Disclaimer: This was a really hard chapter to write.

Something cracked.

Rin's flames suddenly flared and his eyes flew open wide a world suddenly shifted into shades of red and blue, a striking contrast that highlighted every dip of the ruined landscape and every rugged outline in his demonic father's face. His elongated, sharpened ears picked up the erratic beating of his heart, twitched as the wind carried screams and shouts and something familiar.

A voice.

Rin turned, turned even as Satan shouted in frustration and rushed forward, to see the face of Mephisto and his brother. Yukio's glasses were cracked, his moles were in stark contrast with his bloodless expression and blood-splattered clothes. And there, in his hands ...

Kurikara.

He could see his reflection in its sleek blade. Could see his smirk and hollow gaze as he reached for the hilt, the hilt that would fit perfectly in his palm. He did not know how Yukio managed to get the sword. He did not know how he managed to convince Mephisto to bring it to him, but Rin didn't care. All he cared about was that Yukio was here, and with him was their potential salvation.

But, even as those thoughts crossed his mind, stark horror flooded his senses. Yukio ... Yukio was here. Here between the land and the sky, here between Satan himself and his demonic son. This was not Yukio's place. The gasmask alone made that obvious. But this ...

"Get away!" Rin screamed, his voice raw and sore. "Go!"

But Yukio didn't seem to hear, and instead held out Kurikara a little closer to him, close enough that Rin could see his flames dancing along the blade. "Rin!" he shouted. His eyes widened in desperation; Mephisto hovered in the background, his violet eyes darting between Rin and Satan. "Hurry!"

Rin made a split second decision and, gritting his teeth and shoving his fear as deep as possible, his heightened senses could feel Satan draw closer, could feel the wind part and hiss as Satan reached a single clawed hand back. Time seemed to slow as Satan drew closer. Slowed even further and suddenly Rin was moving, his muscles tight and tearing as he forced himself forward in between his father and his twin. The wind split where he passed and the shockwave echoed across the ruined earth, rippling across the cracked sky and reminding those below that they were not fighting this war alone.

But he was too late.

Satan was suddenly there, suddenly there right in front of his face, and Rin lashed out. Blood burst in his mouth as he bit his tongue, and its sweet, coppery tang snapped him alert as he drew out the last of his power. Flames hissed in the wind. Something cracked.

He didn't care.

Pushing Yukio back with one hand, Rin held out his other towards Satan. His blue flames were reflected in his wide, sapphire eyes as he knew: I'm going to die. He knew it the moment Satan turned towards him with the look of loathing and hate. Knew it in the few moments it took for Satan to launch himself forward and embed his hand in his chest. Knew it in the few moments following that he was going to fall out of the sky and bleed out, bleed out onto the dusty ground and that his blood would look like everyone else's. They would never find his body.

No one would be left alive to search, anyway.

"Rin!" Yukio screamed.

But Yukio's voice sounded so far away. So far, and that wild thumping of his heart so close. Blood, hot and wet and red, dripped from Satan's hand and stained the sleeve of his suit.

Satan lifted his gaze. "Pity," he said. His voice was a low whisper, a faint rustle of autumn leaves, a hush of a river running over stones. "You're now a permanent resident here."

Only if I die, Rin wanted to say, but the words came out in a gurgle of red bubbles and spittle that dripped down his chin.

Yukio made a mistake.

He knew it was a mistake the moment he drew Satan's attention and the King of Gehenna suddenly rushed towards him. Yukio's human eyes couldn't keep up with the speed, the sudden streak that blinked towards him like a star shooting across the sky.

But Rin could see.

Rin could see everything, and before Yukio could fully comprehend what had happened, his brother was in front of him and Satan's sharpened nails were sticking out of Rin's back in five distinct points. The nails were spider webbed with red, the same red that was now dripping to the earth below.

Something cracked inside of him and Yukio's heart stuttered. Stuttered with shock and grief and sudden realization that this was the end and oh my god, what have I done.

Rin gurgled words, words that were lost in his ruins of his throat, words that could have very well been his last. And Satan laughed. Laughed like it was nothing, like Rin was dying for nothing, and suddenly drew out his hand. It made a wet sound, Yukio noticed. The same wet slurp of a sponge against wet dishes, the same slurp Rin would make when he drank ramen, the same god-awful slurping sound bodies sometimes made when he performed emergency field surgeries.

Rin went limp. But Yukio caught him before he could fall. Mephisto was, by some miracle, still helping Yukio stay aloft in this fragment of the sky, but it seemed that all of the fight had left Mephisto's eyes.

All of the fight had left Rin's eyes, too. In fact, they were strangely hollow. Empty.

"Rin," Yukio murmured. Something wet trickled down his cheeks. "Rin. Rin. Rin."

The name was a mantra, a simple chant that simultaneously kept his world from falling apart while chipping it away, syllable by syllable. Satan was standing somewhere above him, saying something and Mephisto said something in reply, but Yukio no longer cared. Not when he held his dead brother in his arms.

"Rin," Yukio whispered as the last of Kurikara's flames ebbed away. "Rin, you have to stay awake, you have to -"

Something cracked. Cracked with enough force to drive his breath away, and without warning, the world shifted into shades of blue and red ...

Did I already mention this chapter was the absolute worst to write? *_* Yikes.

Also, happy early Thanksgiving to folks in the US! :)

PS: I published a*real* novel during this fanfic's hiatus. It's a fantasy novel; PM me if you would like to know details or real the chapter marked as 'Interlude' which is a couple chapters earlier :) Thanks!

-Random