Thanks again for the reviews! Never thought I'd get that many for my first fic ever! ^_^

This is already the last chapter I'm afraid. Please enjoy!

Disclaimer: Ao no Exorcist and all its characters belong to Kazue Kato.

Mephisto observed as his little brother's eyes glazed over and his body stopped trembling. Letting go of the blood-soaked and badly affected tail which fell limply to the floor he took his foot off the younger's neck. For a moment he contemplated. He was surprised. It was the first time he had misjudged his little brother. He had expected Amaimon to leave this body, his vessel in Assiah, and return to Gehenna when he realised Mephisto wouldn't stop. It was what was logical, the natural choice for any demon faced with a close-to-death situation.

After all, they could die in Assiah if they didn't leave their host bodies in time when being killed. Luckily, that rarely happened to any higher ranking demons, seeing how it meant for a demon to be completely taken by surprise. It usually only occurred in conflicts between such demons, seeing how human exorcists simply didn't have the means to get rid of them in another way than forcefully sending them back to Gehenna, if even that.

Now, having those facts in mind it was most curious how Amaimon had failed to do what any demon would have done. He certainly had enough time and yet he stayed. Mephisto pondered on the why. The idea of Amaimon wanting to die was completely out of the question. Mephisto also doubted that his little brother had suddenly developed an overly strong sense of pride that would stop him from saving his life by running away. That would just be absurd, especially as Amaimon never had had any problems with retreating from difficult situations before. Sure, for the Earth King, a son of Satan, to be forced to retreat could provoke some bad gossiping, but not if the one to cause it was his older brother, Satan's eldest son.

Mephisto saw himself left with only one possible reason as to why Amaimon had remained to be killed and the look he had seen in the younger's eyes only served to strenghten his assumption. His little brother trusted him, as ridiculous as that may seem. He trusted his older brother to an extent that was not only most unusual among demons, but simply unheard of. Mephisto bit his lip, drawing some blood with his sharp canines. That little fool! No one trusted him, ever! Not even their youngest brother, who really wasn't the smartest, was that fatuous.

Hissing slightly in the light of the unwanted, far too humane emotions welling up in him he crouched down and taking a hold of Amaimon's shoulder he turned his lifeless body over onto his back. Taking another look at the tear and blood streaked face he subsequently placed his clawed hand on the younger demon's chest and concentrated. A bright purple glow surrounded his hand and went straight into the body underneath it.

A heave went through the Earth King's body whereupon he shot up, eyes wide, gasping and choking badly. The shivering and gagging from earlier returned worse then ever and the older demon barely managed to snap his fingers to summon a bucket in time before his little brother started throwing up what appeared to be mostly stomach acids.

Mephisto simply remained crouched next to him, watching calmly till the heaving ceased. Snapping his fingers again, the bucket disappeared, leaving the younger demons hands which had been gripping the rim to fall onto his lap, shaking just as badly as the rest of his body. The older demon couldn't help a slight frown to appear on his forehead.

It seemed as if a reanimation wasn't something easy to cope with even for a strong demon like Amaimon. He hadn't expected his reactions to be so similar to the few humans he had brought back during the last few centuries. A weak rattling noise made him focus his attention back on his little brother. The younger demon was obviously trying to talk but failed quite miserably. No wonder really, his throat would be very sore after throwing up like that and literally being choked to death prior to it. He smirked.

"Oya, oya, Amaimon, don't stress yourself! Whatever it is you wish to say surely can wait for however long it will take for your sore throat to heal. Seeing how that is a rather unusual predicament for a demon I do not have the slightest idea how long that may be, though."

He couldn't help grinning at the annoyed expression that flashed across his little brother's face despite the still present trembling. He watched as Amaimon dragged his sleeve across his face to wipe some of the blood off, apparantly ignoring the pain it surely caused his healing nose. Moving quickly he took advantage of the younger's slowed reflexes and picked him up carrying him over to one of the sofas in the room.

Completely ingnoring the slight hissing the younger emitted in consequence of being carried in what humans would define as bridal style he contemplated for a moment before sitting down. With his legs up on the sofa he had his little brother sideways in his lap with Amaimon's back against the backrest. In this position Mephisto could feel the constant shivering of the Earth King's body all too well, no matter how much his little brother tried to suppress it.

"You really are a little fool, you know. Look at you, you haven't been in such a weak state since you were a small child."

The only answer he got was the younger pressing his face into his chest, stubbornly avoiding eye contact and smearing blood all over him, and Amaimon's claws slightly ripping his shirt when he clenched them. Hestitating only a moment longer Mephisto brought his left hand up to his own neck pulling off his ascot tie, throwning it unceremoniously onto the floor. While unbuttoning the first two buttons on his dress shirt a slight grin spread across his face.

"Well, I suppose if you're in the same state as a little baby demon brother you should also get the same treatment, nein?"

Amaimon's head shot up immediately, his eyes incredulously staring at the older demon. He wouldn't even have had time to voice any protests had he been capable of doing so, because the older 's right hand had grabbed a hold of the back of his head bringing his face close to the crook of Mephisto's neck. Seeing his little brother didn't move in the slightest, apparantly too shell-shocked by the older's actions, Mephisto chuckled and laced his clawed fingers through the younger's hair, reasuringly stroking his head, carefully avoiding to scratch him.

"Go on. It will certainly help you recover your strength, not to speak of doing wonders for your throat."

He pressed Amaimon's head down once more, this time feeling the younger reacting accordingly by sinking his sharp fangs into his neck and starting to suck up the blood that came oozing out of the wound. Leaning back till his head came to lie on the armrest, Mephisto allowed his eyes to droop somewhat. This was something no exorcist, no human, knew of. It was general knowledge that lower ranking demons tended to drink blood, that of other demons just like that of animals or humans, but the fact that high class demons also did so was completely unknown. Well, they didn't do it often.

Blood, even that of humans, contained quite a lot of energy, which was the reason why many weak demons liked to consume it in huge amounts in hopes of becoming stronger. As sons of Satan they, of course, would never sink that low and generally only drank other demon's blood when they were still young and developing their powers.

Usually the blood would be that of someone weaker than themselves, but he, Mephisto, had let his little brother drink his blood a few times in the past, when he had been beaten up quite badly by their father and in a critical state. Regaining strength after sustaining serious injuries generally being the only reason a grown up high ranking demon would drink anothers blood. Or at least a well educated high ranking demon, Mephisto mused.

He wasn't going to apologise to Amaimon, oh no. He had deserved to be punished after all. But the Earth King's surprising display of trust, and well, loyalty towards him deserved to be acknowledged. So letting him drink some of his blood and speeding up his recovery seemed a sufficient measure. Not to speak of the fact that it was strengthening their bond quite a bit. Voluntary sharing of blood was something rather intimate among demons and was also a general part of mating.

Being brought back from his musings he felt the younger's teeth leave his neck and was met with wide blue eyes looking up at him curiously. Mephisto smirked, seeing the incredulous frown on his little brother's face before Amaimon turned his head slightly, looking behind him, to make sure he wasn't imagining things. The younger's claws dug deeper into Mephisto's shirt as he observed the furry dark purple tail that had wrapped itself around his own, now healed, green one. Turning around to face him again, Amaimon's eyes flashed with joy and mischief and a fangy grin was plastered on his face when he rested his head once more on Mephisto's chest.

That little devil, Mephisto thought, he knows I won't force him to get up now! Surpressing a chuckle he leaned back again, closing his eyes completely this time, being quite content with the situation for now. A little rest wouldn't do him any harm before his game moved to the next stage. When he was just about to fall asleep, he heard Amaimon mumble.

"Aniue…"

"Yes, Amaimon?"

"Sumimasen."

Mephisto had to control himself hard not to break out into laughter. There he was again, his annoying, careless, contantly bored little brother. After all that had happened he got the younger's standard apology, if one could even call it that. Not even a gomen nasai, no, a simple sumimasen.

"Just go to sleep, you little monster."

His answer was slight snickering that sounded a bit too devilish even for Mephisto's liking. But just a bit.