Hey guys! Welcome to Arc 2 of Dust and Ashes! I'm going to work on a different style now - honestly, school has been so busy lately that I haven't had time for anything! Not even editing my real book! :( But that's all right - I'll finish that five hundred page sucker eventually. For now, I'll focus on getting this chapter to you. Also, based on some feedback I got that I agreed with (rare stuff, I know), I won't announce who's POV it is with each change. I'll leave it up to you to figure it out, but it should be obvious enough. I'm definitely not going to go out of my way to confuse you hahah

By the way. There's a time skip. I'm planning on going back and forth in time - to the far future and the present (three months later after the last arc). I'll keep is as clear as possible. :)

Oh. By the way you guys. I might study abroad in Australia next semester! How cool is that?! I'm so excited! :D On the off-chance there are any Australian people reading this, would you mind telling me what it's like over there? I live on the opposite side of the world in the other hemisphere. Autumn over here is your guys' spring. That's so darn cool. :D

ANYWAY, enjoy the next chapter! :) And the next arc!

A heart is written in the sky,

a crimson reminder to days gone by,

and though the summer blue stretches on

those days have already gone, already gone.

. . .

Assaih. Three Months Later.

. . .

They had all forgotten.

They had all forgotten the moment that everything changed . . . changed meaning something more akin to gone to hell, is some cases literally. They had all forgotten the moment where he - Yukio Okumura - had found the exorcists dead on the floor and his brother missing. They had forgotten Mephisto's betrayal. They had forgotten to fear Gehenna. They had forgotten to fear Satan.

They had all forgotten how to fear. Period.

Yukio stalked down the hall, his hands shoved deep into his pockets. His characteristic scowl adorned his face, but it had gotten more severe over the months. Smiling students passed by him, laughing over stupid mundane things that didn't really matter.

It was strange to think that he was their age.

When he was half their age, maybe even less, he had killed his first demon. He was already an exorcist before he graduated from middle school. These people? These students?

Yukio felt a headache in his temple. Spite was a common emotion of his these days. It wasn't that he hated the other students. There was no objectivity in his hate at all, in fact. He simply hated, and he hated no one in particular and yet everyone at the same time. He was also tired.

But mostly?

He just missed his brother.

He remembered the trip back from Gehenna. He had woken up against a wall, slouched over like some sort of civilian, with blurry eyes and a pounding head. Amaimon was on his right, Angel was on his left. But there was no Rin. Yukio knew that even before he opened his eyes, and sometimes he wished he never opened them. He didn't want to see a world without Rin for a second longer. He would rather be blind.

Shiemi's blind trust in him made the return taste all the more bitter. She had heard Angel's voice, mostly grumbles, from the other room and dashed in with a smile on her face. She was an angel, light and all, and the first thing she asked was "Where's Rin?!" with that pure wonder on her face that lit up the room and most of the sky.

If Shiemi was the sun, then Yukio was the cloud. He smile vanished the moment she saw his face, the despair in his eyes, and wordlessly wrapped her arms around him. Yukio had never been that close to crying before. It was practically a physical pain.

Yet, just as the sun continues the shine even if it is hidden by the clouds, Shiemi continued to smile even after that. Yukio had a suspicion that she only smiled for his benefit. He appreciated the gesture, even if it was a fruitless one.

Yukio had demanded that Mephisto take him back to Gehenna. But the demon wouldn't and argued that, now that Satan had seen Yukio's face, he would kill him and that would defeat the purpose all together. But Mephisto promised that he would send Yukio back, somehow. He would just have to wait until he thought of something.

Yukio hated waiting.

In fact, as he walked down the hall with steel in his eyes, he simply hated everything. Everything, yet nothing, all at once.

. . .

Bon watched the rain trickle down the window like streams of wiggling snakes. Konekomaru was sitting on the chair behind him, reading some sort of history book. Shima was lounging on the bed reading math, but the edges of a magazine were clearly shown in between the pages. Plus, Bon had never seen Shima grin at a math book before.

That creep, he decided with a sigh. Oh well - to each his own. He just didn't understand why Shima even bothered to keep his hobby hidden. Sure, it was an immoral hobby, but it wasn't like he was being particularly sneaky about it. Everyone knew. Heck, Rin was an idiot and even he . . .

. . . knew.

The thought soured the moment Bon realized what he was thinking. Rin - he had tried to avoid thinking about it. At first he had thrown a fit when Yukio came back; tried to force Mephisto to send him himself to Gehenna, actually, but Mephisto wouldn't budge. He tried researching other ways to get to Gehenna. Tried to devise some plan to reach hell that didn't include dying or mass murder. Konekomaru, Shiemi, Shima, and even Izumo had helped.

It completely failed. Everything. Experiments with demons - just a couple Coal - went nowhere. The plan was to try to figure out how a demon possessed a body, and if humans could repeat the same thing to reach Gehenna. It didn't work.

Next was using Shiemi and Izumo and their status as Tamers. Izumo was the one who thought of it; she was wondering if she could just follow her wine gods into the spirit world, and from their get to Gehenna somehow. That failed too; without a body, the spirit just floated lifelessly. Konekomaru had been the one who figured that one out. Thanks to him, no one got hurt.

Well, permanently.

Izumo sometimes gets a blank look to her eyes, but overall she's perfectly safe. Maybe not happy, but then again, she never was.

Well, these days, no one really was.

"Bon?"

Bon flicked his eyes over to Konekomaru, who was watching him with a torn expression.

"Yeah?"

"What are we going to do?"

Bon glanced back out the window. "Do about what?"

"Don't play dumb."

Konekomaru sounded upset. Bon knew perfectly well what he was talking about, and sighed. Simply sighed.

"How am I supposed to know?" he muttered.

"Well, you're the smartest one here," Shima piped up. His eyes hadn't deviated from his 'math' book.

"Not true," Bon stated the moment Konekomaru gave Shima the stink-eye, but Konekomaru didn't protest. He thought that Bon was the smartest one too. At least, he knew that Bon was the most driven.

If anyone could figure something out, it would be him.

"Well . . ." Bon glanced out the window again, at the streaks of rain snaking down the cool glass. Finally, he murmured, "I don't know. Is there anything we can do?"

"You'll figure something out," Konekomaru swore.

Bon wanted to laugh. "You said that three months ago, and we haven't made any progress."

"That's not true!" Shima stated. He was finally looking at them now. "We learned what doesn't work over these months, which is a whole lot."

Bon's eyes narrowed. His heart twisted painfully in his chest. "I don't know," he said again. From his lips, it sounded like he was cursing himself. His expression softened after a moment; a lifeless, dull expression. "I don't know."

The conversation lapsed back into silence.

. . .

Gehenna. Date Unknown.

. . .

The hall echoed with confident footsteps as a figure strode down its length. Eventually the cold floor gave way to thick red carpet, and the echoes were silenced, though the footsteps didn't stop. Twin doors were at its end, doors that brushed against the high ceiling. Two fires burning on either side and cast blue shadows dancing against the walls like a possessed thing.

The doors were flung open. They were soundless against their hinges.

An amused laugh drifted from the long room. It was a throne room, and it was also a sort of trophy room. The deadliest of human souls were hung here and dangled from the columns that lined the room's expanse. The prince didn't give them a second glance.

Satan's smile widened as the footsteps got louder. "I wasn't expecting you for a while longer . . . Rin." Rin's sapphire eyes were cold. Unfeeling. Merciless. Just the way Satan had trained him to be. "Now," Satan continued, resting his head on his hand, "to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Only yourself," Rin began.

Satan's eyebrows raised. "Oh?"

"This is a declaration of war," Rin continued. His gaze remained level.

Satan stared at Rin for a few moments, then burst out laughing. His cackles ricocheted against the walls. "You?!" the King of Gehenna laughed, "declare war with me?!"

"Yes."

There was no emotion in that single syllable.

Satan realized that Rin was serious, and the laughter died in the air. The King rose from his throne, a throne forged from bone and blood, and walked down the stairs to where Rin stood. His son - Yuri's son - glared at him with dead eyes. Satan distinctly remembered the day the light in those eyes died, and he was glad of it.

He was looking less and less like Yuri every passing day. That was good, but it still wasn't good enough. He still had her damned stubbornness, and that similarity was the only reason why Rin's head was still attached.

Love was cruel emotion.

Satan's hand rose to gentle push Rin's jaw upward so that they looked eye to eye. "The next time we meet, brat," Satan murmured darkly, "it will be on the battle field."

Well, here's Arc 2 - Blood and Bone! (Arc 1 was Dust and Ashes, which is also the name of the title). The side characters (like Bon, Konekomaru, etc) will have a bigger role in this one. So will Raziele and Sophiel. But mostly, of course, Rin and Yukio. Poor angsty Yukio, and not-as-poor badass Rin.

Some of you might be confused as to why Rin is back with Satan and not at the random mountain. That will be explained next chapter. No worries.

Comments!

Lady Monopolist - awww! Thanks! :) Sometimes I forget that Sophiel and Raziele AREN'T canon characters . . . it's tough trying to balance out their part in this story with everyone else's part!

thebookoftime - heheheh thanks! :D Well, my *real* books are both fantasy; one is post-apocalyptic, the other is magic and guild based. Both are pretty short, 150 pages or less. (and yeah...the kings are so confusing. There's no consistency!)

J Luc Pitard - Thank you so much! :D And yeah, I liked your POV idea, so I used it (to everyone else, see?! I do listen to people sometimes!) so thank you for the help! :)

DarkestDemonsInTheSoul - Have I commented on your name before? Because you have a good usename. Well done. (And thank you for the compliments! :D And the mind blown. Awesome stuff right there)

And that's all I feel like doing at the moment, but that doesn't mean I don't love the rest of you any less! All it means is that I've procrastinated my religion paper long enough and should probable get to that. T_T

Have an amazing week, and Stay Awesome,

Rand0mSmil3z