It's been like 8 days, ha ha! Oopsies! I wrote this chapter a long time ago, but a few obstacles went and blocked my path en route. Well, at least it's here now! Yay... Anywho.. On to the story, because this AN is basically my excuses for not uploading earlier. Oh yeah, I would like to give shout out to my reviewers, because they decided to take the time to write what they thought about my story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Blue Exorcist, and I never will. If I did, Amaimon and Rin would not be related, and they would get shipped. Hmm, that would make for a good fanfic...Oh wait!

Chapter II: The Smell of Death

And I will make thee beds of roses, And a thousand fragrant posies.~ Christopher Marlowe

Like wildfire, word traveled fast that Rin had volunteered to go to Assiah, and it only spread even further. The words had even managed to reach Mephisto's ears, and he was none too pleased. He was the one that was supposed to find the Dice, not his younger brother Rin. It messed up his plans immensely, but Mephisto was cunning. He would simply adapt his plan, and form it once again to fit his needs. Why, if anything, the game of cat and mouse got more interesting, and he couldn't wait to make his move.

He inserted the key into the lock, and turned it, hearing the faint click resonate in his ears. He opened the door slowly, the hinges making an eerie creak as it was swung open. The room's only light source came from a large open window, the sun shining brightly against the white walls. The curtains flapped merrily, drawn back, a young teen staring at the horizon with a dull expression. His head rested on his arms, he was standing, almost as if he was about to jump, and take flight.

Mephisto slowly approached the young man, and rested his gloved hand on top of his shoulder. The teen stood up, and wiped off nonexistent dust from his jacket and pants. His gold eyes held an expression of longing, and boredom, his head tilted ever so slightly as he placed his hands in his pockets.

"Yo."

"There's been a change of plans." As Mephisto said this, the teen's eyes narrowed, the corners of his lips twitching downwards. A 'Tch' escaped his lips, and he turned his head to the side.

"It wasn't my fault." Mephisto stepped closer to the boy, and he could see that he was trying his best to back away from him, trying hard to keep his eyes on the floor.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you." Mephisto ordered.

"Amaimon." The younger demon turned his head to face Mephisto, intimidated by the older man's gaze.

"Satan has sent Rin, the youngest of the demon kings, to find what you stole." Mephisto walked away from Amaimon, snapped his fingers, conjured a simple wooden chair, and crossed his legs as he sat down.

"I heard you gave him quite the injury…"

Amaimon's lips formed a smirk at Mephisto's words.

"Rin will likely be sent to me for help, and I need you to contain yourself while he is here." Mephisto's eyes narrowed, his dog had run off the leash several times before.

"Is Death coming with him as well?" Amaimon's tongue recoiled at the sound of his enemy's name, he wanted nothing more than to make him cry out in pain. Rin wasn't who he was after, it was who he had sensed when he was in the boy's presence that was his real target.

He hated Death, and cursed him with every fiber in his soul. It was him that made Amaimon like this, and it was him that took everything away from him. He had heard that Death had been offered to the youngest demon king of Gehenna to celebrate his birth, and serve as his slave. His name had been changed upon being given to Rin, but if one was smart enough to translate his name into English, it translated to one thing, Death Instinct.

Coincidence? Maybe so. However, he had saw someone with Rin, and he had felt the same ominous presence he had felt many years ago. The only thing wrong with his convictions, was that the demon who was emitting the deathly aura had blue hair and grey eyes- Death didn't have any of those features…Yet still, when he had called the demon prince a 'Bastard Child', he felt it again. The smell of posies, and decaying flesh, the same freezing cold hand on his shoulder. The feeling of his life slipping between his fingertips, he had felt extremely tired. Amaimon had to know if it was the same person.

"His friend, Thanatos will be accompanying him."

"-mon…? Amaimon!" Amaimon's ears perked up, he had been spacing out. He saw that Mephisto was getting ready to leave, his hand on the door handle.

"Just try to control yourself. The last thing I need is the smell of death on me." Mephisto shut the door behind him, leaving the green-haired demon alone. He sighed, and returned to looking out the window. He remembered the blue haired boy, and the aura he had felt when he looked at him.

Amaimon could have sworn that he smelled of posies.

~Gods Dice~

Rin was nervous, the demon sword Kurikara was slung over his shoulder in a red bag. Thanatos sat next to him, they were in the office of the headmaster of the Cram School. Rin had been told that the headmaster was a demon, but he had yet to find out who. It was hilarious, the man in charge of the next generation of Exorcist's was the very same species that they were trying so hard to kill.

How. Fucking. Ironic.

He heard the jingling of a bell behind him, and looked to see that it was a white dog.

'What the hell?'

Suddenly, the dog disappeared into a cloud of pink colored smoke, and in its place stood a clown.

"Sammy! What the hell are you doing here? Father said I was allowed to do this on my own!" Mephisto ignored Rin's declarations, and sat behind his desk, placing his hands under his chin.

"Why, baby brother, I'm the head of the Exorcist Cram School." Mephisto said slyly.

Rin wanted to reach across the desk and strangle his older brother- he had thought that everyone was going to take him seriously, and let him accomplish the mission on his own. Now thinking about it, Rin knew that he shouldn't have been surprised.

'No wonder father handed me this mission so easily, he had planned on originally giving it to Samael… Who better than the man who held the realm of Assiah in his hand?'

"This is bullshit Samael!" Rin stood up at his words, slamming his hands on the table. He was the one that was supposed to get all the credit, not his older brother.

"Try to restrain on calling me that here." Mephisto sighed.

As he sat back down, Rin muttered something under his breath. Samael could have sworn he heard, 'Drooling fuck stick of a moron.'

Mephisto had noticed that Thanatos had been quiet since he had arrived, noting that the boy's body had been shivering ever so slightly.

"You can talk if you wish." Mephisto stared directly into Thanatos' eyes, green meeting stormy grey.

"Uh, yes!" He stammered.

"So here's the plan." Mephisto said.

"Thanatos, your name only exists in mythology, and folk tales. It's hard to translate into the country's language, Japanese, so we'll have to change it." "Also, it's hard to spell, and say." Mephisto added. Rin shook his head in agreement. Thanatos was confused, he had no idea where the criticism was coming from. His name wasn't that hard to say or spell. Right?

"Not only that, but your hair and eye color aren't in anyway common with the people's here. Neither is your facial structure, your face is more closely resembled to that of an American, or European, so your new name will have to be English in roots. You'll be an exchange student that came from America, and you have a family in Europe." Mephisto threw a folder at Thanatos' face, a loud slap filled up the room.

Thanatos rubbed his face where the folder had hit him, and opened it up to reveal its contents. It had a picture of him, and all the information Mephisto had told him, plus more.

"My new name is Damian? What type of crack name is that?" Thanatos started to scan his eyes across the papers, taking in more info.

"I got it from a show I watch. You reminded me of him so much, with the blue hair and all. You even have the sadistic attitude, now that I think about it. Except he played with tops called Beyblade's…which was kind of a silly concept, but formed a pretty good show…" Mephisto went on and on, until Rin snapped his fingers in his face.

"Oi, clown! I'm still here." Rin wasn't keen on being ignored.

"Oh, right." Mephisto was brought back from his fandom, and was back on Earth.

"Rin, your name and features are common around here, so we won't have to change much. You'll be an exchange student as well, and you and Thanatos would have gone to the same school together. It was there that you two caught my eye, and I decided to enroll you here at True cross Academy." Mephisto was quite smug with himself, he had thought of everything.

"What do they teach here anyway?" Rin was genuinely interested in what they taught at the school, he wanted to see what human education was like.

"Actually Rin, that's the funniest thing. You have always been special at birth, and everyone took notice of it. As a result, we taught you everything that was taught here, you know all of it actually. You know the language they speak here, it was the second language you learned. You were going to be enrolled here sooner or later, and rise through the ranks until you became Paladin. Until then, we kept your birth as quiet from humans as possible, because we didn't want them to be suspicious. No one in Assiah knows that there is a seventh demon king of Gehenna."

Any words that Rin had were stuck in his throat, it was too much to take in all at once. Rin should have felt mad, betrayed, and even a little disappointed. He didn't feel any of those things. A toothed grin cracked his face in two, and he broke out into laughter.

"I was supposed to be the most powerful person on Earth? The head of the organization, committed to killing my own kind?"

"Yes, Rin. You still are."

"How ironic! I can't think of anything more so, than that!" Rin clutched the sides of his stomach, his laughter rippling throughout the room, tears formed at the corners of his eyes. Eventually the laughter died, leaving Rin breathless.

"Classes start tomorrow at room 1106. Don't be late." Mephisto said a little annoyed.

Rin stood up from his chair and started walking out the door. "If that's all, I'll be seeing you later!"

Almost as if remembering, Rin spun on his heel, and turned back to them. "Come on Thanatos, let's explore!"

Thanatos still sat in his chair, eyes on the floor. "He needs to stay. I have a few things I need to talk about with him." Mephisto answered.

Rin shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever. Ja ne!" Rin turned back around and stared walking out the door, closing it behind him.

Thanatos turned his head towards the action, each step that Rin took echoing loudly in his ears.

'Don't go…Don't leave me here with him! Stop him, please! Drag me by my hair if that's what it takes! Just don't leave me alone with him!'

He would never forget that sound. Never in his life would he forget the sound of the door closing. Any door.

Mephisto laid his chin on top of his interlocked hands. "You've grown since the last time I saw you."

Thanatos flicked his eyes towards the older demon. "Ah, yes. It's been 22 years since we last met."

"You were 15 then, right?"

"Yes, I was."

"Do you remember what I told you the last time we met?"

Thanatos swallowed thickly. "You said that you weren't interested in little boys."

"How nice of you to remember." Thanatos let out a shaky sigh. He knew Mephisto would change his mind sooner or later.

He got up and walked over to Mephisto, sitting on the edge of the desk in front of him, his legs dangling, settling on either of Mephisto's thighs. He brought his fingertips to the hem of his shirt, and pulled it over his head, revealing a taut stomach and pale white skin.

"Looks like you already know what to do." Mephisto said as he grinned maliciously.

He got up, and laid the young demon on his desk, his legs hanging of the edge. Thanatos placed his hands on the edge of the desk, gripping it so hard, the wood under it started to splinter. Mephisto buried his face in the crook of the boy's neck, and breathed in deeply.

"You smell like posies." He muttered against the pale skin.

~Gods Dice~

After a few turns in the wrong direction, and punching a couple walls, Rin found their dorm. It looked like it was haunted, and he probably wasn't too far off. Furniture had been provided, and Rin lay on the top bunk of the bed, trying to daydream into another place.

He heard the door to their room quietly open and close, and knew that Thanatos had come back from talking with Samael.

He heard the mattress below him creak as Thanatos laid down. "What did the clown want to talk about?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all." He said in a hoarse whisper.

"Really? That sounds exactly like him." Rin guessed that he must have gotten lectured or something, after all, the other king's and Satan would do the same thing to Thanatos all the time. They would take him away for a few minutes, sometimes even hours at a time. Rin never really knew what happened, but he did know that Thanatos would always have a sore throat and show up with splinters, and cuts on his hands.

'Weird,' Rin muttered to himself.

~Gods Dice~