Summary: On account of good behavior, Mephisto allows Abduxuel's proposed field trip for his lovely students. But not before a trip to the past. Rin fights the urge to strangle Lewin, and Amaimon wants to know when they're going to start the real fun.

Notes: I'm not through with this universe, so have another Abdi side ;D

I technically have one more planned for this universe, but it's more for funsies and imma hold off on it until I get through a few of the more important fics on the line-up lol

This bad boy took me way too long to get out but things have finally calmed down a bit with the wedding planning and zine stuff so I have time to write again lol

Songs of the Chapter:

I'm not Ok by Weathers

Dirty Money by Weathers

Don't Threaten Me With a Good Time by Panic! At the Disco

A gilded key rested between claws, the black edges gleaming dully under the lights of Samael's office.

"This is Rin's now. Remember to return it to him once you're done."

It had been gifted to Rin, from what Samael had said, and it was somewhat essential to his future plans, much as he suspected those were wildly changed from other timelines.

"You know, I could just pick this knowledge up the simple way."

Samael smiled, gaze idling over the key Abduxuel held as if he had all the time in the world.

"You could, but it wouldn't be as fun."

Abduxuel snorted inelegantly and cocked the key towards Samael in a flick of his fingers before setting it to the air in front of him and focusing on his destination.

"I do have a lot of catching up to do," he agreed, cheerful as he thought of all the fascinating things he had to do and see over the past two hundred years he'd been dead for.

"Enjoy yourself," Samael called as a door opened with a twist of Abduxuel's wrist, appearing around the key in a translucent image before solidifying.

The click of a lock turning echoed in Samael's office, Abduxuel pausing a step towards the void that existed behind the door.

He opened it and went through, Samael's presence vanishing from his senses as the past swallowed him in its embrace.

Samael's office of not too long ago faced Abduxuel and his smile went wry, taking in the scents of the quiet space.

"Sorry, Samael, I have a few more errands to run before the fun can begin."

Well, it wasn't like he couldn't have fun in the current time, too, but he had a purpose beyond pure entertainment. Not something Abduxuel tended to find himself with, and which he preferred to be without, actually

But, needs must, and Samael…

As if summoned, his other half appeared in the office, making to sit at his desk. Abuduxel wanted to envelop him in protective shadow, a void to cocoon him in where no one could bother them, just the two, as it had been from the start.

He didn't, quelling the possessive instincts that always screamed at varying levels of intensity when he looked at Samael too long.

A ray of light fell across Samael's face through the window, caressing there like the barest kiss, one without any true warmth behind it. He paused, hands pressed to the papers on his desk and expression empty of any mask but the true one he wore when he had only himself as an audience.

It was too late. Samael fell to the floor, his strings cut by an invisible hand.

"Ah ha, ahaha," Abduxuel laughed, chest shaking with the unbidden sounds as he clutched there before dancing from his spot amongst the shadows and crouching over Samael's form.

"Lucifer cheats, Samael," he explained. "He talks a good game about honoring our etiquette, but in the end, we know how thin his veneer is."

Really, etiquette had only ever been more like guidelines for demons, and when ones such as them made the rules, then they could easily break them, regardless of previous arrangements.

"You must have suspected he would do something like this in one of your timelines, love," Abduxuel said in a murmur, caressing Samael's cheek with the flats of his claws.

Of all those who knew Samael, Abduxuel knew better than any of them that he wasn't omnipotent, couldn't be everywhere at once or catch every loose thread in his timelines.

"Maybe your Rin was a failsafe." He thought about the nephilim-that-wasn't that had captured Samael in ways no other had and pulled his hand back. "Even if it happened in a way you never anticipated."

An answer he may even uncover in his digging into the past. But that was all for a later time, he had more interesting things to witness.

"Now," he murmured, "where is that scamp?"

A knock sounded at the door, and he hid his glee behind a grin as, with a thought, he twisted his shape until the slim form of a ferret replaced his human vessel.

His next thought brought him behind the curtains of Samael's window where he waited, poised and shivering to the tips of his whiskers as the door opened to reveal Gehenna's prince in all his naive glory.

Such a darling creature. Abduxuel flicked his tongue to his nose, eyes bright and focused on the flame that neared Samael as if he couldn't even sense his location in the room.

Given the black hair covering his scalp instead of the white Abduxuel had met him with, it could be that he wasn't capable of it at this point.

The urge to yank his tail or tweak his ears sent Abduxuel's claws flexing against the carpet fibers, but he saved the impulse for a later time when he could fully enjoy the reaction he'd pull from Rin.

When Rin finally stumbled his way to Samael and began poking and prodding like the most senseless human, Abduxuel hummed and vanished from the room, key in hand and once more human-shaped, as he moved to the next point of interest.

"The humans don't remember, but we used to be nine." Amaimon's voice carried its way through the air.

He hadn't initially cared to spend long at this stage.

Abduxuel stared down from his vantage point lying on a floating chaise at a meadow of golden grasses. Some had been flattened by the three figures currently in it who hadn't registered his presence.

His gist of a plan had been to gather a specific bit of information and fill in the missing pieces of his memory that had failed to return with his rebirth. Death had stolen those away before he'd had a chance to regain them the way Samael had. But a curiosity had drawn him to the clearing, and he didn't deny himself often.

"Who was the other?" Rin spoke to Amaimon's statement, and Abduxuel realized it hadn't been a lie.

Their conversation at the cafe in Rome about whether Samael and Amaimon would come to the point where they'd been before–incapable of reaching the other–and Rin had so thoroughly refuted him he'd had no choice but to accept his proposition.

Wait. And see.

For all that he never settled anywhere for long, Rin had forced him to stop. It wasn't a change he'd ever expected to experience, and something in him wondered if Rin acted as a catalyst just by existing.

Unknowingly, Rin had gifted him time, and he would utilize it in ways unfamiliar to him to see if he could uncover more aspects to himself he'd missed.

So, he'd come to this small place in time and seen Amaimon glancing to the sky as if searching for signs of the void beyond the light, speaking about him to Rin.

"Did you know, Space and Time came into being in almost the same instance?"

Enough. Abduxuel raised the key and twisted to bring himself to the next point.

Steam wafted in clouds across his cheeks, obscuring the forms where they lay with their backs to the stone rising along their spines.

A step brought him into the ravine where he picked up the metallic scent of blood. It centered around Rin and Amaimon, their clothes stained in it. Red encrusted their hair and, beneath even that, Abduxuel could see they'd been strained to the limits of their bodies. If he pushed, Amaimon's vessel would tear apart at the frayed seams, his skin paper-thin and fighting to stay bound to his aspect.

Something Samael may be upset with him for.

Abduxuel grinned and knelt to the damp sand silently, careful to keep himself from brushing to Amaimon.

"Sleep," he said in a soft croon to the blood-shot eyes Rin flashed him, startled as if unable to understand what vision had appeared through the steam.

Those eyes closed on his command, Rin unable to resist during his momentary exhaustion brought on by who knew what they'd gone through in Gehenna.

That wasn't what Abduxuel had been after, anyway.

Beneath Rin's lax embrace and the tatters of his own cloak, Samael lay in a mimicry of sleep.

Pale, limp hair hung in tangled strands, and the bruises under his eyes had grown deep, sunken.

Was this how he'd looked while under Lucifer's curse? He must have at some point in his slow decay, and it wasn't as if he hadn't seen himself and the rest of their kin shed their vessels inch by excruciating inch in every scraping attempt to stay in Assiah one moment longer.

There was a difference with the curse. He could see it eating away at Samael's core just as it stopped his vessel from healing, drained his reserves that fought to keep the core from dimming until they too faded and it went out.

Silence drifted like the steam around him as he considered the past and Samael and the journey he'd missed with his death. What had led to it.

A kiss and his name from Samael hadn't woken him from the curse.

It hadn't worked because Samael hadn't seen Abduxuel for himself, despite Lucifer's explanations of what he lacked. He'd only seen an extension of his own aspect, something important and vital, but not separate.

Abduxuel traced a claw to the pale lips parted and breathing a steady pattern as he mused on curses, love, and what Samael had understood too late.

Mostly he wondered, would a kiss from him wake Samael?

His thumb pressed harder, tilting Samael's chin as he focused on the sleeping face of his other half. The tables were reversed, he was now the one awake and aware and in full possession of just how Lucifer's little gift functioned.

How Samael functioned too.

This Samael worked as they all did, their aspect one in the same across every timeline and version. Constant and eternal. The change he'd experienced in one rippled to all the others.

The other question, then.

If it worked and he woke Samael, how long would it take him to forgive Abduxuel?

He could see Rin and Amaimon where they slumped to each other in their partially induced sleep and didn't need to be king of time to know waking Samael at the current juncture would have consequences.

But, as he'd told Rin their first meeting–Abduxuel smiled around his teeth and pressed his palm to Samael's cheek–he was a selfish creature, infinitely more-so than any of their kin.

A piece of him wanted to know, was he enough now?

Would Samael's love for him allow him to break the curse as they hadn't been able to do before?

No doubt the fury from Samael would leave him aching for hours, an eviscerated vessel his thanks for denying him the other two claims he'd won.

Abduxuel thought he would forsake everyone for Samael, even an impossible being like Rin and Amaimon's elusive loyalty, even if the cost was the sharp storm of Samael's fury.

His forehead dipped and a breath sighed from his lips he'd parted as he inhaled to take in the scents intermingled in the clearing. He considered the way the three nestled atop each other, already a tight-knit pack with both worlds against them, and it sent a strand of emotion winding through his vessel.

It tightened, Abduxuel biting off his sigh as he chuckled and dropped his forehead the rest of the way to rest against Samael's.

"I'll see you soon–" he was selfish, yes, but knowing he would have Samael in every timeline, past, present, and future, allowed him to put those desires aside– "Wait for me, love."

Now, there was one more event to witness.

Essential, even, before he could fully settle into his new reality.

Intent took him away to another time and place where light glinted through the whirling flow of energy from a palace at the peak of the tallest mountain in Gehenna.

Lucifer's domain.

He smiled and it cracked across his face.

Carefully, so carefully, he compressed himself, tucked into the smallest form, his core a single, ultra-dense marble amongst the brilliant energy exuded by the king of light and eldest of them. He tumbled out on his path, just passing the steps where Rin and Amaimon and the presence of Egyn had traveled until he arrived in the room where they all stood.

Ahead, Lucifer appeared healthier than Abduxuel ever recalled, despite the damage beneath his vessel's skin.

Either he'd just gained a new vessel, or he'd discovered the method of extending his time in one after so many years of existence.

Not that Abduxuel truly cared. Lucifer's suffering was a constant, something he'd known longer than his own chosen name. Working towards a perfect vessel that could contain any of their aspects had seemed futile, though Samael pursued it with a dogged determination.

Where had those efforts gotten him?

Abduxuel left thoughts of his other half's single-minded drive aside.

"Lucifer," Amaimon spoke, looking worse off than even Lucifer. "Samael is cursed, it's the King Killer."

The drama played out before Abduxuel, each pointed question and half-answer leading to the one, key truth he needed. His desperation for it burned in him with an intensity he couldn't curtail.

Say it.

"Samael was cursed." The beginning of the end had come with Amaimon's statement, with the extended fangs in his mouth and the Sulphur glare from his irises spearing into Lucifer. "Abduxuel was cursed."

Yes, good, Amaimon.

"Who did it?"

His smile twisted, Abduxuel straining and tumbling at the walls he'd pulled around his core to keep from Lucifer's light; a loose cog in a broken machine that had never quite fit right. Laughter shattered against his teeth, grit together while his chest shook with the force clawing from the inside.

"Who cursed them?"

You know, he crooned in his head as he resisted taking those furious, shaking shoulders of Amaimon's and spinning him in a dance that left them both broken at the finish.

"Who did it, Lucifer?"

You you youyouyouyouyou

Blood gleamed, red and viscous from Lucifer's mouth when he coughed and Abduxuel wanted to smear it to his skin, further; flay him to the bones of his vessel and claw the truth free, then consume it until it rotted him from the inside.

"Your guess is right. I cursed both Abduxuel and Samael."

Yes.

The word hissed along his nerves and sent him skittering inside his self-made cage.

Confirmation.

His bones ached with his suppression, threatening to crack and spill all the ichor and black void making him up until he'd spread himself in an endless, hungry shadow.

All that lost time! Abduxuel dug fists into his gut, letting the heat and burning agony join the madness contorting his thoughts like he wanted to his body. In as many timelines as Samael had existed, who knew if they'd have finally figured it out? If his prodding and coaxing and hints would have pushed Samael the final step or they'd keep missing each other by inches.

Did it matter?

Did Lucifer's expression of weary appraisal he set on Samael while Amaimon seethed mean anything after what he'd done?

Abduxuel pulled his hands from inside and ignored the pain of a healing vessel, licked at his mouth as he locked eyes on Lucifer, and forced himself back into something sane.

A shuddering breath left his blood-flecked lips, another.

He closed his eyes.

In the grand scheme of things, Lucifer's love was as terrible as his apathy.

What they were couldn't be softened by anything as human as love. He knew that fact and let it keep him from splitting at the seams through the deluded spiel from Lucifer.

One of the many upcoming days he would confront Lucifer, and, with his luck, he would contain his impulses and leave with his vessel intact. Abduxuel could see it coming on the horizon. It wasn't something they could ignore forever or pretend at nothing having changed.

Regret and guilt meant nothing to demons, but he wondered if, like love, it was something hidden in their code, too, or forever limited to the humans.

It would make no difference to him, but he wasn't Samael, didn't have schemes or goals or an ageless ambition he pursued. His punishments were quick, brutal, and over with so he could continue enjoying whatever he decided on next.

And, given he couldn't hope to challenge Lucifer, Abduxuel would have to find a way to forget his meddling.

That–he smiled, wry around the blood in his mouth–or accept that he'd be losing the perfect vessel he'd woken with after his death when he attacked Lucifer in a fit of pique.

If he approached Lucifer as he was currently, it would be the latter outcome. He almost wanted it. That vicious craving for destruction always warring with the desire to exist all demons wrested between and Abduxuel had bled on the wire-edge of for as long as he'd had an ego to direct.

Living now after floating under Samael's wing for so long–whole, unbroken, undivided–was as painful as being without a vessel.

"In a sense of fairness," Lucifer's voice rang in his ears, a reverberation that rattled his senses, "I will give you three days."

Three days. Three days for what? His death? Samael's?

Theirsbothoneaspectwhole

No, not again. Not again!

The barrier fell in a gossamer shroud around Lucifer's territory.

Hissing escaped Abduxuel as he tore himself from the space, willing himself to Assiah.

A crowd roared around him, laughter and music booming too fast and bright lights pulling him along with the flow he fell into more than walked.

His eyes found the night sky nearly eclipsed by the glare of neon he could see coursing through heated glass calling messages to the passing humans beneath them and luring him just as much as the pounding music in the buildings below.

Abduxuel stumbled and laughed and took himself into the writhing mass of humans within, pressing to the willing bodies as hot as any from the bacchanal celebrations he'd enjoyed in the past.

Delightfully sweet humans wrapped themselves to him, running their hands to his vessel and teasing him with the vulnerable glaze of whatever they'd imbibed in their eyes.

Their wild energy left them charged and compelled him to take the more willing mouths in his, stealing whatever breath he could like it would fill him to the brim. Drinks found their way to his hand, some laced with poisons that hit and took effect to leave him reeling while he tottered on the brink of oblivion.

He would replace the useless thoughts with violence and sex from the humans who would fall to him one way or another.

Pleasure slowly seeped the venom from his veins, a growl building in a rumble from his chest he clasped a human against. His hips ground to theirs, accepting the press of another body rutting behind him with sloppy, erratic movements.

It wasn't enough.

They could still offer more.

Abduxuel nipped and broke skin so he could swallow the gasp of pain, pulse thrumming to see the way the one beneath his questing claws skipped.

(Pulses tripping in fear or lust, they were both good.)

The blood he'd lapped free drew him in further and he made a flash decision.

His eyes glowed and highlighted the face of the doe-eyed human he coaxed to the darkest corners of the already dark room where he continued his play. He'd left the other behind with a last deep kiss and tease of hips, enjoying the way they clung in their fervent worship.

Then he had the one in his arms alone.

A graze of fang or claw to soft skin built a fever in his gut all the smoke burning his eyes and scents of the enclosed space and willing vessels hadn't yet on their own.

"Mmn!" The whimper extended his fangs, and Abduxuel grinned as the slivers of damage he delivered added up, becoming too many to ignore by the creature in his grasp.

Prey.

Simple, unknowing, prey.

Though not for much longer. Not when he could see the dilated pupils focus on his grin, his eyes, the dip of his head that allowed him to nuzzle against the throat hiccupping with the beginnings of fear.

He hardened as his tongue traced the thin cuts he'd drawn, tilting the head in his cupped palms and slipping up along the struggling body too weak to do more than encourage him on with each buck of desperation.

The more he took, the more he wanted.

Abduxuel groaned and dropped his jaw, fangs fully elongated to razor edges and tongue sliding into a mouth widened in terror he consumed just as much as the heady blood.

Wider, his lips split, a yawning maw far past human and eclipsing the prey quaking in his arms, biting at his tongue, scratching with blunt nails that sent him arching for more as if they could ever do the damage that would truly satisfy a demon.

Satisfaction would come with his gorging.

A press of needle-tip points, the last whine of a trapped animal, and his fangs sunk in.

"Aaaa," the moan cracked from his throat. Abduxuel drank, biting, fangs shredding skin and muscle and cracking bone until it moved unimpeded down his gullet.

His eyes rolled back in his skull even as he worked through the one in his mouth and then down, blood washing him in its heat to coat him in whatever he missed consuming.

Yes.

This pleasure, this destruction, this was what he needed to remind himself he existed as more than a formless ego of Gehenna.

Abduxuel would take everything the humans offered, their vessels were his in any way he chose.

He could have this, could take until his void swallowed the last slip of light.

Lucifer may have been first of them, but he would be the last.

A body shifted, foot kicking into his side, and Abduxuel cracked an eye open, his jaw followed in a yawn that exposed fangs he smacked his lips to, tasting the remains of whatever had wound up passing them the rest of the night.

The image his waking showed him was of a shifting mound of sleeping humans who he'd apparently ended his night amongst once he'd had his fill.

All in all–Abduxuel grinned and stretched, bones popping–a successful beginning to his excursion to the past.

There had been other nights like the one he'd just had. Some had stretched into days, a week of celebration to drown himself in, some in Assiah, some Gehenna.

Some, Samael had been a part of.

Remembering the flush of life he'd consumed sent him shivering and Abduxuel rubbed up to one of the humans curled at his side. He would have liked to have shared that with Samael.

His mind toyed with the image of feeding Samael, of playing with the captured creature in their grasp until they tore it to so many sheds and only they were left in the center. They'd done so before, and by Samael's own words, it had been a while since he'd indulged.

Perhaps…

Abduxuel felt power well beneath his skin with the urge to carry himself back to Samael and entice him into a familiar game.

But–no. He stopped, head falling back as he huffed a breath out.

He'd promised himself, and more than that, Samael had promised.

This time would be different. They were capable of change, despite what they'd so long believed.

There was also the fact that he knew Samael, and that meant he knew he would need time. He would need to sequester himself away and think about things, wasn't like Abduxuel, who would react first, think later.

It seemed he needed more distractions if he was thinking so much, himself, Abduxuel laughed, scraping claws through his mussed curls and staring at the ceiling.

"I may as well jump to it," he murmured as he rose, ignoring the tangle of limbs trying to keep him in place.

Leaving with a last flick of his gaze to the soon-forgotten room, Abduxuel began his true objective.

Communication was key, and he'd enjoy learning all the little intricacies that had developed in his absence. New inventions, foods, entertainment, it all made him giddy thinking about.

A play would be nice, the stories humans created always fascinating.

Just as fun would be to explore Gehenna, though, something Samael had never understood. He could revel in the sensation of the eternal, enjoy his kin to the fullest. Their own observations could be equally as fascinating as what he'd picked up on his own. A demon's perspective on the strangeness of Assiah and its change.

Later. Abduxuel pulled the key from the void and moved time and space again.

New language tumbled around him from a crowd on a sweltering street. He let his gaze travel over the various clothes the humans draped themselves with, light linens and bright colors, or next to nothing at all.

Utterly adorable!

The next game would be to see how quickly it would take him to pinpoint what the humans considered signs of wealth and luxury in this time period, then he would see what their pastimes had evolved into, and what had stayed the same.

He allowed himself to get swept up in the game. The challenge of playing with the language, mimicking all the little sounds and syllables, the different stresses humans placed on their words, even the dialects he knew existed and worked to parse.

Clothes soon replaced his, though he tucked the suit Samael had gifted him into the void where it would be safe first.

It was for the best as that very night he ruined the new outfit in salt and sand once he'd discovered some humans cavorting by the sea and joined them, too. Their language sang in his ears, each word they passed between them he ate up, happy to listen and mime his way to understanding as only a demon could.

They left him sated and with a few tokens offered that Abduxuel pocketed. He luxuriated in the pleasant ache, shaking it off in a full-body shiver before vanishing to another point of interest in the twist of a key.

More humans, some demons, even, and a growing collection of trinkets joined his horde with every added experience until he'd gorged himself on existence again.

One of the trinkets rolled between his fingers, a handcrafted pocket watch whose gears didn't quite work right and so ticked to an offbeat tune.

It was perfect for Samael.

Abduxuel stared at the glint of his eyes through the glass surface and frowned.

His hand twitched, key already in it, and, as if outside of his control, a door opened, inviting him in.

Was this falling into bad habits again? Their pre-defined roles they had been playing from the start? It didn't feel like it, didn't feel the same, but he hesitated.

The comforting void of their doorway continued to beckon him without mercy.

He wanted…

"Oh?" Green peered at him from the hunched form on the floor. "Have you finished? That was sooner than expected, love."

Love.

"Not quite," Abduxuel said to Samael from his position standing over him where he'd arrived through the door to his bedroom.

At the questioning hum, he smiled and produced the faulty pocket watch, pressing it to Samael's eagerly extended hand and fighting the shiver of pleasure at a gift accepted.

"I've discovered so many fascinating things," he said in one of the languages he'd collected, enjoying the curl of it off his tongue, then moved to another just as fun as he brought Samael up to speed.

Collapsing in a slump to Samael's side, he scanned the activity he'd been absorbed in, finding it to be one of the modern entertainments he'd learned about in the brief moments he'd been around. The electronically produced sounds trickled over themselves in the background and he ran his fingers in idle patterns to its rhythm along Samael.

It wasn't time, though. The claim between them glowed and Samael's chest rumbled in contentment against him, but Abduxuel forced himself to stand after a few precious moments together.

"I'll be gathering more souvenirs," he said, grinning, and hoped Samael knew what he meant by it. That he would return.

Was this what Rin Okumura wanted from them?

And more importantly, how much longer would Samael need to think?

He took himself away again, unable to understand how to fix the off-kilter way he'd been left by the questions pestering him whenever he had any amount of time without distractions.

When his eyes opened, it was to see more humans wandering in front of storefronts carrying the new entertainment Samael enjoyed.

"Something old, something new," he said, thinking back to the human saying he'd picked up somewhere along the line.

The saying drifted through his mind as he hummed an idle tune and worked on the language he was originally intending on picking up before he'd gotten distracted with other pleasures and tried to work out, what, specifically, Samael enjoyed about his newest fixation.

"Ah!" He blinked, staring at the screen while a helpful human walked him through one of the games. "I see why Samael likes these, now."

They allowed Samael to work through a human's thought process and see how closely he could mimic them, and, much like his own abilities as king of time, could replay them as often as desired to get the results he wanted. It was right up Samael's sleeves, after-all, he'd been indulging in those games as long as they had existed and would continue with every iteration as they evolved with the humans.

"Thank you!" Abduxuel said in a chirp to the human and departed with a wave.

What would be his way to spend the coming years, he wondered?

Discovering it was half the fun, naturally, and he'd seen several promising ways to entertain himself that he itched to delve into.

Well, besides picking apart the little gifts waiting for him in the present.

Those would come later once he'd satisfied a greater portion of his curiosity in the past.

He vanished and began the hunt for a distraction.

Time skipped in and out of focus, always on his peripherals as he traced patterns into the key he possessed and listened to the words flowing from the humans surrounding him in his newest location.

Each visit left him with oddities and trinkets he would return to share with Samael, and each brought delight from him or a little piece of knowledge about them Abduxuel listened to as much as he listened to Samael's voice.

Sometimes Samael smelled like his impossible being, sometimes Amaimon, always Abduxuel by the end of his visits.

Space–He, Abduxuel–was endless. Still, despite his nature and the nature of demons, he thought he'd come to the end of his waiting.

Just give him more time, then Abduxuel would see if Rin Okumura spoke the truth.

—5

An off-tune ticking took Samael from the animations on his screen. He stared at the pocket watch in his hand he'd been gifted by Abduxuel and didn't see it, consumed by the sound.

He could feel the threads of the timeline shifting in the eddies Abduxuel left in his wake, little changes that he wouldn't have to worry about, and it was only because he was paying attention to his movements that he tracked them at all.

There wasn't a need to watch his other half, not when they'd had millennia to work with and around each other. While Abduxuel could be as careless as the newest concept, he wouldn't be approaching any particular pawns of his.

And he'd avoided Lucifer.

The tight squeeze of his hands to the controller made it creak with a warning and he lessened the pressure, coming back to himself and his room.

For how long would Abduxuel forgo his meeting with Lucifer? He saw it happen a million different ways, each thread trailing into an abyss as he followed them further from the spawn point. That way was pointless to watch.

When he could spend an eternity unspooling threads, to get caught up in them would render him motionless. An observer to events instead of the puppeteer guiding them along. He may as well release his vessel and ego to go back to the nothingness of Gehenna where he worked as a blind force of nature.

Ridiculous thought.

Samael snorted and went back to his game. The pocket watch in his hand vanished to the perfect place in his room where he could hear its ticking if he listened hard enough.

His games were simple. When he pressed a button and selected his options, they had limited outcomes, and even the most complex games could be solved in their entirety, given time.

Sometimes, he liked to consider the thought process of the humans behind the games and why they had created what they had. The act of creation was beyond a demon, even if he had experienced something as reality-warping as the change brought on by Rin. It was the closest he could get, though, and pressing boundaries made existence interesting.

Reality was not so simple as his games.

And it was reality that waited for him outside his room, encroaching with every passing moment forward in the current timeline.

He wanted to move, but his fingers kept their hold on the controller and his gaze lingered over the screen. His own powers could have held him in place and they wouldn't have the same level of paralysis he currently experienced.

In the reality of his games, he had absolute control, but it wasn't something he could ever hope to achieve outside of those games. He could tug any number of strings and still never fully account for all of them.

Couldn't account for Abduxuel.

At any moment he could shift the timeline on its axis, follow an impulse to confront Lucifer, or discover Father. Lose a vessel or burn up in blue flame and be lost a second time.

Abduxuel could decide he was taking too long to think.

His fingers froze again.

A voice that sounded like Rin's spoke in the back of his mind.

'What's the big deal? Just turn the game off and get out of your house.'

Trite. And missing all the layers of threads binding him to his territory. Except it really wasn't, he knew. Only Rin would have the nerve to call him out about it, though.

Their unspoken hierarchy would keep Amaimon silent, even if Samael saw the words hiding behind his lips and even if they'd grown beyond most of those boundaries with the changes Rin had brought about. They were still unlearning old habits. He could ignore them and had done so many times, but he couldn't ignore Rin.

It felt like a regression and his fangs grit together as he released a self-directed growl. A stasis existed around his body that refused to leave as he thought about change and where he should go. What he should do.

Pride didn't hold him back, but in its absence, he wasn't sure what did.

Abduxuel waited for him, he knew he did, just like he knew everything else about his other half. Every facet he'd picked apart, collected, and displayed on the shelves of his mind so that he'd broken Abduxuel down to his core.

Except…

The key against his chest beneath his robe burned.

He hadn't known Abduxuel at all. Samael had missed that he wanted more and had changed. Who knew when the change had come and for how long before Abduxuel had recognized it in himself, let alone named it for what it was.

So, when he'd come and taken his key back from Samael and made it clear he'd missed more and had from the very beginning…

What else had he missed?

All the time in the world meant nothing when he'd been blind for most of it.

'It's probably a taste of your own medicine, huh, Mephisto?' Rin's voice teased again.

Laughter huffed from his lungs and Samael set the controller to the floor. The tension squeezing his ribs released along with the stasis holding him like a gravity well in place.

Rin was, once again, completely correct.

This uncertainty was something he'd existed without for so long he'd forgotten the taste, or more accurately, never really known it to begin with.

It had been pride after all. Amaimon would be scoffing at him.

"It's time I stop letting pride hold me back, hm?" Samael said with a smile that showed the tips of his fangs as he rose.

His fingers caressed the key at his chest before taking it and setting it to the doors of his room.

A gentle void greeted his eyes that would take him to Abduxuel, and he gladly went.

Gehenna invited him into its familiar arms.

Abduxuel breathed the dead air and ozone scent of the ever-present energy coursing through it before continuing towards his destination.

His territory opened its doors and he drifted through them, noticing the few of his kin nearby bow and chitter amongst themselves from the deep shadows. They weren't the ones he was interested in seeing, anyway.

Only one in particular.

"Twice in such short a time? Has Assiah soured for you already, my king?"

Ah, there she was. He smiled and turned to the figure of Chang'e where she greeted him with one that hinted at mirth beneath its politeness.

"And here I thought my own kin would miss my presence," he widened his smile and leaned against a nearby pillar. "Did everyone grow into a stick in the mud while I was gone, or just you?"

"You wound me, my king." Chang'e feigned heartbreak all without changing expression, though her eyes flashed as they continued, falling into step behind him when he moved on.

"You'll become your nephew if you keep that up," he added, thinking on the eternally dour golden hare who had stolen the show the last time Abduxuel had been in Gehenna. Well, as much of the show as he could while the creature known as Rin was there accepting lesser claims and demanding attention with his presence.

His kin were few and far between, and most were beneath his notice–all, really–but, much like he enjoyed playing with humans, his kin were usually at least as entertaining.

"Of course, my king, I'm sure he'll be thrilled," Chang'e demurred, a grin showing through the curl of her hair.

To have one less demon menacing him into leaving his duties would only be considered a blessing to dear Konzen. Not that it would ever happen, given Chang'e's general disposition.

It was good to see that even in the two-hundred years his territory had laid barren and quiet while under Samael's timeless care his kin hadn't completely changed on him–as much as demons could.

"I'm in need of a distraction," Abduxuel said to skip subjects. His skin itched with energy and his tail twitched beneath his layers. He wasn't sure where to step now, not after he'd performed his piece and hadn't felt the reciprocated moves of a partner mirroring him in turn.

"I'll put Konzen to work summoning everyone," Chang'e said, already bowing and snagging one of the many moon rabbits who darted around his territory to send it on as a messenger.

Good.

Right then, more than anything, he needed overwhelming sounds and sights and sensations to drown out every thought trying to breach above the turbulence.

What he needed was a party.

One he could flit around and pick at the gossip until he found something entertaining enough to forget the things hounding him in the back of his mind.

"My king," the hesitation from Chang'e stalled him from thinking about how he would be carefully and quickly wiping every one of his vessel's higher brain functions free in the next several hours.

"Should we plan for more unexpected guests?" Her voice came out smooth, but he could see the fine tension tremors she couldn't hide and his grin bared teeth in response.

"Plan for anything and everything, I am not my brothers' keeper," he slashed his claws in a careless motion, ignoring the urge to grit his fangs until they turned to dust in his mouth and continuing to where he knew he could find his pre-game distraction–a handful of distractions, actually.

"Lucifer himself could grace us with his light!" he called behind him, something ugly curling in his gut and through the cracks of his skin.

The darkness in his domain ate at his steps, swallowing them almost before he'd made them, and Chang'e slipped away now that her presence wasn't necessary.

They would talk later. Everything would be for later.

More importantly, he was going to find his distractions!

Abduxuel vanished and appeared further into his territory. His hand found a door and yanked it open, letting a laugh escape him at the panic it caused the occupants. Their shouts echoed in the comfortable space before they cut off.

Sitting, he tapped a claw to the table and watched the attention in the room narrow on the sound.

"Gentlemen, how about dealing me into this game, hm?" His words purred in the silence.

Red strands of hair fell across the stunned eyes blinking at him before a harsh elbow to the side from his companion jerked him from his stupor.

"You're back–er, sir," Kenren blurted, though his hands shuffled the deck on automatic and set to dealing.

"Yes," Abduxuel said in a bright chirp as he snapped and brought out a bottle of the lovely green drink Samael had known would be his favorite. "I am back, and I'll be showing up when you least expect it to take you for everything you're worth."

A polite smile graced him from the other demon in the room. Tenpou hadn't lost his charm. "Oh, this degenerate kappa isn't worth much, sir, I'm afraid you'll be left nearly empty-handed."

"Ass," came the low growl in response while Abduxuel snickered.

"I see you've both gotten new vessels in the centuries I've been gone." The cards flashed between them, Abduxuel scanning over the features of the two minor lords who nonetheless were good for abating his boredom.

His statement brought a stutter of their hearts he picked up, though they smoothed over and the pause never made it to their faces.

"Ah yes, sir," came the polite deflection. "The last centuries have been surprising, to say the least."

That was an understatement. Abduxuel laughed and enjoyed the subtle flinches from his playmates. His gaze slid over the hand he'd drawn and he hid a huff of breath, idly wondering if he should change a few cards around, maybe introduce some cards into the pile that hadn't been there before.

The fun of cheating wasn't necessarily how he would do it, but what the most outrageous method he could get away with before another noticed was.

Cards exchanged hands and he beamed at the grumbling his victory brought out before changing things again beneath their notice.

Abduxuel shuffled the deck in sure movements, letting his mind wander as the game passed him by in groans of dismay over lost hands and moments where the tide seemed to turn in their favor. His thoughts drifted until they went to a night of cards and company not so long ago and his hands slowed. He flicked his gaze to the cards and frowned, taking another drink from the bottle he'd brought and feeling it sour in his gut.

These companions were generous, and he could enjoy them for a while.

But they weren't enough.

He had to leave; his thoughts were catching up too quickly.

"It's been lovely, dears, now why don't you join me for the next bit of fun?" he said as he bowed over their forms, tossing his arms around them to pull them close as he nuzzled to their cheeks. The way they stiffened before relaxing into his claim cheered him enough that he was able to arrive in the massive ballroom where the sound of a party enveloped his body in its embrace in a much better mood.

Chang'e had gotten things ready for him nicely.

Already, she stood amongst various attendants up near the throne and accepted their fawning.

Good, he would join her shortly.

For now, he had two demons who'd lost at cards and owed him a dance.

The last of the absinthe drained down his throat and he savored the heady flavor before whirling to pull his darling kappa to his body and plunge his tongue past sharp teeth until he tasted blood. It stained their lips as they moved together and Abduxuel bit deeper, releasing a pleased hum that barely made it over the music vibrating his limbs, leaving him buzzed on more than the alcohol and blood lust in his veins.

"My king," Kenren growled against him, voice a rasp as he gave himself over to their dance.

Fingers traveled their way down his spine, just missing his tail where it coiled a deadly noose and Tenpou joined them, letting claws catch in their next pass over Abduxuel.

"Actually letting loose for once, buzz killer?" Kenren called over the music. It earned him a catch of vicious claws into his hands from Tenpou that in turn dug into Abduxuel while he arched into the sweet touch.

Yes, just a little more. He needed more.

"Let's take this up a notch, hm?" he breathed into parted lips as he brought his hands to cup the throat before him and bared it to his fangs.

They sank in, Abduxuel releasing a moan lost beneath the cry he tore free, grinding closer and accepting the hips pressing in behind him, the soft breath in his ear from Tenpou at the sight Kenren made encouraging him further.

"You'll have your chance," he said, the promise guttural and in the rasping tones of Gehenna. Whether at Kenren's body or his own, Tenpou would enjoy both, and he could be generous when he was getting his way.

Fangs nipped and bit, bringing blood to spread over him until his clothes stuck to his rapidly heating skin. A tongue followed the trails down the part of his shirt and Kenren bit deeper.

That had nicked bone, Abduxuel realized with his own cry of pleasure. He pressed Kenren closer, felt claws rake over his shoulders, down his flanks, and dig into his hips to bring Tenpou in.

His clothes were more of a nuisance now, so Abduxuel reached and tore the shreds of his shirt to let it drop, forgotten.

"Ah-h!" Two gasps erupted and he laughed, letting his tail from the coil around his waist and teasing with the deadly spines at the end that could paralyze anything he happened to sting them with.

A taunt in every sense of the word. But these partners wouldn't be bold enough to take the temptation he presented, not when their survival wasn't guaranteed.

"Come." He spread his hands and enticed them back into his dance.

Only so few could hope to risk his mercurial nature, even if he could see the way his actions put desire in the surrounding faces in the crowd.

Watch, want, but that would be all they did.

Not like Sa–stop. His claws ripped more screams free, Kenren shuddering at the pain of organs sliced beneath his unforgiving touch. His sightless eyes stared up, pupils dilated and mouth gaping. He'd hardened, Abduxuel grinding their bodies together as heat tightened his stomach, molten and pooling lower, tears having joined the blood he lapped away from the trembling face.

"I've decided red suits you, Kenren," Abduxuel said between gasps. His claws twisted in the red strands to bring him into a kiss, tongue delving to steal whatever response he might have gotten.

His tail wound to the body behind his, Abduxuel grinning at the stutter of hips as Tenpou just missed being pierced.

A long groan muffled between his shoulders, Tenpou clinging to him and shaking, forced into step by Abduxuel's continued movements as he came.

"So soon?" he crooned, tail tightening and jolting Tenpou in place. "You did miss me."

An ache built in him that had nothing to do with the pleasure he took from his kin. His tail tightened further. It searched for something, and his steps led, but his partners couldn't quite keep up the pace.

The tether he willfully wore wasn't threadbare, but it felt stretched regardless.

Stop. Abduxuel snarled and jerked his hips until the tension in his gut snapped and he groaned into the throat bared for him, fangs biting down to meet in a clack as he swallowed the mouthful he'd taken.

"Ah," he released a long sigh and let his head tilt back, uncaring of the gazes he could feel boring into the vulnerability as he lost himself to the high, hips rolling in languid motions.

Kenren panted, collapsed and twitching in his grasp. He couldn't seem to move beyond the automatic reactions, throat healing so much slower than a king.

"Thank you for the evening, gentlemen," Abduxuel purred, not that he thought they could hear, but he'd finished with them, and it was time for him to enjoy other pleasures.

He deposited the two recovering demons off to the side with a pat to their heads where they leaned together before vanishing to the throne.

"Satiated, my king?" Chang'e said from his side.

"Mmn, the night is only just beginning," he said as he fell to his seat and rolled his body in a long stretch. "I have to forget why I'm here, still."

His tail flicked, spines clacking to the dark marble. The surface cooled his heated skin, but he didn't want to lose the heat just then.

Snapping brought a collection of goodies he'd discovered in Assiah that would help him lose his mind just that little bit more that he needed to truly be satisfied.

"The humans really do come up with the most entertaining things," he sighed as the various concoctions mixed into a whirling kaleidoscope that would have killed the same humans who had created them and giggled at his body trying to save itself from death.

If he couldn't have what he really wanted, then the next best thing was to chase destruction and dance as close as he could without slipping.

Samael. His mind conjured a figure in the crowd he would recognize even with every sense stricken from his vessel. He watched it waver, an apparition for him to see but never meet.

It seemed he would be waiting as long as Samael willed it. Again.

Demons could only fight their nature so much, whatever Rin Okumura tried to say otherwise.

"Mercy, my king. It will come to you," Chang'e, merciful goddess that she was, promised. Abduxuel heard it through a cotton candy cloud, and his eyes tracked the smoke curling overhead like he could see the future in its eddies.

Where he'd held the key made for Samael burned a phantom pain he quickly covered with whatever he pulled from his stash next. Those little humans had told him, but he'd been too enamored with discovering the new to pay attention to their words. The effect was all that mattered in the end. Already, it seared through his vessel and sent him slumping to the seat he barely felt through the numbness.

In the scheme of things, it wasn't such a long time. He'd said as much to Rin Okumura. But he'd been waiting for what felt like his entire existence, and Abduxuel was so very tired.

Mostly, he just wanted…

A clicking lock sounded through the music followed by the gong of a clock.

Abduxuel's heart clenched, and his head jerked up to see a set of doors at the base of his steps that hadn't been there before.

Everything became crystal clear all of a sudden, the swirling crowds in the room coming to a complete standstill as the doors opened to reveal a figure dressed in white, shining amongst the gloom.

Between one step and the next, Samael appeared before his throne, kneeling with his hand outstretched to take the one Abduxuel had left lax in disbelief. His cloak settled around his body, rumpled on the floor as he pressed his lips to the blood staining Abduxuel's knuckles, lingering there.

When he lifted his head, hair shifting in familiar purple strands he'd recognize anywhere, it restarted Abduxuel's heart in a single, hard thud to his chest. Like coming up for air, the green of Samael's eyes brought him forward in a slow movement, unable to turn away from the apparition made real.

"I thought there might be an invitation with my name on it to this party," Samael murmured, grin sly against his skin and gaze shuttered. In his opposite hand, he held a key.

"Always," Abduxuel rasped out. "For you, always."

He hauled Samael forward and onto his lap in the next impulse, blood racing in his veins and mind consumed with the knowledge that Samael had stopped his contemplation and met him halfway. Deliberately. He'd chosen deliberately to come to him this time.

His lips pressed hard to the hand Samael held his key in, eyes closing to take in the scent he'd been missing with a deep inhale.

"I see you've already warmed yourself up," Samael purred against him as the key vanished so he could trail a hand over drying blood where it had sluiced down Abduxuel's skin.

"Yes," Abduxuel said with a lopsided grin, "I believe they call it 'pre-gaming' nowadays."

"You should say that around Rin," Samael said in a cackle. "He gives the most delightful reactions when he hears us use modern slang."

Wonderful, he could picture the reaction now. Abduxuel joined him in his mirth, the drugs in his system making everything twice as funny. Except he thought he might be truly happy for the first time since his formation, so he let the joy sweep through him in a wave.

"Mmn, dance with me," he said with a rumble, hips rolling in a tease to the ones above his.

Dance. Play. Fuck. He wanted it all.

Whatever order it happened to come in or all at once, he wasn't particular.

All that mattered was his other half above him, smiling and nearly glowing in his mind's eye with their claim.

It let every watching demon know who Samael belonged to, who belonged to Samael. He purred against the skin of Samael's wrist, tongue skimming lightly over the pulse there before he gave into his desire and pressed his fangs past the slight resistance.

Samael sighed his pleasure above him, wrist pushing into Abduxuel's mouth until the blood welled past his lips to trail down his throat.

"What treats do you have for me, love?" The words curled from Samael's mouth like smoke, heady to his senses as Abduxuel offered up what he'd collected for his choosing.

Soon, Samael joined him in his haze, idly trailing kisses that stung with the hint of fangs over every piece he could reach of Abduxuel as they both luxuriated in the sensations running between them and through their senses.

This was what he'd needed. This moment where he no longer questioned things or his place alongside Samael.

"Thank you," he murmured at one point his mind no longer distinguished from the next. Abduxuel may not have even spoken aloud at all.

He'd taken to rocking his hips to Samael's, watching through half-lidded eyes to see the way he looked every time they met.

"You said you wanted a dance," Samael said and took his hand to pull him from the throne.

They moved as one, Abduxuel's feet finding the places in step with Samael as the crowds parted for them, inconsequential as anything other than background noise. When their bodies met, Abduxuel forgot even that small distraction, his entire universe narrowing down to all the points where they connected.

Some small part of his mind that had quieted with Samael's arrival and Rin Okumura's insistence voiced itself, that they hadn't been closer since their inception, and since his death.

But he would take their current state over either of those two options. He would fall into Samael's embrace and feel the way their aspects touched on the non-physical plane and know he had everything he could ever want.

Abduxuel whirled Samael out, then pulled him back in and was content for the first time in existence.

Abduxuel opened his eyes and groaned.

"Why is it so bright in here?" he slurred the question out.

Light came through the floor to ceiling windows of Samael's bedroom and sent Abduxuel shoving his face into the depths of the many pillows on his bed.

"I didn't realize we were inviting Lucifer into bed this morning," he said, muffled through the pillow he refused to lift his head from.

"Come, come, we have a big day today," Samael called from his place not in bed with Abduxuel, clearly already wide awake and not intending to let him sleep further.

"Your human games shouldn't mean I have to suffer," he said in a grumble.

His knees curled to his chest as Abduxuel tightened the blankets around himself only to yelp as they vanished from his grip.

"Damn you," he hissed and snapped his eyes open to glare at the chipper smile beaming down at him from overhead.

A finger wagged at his complaint, Samael tutting. "Now, don't act like that, love. You've got so much to learn if you're going to pull off your leading role in the next game."

Next game. Leading role. What had he agreed to again?

Abduxuel thought about it for a moment before it hit him and a smile slipped along his expression, body going lax as he gave a languid stretch.

"Oh yes," he purred out, "that little game."

The one he had been turning over in his mind the moment Samael had suggested it.

Waking up wasn't such a chore, all of a sudden.

He gave a last stretch that popped several joints and rolled from the bed. His claws pressed to the carpet when he flexed them before padding towards Samael and brushing up along him on his way by.

"What have you got for me to entertain myself with this morning?" he said in a playful rumble. After all, if Samael was going to wake him up early, then he would have to be responsible for keeping him entertained.

"First, breakfast!" Samael snapped and brought out paper bags filled with something delightfully salty he could smell hiding within. "And then we can go over your interview for the position you'll be filling."

"All business, no play, I see," he laughed, accepting his bag and tearing into it to see what Samael had procured them. "Is this a sandwich?"

"A hamburger, from a charming little place that's taken over the world now," Samael said as he worked his way through the fries that had come with it. "I like to get the children's meals because they come with toys in them. They're very collectible."

They'd sat at one of the tables on the balcony outside, and Abduxuel removed the toy from his own bag, eyeing down the cheap plastic creation and setting it on the table next to Samael's. "So that's the source of the ones lining your bathtub."

He would have to keep the figurines in mind when he next went out.

"Amongst several other collections of them, yes." Samael hummed his pleasure, looking as happy as he ever had about the things he hoarded.

Abduxuel watched the sun crest over Samael's territory to light up his face. It was warm, this time, and he drank in the moment like it would last forever.

Then he began planning how he would introduce a little fun into Samael's perfectly crafted games.

"Come, love," he said and hid a smile behind the paper coffee cup, "let's begin those lessons of yours now."

Those were the magic words, so to speak.

Samael dipped the fry he had into his milkshake and hid a shiver of anticipation.

From the moment he'd come up with the idea, he'd had to fight to keep it contained. Of course, it had hinged on how Abduxuel would respond to Rin's intrusion on his territory, but that hurdle had finally been crossed, and his plans could now be fully realized.

"No time like the present," he said and removed them to one of the empty classrooms at the academy.

"This is your stage, then?" Abduxuel looked around as he emptied his own fries into his mouth. "I see you've spared no expense for your students."

For the lovely students who paid for their tuition, at least. Samael thought about the other cram classroom where Abduxuel would also be teaching and smiled at recalling Rin's reaction to it upon first sight.

That room would still offer them some options he didn't doubt Abduxuel would be able to take full advantage of. The lack of good air circulation one of those options.

"Now, we need to look the parts," he continued. Another snap of his fingers dressed them in the costumes they'd be donning for the evening.

A sweater and slacks went over his frame, the uniform of his illustrious school. And for Abduxuel…

"My, you look divine in that," Samael purred in a mimicry of the words he'd had turned on him that moment in a pocket of Gehenna, letting his gaze rove over the figure Abduxuel made in his costume.

The blue vest complemented his hair, with glasses to enhance his aquiline features and draw attention to his eyes. And he'd measured correctly on the pants, watching as Abduxuel turned to let him get an eyeful.

Yes, it would do perfectly.

"Good," Abduxuel said, his own purr on his tongue. "But far too stuffy, as usual, Samael."

Samael sniffed, crossing his arms. "A careful presentation is key to the game."

"Yes," Abduxuel agreed. He prowled forward then, head bowed as his hands went to the buttons of his sleeves. "But this seduction is going to need to be a little more heavy handed."

Well, considering who their target was, he had a point, Samael accepted.

"I'll be slipping some layers if I'm going to make any ground with your impossible being," Abduxuel murmured as he sat on the side of the desk Samael was at. He'd rolled his sleeves up, fingers moving to rid himself of the two upper buttons of his vest and the shirt beneath it, and leaned in.

"Sorry," Samael chirped as he stopped Abduxuel's advance with a finger to his lips. "You're going to have to work for this role, I won't have a subpar professor overseeing my darling students."

"Wretch," Abduxuel huffed as he sat back again.

"Now, the notes of the instructor who you'll be replacing. Read them." He directed with a wave of his hand to the desk at the front of the room where the papers had appeared.

Books stacked themselves beside the papers, next, taking up most of the room. Samael smiled at the expression Abduxuel turned to him and tapped a claw to the only free surface in front of him left in the room.

"Well, professor? You've got two-hundred years of demonic history to peruse. Best get to it if you want to get to the practical lessons before the night ends."

"You're a sadist, love," Abduxuel said as he sent a mock pout his way before grabbing the first of the papers and beginning to skim. Luckily, he had the advantage of their natural abilities to soak in information like a computer. That wouldn't be the difficulty.

Not that Abduxuel would have any real difficulties, except in the way it took to clue Rin into what game was being played in the first place. Nothing more than a communication barrier, really.

Samael took his game system out to idle time, humming to himself and propping his feet on the nearby desk.

It passed in a shifting of pages and Abduxuel pacing the room, unable to keep still for too long until, at one point or another, the shifting stalled, and the steps began to stride his way in a deliberate way that had his ears twitching as he registered the change.

"What's this? A student playing games?" Abduxuel said as he bowed over Samael's shoulder and traced a clawed finger to the edge of the handheld system. "I'm about to start my lecture, so games must be tucked away until the end of class."

Ah, so he'd finished and was ready for his debut. Samael smiled, slipping into his own role with a shiver he contained for the moment. There would be time for it soon.

"Please, professor, I'm your attentive student," he said as he brushed their cheeks together in a light nudge. Of course, whether Rin would be as attentive remained to be seen and would all depend on Abduxuel's ability to wind him up.

The system in his hands vanished as he leaned back in his seat, feeling the heat from Abduxuel along his spine for a moment before he hummed and pulled away. One of the books appeared in his hands and Abduxuel adjusted his glasses, making a show of scanning what he'd already read.

His gaze tracked the path Abduxuel paced around the room, now cleared of books and appearing like it would during the day.

"Good morning, dear students," he said, "I am…"

"Adriel Faust V," Samael helpfully supplied.

Abduxuel snorted, grin wry as he recognized the familiar name. "Yes, Adriel Faust V."

"Now, where were we," he murmured as he stalked the room again and began his lecture. Samael noted the deliberate way he circled, knew by his own body's reactions that Rin's hackles would be raised, on edge for reasons he wouldn't register.

"Touch me," he said, head tilted to eye Abduxuel beneath his bangs and picturing how Rin would stiffen, fight not to show his fangs in a class full of humans. And it was as Abduxuel had said, this target would need a heavy hand.

Light humming answered him, though Abduxuel didn't interrupt his lecture or pacing until he'd stepped to the side of his desk and bent to retrieve some papers that hadn't been there before. Samael cocked his head, enjoying the view and considering how they might end their play for the night.

"Please, take these and study them closely." Abduxuel set the papers with the riveting material he'd been discussing in front of Samael and left with his claws trailing to the sensitive skin of Samael's palm no one would see but which Rin would definitely feel.

Another motion brought a thin switch to Abduxuel's hand. He smiled, bright and at odds with the way he flicked it back and forth in a metronome Samael tracked.

Instead of turning to face it when Abduxuel neared, Samael let his fingers flip the pages in front of him, though he caught the switch in his peripherals, watched it as it vanished to his blind spot.

"I could just skip to the festivities," Abduxuel said from where he stood as an imposing shadow at his back.

"But we both know it will be more fun to get him a little heated, first," Samael finished in a murmur. He could picture Rin, instincts riled until nothing but the urge to dominate filled him and a shiver went through his body.

"By your shaking," the switch trailed up his spine, "I'll be doing everything I can to bring Rin to that point."

Oh yes, yes he would. Samael shifted as the hard edge of the switch made it to his throat. Rin wouldn't make it easy, still wrapped in the gauze of humanity, though so many layers had been stripped away by his trip to Gehenna.

Abduxuel might just push too far.

"Have you been paying attention to my lecture?" Abduxuel tapped at his throat, a warning and reminder wrapped in one.

His head tilted as the switch slid over his pulse to his jaw, though humor covered the way his heart fluttered to see the hunger his bared throat put in Abduxuel's eyes as he responded.

"This will certainly make class interesting." And most certainly wouldn't be a part of Abduxuel's, at least, not unless he began more private lessons.

"You may have to do some after school lectures," he said, fighting the urge to press into the path Abduxuel made down his chest with the switch.

It traced over his belly, the coils of his tail, and along the inseam of his pants as Samael hid the tension every deliberate avoidance of his hardening length worsened until electricity sang along his taut nerves.

"And," Abduxuel said with a hiss echoing his words, "what should I do with a student who won't listen?"

Oh, yes, what should he do with Samael?

"Corporal punishment is no longer allowed in academic spaces, you'll have to get creative," he said, breaths forcibly controlled even when he wanted to pant at the light press of the head of the switch to his length.

Abduxuel ran it in repetitive lines, teasing, but never giving him the pressure he wanted.

"What about corporal reward?"

The switch stung at his inner thigh and Samael gasped, fingers tightening on the papers but smoothing quickly after as Abduxuel returned to his light pressure.

"Keep listening, this is important information, dear student," Abduxuel said, then gave another stinging impact of the switch to Samael's thigh when he noticed his eyes closed.

"Please turn your page and we'll begin the next section." Another page, another impact, and Samael knew his skin would be reddened and raised in vicious welts if he looked. A cross-hatched pattern of lines throbbing where they lay.

His legs spread and spine arched to try gaining even a hint more friction, failing as all he could do was grind against the switch Abduxuel controlled and the fabric straining across his length. Neither of which were enough.

"Good boy," Abduxuel said in a faintly mocking croon after Samael answered a question correctly.

White noise built in his skull as Abduxuel laid several stinging blows to him, each as painful as the last with Samael's healing keeping his skin fresh and unblemished. He thought about it, and stopped the process, increasingly wanting the numbness to spread until the heat that came with it burned through his nerves and left him lightheaded.

He panted, nostrils flaring at Abduxuel's scent and the way his aspect flooded the room, a darkness creeping in from the edges until Samael shook at the chill that warred with the fire from his body.

"Oh," Abduxuel tutted, leaning over and ignoring the way Samael tried to catch his lips, or any piece of him he could sink his fangs into. "You've ruined that no-doubt expensive uniform of yours with how much you're leaking onto it."

"Mmn, yes, please, let me–" Samael spread his legs further, hips tilted to show where pre-cum made a growing patch on his pants he still hadn't undone. The pressure had long reached past the point of pain, each unbidden motion brought on by the next impact sending his hips twitching and Samael shuddering with the way his length pressed to the unforgiving fabric trapping it.

"We still have to cover one more section," Abduxuel said, his expression of faint remorse doing nothing to cover the brightness of his eyes and the way his fangs extended to wedges.

"Will you do that for me, love?"

Samael moaned, knees pressing together as he tried to release the ache in his gut, only deepening it while he blearily focused on beginning the last section.

"Ah!" The switch stung at his tail next and Samael choked on a scream, spasming in his seat and head snapping back at a harsh angle. He gaped, having been part-way through his readings as speech failed him while his tail flinched and contracted to escape the agony racing through it.

"So close. You can do this last piece for me, can't you?" Abduxuel's voice reached him through the haze and Samael whimpered, tongue thick in his mouth behind his fangs he'd grit.

"Go on, let me hear you," Abduxuel whispered into his ear while he stumbled through the words, gentle, despite the warning caress of the switch to Samael's quivering tail.

"Come for me, Samael, love."

Come. Samael fell forward to clutch at the desk, a rain of blows to the sensitive coils of his tail ripping cries from his throat until his voice went raw and he came, mind gone and blissed out as pain mixed with pleasure in a whirlwind.

"Exemplary work, now I think it's my turn for my reward." The words failed to make sense, the clawed hand tugging him up by his hair even less.

Then he cracked an eye filled with tears to see the head of Abduxuel's length before it pressed at his spit-slicked lips and he opened to take him in.

He gagged, unable to breathe normally after coming so soon but forced to swallow as Abduxuel pushed him further onto his length with a satisfied groan.

Hips thrust in short jerks, not giving Samael time to adjust and bringing more tears to his eyes as he scrabbled at Abduxuel for purchase. His claws found the fabric at his middle clinging there while Abduxuel moaned his pleasure and increased the pace.

"Good, so good for me." The litany of praises filled Samael's ears, his own moan vibrating around the hot length in his mouth, tasting pre-come and pulling himself closer to gain some control

Abduxuel didn't let him have it, his other hand going to his jaw to press there, pain blinding him while he had no choice but to take the punishment and the intrusion obstructing his breathing.

"Mmn!" Abduxuel grunted and came in a rush. He shoved Samael to his belly, holding as he worked through his climax that lasted several endless moments where Samael fought black spots in his vision.

"Ah," the satisfied sigh of pleasure left Abduxuel, even then incapable of being silent for long.

He pulled out and Samael could breathe again, though his throat twitched and spasmed breathlessly until his vessel remembered how to function.

Ragged panting was the only sound in the room as Samael fell to rest his cheek to Abduxuel's leg where he'd sat on the desk, framing Samael with them while he waited.

"Got your mind back?" Abduxuel said when the last shuddering breath relaxed and Samael nuzzled into his lap with a purr.

Claws soothed over his sweat-drenched and flushed cheeks Samael turned up to the touch. A smile tugged at his lips, contentment running through his limbs he'd let hang loosely where they draped to Abduxuel.

"Yes," Samael said in a low rumble. He stretched, winding his limbs around Abduxuel's waist to nestle there. "But there are several things we'll need to tweak about your performance so we can better cater to Rin."

"I'm perfectly fine practicing until I get it right. How long do you have?" Abduxuel said, grinning with intent and claws tugging through the strands of his hair as he put Samael back into order.

Samael had as long as he needed to get his fill of his other half, and if that were the case they'd never leave the room. Not something practical to their reality, tragically.

He pulled away with a last deep inhale to Abduxuel and crooked a claw under his vest. "Why don't you unbutton this for me and see what little gift I've left you."

Interest flashed in Abduxuel's eyes as he did as asked, a delighted smile scrawling onto this face the moment he saw Samael's gift. "Oh, you devil, this is almost cruel. Are you sure you're not targeting Amaimon?"

Well, there was the saying about birds and stones, and Samael was always one to take advantage of any situation.

The tail showed beneath thin fabric that barely did the most basic level of hiding it from view. They could both see the outline of it where it coiled, and a testing flick showed it move, a tease at the shape and color of it he knew would have two particular miscreants at immediate attention.

"Yes, how forgetful of me," he chirped, smile wide and baring fangs up into the matching one. "I'll just have to beg Amaimon's forgiveness later."

"Oh, we can practice your begging," Abduxuel said, toying with the switch. "I didn't hear nearly enough contriteness in your screams. I think you haven't learned your lesson."

"I wouldn't want to disappoint Amaimon if I'm not earnest enough."

No, they wouldn't want that.

"I think if you can show me you're an exemplary professor," Samael said as he caught the switch between his fingers, grinning to hint at future games, "then I will allow you to take all your new students on a little trip where you'll have Rin at your full mercy."

Abduxuel perked up, "I always wanted to lead an expedition."

Their banter passed between them as easily at it ever had, and Samael could have been in any number of scenes they'd had similar words over their long history together. Except this time, they'd shucked the lingering unsaid things that had followed them since their inception and colored every interaction.

They'd learned to communicate, as Rin so often stressed.

And, finally, finally, they'd clicked back into place.

His newest toy was an utter delight. Abduxuel contained a wiggle at thinking about the surprisingly fun addition he'd discovered amongst the faculty and the games they could play.

Lewin was a reckless worm with utter disregard for his life and the usual way humans interacted with demons, which made him fascinating to play with.

Even more, it made him the perfect tool in his arsenal for the upcoming field trip to strip Rin Okumura of every last one of his human inhibitions until he savaged Abduxuel like he wanted.

"You look like you're about to drool, haha." The voice that came from the now open door had him beaming as he flounced inside and draped himself over the absolute mess of a table like he belonged amongst the trash there.

"Yes, I'm picturing the treat I'm about to gorge myself on," he said to Lewin's equally as sunny grin.

"If you'd like to be a part of it, I may have room for you, too." Abduxuel picked at some stain or another that glued several important looking papers together in a mock-absent touch as he waited.

"Just me? Or are there others invited to this shindig?" Lewin peered down at him as he shut the door. His gaze was penetrating beneath the scruff of his hair and would have been unsettling for anyone who wasn't Abduxuel to see.

"Hmm just a small group, more, if you take me up on my invitation."

He rolled to his stomach, crinkling more papers as he tugged at the fringe of Lewin's jacket to bring him closer. "What do you say to a joint field trip between a certain cram class of yours and my own class from the academy?"

Breath exhaled from Lewin's mouth, eyes widening as he put two-and-two together as quickly as Abduxuel expected from a man of his caliber. "You mean you want to take Rin Okumura's class and the exwires out together?"

"Yes," Abduxuel hissed in pleasure. "It'll be a fun little excursion in the woods."

Fun for him, specifically. But Lewin would no doubt enjoy himself immensely if things played out as planned.

"Oh man, you really like playing with fire, huh?" Lewin said, and Abduxuel could see the way he shivered, excitement making his pupils contract as he considered the proposed scenario.

"I love playing with fire." Abduxuel amended, wearing a widening smile that showed every one of his fangs on full display.

"Ah, you know, as an arc knight and exorcist first class," Lewin said with a light laugh and gaze focused in on the sight Abduxuel made. "I should really be there to supervise this and make sure things stay safe for any humans present."

"Surely," Abduxuel agreed with a sober nod. His eyes danced with mirth as Lewin slipped closer to the abyss, moving into biting distance without a hint that he was put off.

"And you're such an unknown factor," Lewin continued, setting his knee to the table as he leaned in. "We just don't know how you'll react to the Satan spawn outside of the boundaries of the school."

"Someone has to keep a close watch on me," Abduxuel said and pulled Lewin fully on top of him where he sprawled.

Very close. Perhaps sleeping in the same tent close. He would never object to such terms when he had to be on his best behavior for Samael, as he'd promised.

It seemed they were of one mind on the trip. Abduxuel moved from business to pleasure.

This was all Mephisto's fault. Rin knew it with a bone-deep certainty somehow as he stared up into the grinning expression Abduxuel wore bearing down on their class that morning.

"Good morning, dear students," he chirped, dressed in another outfit that looked effortlessly rumpled. "Today is the day we all go on a field trip as a reward for being so good during these unprecedented times."

Excitement met his words from the rest of the regular class, the ones who'd quickly grown besotted with Abduxuel in the time he'd taken over from Professor Adachi for their history class.

And, to make matters infinitely worse…

"And I'll be here to help supervise," Lewin added with a bright baring of teeth Rin half-expected to be fangs.

Rin swore he saw both pairs of eyes set on him and shivered, stepping closer to Amaimon where he stood ignoring everything around him to gnaw on a sucker.

"They're up to something," he said, fighting a whimper as they began preparations to leave, making sure waivers had been signed, they had all their equipment, and everyone had made it who was going to go.

"Who cares." Amaimon shrugged. "Just stop them if they get annoying."

He was right, as usual. Rin sighed and resigned himself to waiting for the trap to spring.

"I can't believe we're getting stuck going out in the forest again with demons," Shima did whimper from his position next to Bon and the other exwires brought by Lewin. They'd come as part of a joint excursion for both their classes. Something Rin would have been thrilled about if it had been any other professors leading things.

"We'll be fine, what's the worst that can happen?" Koneko said, though the way he smiled at Shima's cry that he was jinxing things by saying that only made Rin think he'd been teasing.

"I think it'll be a lot of fun!" Shiemi piped up. She held Kuro in her arms, the cait sidhe wanting to come too so he didn't miss out. "We're not on a mission this time, so we can just relax."

A snort from Izumo said how well she thought things would go. Rin was hesitant to agree with her, but only because he wanted Shiemi to be right in this particular case.

"Can we please just get this over with before my migraine gets any worse," Bon groaned, and Rin could already see the tension building in his forehead where he rubbed.

"Alright!" Abduxuel said with a clap of his hands that drew attention to where he raised a key held between his fingers. "Let's all head through this door, please. Single file–that's good."

"I'm going to die before this is over," Rin said in dawning realization as people began moving towards the door in space that had opened on Abduxuel's command. Their breathless gasps of wonder had Abduxuel preening while Rin hunched his shoulders at the display.

"You won't," Amaimon said, then began walking towards Abduxuel while Rin drew in a breath and tried to ignore the wide grin Abduxuel turned on him when he drew closer.

The optimism from Amaimon was nice, at least. Rin shivered in passing, though that may have been the way space swallowed him in its embrace when they made it through the door. It was only a brief sensation before they came out on the other side in a calm clearing in the woods.

Trees swayed around them, Rin listening with twitching ears to the sounds of living things hiding just out of sight. Were they just animals? Or other demons waiting to ambush them? He could sense weaker demons on the peripherals, but, at his attention, they scattered further into the woods.

Anything stronger could be waiting beyond the boundaries for a chance to strike.

That was stupid. Rin cursed the tension making his mind jump to the worst possible outcome. It wasn't like Abduxuel could take them anywhere they would be truly in danger. Lewin was the worst with personal boundaries towards demons, but he was still an exorcist who had to make sure the humans of their group made it home in one piece. And despite the war and hordes of demons coming through the Gehenna gate, the world hadn't completely overrun with them, yet, or school wouldn't still be in session.

Yeah. They were totally fine.

"That should be everyone, shall we?" Abduxuel said as he closed the door behind him with an ominous click that echoed in the clearing until the surrounding trees ate the sound.

They were not totally fine. Rin resisted the sudden urge to tear a hole right back open, not that he even knew if he could do it, but he thought with the right motivation he might be able to. And the idea of being stuck with Abduxuel for a weekend had his hackles fighting to stand on edge.

It was stupid. He knew. More than that, it wasn't as if they hadn't resolved some of the issues they'd had leading up to his last breaking point, either.

He hid a sudden rise of heat to his face remembering the way they'd resolved that particular dilemma. But he was aware of Abduxuel's tricks, now, so he should be fine if he tried something like that again.

"Let's head up, class," Abduxuel said and led the way up a dirt path that would take them to a mountain lake they were going to spend a day at, though they had one night they'd be camping in the woods before they could even reach their destination.

Not fine, Rin wanted to groan. Lewin had trotted to Abduxuel's side, already too close for comfort. He'd even brushed against him, his best interpretation of a cat winding around the legs of whatever they walked by.

The frayed poncho and fisherman's cap Lewin wore obstructed most of his body language from Rin where he trailed them, but Rin couldn't help noticing the many small touches Lewin laid on Abduxuel as they spoke.

Their chatter reached Rin, too, his ears unable to tune them out. Not that it would have worked if he'd tried, because Lewin had begun an impromptu lesson, apparently.

About demons, specifically space kin.

"You kiddos are lucky, you know?" Lewin said as he glanced back at them over his shoulder, patting at Abduxuel's in a way that made Rin clench his teeth.

"As one of the strongest of the kings of Gehenna, there's not too many kin to populate Assiah, we just can't contain their vast presences here."

Amaimon's scoff under his breath assuaged Rin somewhat to know he wasn't the only one who could see something going on. Though what, again, he didn't know. Just that the way Abduxuel let pleased purrs rumble from his chest at Lewin's words had a growl fighting in Rin's.

Why was he so irritated, though? By this stage, it wasn't like Rin hadn't seen Lewin all over Abduxuel in the halls or smelled the way Abduxuel's claim laid over him like a possessive hand.

That thought stopped Rin and he shoved his head into his palms with a muffled groan.

The damn claiming thing! It had to be the reason he was freaking out over nothing.

As if summoned, his mind brought up the memory of Abduxuel's comment that he would like to win Rin over some century from then and Rin knew he was blushing again.

Oh god. The urge to cry began to well up as Rin thought about what his instincts had wanted from him the last time the claim thing had come up. He'd gotten territorial over Mephisto and it had led to him nearly attacking Abduxuel until he'd gotten himself under control. And somehow, despite not having claimed Abduxuel, that same prickling of territorial instincts was rising now. Around Lewin.

He didn't want to claim Lewin! Rin contained a shriek, but just barely. He'd just begun to consider what it would be to have Abduxuel added to his number. But Lewin? It would be awful. The worst. Lewin would probably take it as Rin being ok with his nosiness and then he'd have to deal with him hounding Rin with even more questions about how his body worked.

"Hey, man, are you ok?" Shima said from behind him, startling Rin into motion.

"No-yeah, I'm good," he yelped and hurried on with the group.

"There are so few confirmed kin of space out there," Lewin continued to Abduxuel's pleased expression further up the trail.

"We know more exist, but they seldom leave Gehenna."

Rin thought back to the massive party he'd interrupted in Gehenna to get Abduxuel out of his territory to come home with him and realized he might have more insight into demons than he'd expected.

Not that Abduxuel looked like he cared to update Lewin's knowledge, and Rin wondered how much of what the Order knew about demons was the whole truth.

Worse, though, was that Abduxuel looked like he was eating it up! The attention Lewin seemed happy to give him and the fascination from the rest of the class only stretched the grin on his face as he nodded along.

Horrible. It was horrible and Rin was in hell.

He fought with his building tension the rest of the hike up the mountain until they reached their stop for lunch.

At least food wouldn't betray him, not his beloved food.

"Oh, this is mouth-watering, Rin," Abduxuel said with a rumble in his chest at the sandwiches Rin had decided on for their trip. It was the one thing he'd been left fully in charge of and he preened at the compliments from everyone around him until he realized he was doing the exact same thing as Abduxuel and quelled it to respond.

"Er, yeah, thanks," Rin mumbled, trying not to look like he rushed back to his place beside Amaimon, who'd already begun digging into his portion.

Without his say, he tracked the path Abduxuel made to sit on a nearby log. His fangs extended straight through his sandwich when Lewin joined him right after, sitting so close their legs pressed together.

They might as well have been sitting on each other and they wouldn't have been closer!

"Why me, Amaimon?" Rin said, pained as he swallowed around a suddenly dry throat and tried to taste anything but sawdust in his mouth.

Abduxuel looked straight at Rin with a smile as he ate from Lewin's hand.

"What's really cool about demons, you kids might not know," Lewin said after they'd finished and were relaxing before they'd start again. "Is that they all have something that sets them apart from each other, even if on the surface they might look the same–take coal tars, for example."

His eyes gleamed from beneath his shaggy fringe and Rin knew he wasn't going to like whatever he said.

"Their demonic hearts, and, for the kings, their tails."

Fuck.

"Oh," Abduxuel piped in, "well if it's about tails, I would love to make an example."

No! Rin whimpered again when he just unbuttoned the shirt he'd worn that day and brought his tail out in a flex of coils.

Amaimon sighed and vanished, human form replaced by a small green hamster and quickly scuttling up Rin's sleeve to hide in his pocket, clearly done with whatever game was being played.

Maybe Rin would follow his example and learn how to turn into some animal so he could also ignore the oohs and ahhs Abduxuel's display garnered.

"Oh god, not this again," Shima said in a whine. "Can I go home before the claws and fangs come out?"

At his side, Bon looked like he was about to blow a gasket, teeth gritting until the enamel squeaked as he glared at Lewin. "Dammit, why does he have to do this every time?"

"Er, Rin?" poor, sweet Koneko said as Rin turned his head in a creak of his neck to where he sat, forcing himself from the sight of Abduxuel putting his tail in Lewin's lap for him to examine. "Did you guys make up after your fight?"

Their fight. Rin thought smoke might be coming from his head as he remembered the others hadn't quite known what the stare down in the classroom had led to, only that it had looked like a fight was about to break out at any moment. The trouble, of course, being that to a demon, fighting and fucking tended to be intertwined and Rin refused to be the one to clue the humans into the fact.

"Yeah, we're good now, we talked it over," Rin rasped.

He spent the rest of lunch resolutely ignoring everything happening on the other half of the clearing.

They set up camp for the night after a few more hours of hiking. It would have been a relief, except that Lewin and Abduxuel ended right back on a convenient log with Abduxuel's tail once again in Lewin's grip.

Lewin was going to groom it.

"Careful," Abduxuel said as Lewin went over the bristles of his venomous spines that nestled at the end of his tail. "They're dangerous."

At that point of the night, after an entire day of watching the flirting, Rin's nerves were reaching levels he hadn't felt since his last explosive encounter with Abduxuel. They'd worn thin, Rin weary as they gave another twinge to see Lewin stroke over a bristle on the lazily flicking end of the tail, admiring it where it gleamed in the firelight.

Take him. Claim him, don't let him disrespect you like that.

Stop, he had to stop. Rin scrubbed at his forehead, inhaling the scent of fire and wishing it covered how Abduxuel's coated Lewin.

Take him, too.

He couldn't do it anymore. A last breath and Rin waved himself away to the tent he'd brought for himself and Amaimon, not having to share because no one wanted to be in a small space with Amaimon the whole night when he didn't actually sleep for more than a few hours and had the tendency to stare with eyes that glowed. Rin didn't see what the problem was, but he would have slept separately anyway given they had brought more than enough tents. Kuro, smartly, had elected to stay with Shiemi on the trip, sensing when Rin was in a state and keeping out of the way.

Amaimon trailed him, having no interest in talking with anyone. They lay together in silence, Rin listening to Abduxuel name constellations and the history they carried, demons who had been associated with them and some he had been behind the naming of.

His voice tugged at Rin as if compelling him to leave the tent, but then a word from Lewin would interrupt the effect and send tension to tighten Rin's body into a taut wire. He shivered in intermittent spasms, jaw clenching until he gave up and took Amaimon's throat between his teeth, breathing there, as he fought for a calm that wouldn't come.

That worked, but only for as long as it took before the rest of the class retired for the night.

At a level just audible for demons to hear, Rin listened to the sounds coming from the tent Lewin had crawled into. The luxurious tent Abduxuel had summoned stayed silent, and he knew it was empty.

Fabric shifted against itself accompanied by a low rumble that had a growl bubbling in Rin's throat as muffled laughter teased at his ears.

His fangs lengthened, flame threatening at the back of his throat, before Amaimon huffed and shoved them over in a single motion until he straddled Rin. Gold eyes gleamed in the dark of their tent from a cocked head, Amaimon rolling their hips together in silence while Rin tried to keep his gasp contained.

An impassive expression appraised him, as if Amaimon asked Rin what he would do about things. Daring Rin to take charge and deal with Abduxuel's teasing like a demon.

He could do that, the small voice in Rin's head hissed. He could show Abduxuel exactly who belonged to who, and he might even take his claim too, if they wouldn't stop flaunting themselves in front of Rin.

Rin flipped Amaimon with a deep growl reverberating at a level only their hearing would pick up as he tore at the clothes keeping them apart and shoved into Amaimon without pre-amble. He took the hiss of pain in his mouth, biting there before moving to his throat and finishing roughly after a few short thrusts.

A hand at Amaimon's length helped him find completion next. Then Rin lay there, still tensed and fighting against every instinct in him that said he wasn't done.

Soft laughter reached his ears from Lewin's tent and the instincts in his gut clawed their way closer to the surface.

He slept, but it was light and uneasy.

The next morning was even worse.

Rin could smell Abduxuel and Lewin on each other and saw the one-sided claim. His lip curled over a fang before he realized and ruthlessly crushed the stupid instincts he refused to give into this time.

"Woo! Good morning, everyone," Lewin said as he stretched, groaning when his back popped. "Anyone else sleep on a bunch of rocks last night? That ground just isn't great for your back."

He had a bruise on his throat. Rin watched it vanish behind the poncho Lewin tossed over himself along with a scarf it was just slightly too warm to wear in the early fall weather.

"Dude," Bon's voice shook him from his staring contest with the fabric of Lewin's clothes. "You're not going to freak out again, are you?"

"Whu-" Rin got out eloquently.

"Because if you are, can you at least warn us this time?"

His shoulders hunched and Rin hurried past Bon to breakfast, mumbling, "It's just something I gotta deal with. I can't explain it good."

No way in hell would he be trying to explain anything he was going through just then to his friends. They wouldn't understand how just the sight of Abduxuel's rumpled clothes and the way he looked at Lewin like he wanted to pounce had Rin wanting to join him, either to tear him apart or tear Lewin apart.

The outline of a tail shifted ever so slightly beneath his shirt, and he'd fastened his hair back with the clip he'd been given by Bon again.

They're ignoring you. Teasing you. Deliberately.

Rin bit back a snarl at the incredibly persistent voice that wouldn't shut up and stalked up the trail they'd begun walking after packing up.

Of no help at all, Amaimon slept in hamster form again, riding nestled in Rin's hair and somehow completely unbothered by experiencing the worst field trip Rin had ever been on.

"We're almost to the top, dear students!" Abduxuel said in a cheerful chirp that made Rin want to gnash his teeth. He tried not to sulk and hoped it wasn't a complete failure.

Something else edged at Rin's already beyond frayed nerves. His ears twitched, trying to understand what was putting his hairs on end as his vision narrowed in focus.

Around them, he heard the conversations, heartbeats–some struggling more at the climb than others–the shuffle of feet over the rocky path.

"Hey, Amaimon?" Rin started to say, pausing as he looked around. "Where are the birds?"

A loud creak of splintering branches answered him just as something heavy crashed through the trees and into the clearing.

"Ah!" Screams erupted from the group, Rin ducking as he caught a glimpse of the demon that had attacked.

Chaos ensued as people scattered. Kuro had leapt to defend Shiemi and the other exwires, already grown into his large form as he pushed them to the bounds of the clearing to get away from what happened in the center.

Lewin cried out beneath the body of the massive demon that had gotten its fangs into his forearm. Blood splashed to the ground and stuck to his shirt as the demon savaged him before he could even think to fight free.

"Rin!" Bon cried out, jerking Rin's head around as his nostrils flared, picking up the fear and panic and blood in the clearing and ears ringing with his heavy pulse.

Snarling snapped Rin's head around to see Abduxuel with his features twisting into a vicious facade, lips pulled over extended fangs and eyes glowing with his fury as he tackled the demon from Lewin with all the force of a freight train.

The clearing narrowed to the sight of Abduxuel eviscerating the struggling demon. He tore screams free with each rend of his claws down the howling demon's exposed belly, not bothering with anything more than his own physical strength as bones broke in sickening cracks.

With every new wound opened, Rin drew closer. His claws flexed at his sides and his tail tried to flick beneath his shirt.

He watched as the demon went still with a last shuddering groan.

Then it was just a panting Abduxuel standing over his kill, chest heaving as he bared his fangs in a grin and released several wuffing breaths.

In a slow blink of Rin's eyes, Abduxuel turned from his prey to where Lewin held his ruined poncho to his arm, fighting to stem the bleeding. Another blink, and Abduxuel stepped forward in a deliberate gate that made it seem like he still hunted.

Lewin looked up and realized too late that he did.

"Shit!"

His cry came too slow as Abduxuel fell on him, pinning him and clamping a hand to his mouth before he could speak to summon anything.

Saliva slipped from Rin's mouth and he licked at his lips, not registering the physical reaction, only capable of caring about how Abduxuel inhaled into Lewin's throat.

A long trail of his tongue to the trembling cheek sent Lewin lax as if hoping by playing dead he would lessen the interest Abduxuel paid the little cuts and scrapes he'd procured in his struggle.

And Abduxuel couldn't seem to decide if Lewin made better prey or plaything or both.

In Rin's second sight, a glow welled up from Abduxuel to Lewin. His jaw widened on a yawn that exposed his fangs in a teasing display.

It was time.

The core of Rin's heart beat, a flare of Gehenna flame, his only warning.

He snarled, low and heavy, and vanished, body impacting to Abduxuel's in the next moment to send him into the ground at the side of the clearing.

Rin didn't give him any time to retaliate, slamming him into the rocks and dirt and repeating the move until blood surrounded them and Abduxuel's growls were muffled by a shattered nose and jaw.

Green eyes glowed up at Rin, surrounded by streaks of red from his hairline while he choked. The grip Rin had on his windpipe crushed it. Any more and he'd destroy his vessel.

Grinning, Rin loosed his pleasure at having Abduxuel unable to flee in a roar that shook the clearing. It made the body in his hold thrash wildly until Rin forced him still.

"Quiet," Rin hissed between his fangs as eyes rolled in Abduxuel's skull and filled with tears.

"Lightning," a voice whispered, fraught with fear and making Rin cock his head towards where he realized several humans cowered on the other side of the clearing.

Coughing came from Abduxuel's claim and Rin narrowed his gaze to see him sitting up, having tied the poncho around his arm and recovered enough to stop shaking.

The lack of fear scent from him had Rin wrinkling his nose, trying to decide what he would do.

Take. Or eliminate.

"Go on, take the class to the mountain lake and wait for me." More useless chattering.

"Are you nuts?" The human hissed, sending Rin curling his fang over a lip until he recognized his claim covering the loud creature and settled, no longer caring what he did.

"Yeah, haha–ouch," the human muttered, raising his hands. "Trust me, I've got it handled, but I can't do anything with you guys setting them off, ok?"

They left, Rin flicking his ears to track them until they moved beyond his range and he could focus back on the limp vessel beneath him that had finally stopped its fight.

He lifted his hands from the ruined throat and sat back, idly scratching at the ground while he waited for the weaker aspect to heal.

His tail twitched and he frowned to feel it constricted. His flames took care of the problem as they ate away at his clothes, leaving him bare and letting him extend his tail in a stretch.

That was better. He purred and bowed forward again, claws drawing up the softly moving flanks in lines of red he followed with his tongue until he reached the nearly healed throat and nuzzled there.

At his attention, the throat arched in submission. It looked like the lesser aspect had woken.

"Oh, Rin," a mocking, grating, voice said in a deep purr, "if this is what it took for you to treat me so violently, I would have done this in the first place."

"Be quiet," he repeated, voice guttural around the wedges his fangs had become and purr turning into a growl that vibrated against the throat he nudged too.

"Mmm, and if I don't, darling creature? What then?" Abduxuel rolled his hips to Rin's, hands coming up to travel his body until he found the base of his tail and kneaded there.

Creature. That word again. He wasn't a creature. He was Rin, and he would show him what happened when he mocked.

Fire flared around Rin and spread to where he let his tongue wind over Abduxuel's throat, beginning to sear at the skin there without hesitation.

A pained cry began, Abduxuel whining as he arched and scrabbled at Rin, hips jerking beneath him and only encouraging the flames.

They ate at the layers of skin faster than it could heal until Rin swallowed Abduxuel's wheezing breath from the hole he'd burnt through his esophagus.

Sudden shifting alerted Rin to Amaimon's presence as he finally moved from where he'd kept out of Rin's way.

That was good. Rin wanted him here, now.

He released the throat from his mouth and rose with a pleased huff of breath, accepting the nose pressed to a vulnerable vertebra before Amaimon nipped there. His arms wrapped to Rin and fingers dipped towards his half-hard length, gripping there and stroking.

"Mm, 'Maimon," Rin said, legs spreading as he lazily thrust his hips into the firm touch.

"What will you do, Rin?" Amaimon repeated his unspoken words from the night before, Rin able to accept them in the light of day.

Now that he had the mocking, lesser aspect at his mercy, he didn't need the worries and confusion he had carried up to that point.

Everything had sloughed away, leaving Rin knowing exactly what he'd been avoiding acknowledging from the start.

"You're mine," he said, eyes flashing with Gehenna flame on Abduxuel where he had finally quieted, throat arched in presentation to him and waiting for Rin's verdict.

Mine. His mind whispered, pleasure welling up at the shudder his statement brought.

So decided, Rin gave another brush of his body to Amaimon's before shifting to grip Abduxuel's legs and hiking them over his shoulders, thrusting in to tear a scream free while he moaned.

The tight heat enveloping him and Abduxuel's cries encouraged Rin into a hard rhythm. He let his claws bite red lines into the legs he'd captured, tail twined to Amaimon's so he could bring him closer.

He adjusted on a whim, hauling Abduxuel up so he could sink his fangs into his throat just as he seared his claim into his core. Snarling bubbled up with the blood coating his mouth, Rin worrying at the section of flesh he'd taken.

"Amaimon," he growled, accepting the slide of his body along his spine and lips mouthing at the back of his neck before making his command. "Here."

His palm went to where he had Abduxuel spread around him and Amaimon followed, intent on the tail writhing with each forceful downward drag of the hips in Rin's hold.

"Mm–please-ah! Don't stop–" Abduxuel whined, clawing at Rin's shoulders and releasing more of the endless words.

So Rin seared his throat out again, fangs a loose clasp to it while Abduxuel's scream echoed in the clearing and pre-cum smeared to Rin with his juddering hips.

Hands joined Rin's where he continued his ruthless pace, Amaimon moving into place behind Abduxuel. He'd wound their tails together, not letting the deadly spines meet their target, and rutted against Abduxuel, sliding beneath him so Rin could feel it.

A moment later, and Amaimon slotted in beside Rin with a hiss of pleasure.

Rin met his lips over Abduxuel's shoulder, biting and bringing new blood to spill down the shuddering body between theirs.

The tightness squeezing Rin's length sent him moaning. His tail arched behind him, sparks flying from the end before he directed it to twist around Abduxuel where the flames blackened his skin.

His gaze broke from the overwhelmed expression Abduxuel wore when he heard a heartbeat flutter, and Rin saw Abduxuel's claim watching them intently. He'd stayed silent, but his pulse gave him away.

Excitement. Not fear. Rin snorted, hand reaching to grip Abduxuel by his head to bare his throat to his fangs so Rin could mouth there while he debated what to do with the onlooker who hadn't fled with the rest.

Growling from Amaimon told him he'd remembered the presence, too.

He took hold of the leaking head of Abduxuel's length, lapping blood he'd drawn free as he pumped a tight fist to him and made up his mind.

"Mine," he stated and let his core envelope the human.

That decision made, Rin returned to his true purpose of taking Abduxuel apart until he forgot how to speak.

Rin latched his fingers into the heaving flanks and poured more flames out, claws digging between ribs where he met vital organs. The way Abduxuel howled over him, mouth gaping and eyes sightless, made a smile slash across Rin.

It reflected in the gold of Amaimon's eyes, pupils slit and lids half-closed as he brought a hand to the base of Abduxuel's tail and squeezed.

"Ha-aaa!" Abduxuel gave a final scream and came against Rin, head falling to loll at Amaimon's shoulder before gagging at their continued thrusts jostling his body.

Slick heat pooled over Rin's hips and belly from the release. He could feel the way Amaimon moved with him, head bowed so that he rested on the slumped shoulder before him and pleasure coiling tighter and tighter.

"Mmn," Rin moaned, mouth dropping as he bit deep into Abduxuel and came, pounding into him past the point where pleasure turned into pain as he hissed with it.

A long tongue slid over where his lips pressed to the gouges his fangs had made, Amaimon not biting, but accepting what Rin gave him of the body they'd taken between them.

Another harsh press of hips up against Abduxuel, and Amaimon joined them in their release, a pleased rumble reverberating through his chest to Rin's and making a purr rise.

He enjoyed the sight of Amaimon's shuttered eyes and the blood running down his throat from his mouth, unlatching his fangs from Abduxuel to lean in and take the bloodstained lips in his.

In his mind's eye, the tethers of his claim led to everyone in the clearing, and Rin was content, drinking in the little pants and gasps from Amaimon as he came down from the edge.

When he pulled away, it was to see dilated pupils in Amaimon's eyes, and Abduxuel's still closed. His chest shuddered with the occasional spasm in between deep breaths, and his mouth stayed parted.

Most importantly, he was silent.

Good. Rin smiled and trailed a tongue to the blood, sweat and other bodily fluids coating his trembling body, cleaning him in long sweeps while Amaimon did the same at the other side. The vicious spines of Abduxuel's tail lay to the ground at his side when Amaimon untwined their tails so he could reach the small of his back.

Abduxuel only made a small hiss of discomfort when they'd pulled out, body limp where it was set down between them as they continued their ministrations.

Finally, Rin settled along Abduxuel, curled around him and flicking his tail to find Amaimon's where he'd slipped to the other side.

Then Rin's mind came back to him.

"Uh," he started, freezing as he took stock of exactly what sensations were assaulting him and coming up with–

Blood. Everywhere. Because his instincts hadn't seen the need to clear it afterwards when they'd liked the scent of it covering his claims. And he'd cleaned the cum from Abduxuel, but it wasn't like he couldn't still smell it on everything.

Worse, infinitely worse, were the sounds in the clearing, and the sight of his claim where it led to three others.

"Please tell me this is all a dream and we haven't even left for the camping trip yet," Rin said, very seriously, to Amaimon where he watched without a single sign that he was bothered at all by the events that had just occurred.

"Sorry, kiddo, that definitely happened," Lewin chirped from his position where Rin had been doing everything in his power to ignore. "That was probably the best thing that's ever happened to me in my life!"

Any illusion Rin might have had about the reality of things burnt up with Lewin's voice and he groaned, dropping to hide his face in Abduxuel's shaking chest.

He'd started laughing, containing it so Rin only felt the trembling, apparently back, too.

"Don't say anything," Rin growled, glowering up at the mirth in green eyes that stared back.

"You're the bastard that did all this," he continued. His claw stabbed to Abduxuel's chest, making the smile widen until his cheeks strained with the effort of keeping silent.

"Clean us up, fix him up, and let's get this damn trip over with." Rin ordered with a jab of his thumb to indicate Lewin, who was definitely going to need stitches and may have fractured bones. Rin didn't really care at that point.

A snap, and it was done, Lewin's arm covered with neat bandages. They'd even been decorated with what Rin recognized were the stickers Mephisto liked using on his letters.

"Ok." Rin sucked in a stabilizing breath. "Let's go.

The clearing couldn't arrive soon enough, Rin stomping into it to shocked cries as the students noticed their arrival.

"Sorry, everyone, that was unexpected," Lewin said, waving the undamaged arm and laughing.

"Looks like you all got here in one piece," he said as he peered at the group.

"Damnit, Lightning," Bon growled, hands raised like he would strangle Lewin. Rin understood the feeling. "Could you show some common sense for once?"

"Ahaha," Lewin accepted the admonishment ent. "Hey, it's ok, we just had to calm everyone down. Things should be totally fine now."

"You nearly got eaten by two demons–one of them is our professor, if you forgot–and who knows what would have happened if Rin hadn't fought him off," Bon said in a hiss, fuming while Lewin kept laughing and Rin tried to ignore the urge to run into the woods.

Becoming a hermit was better than telling Bon or any of his friends that he also had been considering if Lewin would make a good meal. Rin didn't have time to unpack it all in his mind, not when he had just come down from whatever headspace had led to him deciding the best way to stop Abduxuel's teasing was to repeatedly sear his throat to ruin.

Not that Abduxuel had complained, had actually fully encouraged Rin to come as close to destroying his vessel as he could.

A beaming smile met his gaze when Rin chanced a look. He had a suspicion that if Abduxuel's tail had been out, it would be twitching in contentment.

And he stayed silent.

The dawning realization struck Rin, eyes widening as he wondered how long Abduxuel would obey the command he'd seared into his skin.

"Anyhow, we'll get you guys back to campus."

Oh, thank god. Rin hid a whimper and forced himself not to look like he wanted to be the first in line to leave, hanging back with his friends.

Amaimon looked as done with the whole thing as Rin did, though he was sure for very different reasons, and Rin almost considered asking to just poof home instead of the big show of going through one of Abduxuel's doors.

Which he summoned without a word, not that he didn't give a performance anyway. Abduxuel gave a sweep of his arms and unnecessary bow towards the door he'd opened while Lewin directed the class through, chattering as much as always and making up for Abduxuel's silence.

Finally, Rin walked past the jester's grin turned on him from Abduxuel, fighting the heat rising to his face.

They were through. He shook once, nerves tingling with the weight of the claims tethering to him and caress of Abduxuel's aspect to his, and steeled himself to make the usual goodbyes required in social situations.

"Is everything good, man?" Bon asked, and Rin wished for once he could just vanish without a word like Amaimon when he didn't want to talk.

"Yeah, I just need to get home and forget this trip happened," Rin said, hoping it would spur things along.

"Yeah, I'll say," Shima said in an exaggerated sigh. "I told you guys, but no one ever listen to me!"

"Don't worry, Shima," Koneko patted his shoulder, "next time for sure we'll listen."

"I know when you're mocking me, 'Neko."

A last pat to Rin's shoulder from a very understanding Shima and several words from Lewin he didn't pay attention to, and Rin was free to make his escape.

He took Kuro in his arms and inhaled a deep breath as Abduxuel waved goodbye and snapped them home.

Mephisto waited for them in front of the door to the manor. His smile matched Abduxuel's.

"Well," he said while Rin glared at him, "this could have ended much worse."

"How?" Rin stressed the word, hands raised and claws out as he debated wringing Mephisto's throat.

"Mr. Light could have been food, for one," Mephisto said with a raised finger as if he had made some kind of point.

When Rin's glower deepened, exhaled breath through his nose threatening flame, Mephisto turned his attention to Abduxuel.

"And? Are you satisfied, love?"

Abduxuel's answer was a long, rumbling purr as he slunk by Rin, brushing their shoulders together like a contented cat and doing the same to Mephisto before he flounced by them through the door to the manor.

Bastard. Rin stared after him before giving up and debating when he'd let him speak again.

Sometime later that day. Probably.

End Notes: Soooo this is not an Incandescence update, I know, we're all disappointed :`) I'm gonna finish up the Rut sequel to Scent Thing and then I'll finally get to Incandescence bc I think it's finally been long enough that my brain can push past the boring transition scenes that have been holding me back to get to the good stuff I've been waiting to write.

Also, uhh, sorry, Abdi is a demon in every sense of the word, Mephisto is practically tame by comparison.

And for any spelling errors bc I know I missed a bunch with the size of this damn ch T.T