Puppeteer
Chapter 8: By Your Side

There it was again... that anxious child who shook with fear in the face of a demon. Though, he could hardly blame the young Okumura for it, after all, he wasn't just any demon. But Yukio was a bit too naive in believing that he would still be alive if Mephisto wanted to kill him in the first place.

»Sir Pheles... Distance...!«

Mephisto chuckled. Oh no... not this time. It was about time for a little demonstration of powers. Could he make use of Yukio or could he not? »But why? It is really cozy like this, isn't it? Or do I make you feel a tad bit uncomfortable~?« he purred into the young exorcist's ear and found it extraordinarily entertaining to see his stern face derail into a not-too-amused expression. Of course, Mephisto dared to go a bit further and stepped closer until their bodies almost touched.

Drip!

Inside Yukio - Mephisto was pretty sure of it - there must have been some kind of barrel filled with suppressed emotions. Up until now said barrel was probably filled to the brim. He merely needed to add some more droplets of unwanted feelings and the insides of the vessel would overflow. And Mephisto could almost hear them drum onto the surface, faintly playing Yukio's downfall march.

»Sir... I don't feel comfortable like this at all! Back off!« Yukio placed both his hands on Mephisto's chest, trying to push him away, but the demon was stronger and pretty stubborn as well. In fact it was a terribly poor attempt at getting rid of him, it rather pushed him on to go further.

How far would Yukio Okumura let him go until he realized he had another, more powerful weapon apart from his guns and hands? How long until he would willingly go ablaze for his own safety? Very well, time to find that one out.

»I've spent many hours with your foster father in this room. And we never went in here for research purposes... well, not ordinary research, actually... if you know what I'm talking about...« Mephisto whispered smugly.

Drip-drip!

His words developed an amusing effect: If it was even possible, the colour drained almost completely from Yukio's face by now and his facial expression hardened to a stoned mask.

The principal pressed on, now purposely pushing his body against his, while licking over the edges of Yukio's ear... »Wouldn't you like to follow in your father's footsteps?« ...and gently nipped on the soft flesh of his earlobe.

Drip-drip-drip... SPLASH!

The next thing Mephisto remembered was a sudden flash of blue all around him and a dull pain when he hit the wall back-first. The force of Yukio's outbreak had him catapulted through the closed door to his study, which would serve as fire wood now at its best, to his office. Groaning but rather contented with the result, the demon licked over his upper lip catching the tiny rivulet of blood leaking from his nose and grinning like a child in a candy store.

»What the fuck is going on here?!« Rin, startled by the sudden pandemonium, spurted over to Mephisto and grabbed him by the collar. »What did you do to Yukio, damn clown?!«

Mephisto didn't dignify Rin with even the slightest of interest, casually brushed his hands from his reverse and pushed him aside, his eyes still paying full attention to the other twin who was engulfed in Satan's blue flames. Such a pretty sight, those flames... he had to admit they were indeed mesmerizing.

A soft, dangerous growl escaped Yukio who was standing in the door frame on the opposite side of the office and looking like he was about to jump the principal's throat any moment. »How dare you...?!« Satan's youngest offspring slowly moved closer towards him, not giving in to his tempting power completely. »... after everything you experienced yourself, after everything you already did to us... you are aware that all this shocked Rin and myself supremely, but you still... how could you... something as disgusting as this?! Tch!« The fire around him danced more wildly and blazed up with crackling sound, even scorching a couple of Mephisto's precious pieces of furniture.

The young exorcist was indeed fuelled by rage, but he somehow managed to keep his mind focused even though his flames went berserk all around him... of course. Yukio Okumura was cut from different cloth than Rin, being the control freak he was, but he was unable to gain complete control.

»Yukio... goddammit, get a grip!« Rin approached his brother, his hands clenched into fists, first trying to reason with him, before wanting to rely on brute force. This scene resembled a corny farce in so many aspects that it seemed almost ironic, so that the principal couldn't hold back a sudden burst of a laughter.

Yet, shortly after, his hearty laughter died away as the blue flames leaped onto his desk, setting everything on it on fire. Papers, school files, his presentation folder, all of his precious Merchandise items, even the PC screen went ablaze. But Mephisto's forest green eyes could only stare at one object in the blue inferno at the present moment: The glassy surface of ‚Die Kammer des Stillstands' ruptured, cracking in the smouldering heat and forming deep rifts, before the glass actually started to melt.

He didn't hesitate any longer. In a haste he strode forward, before counting to three in German and snapping his fingers.

Most of the time Amaimon, spent lying (or did he float?) somewhere in this white nothingness. He had given up on dwelling in his thoughts or on hoping that his brother came to free him from this prison in foreseeable time. He was filled with tormenting boredom from head to toe, a boredom that consumed him so much that he didn't even have the will to care about it any longer. Besides, there was nothing in this room which could provide his boredom with remedy.

Yet, occasionally panic would arise and overcome him. How long would he still be stuck in here? What, if his brother simply forgot about him? Would he then be doomed to squat in this nothingness forever? Completely without any fun and candy? Without any sort of occupation? Could a demon die of boredom, wither, like a plant which wasn't taken proper care of?

At such moments Amaimon's thumbnail and, when this one was chewed up rather rapidly, also his thumb suffered most under the tormenting uncertainty. It calmed the mind of the Earthking a bit and soothed his inner rage at the same time.

He was caught in such a panic moment, when a blazing blue sea of flames swept over him and surrounded the area he currently occupied. At the same time, the floor, no, the whole construct started to tremble like there was an earthquake. Startled, the Earthking jumped to his feet. He hadn't summoned any earthquake... apart from that, he couldn't remember that this ability would have ever shown any effect inside here.

Above all the deadly silence, which filled the room was still present in a weird way: No crackling sound from the flames, no noise of an earthquake, only silence... up until the moment a rattling deafening clash resounded. Instantly the Earthking pressed his hands on his sensitive ears and looked around hectically.

What was that?

The blue flames clouded his range of sight, but finally he recognized what happened. The Whiteness around him seemed to melt and flow downwards like some sticky, thick syrup... revealing... clocks... innumerable watches, hour glasses, gear wheels and... bones...? What the...?! His gaze roamed around briefly, every clock seemed to move differently: one faster, the other one slower, some even displayed time warps and yet another one ran backwards in time. It seemed like a conceptless chaos and the longer the Earthking seemed to look at it the more he felt himself driven to the edge of insanity.

He quickly averted his gaze sideways and stared at the fire embankment, which surrounded him, looking for a gap, an escape route from the heat which slowly fed and licked on his far-too-human body. But there was none.

Was this Aniue's doing?

Then, all of a sudden, he lost hold and fell as if the floor opened up below his feet and swallowed him. The rattling sound never faded during the whole time, instead the level of it seemed to increase now. No, it wasn't rattling, it was more like cries and lamentations, so deafening that even his hands on his ears didn't suffice any longer to reduce them to a tolerable measure. They crept mercilessly into his auditory canal, fed themselves on his eardrums and drilled into his brain, adding up to the feeling of pure madness and causing a pungent, impulsive pain.

What kind of terrible torture was this?

»ANIUE!« he screamed at the top of his lungs, hoping that someone came to help him out of this misery, even though he hardly believed anyone could hear him. His mind unhooked itself for self-protection reasons in a rather unpleasant way and the blackness of unconsciousness washed over him in the most impossible of moments. He was sure, he couldn't survive this, was his last thought, before he gave in and fainted.

He didn't register that a hand grasped his wrist and drew him to a body which smelled sweet and heavy after bergamot, sandal wood and cinnamon.

Rin already had experienced some sides of Mephisto now but this one, which he had shown at the moment of his disappearance, was entirely different than everything he had seen on the man's face before. It was just a mere glimpse, but he had seen the concern in his eyes. What was going on here?

With Mephisto gone poof in a cloud of pink-coloured smoke, he had started to persuade Yukio into calming down. After that goal was successfully achieved, they together extinguished the blue flames in the office, before they lazily collapsed on the big couch, while the younger twin started explaining what had happened in the study.

»You think he wanted to drive you mad like this or did he actually want to make a pass at you?« Rin asked nonchalantly and looked at his younger brother.

Yukio merely shrugged. »I have absolutely no idea. The tricky thing about Sir Pheles is that one can never be sure what he's aiming at... it's up to anyone's guess, what of this he intended. Maybe he aimed for both options, maybe even for none at all. His schemes are beyond predictable, his goals are far from certain and his ways to get there are usually pretty dubious.« Yukio sighed. »Anyways, I shouldn't have lost control like this.«

Rin placed a hand comradely on his otouto's shoulder and squeezed it comfortingly. »You know, it's not like you have to face all of this alone. I'm here, too, after all. And if that perverted clown keeps on molesting you like this, I'm gonna punch that smirk out of his creep-face... no matter how much sympathy I felt for him.« The elder smiled confidently, winked supportingly and pointed with the thumb of his free hand to his chest.

»Nii San...« A soft, but honest smile graced Yukio's lips.

»Che... I've got such a stubborn, small brother. It certainly is hard to protect you from the cruel outside world like that.«

Yukio chuckled. »Little? After all, I'm about seven centimeters taller than you... «

»Oi...«

»...and actually you are far more stubborn than I am.«

"Oi...!"

"Apart from that, I am the one protecting you nowadays, am I not? Without me you'd end up in even more trouble than we-"

»Oi-oi, four-eyes! You want trouble with me?«

Rin was about to teach Yukio a lesson in a fraternal manner about proper behaviour towards an older brother when the principal manifested in the office again. The squabbling twins stopped immediately with their banter and looked up interested.

»Off the couch!« Mephisto growled in an unusual impatient peremptory tone as he paced the office. Rin jumped aside and even Yukio didn't hesitate to move. The exceptionally grave intonation of the principals voice didn't tolerate any protest.

Rin recognized, when Mephisto swiftly passed by, that he carried an unconscious figure in his arms, Amaimon, exclusively recognisable by the ragged brown and green coloured clothes. Mephisto gently and carefully placed him on the sofa, before he started to examine him briefly, checking his pulse, body temperature and breathing. Then he paused thoughtfully for an instant, before smacking the unconscious Earthking right in the face.

»Dear God, Sir! That's no proper way to treat a patient!« Yukio exclaimed indignantly, obviously not capable of watching this any longer without intervening.

The principal growled deeply and cast an extremely grim glare at both of them, reminding Rin alarmingly of how much he looked like the demon he once used to be. Rin swallowed, but nodded then, agreeing with Yukio.

»Yukio's right... and he's a Doctor...«

The demon gave the twins a sceptically scrutinizing look, letting his forest green eyes dart between them from one to the other as if following an exciting tennis match. »With other words you want to help? Why would you do that?«

»Ani...ue...?« Amaimon groaned and slightly writhed in pain. The parts of his skin which were unprotected by his clothes bulged in horrible burn blisters or were completely charred. Rin took in a sharp breath, when seeing that... he was sure, that no human would survive something like that... but could a demon?

Mephisto's look turned to the pitiful figure on the sofa. »Ssshhhh... Amaimon, I'm here.« The principal spoke soothingly and put his hand on the demon's one, his thumb describing gentle circles on the back of it. Then he scowled. "I could need some assistance, I guess."

Rin cast a sideway glance at Yukio who nodded in silent agreement and instantly slipped into his Doctor role, examining his patient and questioning Mephisto systematically about what had happened to Amaimon. The principal informed them rather truthfully and patiently and explained how he found Amaimon in the depths of that crystal ball that he called Die Kammer des Stillstands, while Yukio started injecting the one or other substance into the arm bend of the wounded demon.

Strangely enough Rin felt suddenly pretty out of place. Mephisto was occupied with Amaimon's reactions to the medication, while he kept on explaining, Yukio was engaged in the treatment and Amaimon was unconscious. The only thing Rin could do was standing about and watch. His sword skills weren't of any help at all, neither were his blue flames. And the catalogue of stirring questions which buzzed around in his mind wasn't appropriate being asked in such a serious situation.

He merely gazed at the pain consumed face of the Earthking and wondered. After what Mephisto had done to him, punished him even, what kept Amaimon at his side? What was it that bonds a demon to another like that? Were it those small gestures? Or was it the hope - where ever Amaimon took that from - that Mephisto loved him in the same way Rin loved his brother? Or did love mean nothing to a demon? Was it only a question of loyalty? And if so... what distinguished this kind of loyalty from what humans called love?

Rin shook his head. These were too many questions, too many thoughts. And all of them raised still more questions. Way too confusing for his little pea brain! He knew that he wasn't smart enough to answer them on his own accord. He would have to wait and find it out.

Resolutely, he took a step forward, bent down until his face hovered over the Earthking's face and poked Amaimon's cheek gently with his forefinger. »Oi, Broccoli. I know almost nothing about you and your nerve-racking bastard of a big brother hides more than he betrays. You owe me some explanations, right? So, don't you dare go dying on me now... Aniki.«

***TBC***

A/n: Huff... what a troublesome chapter... so much action. XD Hope I didn't rush things too much... v_v; And it seems I like to make my favourite characters suffer to great extends. *cough* Will Amaimon survive? If so will he blame his brother? Will Mepisto ever be nice to him? And will Rin and Yukio spent the rest of their lives in Mephisto's office? Who knows... xP

Reviews are greatly appreciated and well taken care of. ;3