Puppeteer
Chapter 7: Little Puppet
Never listen to a demon's deceptive words.
It was the one golden rule Shiro always insisted on thumping into Yukio's head, whenever he had the opportunity. And Yukio memorized it well... but now he was trapped like a mouse in a cage.
On the one side, his inner turmoils took the shape of a howling hurricane, destroying everything on its way. It shook his barriers and made his façade crumble bit by bit. How long was he able to withstand such forces without serious harm? How long would it take for him to fail completely?
And on the other hand, Sir Pheles, Samael, offered his help. The demon king of time. He was the second strongest in Gehenna's hierarchy and apart from Satan no one else was able to handle such a strong demon. How was Yukio Okumura to cope with such a powerful foe? A foe considered to be on Vatican's side, even.
If Yukio refused to let the principal help him, sooner or later he would break. He was pretty sure about it.
If he accepted his help, it would most-likely end up in misfortune, if not ruin.
Trapped between despair and perdition. And, to top it all, there seemed to be no way out of it.
Sir Pheles unintentionally put him in a check-mate situation. Wait... unintentional? Yukio snorted and looked up into those taunting forest green, reptile-like eyes, before he registered that impertinent sneer of his. No, by no chance was this mere coincidence. Mephisto Pheles was known to be a fly strategist with an aptitude for callous calculation.
Yukio's mind raced as he put hints together like a jigsaw puzzle.
This wasn't about coincidences... it was a solid plan.
»You...!« he narrowed his eyes at the principal and reached for his two faithful companions at his back, getting them out of their holsters and pointing their barrels directly at Sir Pheles. How could he have ever felt pity for this foul creature? »The diary... You wanted Rin to find and purse it!«
The director smirked, briefly squinted on the handguns in mild amusement and didn't seem to be at all impressed by this threat. »Bravo, Yukio. You are such an extraordinarily smart boy.«
»And you knew that Rin's blue flames would unlock your seal... no... you constructed it this way, so that only Rin could break it.«
»That's also quite correct.« The wicked smile on his thin lips intensified, the corners of his mouth twitching mockingly.
Yukio's hands shook slightly as unwanted pictures forced themselves back into his mind, even though he wanted to suppress them so badly. The demon in front of him placed them there deliberately against his will. Sympathy and hatred likewise intermingled to a nauseating mental cocktail of utter confusion. »Why?« The young exorcist croaked and was temporarily startled about his brittle voice. »Why all this?«
»Is this the question you want to ask?« The principal grinned jeeringly, unimpressed by the weapons fixed on him as he approached his youngest brother. »Yukio be honest, at least to yourself. You would rather want to know, 'why me?', am I correct?«
The exorcist shook his head reluctantly and retreated, step by step, until he was caught between Sir Pheles and a bookshelf. His fingers on the triggers trembled deceitfully... just as deceitful as the demon's words. Damn. Yukio braced himself, glared at his opponent and raised his guns threateningly. »No I must not listen to your false words. Stay where you are or else...«
The demon merely clicked his tongue disapprovingly and shook his head with a compassionate smile. »You really do insist on denying your own desires. Sometimes a genius and sometimes a fool, I daresay. Alas, use your brain, Yukio, you are intelligent enough. It's not that simple, is it? On the one hand, I am your superior and an important member of the True Cross Order. If you shoot me down, it will be you getting into more trouble than you could possibly imagine right now. Furthermore, your ammunition won't affect me in the slightest. To say the least, it's rather insulting that you even consider mere holy silver bullets would cause any harm to me. And on the other hand...« Within a split-second the principal was so close at Yukio's side that it made the hair on his neck stood on end. »...who am I?«
Yukio stiffened even more. »M-Mephisto Pheles... Sir.«
»Yes, yes... I'm also that one... apart from all the other names which have been given to me by the humans in Assiah. However, who am I really? I know that you know it.« he whispered close to his ear, not necessarily in a malicious manner but rather silkily... yet no less dangerous.
»Samael... King of Time...«
»Exactly...« In a nimble, smooth gesture the principal picked one of the two guns from Yukio's hands and swiftly pointed it at the young teacher's temple with a self-satisfied grin.
Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. CLICK.
Yukio flinched with every pull of the trigger. But there was only clicking, never a shot, as if the ammo clip was empty. But this... impossible! His guns were always cocked and he was absolutely certain that this specific one still contained 9 bullets exactly.
A soft chuckle to his left interrupted his train of thoughts. »When you went ablaze the heat of your blue flames melted the ammunition inside the chambers. Both your guns are therefore useless.« The demon principal skillfully flipped the weapon around his forefinger at the trigger guard in the same casual manner cowboys in old western movies did. Then he clutched his slender fingers around the run of the gun and gently nudged the pistol grip against Yukio's shoulder. »You won't be able to cause any damage with these, I fear.«
Trembling fingers closed themselves around the gun's grip as Yukio took it from Sir Pheles hand. That was bad... he was practically defenseless against this demon and completely and utterly at his mercy.
»Can they be repaired?« he questioned with a sigh, gazing down on his loyal fellows in his hands, studying every groove and every tiny scratch on the sheathing. They were a present of his father, a reward when he successfully acquired his Dragoon Meister. They were his pride and precious. So many pleasant memories clung to those weapons and whenever he battled demons with them he felt like his father was still at his side... and never felt left alone.
The principal snickered cruelly. »Hahaha... marvelous! You're mind certainly seems to be in disarray, if this is your only concern right now. Hahaha... hehe...«
Yukio shot him a glare, as he put the weapons back into their holsters. »They are of personal value for me and irreplaceable. Father gave them to me.« He stated and readjusted his glasses on his nose. That was rather careless. Why did he let himself get provoked by Sir Pheles, informing him about something as private as this? The demon probably didn't even understand emotional appreciation of such kind.
»Run length 6 inches, caliber 9 mm, custom-made walnut wood grip panels, titanium gun slide, emblems of True Cross Order engraved on both sides of both guns as well as protective Kanji on the runs and a tiny dedication from Shiro on the underside of each trigger guard...« Yukio simply stared at his superior. How did he...?
Although his facial expression hadn't quite changed, his features seemed to become softer and milder... almost reflective in a way. »Pffff. . . hahaha... Shiro... hehehe... he nearly went into raptures over those guns so that I memorize all the silly details about them... he was such a gun-geek at times.« Sir Pheles swiped a tear from the corner of his eye, before he bend forward, almost towering over the young teacher, and cupped Yukio's chin. »Nevertheless we are not done yet, are we?«
Caught somewhere between shock and astonishment at this sudden change of behaviour Yukio acted like a deer caught in headlights and remained stunned. He felt like made of marble-stone, unable to move and certainly unable to escape from Sir Pheles, who was far too close to his face for his liking by now, his grin menacingly displaying his razor-sharp fangs and sending ice-cold shivers down Yukio's spine.
Demons have no concept of privacy. They are curious beings wanting to examine every bit of you like a scientist would a laboratory rat. Even if they don't exactly mean to harm, their curiosity may kill you, that's what I want to say.
»Sir Pheles... keep distance, please.«
The grin widened for a short moment but the demon released him and pulled away, taking a couple of steps backwards and putting a hand on his hip, while disapprovingly tilting his forefinger from right to left like a metronome. »Such a shame... you mistrust me way too much, Yukio. Although I generously offered my help, in two cases even. And in return I expect nothing more than a little courtesy.«
Yukio snorted, partly bemused, partly indignant. That was just ridiculous. »You have taken advantage of Rin and me. You have forced us to experience things which we never wanted to experience, just for some unknown reason... yes, you are the cause for all this... this shit! And knowing you you won't just reveal your plans to us until we're stuck so deep in there that we hardly get out of it. It would be naive and foolish to show any sympathy and trust in you.«
If Sir Pheles was affronted by his statement, he did a damn good job in hiding it. His expression didn't falter or even shift. »My, how rude. I'm a very honorable and benevolent demon, mind you. But, I have to admit, your vigilance demonstrates that your severely disturbed mental state did not affect your judgment completely. However, I never talked about sympathy and trust, something as trivial and volatile as this means nothing to me... Besides, judging your inner riot I do assume you already feel sympathy for me, do you not? Maybe I'm not an expert on behavioral patterns and emotions of human beings, yet I spent quite some time in studying human traits and therefore am absolutely certain about following conclusion: The simple fact that your mind is in disarray due to your knowledge regarding my past in Gehenna, is proof enough that a trace of sympathy exists. Otherwise you simply wouldn't care, would you?« The sparkling in his eyes seemed so mockingly know-it-all and self-assured that Yukio would have wiped it from his face with his fist if he wasn't utterly right... and well, if Yukio was as hot-tempered as his older brother. »Furthermore, I do admit I expected that Rin gives in to his curiosity and purses the diary once he lay his eyes on it, but I could never be sure for certain. It may have occurred that our brother succumbs to a sudden trace of virtue, after all, the calculated residual risk amounted up to 5,3%. Now, what I want to say is that I never forced Rin into anything at any time. And additionally I never included you into my plans at all. So you see, at large, things may have developed for my benefit, but there are still one or two small interference factors which I will have to correct.«
Yukio turned into a pillar of marble-stone again. So he wasn't part of the plan? He was nothing more than an interference factor which had to be taken care of? Knowing Sir Pheles this most likely turned out to be real bad. By instinct he reached for his guns when the demon approached him once again, but then he remembered they were still useless. He needed to focus on another way out of this... quickly. But the result was quite disillusioning: He needed a miracle.
The principal of True Cross Academy bent forward and propped both hands on either side of Yukio's head on the bookshelf so that the young exorcist remained trapped between them. Leaning down closer the demon grinned, baring his fangs, while whispering to the boy's ear in a dangerous tone.
»Apart from all that, dear brother, for you there's already no way out of this.«
Rin behaved for the first ten or so minutes as Mephisto had told him to, helping himself to a cup of tea and eating two biscuits. But he instantly got bored from sitting about and doing nothing specific. After all, it was anyone's guess, how long Yukio and Mephisto might discuss the emotional constitution of his younger brother. Yukio used to be pretty stubborn regarding the matter and Mephisto wasn't quite renowned for his sensitive side. It might take ages until they showed up again.
So he rose from his armchair and started to inspect the principal's office. Rin noticed that there were new anime figures and gismos in Mephisto's fancy glass cabinet since last time and there was a new, strange object on his desk as well. A snow dome? In the middle of summer?
Curiously the teenager stepped closer and inspected the globe-shaped thing. No, it wasn't a snow dome, it rather resembled a crystal ball. Rin threw a skeptical sideway glance to the door to the study. Did the clown try himself at fortune telling? Did he probably even master it? But a crystal ball was certainly redundant for the King of Time... wasn't it?
He wrapped his hands around the crystalline object and experimentally mumbled some cryptic, mystical nonsense. Nothing happened. Of course not... it was probably just a weird, over expensive decoration like most of Mephisto's interior, very likely nothing more than a paperweight. Rin sighed in disappointment and shot another glance at the door to the study. Should he dare?
Silently he tiptoed towards said door and tried to eavesdrop. Silence... crap! The room was probably soundproofed by one of Mephisto's little tricks. How boring was that? The half-demon pulled a sulky face and scuffled to the seating accommodations again, this time sitting down on the more comfortable sofa and curling up on it. Since nothing entertaining seemed to happen any time soon he could just as well sleep.
***TBC***
A/n: I don't know what happened here... Mephisto kinda acted out on his own accord, being creepy, cruel and malicious and... oh, come on, ain't he sexy like that? xD I actually planned to free Amaimon from his prison sell in this chapter, before he completely goes bonkers. But seems like Mephisto wanted more display time than I expected... he's such a diva. v.v; And poor Yukio... I'm a bad girl doing this to him... still trapped with this maniac, eccentric clown of a brother. *caresses Yukio key chain mirror*
Had to do some serious research about gun parts. Hope I got it all right. ?_? And I hope you still enjoy the story. I know the pace slowed rapidly down, but I promise it will be worth it... xD Special thanks to my reviewers. Your words always encourage me. :'3