Hello my beautiful readers! This chapter will be another Mirror chapter! :D That means both Yukio and Rin will be in it, and if there are any disjointed thoughts in here, blame my bro. He's sitting next to my playing Skryim and making skulls sing, and it's driving me crazy. SO MANY ANNOYING NOISES. SO MANY.
But whatever. All right. Now my bro is pulling out his gum and seeing if he can stick me. And pushing my foot rest away. I can't believe this is happening. It's like, why the heck did i have to be born so SHORT?! I'M the oldest one, but all of my elder-sibling advantages are gone! I don't have height any more, don't have strength, and my little bro might be smarter than me (actually, I know he is, and that makes me a little bit proud hahah). All I got going for me is older-sibling respect. It's not enough. I think I'm going to invest in having a nerf gun or something, to tip the scales and make the odds ever in my favor. (See what I did there Hunger Game nerds?!)
ANYWHO, guess what you guys?! I got a 3.87 my first semester of college! :D Aaaahhhhh the sweet taste of victory. Take that, my weeder genetics and diversity biology classes. I so totally won.
But anyway. Here's the next chapter. Who will reach Rin first - Yukio or Raziele? And what does that mean for Rin?
Comments at the end!
WARNING: Minor cussing. Darn that Satan and foul-mouthed Raziele.
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Rin's POV
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Numb.
He felt utterly numb. Just a hollow shell of nerves and veins, desolate veins, veins that seemed to pump the empty vacuum of space through his body. It felt like he was being crushed by a heavy weight, a weight that did not exist but dominated his very existence at the same time. It was a weight that left him unable to move, unable to breath, and unable to open his eyes to the scene unfolding around him.
Noise didn't exist in his sorry corner of Gehenna. He didn't hear the screaming of the spectators above the Pit, didn't hear their merciless cry for more blood spilled . . . as if there hadn't been already enough. Maybe it was a good thing he was unable to listen. His heart was battered enough.
Sticks and stones may break my bones . . .
. . . and words will never hurt me.
A little rhyme that his father, Shiro, had taught him at a young age, back in the days where the worst thing that could happen was only that he couldn't make any friends at school. How trivial it seemed now, how nonsensical. Everything seemed disjointed now; images flashed before his eyes. Kinder images. Warmer images. Welcomed images that buried the world around him in white . . .
. . . a white that continued to fall. Rin sneezed as a snowflake landed on his nose, and he quickly wiped off the biting chill.
"Dad, I'm cooold," Rin whined, hugging his father's knee. Yukio was holding the other knee, and his turquoise eyes were glaring at the white landscape in complete distrust. He seemed to be looking for something, but what his twin brother was watching out for exactly, Rin didn't know. He wouldn't know for another ten years, until the day that he learned about the existence of demons.
Shiro laughed. "Oh, stop it you too. Come on. Let me show you how to build a snowman."
Yukio went rigid, but Rin didn't notice. "I want hot chocolate!" the older twin declared.
That snapped the younger out of his trance. "M - me too!" Yukio stammered, looking up at their father with wide, hopefully eyes.
Shiro laughed and ruffled their hair. "Later," he smiled. "If we finish the snowman, I'll even let you have as many little marshmallows as you want."
Rin's heart leapt. "As many as we want?!" he repeated, his blue eyes twinkling like sunbathed snow.
Shiro grinned down at both twins and promised, "As many as you want . . . "
" . . . Dad."
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Satan's POV
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" . . . Dad."
Satan flicked his eyes to the half-human filth curled up on the bloodied stones. Rin's eyes - eyes, he remembered, that had sparkled much like Yuri's - were now dull and half-closed. His dark eyelashes - also the same as Yuri's - were damp, but whether from sweat, tears, or blood, the King of Gehenna didn't know.
He didn't care to know, for that matter. He reminded himself that that thing on the ground was a failed attempt and not Yuri's son, then kicked its limp body over. The crowd above them cheered, clearly expecting blood to be spilt.
That, however, wasn't what Satan had in mind. Mephisto traded this half-breed filth for his freedom, and even broken things had their uses. Scrap metal could be hammered into swords. Crushed stone could be made into roads. Broken hearts could be sacrifices.
Satan's lip curled from disgust and amusement, and he grabbed the half-breed's arm and forced it to stand. It, however, simply hung there like a limp wet cloth.
"Stand," Satan ordered.
His son barely raised his head, indicated that it wasn't deaf, but it was such a minute change that Satan wondered if Rin moved at all.
That irritated him.
"Stand," he said again, "or I will spear your legs to the ground and make you."
Rin's head raised a bit more and, slowly, he drew his legs underneath him. When Satan let go of its arm, however, it tottered over and would have fallen if Satan's arm hadn't automatically caught his son.
It was a sudden gesture that surprised him.
Why did he care if the brat fell over or not?
He let his arm drop, and the half-dead thing fell heavily to its knees. It, to Satan's surprise, did not fall over, however. Instead it raised its gaze - a gaze that momentarily went through Satan like a bullet.
Every time he saw the brat's eyes, he was reminded of Yuri. The memories welled up inside of him and began to spill over like water - the snowy days, the river underneath the bridge, that quaint house in the middle of nowhere, their united dream and the irony of it all.
Satan lashed his hand out, and sharp claws raked across Rin's face. His son, however, didn't flinch and didn't fall, just continued to stare off into the distance even as blood dripped to the dark, rusted ground. For a moment, pain lashed through him, a pain not unlike he was the one who had been hit.
And he regretted it.
Maybe, he wondered as he stared down at his offspring, Yuri rubbed off on me.
She had always been the kind one.
"Guards," he shouted above the fray. Two demons appeared from the grated door mounted into the wall. Their eyes were wide and scared, but Satan didn't care in the least.
"Yes, sir?" they both asked.
"Get this mess cleaned up," Satan ordered as he gathered up Rin. The half-demon lay limp against him, and Satan could feel its faint heartbeat through its thin shirt. For the first time, Satan noticed the scars across its torn back, the molted bruises and multiple shallow cuts and scrapes that covered his son. He resisted the urge to kill the two nearby guards; that would leave just another mess to clean up, and he didn't feel like dealing with it at the moment.
"Would you like me to take the boy?"
Satan raised his deadly, sapphire gaze. A girl, a she-demon, was standing across from him. Her cropped white air was covered in dust, and an eye-patch covered one of her stark violet eyes. Satan scowled; he seemed to recognize her, but from where?
"No," Satan stated, feeling oddly protective. "I'm taking the half-breed." It was a feeling that he had almost forgotten; once he had felt this way about Yuri, and he would have killed to protect her. He had, but it was all worthless in the end. She was a human, only human, and humans died all the time. It had never occurred to him that Yuri could die, however, and it was because of two brats, one of which he was holding in his arm.
But then again, he saw bits of Yuri in Rin . . . maybe she hadn't truly died after all. It was a foreign thought that he didn't quite know how to handle. Human sentimentality was beyond him.
The girl didn't move, however. She also didn't flinch in his presence. Satan could respect her for that.
"I was assigned as R - the Prince's caretaker," the girl stated. "I can have him delivered to you the moment he is able to move."
Satan thought about it for a moment. On one hand, he could give Rin to this demon and get rid of the problem. Doing so, however, would undermine his authority, and he wouldn't have his subjects questioning the validity of his orders.
"No," Satan sneered, "I'm taking the boy. Get out of my way, bitch, or I will paint the walls with your blood."
The girl blinked once, then moved aside. Satan passed her without another word.
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Sophiel's POV
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Her hands faintly trembled at just how close she came to death. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Raziele hidden below the Pit's grate. He was watching with narrowed rosy eyes, and suddenly he ducked and disappeared.
Sophiel took a short, inaudible breath and turned back to the doorway. Her heart still hammered in her chest.
Somehow, she stood up to Satan and survived. She could still feel the bloodlust in his sapphire eyes, and she could still smell the scent of iron in the air. Rin - Rin was little more than a mangled, bloody mess. It was hard to imagine that he had once smiled at her before.
Still, Satan had shown interest in Rin. That alone was enough to convince her that Rin wouldn't die; at least, not just yet. Unlike her, Rin wasn't disposable. He possessed the Royal Flames. He had to survive until she and Raziele could find him again.
He had to.
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Raziele's POV
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Damn that bastard.
Raziele ripped off the grate with his hands - who cared about secrecy at this point - and threw it aside. It slammed against the stone walls with a harsh clamor. The state Rin had been in flashed across his eyes - the bloody slashed across his back that looked like tic-tac-to gone wrong, his clearly-visible ribs underneath his ripped-up splattered shirt, his utter exhaustion. Even seeing Xavier, dead and burned on the ground, put Raziele off.
Hell, everything put him off at the moment. The freaking candles were too damn flickery, and Raziele did what came natural - he slammed them into the wall and watched the wax burn. Even the stones mounted into the wall were irritating. Damn the stupid things for being uneven, damn them for being there in the first place.
Raziele thumped his forehead against the wall, trying to control himself. His chest heaved from the effort.
Calm down, he ordered himself. Calm down. A plan . . . I need a plan. He took a deep breath, and his head cleared slightly. All right . . . I gotta find Rin first. Yeah. That sounds good. Step 1 - find Rin. Satan has Rin. Where does Satan usually go?
The answer hit Raziele immediatly.
He began to run.
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Yukio's POV
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"This way," Amaimon hissed, turning to walk down a different corridor. Yukio swallowed his unease and followed, every nerve jittery. Beside him, Angel didn't fare much better.
"Where are we going?" Angel asked for the fifth time. His hand impatiently shifted on his sword's hilt.
Amaimon glanced back at him with a scowl. It was the first emotion Yukio had seen out of the demon besides boredom. "We," the demon said very slowly, "are going to Judecca. It is where the King's reside, including me. It is in the inner layer of Satan's realm, in the Ninth Circle."
"Sounds like Dante's Inferno," Yukio stated bitterly. He didn't like the idea of going to where the most lethal demon's were one bit. He prided himself on being a good exorcist, but not that good to be able to fight against the strongest demon's known to man. Still, if it was for Rin . . .
"Ah. Dante." Amaimon stared wistfully at the ceiling. "Such a stupid mortal. He offered Satan half of his soul just to walk through Gehenna once, but an angel helped him escape. The angel got trapped in Purgatory, though."
An angel? Yukio frowned; a faint memory stirred inside of him, but in a moment it was gone. "I don't remember that in the book," he finally said.
Amaimon glanced at him. "Dante didn't want to appear as a traitor before the church. Not that it helped," the demon mused. "I was told he was very unpopular." Angel made a noise.
Suddenly Amaimon froze, and then threw both of the humans behind the corner. When Yukio opened his mouth to protest, Amaimon slapped his hand over Yukio's mouth and made a harsh shhhhh noice.
"What is it?" Angel demanded, sounding very disgruntled.
Amaimon had a look halfway between horror and amusement. "Satan," he hissed.
Yukio's eyes widened. Satan? he thought, and carefully poked his head around the corner. He could see the elongated shadow on the wall, and then a foot stepped out from behind the opposite corner. Then a whole leg, and then a body. Blood slowly dripped onto the floor, and for a moment Yukio wondered if Satan had been injured . . . if the demon in the suit was truly Satan at all. Honestly, Yukio had expected a more . . . grotesque appearance, but with the tall stature and dark hair, he would have guessed that the demon was more of a business person. However, it was the eyes that threw Yukio off; they were the exact same eyes Rin got when he lost control of his power.
But Yukio frowned in confusion. I don't see any wou -
- and then he did, and he went rigid.
His mind emptied. A harsh, painful sound echoed in the back of his throat, a sound that hardly sounded human, and Yukio - pushing Amaimon's hand away - began to run towards his unconscious brother.
This time, this time, Yukio wasn't going to let Rin go.
Oooooooh snap! Plot is rolling people! So intense! I'm freaking out, and I'm the WRITER.
But now it's time for me to play Oblivion (idk why, I just got the urge to play) so excuse me for a moment. See you all next chapter and stay awesome,
Rand0mSmil3z
rinxMe - Well, Yukio found Rin! And thank you! :D I'm glad you like the story!
Clarity in Scarlet: Hahahah Raziele and Sophiel are becoming a popular ship! :D It's so exciting! Thank you! I work hard on my OCs - it's nice to know that someone likes them! :D
Ying Huli: heeheehee Mr. French Fry
Narutopokefan: I UPDATE WHEN I WANT TO UPDATE! and merry belated Christmas and New Year to you! Yeah, Xavier doesn't need the pity . . . but just wait until you hear the back story. ;) I got plans, sweetheart. Big plans.
PS - MY BROTHER DELETED ALL OF MY OBLIVION ACCOUNTS AND UPDATES. WJEIFHWEHGIEVHOIGHHEVKAHQIXHC