Sore and exhausted.

That was how I woke up. Every muscle screamed in agony while my brain was too muddled and out of it to even figure out why. Warmth and movement at my side dragged me out of my hazy dreams. Scarlet mist and looming black walls made way for the gentle golden light of morning when I finally bothered to open my eyes.

Mephisto's sleeping face was the first thing to greet my vision...

Startled, I yelped and scrambled backwards. Thankfully, the bed was so large that I didn't go toppling to the hard marble floor... Of course, it was Mephisto's bed.

"Morning, Kitten," the devil purred, his light slumber shattered by my frantic wakeup call. With a clawed hand, he reached over and grabbed my wrist to pull me back to the mattress. The action left my face buried in his bare chest. Fortunately, I could feel cloth against my own skin...or as much as you could feel a short spaghetti-strapped night-gown. "Did you sleep well?"

I could only mumble my response before breaking out into a coughing fit, face growing warm. Mephisto pulled me back when the coughs subsided, studying me with worry furrowed between his brows. He rested the back of his hand against my forehead and shut his eyes for a moment. With a sigh, he dropped his arm and allowed me to slump against him.

Oh, good. He was wearing pants. Such a silly thought, but it was a nice reassurance to learn that nothing lewd had taken place the night prior.

"Seems like you have a fever, my dear," Mephisto informed. "You'll have to stay—"

"No!" I denied the order he was about to give, hating the idea of lying in bed all day. "I've got to go to class. I need to find a way back." Thoughts of my sister floated around in my head. My concern over her well-being had never gone away or even eased up in the slightest. Now that Mephisto's deal was off the table—even with him cheating at it, though that hadn't been against the rules—I was forced to find another option. Education in the exorcist cram school was the only route I could see to achieve that.

"Are you really that desperate to get away from me?" the Demon King of my thoughts spoke. His tone was none that I'd heard come from him before—neither in my presence nor in the anime. An air of sadness and desperation seemed to cling to each word.

I shook away a wave of dizziness as I looked up at him, brown eyes wide with surprise at the despondent expression on the demon's usually-conniving face.

"N-no..." I stuttered out, whipping my head around so that he couldn't see my crimson cheeks. "I just want to know if my sister is alright..." The admission fell from my dry lips in a choked whisper, the reality that I may never see her again hitting me hard. I just needed to see her with my own eyes, hear her voice, and put any fears she had to rest. She had to be okay. The last time I saw her, she was unconscious—knocked out cold by the appearance of two demons appearing to her room—and fictional ones at that.

"What if she's freaking out? What if she needs my help? What if she gets kicked out by getting into a fight with our mother?" my incessant rambling—growing increasingly-more frantic as my head imagined horrible scenarios—was abruptly cut off by a pressure against my lips.

Mephisto was kissing me which caused me to relax in his hold against my will. After a few seconds, he pulled back. His sharp claw trailed slowly down my cheek, his trademark grin in place on his lips. He appeared genuinely-happy. Maybe because it wasn't him I was denying but the fact that I'd never be able to protect or be there for my sister...

"When the time comes, I'll gladly take you to her," Mephisto chuckled at my confused stare. "I'll explain all in due time, love. Just, please, rest up today. I can't have my best student getting sick."

After a bit more convincing, I ended up changing into loungewear—a simple white T-shirt and black loose-fitting pants—before Mephisto claimed to need to head to the store for some necessities. Why he bothered to do that rather than magick it into existence was actually explained to me.

He actually had to have the items to summon them. He couldn't simply make them out of nothing, apparently. When I'd mentioned how that sounded like Alphonse's "Law of Equivalent Exchange", he'd geeked out and proposed to me right then and there... Amai-kun had even been in the room...

After that whole awkward situation, I was, finally, left to my own devices.

Which I promptly used to my advantage by changing into my school uniform and fixing myself up the best I could before leaving through a random door with a key I still had. Either I was a decent little actress or he really didn't think I'd disobey him...or he was floating above my head somewhere seeing if I would do just this... Whatever the case, no matter how sick I was, I did not want to stay cooped up all day...

I pushed open the door to the cram school, glad that I wasn't late. Rin was the first to greet me before I even had a chance to look up from my feet, the others slowly following suit. Seeing and hearing them all apologize—their voices jumbling together—left me stunned, to say the least.

"Um...why?" I mumbled with my flushed face and erratic heartbeat. Rin seemed to notice something was up, but said nothing.

"You were right," Bon, surprisingly, said. His cheeks were pink and his eyes cast to the side. "Blaming Rin for Satan's sins was stupid. Kids don't get to choose their parents." I had a funny feeling he was thinking of personal experiences rather than Okumura right now. He stuck his hand out suddenly, startling both myself and Rin—some of the others, too.

"Let's not be enemies, okay?!" he growled with narrowed eyes, yet there was still a hint of a blush on his cheeks and his shoulders hunched defensively.

Although he worded it differently, I could tell this was his way of asking if we could be friends.

Without any more hesitation, I clasped his hand in my own, a smile on my lips. He jolted at my touch but shook before, quickly, pulling away, face a brilliant shade of scarlet.

I bet he wasn't used to girls...

A tickle in the back of my throat provoked another round of coughing. Rin had to support me as I threatened to drop to the ground, my body growing weak. It passed quickly enough but left behind a raw ache that was far from pleasant.

Red mist began to creep into my vision—although very, very faintly—along with strange shadows that skittered about. A feeling like ice plummeted into my stomach and I visibly started to shake. I could see Rin and the others perfectly—their concerned faces crowding around my prone body—but it was almost as if another layer had been plopped right on top. I knew Rin couldn't see what I was seeing, as a black something fluttered right at the tip of his nose yet he didn't so much as blink. Yet I couldn't imagine all this being in my head, it was much too real.

"You have a fever, Mana. You're burning up," Shima's cool palm cradled my face. The physical contact kept me calm despite the altered reality only I was privy to.

"You shouldn't push yourself when you're sick, idiot!" Suguro chastised but kept his voice soft so as not to cause me further pain. The others were quick to agree, Rin even going so far as to, literally, sweep me off my feet so he could carry me back to the dorm.

'It'sssssss...youuuuuu...' a disembodied voice hissed from the red mists that I knew, somehow, belonged to Gehenna. I swallowed my fear and ignored the whisper, forcing myself to appear normal despite the situation.

"I'll be taking Miss Feldman back, Okumura," Mephisto's voice echoed throughout the classroom, making everyone freeze. I tensed at the hard tinge of agitation in his voice, feeling myself being handed off to the True Cross Academy president despite Rin's feeling towards him. Mephisto must have been giving off a dark aura because no one said a word as we walked out the door. I gave a wave over the billowing white cloak at the stunned exorcists-in-training so as to ease their concerns. Some of them visibly-relaxed, but Rin could compete with a wooden board, he was so stiff.

The mist smelled like sulphur, making me cough again to get the stench out of my nose. My eyes watered and my skin felt hot—burning, almost. The bridge outside offered little relief as "Gehenna" seemed to be here, too...

"Oh, dear," Mephisto's voice roused me from the waves of dizziness now crashing over me. "Looks like we just can't catch a break today..."

My gaze followed his line of sight, only to see the familiar smug grin of Arthur Auguste Angel blocking our path in all his brilliant glory.

Instead of paying attention to the long-haired blonde and his hooded escort, my eyes rose to see the tall ebony-black spires behind him.

"Satan..." I mumbled in a voice barely above a whisper, my gaze focused on the blue-lit figure wavering in and out of existence as it stood atop a tower. Then, I promptly passed out.