A/N:

Hails: I hope I got Tōdō in character last chapter. He's a shockingly hard character write when not left to muse to himself.

I disregard any claims to the characters, setting, or plot of Blue Exorcist/青の祓魔師, which are a property of the mangaka Kazue Kato. I'm just borrowing them for a little non-profit fun.

"Every act of rebellion expresses a nostalgia for innocence and an appeal to the essence of being."
― Albert Camus, The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt

An angry red blaze roared viciously, the flames licked the crimson sky, and clouds blocked out the sun like everyone was at world's end. The hideous call of a dragon resonated into the black atmosphere and deafened the ears of every soldier who hadn't fallen at its beastly cravings. Ash fell like snow, fluttering, and light but bristling with vindication.

Shirō was beginning to regret believing this was an easy job. An out of control hobgoblin nest, that's all it was supposed to be. The worst case scenario could have been the miasma attracting some larger, less compassionate demons but no, one of his colleagues had to accidentally uncover a dragon lair underneath the mountain, had to disturb it and now everything had gone to hell.

The severest part of this, however, was the presence of Yukio, who he had invited along to help perfect his Doctor skills before the mandatory biannual license revision. Somewhere deep inside the Paladin, twisting unpleasantly, he feared that Yukio may not even live long enough to get through the revision. The ending of anyone's life in battle could elicit a deep mourning from him but the end of his child's life made him nauseous and the world spin.

Somehow, in the wretchedness of it all, Yukio had managed to maintain his composure as he clutched the handle of a muddied Glock. The lack of tears was a bit frightening to Shirō.

"Hey, kid, you okay?" He asked, pressing a reaffirming hand against the boy's shoulder.

" 'M fine," Yukio said. There were things that were unfamiliar to Yukio, such as dragons and heavy smoke, and there were things that were familiar to Yukio, like putrid sulfur, battlefield intensity, and the comforting feeling of routine whenever he reloaded his gun. It was a schedule that forced him to focus, forced him to keep eyes on the big picture.

"There's an evacuation helicopter coming in a couple hours," Shirō said, moving to rub Yukio's back and ease the tension. "They'll be rough hours but once they're over, I'm expecting you to get out of here. This is no place for a junior-class exorcist."

Yukio nodded. There was no hesitancy in his head, he obeyed Father Fujimoto without question.

Another blood-curdling roar tore through the air, making them both throw their hands over their ears. It was followed shortly after by a blast of fire gushing hundreds of feet into the air like a geyser made of molten rock. They winced as the heat rolled over their frames in orange waves, broiling like the infernos of a grease fire in hell.

"How did this happen?" Yukio hissed. "One minute it was fine and now-"

"I know," Shirō said comfortingly, rubbing Yukio's back in small, soothing circles to ease the tension. "I'm still a bit winded too."

He paused, staring at his son, slouched over and ready to bounce should something worse come to fruition. Yukio knew how to hide it well but he was beginning to quiver, his breathing was heavy like a work-dog's.

"Yukio-"

"I'll be fine."

Fujimoto pressed a bit further past Yukio's boundaries.

"You know, it's okay to be scared," Shirō assured him. "And you wanna know what I do when I'm scared?" There was a pause on Yukio's behalf, he was looking at Shirō now, staring with large, inquiring eyes and begging to know the secrets of courage. With a grin and a huff, the Paladin found himself loading a Benelli M3 out of a habit, not bothering to think of the self-harm he might inflict on his wearing wrists. "I take a deep breath, stand up, push forward with all I've got, and shout Fire On!"

Yukio didn't get a chance to respond as Shirō vaulted over the manmade barricade on the high side of a hill where many exorcists had taken refuge to join the fight below. He watched on in awe.

Officers scrambled out of the plane, panicked and desperate, uniforms smoldering, bits and pieces of fabric melted and charred black. Lucifer took it all in. How could he not? A group of his very own soldiers was terrified of what they trapped in the plane. He thought to compare it to a mouse in a trap but if that were the case, whatever had the terrorized them was one rather mutated mouse.

"Commander," A nameless subordinate wheezed, clutching her chest. "Okumura. He's crazy. The whole place is on fire."

Lucifer's eyes widened to the size of saucers though he showed no other signs of shock. Instead, he found himself examining the cargo plane from a distance. Homare, as faithful as always, stood by him in deep contemplation.

"Sir," Homare said. "I await your commands. But I advise you to use extreme caution. He might be volatile and-"

She was cut off with a wave from Lucifer's arm. "He is volatile. I suspect after being exposed to a far more tolerant and sensitive side of his brother, there isn't much of a chance he's here willingly. Hopefully, in time, he'll come to understand how important he is to us." He turned, catching the movement of a swaggering Saburōta Tōdō, who was pleased and grinning as if he'd done no wrong, was as thick as two thieves in the dead of night. He leaped from the cockpit to the ground with lithe ease before presenting himself with a humble bow.

"My apologies, Commander," He said. "I was unable to separate the twins for this mission. However, I plead there will be a way to fully cut them apart?"

Lucifer narrowed his eyes into a slight glare. To most people, it seemed to do nothing to Tōdō, who barely bat an eyelash at the movement.

"I see," Lucifer mused, placing his chin in his hand, deep in contemplation. "I do not fear much about Rin Okumura, however, I do understand the source of my colleague's shaken appearances. I will handle Rin Okumura, however, I want you all on standby."

"Commander!" Homare protested.

"Do not question my decisions, please," Lucifer said. "It's time I show my youngest brother his violence is unneeded. He will know his place beneath me before fifteen Assiahn minutes are up." His refusal to cooperate for the sake of his own health was both frightening and frustrating and all Homare could do was watch as Lucifer trailed to the safe zone before the ramp that would reveal the twins.

With a gesture to the two remaining men in the cockpit, the ramp lowered―although sluggish and a tad annoying―and from its mouth roared a mountain of hungry blue flames that ate away everything it touched.

Rin was over his brother, guarding the seemingly at-rest twin, and practically frothing at the mouth. Lucifer barely made a gesture as Rin lunged at him. The Demon King ducked in time, listening in slight amusement to the way Rin clumsily rolled across the metal floor like a demonic toddler after the near miss. Lucifer found himself taking Yukio, who cried out at the light sensation, by the arm. Rin charged for him again but Lucifer teleported, with Yukio in tow, to the foot of the ramp. He skidded for all of a few seconds before whipping back around.

"Don't touch!" He shrieked. He propelled himself off the ramp, making a grab for the front of Lucifer's commander's coat and growling like a mad dog. "Mine! All mine! Not yours!"

"Goodness, you're childish," Lucifer murmured calmly. If he were more human, he might roll his eyes at the slight inconvenience. All Rin was showing was a basic, territorial snap-and-snarl behavior. It was meant to scare the adversity away before harming it. "You should acclimate yourself to where you stand in father's hierarchy, little brother. Your power cannot even hold a candle to my abilities. I order you, stand down or come to regret challenging me."

Rin's flames only flared hotter and brighter than before. The Illuminati officials around him began to shuffle nervously, some of them armed themselves, which in turn only made Rin turn up the heat. Blue eyes bore against feline green with an unmatched, vehement wrath that threatened to disembowel him.

Lucifer sighed, blinking slowly as Rin confirmed his speechless answer. He calmly, smoothly raised his hands.

"I do not think you understand the power I hold," he said. It was more like a butterfly's whisper and only Rin heard it. His fingers wrapped around Rin's arms. Something in his eyes flashed awfully as if to gleefully say 'too late! I warned you and now you will pay.' "With just the brush of my hands, I can make you feel incomprehensible pleasure..."

Rin let out a strangled yelp. He crumpled, panting, whining and whimpering, twitching uncomfortably. Golden strands of satisfaction wove it's way through his veins, provoking a more lustful side of him he refused to share. Any attempt to stifle the humiliating noises he made proved to have no effect. Lucifer crouched down, barely poked his brother's side. His pale face was nothing but a blur to Rin, as tears began welling up in his eyes.

"I can make you feel insurmountable pain with just the tip of my finger,"

Screaming filled the empty atmosphere as Rin writhed uncontrollably, clawing at the air in desperation to vent the burning out. Agony wracked him, struck his nerves like a million hammers were beating a million nails into his body mercilessly, lashed his skin like a thousand whips flogging him in a public castigation.

"Without so much as a blink, I could make you feel both, turn you into the worst pleasure seeker in moments,"

The hammers and the whips and the golden thread intensified ten fold, winding around him, making him cry and screech and plead for an end to the torture.

Somewhere in the foggy, dark recesses of Yukio's mind, he could make out the situation. His vision cleared just long enough for him to catch a vision of his brother convulsing on the ground. Rin dragged his nails across the metallic plates that made up the floor, creating an ear-bleedingly horrid noise that made everyone around them cower. Yukio's limbs shook as he attempted to push himself upward. He failed, collapsed, and was forced to watch on.

"Stop..." He called out in a painfully quiet whisper. "Stop it..."

A resonating snap split the air and suddenly all that was left was a broken Rin, weeping as he curled into a ball and shied away from Lucifer. The King of Light stood proud and mighty above the twins, a glare etched onto his face, emotionless and cold like a statue. He saw, observed and felt pity for Yukio as he tried to at least get to his knees again. He managed for a few seconds, repeating a cycle of crawling a few feet then falling until he reached his brother's side.

"Rin..."

His hand ghosted over Rin's shoulder. He called out again but suddenly found his face being cupped by Lucifer's gloved palms. He wore a cool mask of empathy. Despite everything, Yukio couldn't seem to muster up the fury to strike. Lucifer's gaze met his, sharp versus the flames dancing with similar energy to a desirous woman within Yukio's own.

"You are in pain," Lucifer said. "Sleep. I will ease it away."

Yukio didn't get a chance to protest. A forced drowsiness befell him and he did as Lucifer commanded.

"Sleep."

Mayu was getting more and more restless as the hours passed. There was no sign of Shiemi anywhere, much less any of her friends.

"Where are they?" She asked, stretching each syllable pensively. She noted the way each member of the B-Team shifted uncomfortably. She didn't want to accuse them of making almost zero progress but Shiemi was her daughter and if she didn't come back soon, after nearly a week and a half had passed, then she was really going to start having a problem. "You told me she would be back in my arms before the midway point of the month was up."

"We understand, ma'am," Mei-Lin said, taking precautions to comfort the wizened woman. "We understand how close we are to approaching any kind of deadline we promised you. But any lead we've obtained has turned out to be a dead end. Everything about them you've given us, from favorite locations to dream vacations to the tiniest hint hasn't revealed them. We're doing everything we can."

"Isn't there more you can do?" Mayu could recount the sleepless nights, each time jolted awake by a nightmare of something awful happening to her sweet, sweet daughter. "Anything at all?"

"Ms. Moriyama," Mei-Lin said, approaching Mayu. She took the frazzled woman's hands in her own. "We promise we will do what it takes to get your daughter back. I know, it's been a long time. But we don't break our promises." She hesitated then thought to add. "If there is any other thing you could tell us, something that might have influenced where she would have gone, anything?"

"Like what?" Mayu tried not to sound annoyed.

"A fairy tale, a bedtime story, a legend or myth, anything she might have believed,"

"Her grandmother used to tell her about the Garden of Amahara. But unless there's a way to find it, it might as well not exist."

"Ah, but belief is a powerful force. It shapes this world. If people believe it exists, then it exists. We just need to know where to look."

Bling!

Mei-Lin turned at the sound, watching as Jomei tiredly took his work phone out to shoot a glance at the text. He made an odd face, one of befuddlement, eyebrows furrowed and frown pulling heavily at his mouth.

"What is it, Jomei?"

"Numbers... just encrypted numbers. A ton of it is scrambled jargon and there's no identifiable source."

"Run it through a nonpersonal computer, it might be some weird corruption file,"

"I sure hope not. What useless way to go down."

Alessa grimaced at the thought but said nothing while Mei-Lin continued to comfort Mayu. The Suguro Family had returned to the inn for work's sake and many members of the Shima family had been deployed to hunt down Illuminati Headquarters. Mayu was the only one who remained, going to and from the supply shop to labor for the exorcists or coming here for updates daily. This new routine was unfamiliar to many people and Alessa could only hope it ended quickly.

On top of that, there was evidence supporting the accusation of Dr. Drac Dragulesc being a traitor, two trespassing students had been put under the custody of one of her old colleagues from London, Britain after stealing information from the Knights of the True Cross Order, and the number of exorcists actually able to be in the field currently was rapidly decreasing. Both the Gehenna Gate and the Blightseed were needy children that fought for their attention so to speak.

These were dangerous times and Alessa could only feel anxiety crawling up her back, telling her the world was going to end.

"Coordinates?"

Alessa suddenly snapped out of her trance, staring ahead as Jomei got through the quickly decrypted message.

"What?" She and Mei-Lin asked simultaneously.

"They're coordinates. The whole thing reads as 48.8566° N, 2.3522° E," Jomei explained. "The academy symbol is attached but I don't know what-"

Realization suddenly hit the man. "Good Lord, it's the exwires! They're telling us where they are!"

"Really?!" Mei-Lin nearly shoved Jomei, who flailed uncontrollably, out of his chair as she leaned forward to look at the characters. She suddenly wrenched the man back into his seat and smothered his face with kisses. "Jomei, have I ever told you how glad I am that you know how to decrypt messages?"

Jomei smiled crookedly but genuinely and with pride. "You could stand to mention it more often."

"We have to go!" Mei-Lin shouted excitedly, picking up a long jacket, a set of bronze keys set for the coordinates, and a belt of exorcist gear, stopping for nothing.

A/N:

Hails: Woooow, short chapter. I know, really suck. But next chapter will be longer and far more eventful. ;)

You guys are gonna love it.

Remember to read and leave a review, support your local authors!

Stay savvy, my friends.
~Hails