and Amaimon were standing on was covered in black, sharp rocks. Below them, centered as if in the middle of a bowl, was what looked to be a giant jagged mushroom filled with holes, tunnels, and rough edges that could slice a human in two.
Above all, it was massive.
"So that's Satan's palace," Angel muttered to himself. Sweat beaded on his brow and his hand automatically moved to the sword that was strapped onto his back.
Yukio swallowed hard and noticed that his fingertips brushed against the cold metal of his guns as well. "Guess so," he replied. To his relief, his voice didn't shake.
Rin is in there somewhere, he told himself, mostly to steal his resolve. He might be waiting for me right now, alone, lost somewhere. His gaze softened as he gazed upon the black twisted stone of the palace. I wonder what he's doing right now.
"Hurry." Amaimon's voice drifted from somewhere in front of them. "They will find you."
"Who will find us?" Angel demanded, his strides widening to match Amaimon's pace.
The demon turned his teal eyes to Angel; they were dangerous, narrowed to slits, and slightly bloodshot. "Hunters," he hissed. "Hunters will find you. This isn't Assaih; here, the humans are prey. We all want revenge."
Yukio frowned at Amaimon's word choice. "You said that Hunter's will find "you" - not all of us. Why aren't the Hunters hunting you?"
"I'm demon," Amaimon shrugged simply. "And if the Hunters attacked me, Brother would kill them."
"So, you have immunity," Angel said between clenched teeth. "Figures."
Yukio ignored Angel's comment. "So how are we supposed to get inside that?" he asked Amaimon, indicting the palace with a sharp nod of his head.
Amaimon turned to Yukio with a look that said: Are you mad? "Through the front door?" he remarked, as if this was clearly the most obvious answer.
"I'm not walking through the front door," Yukio stated. "There's no way. If humans are prey here, then walking through the front door is the stupidest thing we could do."
"I agree with the Satan's offspring," Angel remarked. Yukio ignored the comment, something that he had almost gotten used to. "Is there another way?"Amaimon put on a very thoughtful face, his brows furrowed and all, and then suddenly grinned.
"Follow me," he declared, and then sped off into the dark gloom of Gehenna.
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Sophiel's POV
...
Sophiel brushed another spider web away with her hand and continued to move down the chute. She could just hear Raziele's faint breathing behind her, and every once in a while, his hushed cursing when he ran into a spider web. However, now that she was moving them away, his muttering faded away.
She swallowed past the lump in her throat and tried to forcibly calm her fluttering heart, and for the first time in her life, wondered what she was doing.
Why am I crawling down this chutes?
Why am I helping a half-breed?
Why did I agree to help Raziele?
Why does my chest hurt?
It was strange. She hadn't never questioned herself before, but now she was starting to realize that there had been nothing to question. Someone else had always dictated her life, someone else had always told her what to do. But now, for the first time, she had made her own decision . . . and that was to help Raziele and Rin.
But why?
She knew that there was no benefit for herself. In fact, if something went wrong, she could easily be killed. Raziele would be executed as well since he was a half-breed, so why were they bothering to help another demon? She had never gone out of her way to help someone else, so why now? What made this time any different?
Sophiel closed her violet eye and balled her thin, pale hands into fists.
I don't know.
"Sophiel?" Raziele's gentle voice echoed on the metal sides of the chute. "Are you all right?"
She took a deep breath and continued to crawl. "Yes," she replied emotionlessly, as she had been trained to respond to questions, but her heart had managed to claw its way into her throat. And yet, at the same time, she felt calmer now. "Raziele?" she said, daring to speak his name.
"Yes?" His reply was immediate and contained a warmth that seemed to fill her from the inside out, a dangerous feeling that she didn't know how to handle.
So she handled it the only way she knew how - by killed it off. The comfortable numbness filled her moments later, though her heart throbbed in her chest just the same. "Are we going to die?" she finally asked.
There was a pause, and right before Sophiel accepted the fact that she would not see tomorrow, Raziele laughed and, reaching forward, ruffled her cropped white hair.
"Of course," he said brightly. "I won't let anything happen to you. I promise."
It was the first time Sophiel had cried, even if it was only a single tear.
...
Rin's POV
...
Rin's blood ran cold from the sight of his biological father, and before his mind could catch up to his body, he was already running away. His breath fluttered in his chest like a trapped, wounded bird that could never reach the sky again. Everything hurt to the point that his eyes smarted from the pain, when suddenly an arm wrapped around his waist. Without warning, Rin's feet were dangling in the air as Satan carried his son to Xavier's dead body.
The blood was still wet on the ground.
"I knew you could kill this guy!" Satan laughed, brutally kicking Xavier in the face. The demon's head snapped back with a sudden crack. For a moment, the sound was enough to make Rin freeze despite his squirming, the only feeble attempt he could make at escaping. "Xavier had always been a stickler for the rules," Satan continued, moving the demon's cheek back and forth with his boot. "It was annoying. I'm glad - " the boot descended - "that he's dead!" - and the face was crushed.
Rin's eyes were wide in abject horror, and his mouth was open despite no sound coming out. His flames were still extinguished, and his long, pointed ears seemed to pick up every sound.
Someone laughing in the stands.
A harsh clang as someone slammed themselves against the metal bars.
A pebble bouncing on the ground.
His own heart beating in his chest.
Suddenly, without warning, he was dropped onto his side. Rin hardly even noticed; instead he lay on the ground like dead thing. His sapphire eyes were focused onto Xavier's body, which was directly across from him. Xavier's icy blue eyes blankly stared at Rin in accusation, blaming the younger half-demon for his death, his torment, his shame.
Rin's fist balled on the ground, leaving behind a trail of dirt where his fingers had been. "I'm sorry," he whispered. His eyes smarted and he curled into a pathetic ball. "I'm sorry," he repeated. "'m sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
Satan's laughter echoed in the air even as the blood that stained Rin's cheek began to dry.
Well, no Assaih this Mirror chapter, but at least I got both of the twins and Sophiel! Haven't heard from her perspective in a while! Anyway, I hope you all likes your gift! :D Merry Christmas!
(and here are the replies I'm horribly behind on . . .)
allietheepic7: I'll definitely let you all know when the book comes out! :D I'm planning around May though, but hopefully sooner!
Clarity in Scarlet: So much angst. Poor Rin :'( I feel bad about tormenting him like this, but, well, it makes for an exciting story. Poor thing.
Dowgma: Thank you! You too! :D
tsukinopen: Yep. And that's not the last you'll see of Satan either! What a jerk! D:
Emily Blue Paw: Yes, the name change was temporary. xD I might change it again though. One of these days I'll think of a good chapter haha
Guest: You what? D: Don't just skim over the Yukio chapters - I put a lot of time into ALL of the chapters, and if you're only reading half of the story (aka the Rin chapters), what's the point? I mean, I get that Yukio isn't as interesting and all, but if his chapters weren't important then I wouldn't have put the time into typing them out. I hope you read Yukio's chapters from now on! It'll make my day! :)
InsaniumArtisan: I laughed when you said that Amaimon is innocent. Bahahah. SOOooo innocent. xD And thank you! :D That stupid test was really hard!
Janazza: So violent haha :) And thank you! You have an amazing day as well!
Ying Huli: heeheehee "Rin fried him like a French fry" hahahahah omigosh. So beauty. Much wow. (sorry-doge meme)
Done! Love you all to death! :D Many hugs from me to you and your families! Merry Christmas (or Merry whatever-you-celebrate)!
-Rand0mSmil3z