Again, this is a fanfiction of a fanfiction called "To Be Good" by Kizmet, and of course, I do not own any of the Blue Exorcist characters, just my wonderful OCs!
The dorm was quiet as the exwires tended their injuries and ate a hard-earned meal. Izumo was helping Rin with the dishes, Shiemi and Amaimon were tending the plants, Bon and Konekomeru were studying, and Shima was, of course, doing anything possible NOT to study.
"Come on guys, we just got back from a mission! This is no time to be studying! It's for celebrating!" Bon and Konekomeru rolled their eyes.
"What about that new demon huh? How're we gonna beat her if we don't study? Not to mention the exwire exam isn't that far away," Bon replied, turning a page in his book. Shima groaned.
"It's like a whole year away!"
"Eight months," Konekomeru interrupted mildly.
"Who knows if we're actually going to get to take it anyway, with as crazy as everything has been lately," Izumo said. The whole group got quiet, their serious faces worried. At that moment Mephisto, dragging along a reluctant Angel, burst through the door.
"Greetings my lovely students! Such serious faces!"
"Damn right we're gonna be serious! You gonna tell us what's goin' on Mephisto?" Bon interrupted angrily. Angel straightened his coat.
"That's the only reason I agreed to come as well," he said, glaring at Mephisto. Mephisto's face became serious.
"I know that the Vatican will not listen to me on this, but I would urge you all not to confront her if you run into her again," he said seriously.
"I've been ordered to exterminate or capture all demons from the portals…" Mephisto interrupted Angel with a wave of his hand.
"You are welcome to do as you like (I don't really care if you get killed) but for my students," he turned a serious eye on them. "Avoid it at all costs. She is a bad enemy to have."
"Does it even have a name?" Angel asked disdainfully.
"Yes. Her name is Katiana. I would avoid saying it if not necessary, I'm not sure exactly how developed her senses are…"
"Are you saying she could hear us?" Shima questioned incredously. Mephisto nodded.
"But enough of that! I have great news for you all! Next week you have a week off to attend to your studies!" They all looked at him incredulously. He grinned sheepishly.
"Well, a week off unless something happens. So consider yourselves on call! Relax and enjoy it, and goodness willing, next week really will just be a week off!"
"My team and I will be on the lookout for any more portal openings, if we need Rin to close one, we will call," Angel said reluctantly, his face wrinkling in disgust at having to rely on demons to close the portals, but it took a massive amount of holy water to close a portal without them, and they desperately needed to conserve their resources. He turned on his heel and stormed out of the apartment.
Several days went by, and the exwires got back into the routine of continuing their studies – though many of their teachers were missing, as they were out dealing with the crisis as well.
In the dining hall, the exwires passed Angel's team, who looked exhausted.
"Are you all alright?" Shiemi asked timidly. Angel nodded curtly, and Lightening smiled tiredly.
"We've exterminated several mid-level demons right out in the forest, and we know there's a portal somewhere, we simply haven't been able to locate it," Lightening said. Suddenly the door slammed open.
"Angel, there's a new demon, and it's like nothing we've ever seen before! It's appeared at the train station…" the scout trailed off as the team ran out, shrugging on their battle gear as they went, leaving the food untouched. Rin balled his fists, and stood up at the same time as Bon. They nodded, and the exwires ran out after the exorcists.
As they approached the train station, Angel turned back to glare at the exwires, then gave an irritated huff.
"You all will follow my orders to the letter, or I will make you regret it," he said fiercely. They gulped and agreed. Angel nodded, and included them in the plan of attack.
"Thought they were all appearing at the forest?" A breathless Lightening asked.
"No time to think about it now," Angel muttered. The train station had been quartered off, and he flashed his badge at the exorcist holding down the barrier. He let the team through. The deserted train station was in shambles. Screams could be heard down the corridors, and the exorcists broke into a run just in time to see a huge, dark, shadowy form engulfing on of the scouting team. Shiemi gasped, and the form turned to them, a sinister grin forming where it's face should be. Black tendrils suddenly shot at them from all directions. Angel and Lightening immediately moved to intercept, a smirk on Lightening's face. The tendrils moved out of the way as if of their own accord, making them even more difficult to evade.
"How do we even beat something like that?" Konekomeru gasped, hastily throwing up a barrier around them. It wasn't like any demon they'd even heard about before, how could they find it's fatal verse?
"No idea!" Rin shouted back. He kept Kurikara sheathed and drew his katana and wakizashi, struggling to keep the shadows from reaching his friends and breaking through the barrier, a faint blue haze breaking through the seal. Izumo called on her familiars, but they shimmered and faded as soon as they came into contact with the tendrils.
"What is this thing?" she gasped. Shiemi tried to create a tree barrier like she'd done before, but it shriveled and withered at the dark shadow's touch. Shima was desperately fending them off with his staff, and Bon's shot made several tendrils explode on contact.
"Don't let those things touch you!" Lightening shouted.
"Rin! Draw Kurikara," Angel commanded. The Paladin's sword was the only thing successfully countering the dark tendrils besides Bon's bullets. Rin gulped, and nodded, trying to draw his sword, and failing. A desperate expression flew across his face, and he threw the sword to Izumo, but it was too late. The moment he let his guard down, the tendrils wrapped around his waist. Rin gasped, shuddering. He felt everything fading, heard someone, no, two someones scream his name from far, far away, then….
Izumo screamed as the thing wrapped Rin in its deadly embrace. Rin gasped in pain, his whole body shuddering.
"RIN, NO!"
Suddenly a fierce golden light appeared from within the shadows that clutched Rin. The shadowy creature shrieked in pain, shying away from the light. It it's place stood Hell's Queen. Rin collapsed to the floor. Katiana stood in front of the boy, summoning two swords out of thin air. With a blood-curdling battle cry she charged the shadow creature, each sword strike slicing effortlessly through the tendrils. The creature howled and tried to run, but the demoness was not having any of that. She twirled and parried with amazing speed, sending the creature back to Gehenna with almost effortless ease. Shiemi and Izumo ran to Rin, as the rest of them stared at the demoness with something akin to awe. She glanced back at the boy collapsed on the floor. Then, just like last time, she disappeared in a swirling shower of golden dust.
TIME SKIP
"Since then there have been mysterious reports of this demon from branches all across the world, from Australia to America to right here in Japan! Each report is pretty much the same too – she appears, kills the demon, and vanishes without a trace," Lightening said incredulously, summing up the information he had gathered for Mephisto from the Vatican. Lightening, Angel, Amaimon and the exwires were all gathered in Mephisto's office, studying a chart that graphed the different places portals had appeared.
"Well, at least we know she's not here on Father's orders," Amaimon said, crunching on his lollipop. Mephisto nodded absently.
"I can't help but wonder just what her motives are though."
"You mean you don't have a clue?" Bon questioned indredulously. Mephisto merely shook his head.
"Regardless of what they are, they appear to be benefitting us at the moment…"
"And when it turns on us?" Angel demanded to know.
"Well, you'll blindly follow whatever orders the Vatican dictates, isn't that right?" Mephisto replied snarkily. "What do those happen to be exactly? Apprehend her for questioning?" Angel's lips tightened and his jaw clenched. Mephisto barked a laugh then quickly sobered.
"It's usually difficult to predict her moves, but hopefully this pattern continues. There's been an outbreak of demons who've never shown any interest in Assiah before, she's definitely helping to curb their influence on this world, perhaps that's her intent… Regardless, there's still the issue of the portal in the forest," he said, turning a stern eye them. Lightening shrugged helplessly, lacking his normal sarcastic wit.
"There's been so many attacks we haven't had time to locate it. It's got to be a huge portal though for so many demons to be coming through."
"There's been a change in my forest, I can't locate the source, but I'd wager that it has something to do with the portal. Tomorrow take the exwires with you and at least make an attempt to find it. It's in the north-eastern area, you'll know it when you see it. Oh, and Rin-kun?" Mephisto said, turning a serious eye on the boy. "Let someone who can draw that sword of yours hold it." Rin blushed and nodded.
"Right," he said, and handed Kurikara over to Izumo.
"Tomorrow, seven a.m. sharp meet over at the north-eastern edge of the forest, do NOT be late!" Angel barked, and the meeting adjourned.
"We have to get that bad habit gone," Mephisto mused to himself, staring at the closed door to his office, Rin's inability to draw Kurikara fresh in his mind.