Just to warn y'all, this story is going to be getting a lot darker. Which means the characters will inevitably become OOC. Oh yeah, and remember I how I mentioned that there might be some MephistoXRin? Um, yeah, it's in this chapter. And there will be more. There was really no way around it because… I couldn't think of anything else. :) But it doesn't go into detail too much, so please forgive me if you don't like it?


It's too late to change your mind
Even though this fragile world is tearing apart at the seams
We can't wash these sins away
This sinking feeling everyday: I'm waking up in someone else's life

Is it so hard for you?
'Cause it's so hard for me
To believe that what we dreamed could ever come to life again
'Cause I cannot erase this lie

Not gonna let this day go by
I'm gonna save this wasted life
And nothing can stand in my way
Not enough to say goodbye
Burn it til there's nothing left
I'm drowning in the mess that I have made

Is it so hard for you?
'Cause it's so hard for me
To believe that what we dreamed could ever come to life again
'Cause I cannot erase this darkness in me

The water's rising around us
There is no other way down
I only have myself to blame for it all

Is it so hard for you?
'Cause it's so hard for me
To believe that what we dreamed could ever come to life again
If I could just erase my mind
But I cannot erase this lie

-"Erase This" by Evanescence

It all came rushing back to him. The memories of that day. They were shadowed by the laughter of Satan himself, but clear. Yes, it all was all crystal-clear how he had basically sold his soul to the devil. How naïve he had been. To think that he could ask SATAN for help and get away with it? How could he have done that? Why? Had he been THAT desperate to live? No, that wasn't it… If it had just been him, he would have at least died with dignity. But he wasn't alone; he had Yukio to think about. He had to protect Yukio. They were all each other had now. Damn Satan for playing on his one weakness.

Now, now, Satan's voice whispered inside his head, you have more weaknesses than that. Don't get cocky now, my son. A lot of human history's great rulers have fallen to their arrogance.

What are you talking about? Just get out of my head! Leave me alone!

Now why would I do that? That was the price you paid for me to bring you back so that you can take care of that dear little brother of yours. I have become a part of you through my flames, and I can be inside your mind whenever I want. Which, I assure you, will be ALL the time!

No! Get out, get out, get out! The urge to shake his head and cover his ears was strong, but Rin didn't want to seem crazier than he already was. It wouldn't have done anything anyway. Satan's voice was just so loud.

Your mind belongs to me now, and soon your body will too. I'm counting down the days, my prodigal son. If they had been talking face to face, Rin was sure he would have seen a malicious smirk on Satan's face… if he even had a face in his true form in Gehenna. Who knew what he really looked like; not that Rin cared to ever find out.

That's never going to happen, I can promise you that. You might be inside me somehow, but you will NEVER control me. So just get out!

"Nii-chan! Nii-chan! Are you okay? What's wrong with you?" Rin snapped out of his "conversation" with his "father" when he heard Sora's alarmed voice. He blinked a few times to get back his bearings before looking at the child in front of him.

"Huh? Oh, I'm fine, I'm fine. Nothing wrong here. Don't worry… just… um…"

"Nii-chan, after showing me your powers you totally just started spacing out for no reason. I've been calling you for five minutes! Are you sure you're okay?"

"Sh-showed you my powers? Um, about what happened..." Rin started hesitantly. He found it hard to believe that Sora has somehow missed his almost burning down everything in sight, including Sora, and his cries of pain.

"Nope! I didn't see anything!" Sora chirped with a smile. Rin just stared at him. That cherubic smile was truly starting to seem strange. And why would Sora say that? But… who was he to argue? All of a sudden, he wasn't sure of anything anymore.

"…Right," Rin muttered.

Come on, this kid's annoying. Don't you think he's annoying? We should just kill him. Came Satan's whispering voice. It was almost like a paradox. His voice was like a whisper, yet so loud inside his head.

No! Don't put thoughts like that inside my head! Just get the FUCK OUT! Rin mentally screamed. On the outside, he was following Sora back to the dorm, but on the inside it felt like he was waging war.

Why not? It'd be so easy. It'd be fun. You know you want to… Satan mocked him with a fake cheerful tone.

No I don't, and don't you EVER suggest that again! I'm going to find a way to get you out of my head or die trying! And then I'm going to destroy you!

Satan's laughter boomed inside his head, and this time he couldn't help instinctively covering his ears. He was just glad Sora didn't seem to notice anything. Or if he did, he didn't say anything. But for the rest of the way back, and every time he saw Sora for the rest of the day, Satan forced images into his mind of many, many different ways he could kill Sora.


It had been a week since then. One horrible week that he'd had to deal with the Devil himself living inside his head.

It was sick and disgusting. Rin felt like every thought inside his head wasn't safe. He was never alone, in the worst way possible. Satan loved to torture him with images of what he liked to call "Coming Attractions" or "The Way Thing Could Be". They were all horrifying.

They were of death. The Apocalypse. Armageddon. The end of the world as we know it. Doomsday. Whatever you wanted to call it, that was what they usually were. Sometimes they were so bad they made him retch, literally. In the huge True Cross Academy, it was extremely hard to get to a toilet in time to throw up. The ones that made him do that the most where when the images were of his friends. Of him killing his friends. He couldn't be around them after that, and always made some excuse to cover up why he was really leaving.

Sometimes the images were like a veil over his eyes. When he looked at things, he saw blurry, faded version of what Satan wanted him to see. They were horrible, but a lot easier to deal with than the other type. At least he could just blink or look away and most of the time they went away. But the other times, when Satan was feeling particularly sadistic, he decided to "treat" Rin to illusions.

The illusions were so much worse. They came with no warning. One minute he'd be sitting in class, the next he'd be watching blue flames burn it down. They were so hard to distinguish from real life that sometimes Rin would get scared, so scared, that they were real. That maybe he really had just slaughtered all of his classmates with his flames. But then they were gone and he was left mentally hyperventilating but trying not to show it. Which usually didn't work.

Rin could tell that his friends had noticed, at least a little bit, that something had changed inside him. He knew they thought he was acting weird, but that it wasn't anything serious, right? It couldn't be. Not to Okumura Rin. The happy-go-lucky, stupid, cheerful idiot.

And that was fine with him. He didn't want them to think any differently of him. He did his best to act like normal and that nothing was wrong. Because as far as anyone else knew, nothing was wrong. He just smiled and pretended like he wasn't half-way imagining killing them all.

The worst, most disgusting part of it all, was that some sick, twisted, freaky part of him, his DNA, buried deep inside him, was getting used to it all.

And he hated himself for it.

"Hey, Okumura-kun, are you going to eat that?" Shima asked excitedly. Rin didn't answer. "Okumura-kun?" Rin stared blankly into space. "OKUMURA-KUN." Shima said louder, which finally got the demon's attention.

"Huh? Hm? What?" Rin jumped slightly, startled. Then he noticed that everyone, all his cram school friends that were finally talking to him again and maybe even beginning to trust him again, were all staring at him. Too bad he didn't trust himself much these days.

"Jeez, what's up with you these days? I called you like fifty times," Shima exaggerated to prove his point. "I asked if you were going to eat that melon bread you have there. It looks really good…"

Rin looked down at it sitting right next to him on the fountain they were eating at. After seeing some pretty gruesome images, he wasn't very hungry anymore. "Nah, I'm not really hungry anymore. You can have it if you want it." He tossed the bread to Shima, who caught it easily.

Shima looked shocked. Everyone knew how serious Rin was when it came to food. "What? REALLY! I CAN HAVE YOUR BREAD? THANK YOU, BEST FRIEND!" Shima tackled Rin into a hug. Rin let out an "Ooomph!" but quickly laughed. To everyone it sounded perfectly normal, but to one who knew him as well as Yukio did, it sounded almost forced. He was sitting next to Rin on the edge of the fountain where the cram school students (and Yukio who always accompanied Rin) met up to eat lunch every now and then. Seeing Rin interact with his friends normally, however, he decided he was just imagining things and shook his head.

Rin would tell him if anything was wrong.


It was about another week later, and Rin was in the hallway at school, trying to make it to the bathroom while not so quietly falling apart. His head… Satan's voice was just BOOMING inside his head, making it pulsate painfully. For some reason the Demon Lord was being more aggressive than normal. He was just screaming inside Rin's head to let him take control, to give it up already. Something about how this was taking too long, and he was running out of time and patience to do things nicely.

"Never," Rin whispered to himself, "I am NEVER going to give up and give my body to you." He trudged along the long hallway, grateful that no one seemed to be around. It was the middle of class, after all, and he had taken a detour to a stretch of the school that was pretty empty, to be sure that he wouldn't be bothered by anyone.

"Oh please. You could never resist me when I get SERIOUS. I am going to take control of your body one way or another and you can't stop me. And then I can put my plans for this world into motion." He sounded almost gleeful.

"Never," Rin hissed, "I would rather kill myself than see that happen. I will never let you." It was true. He'd rather die than be the cause of everyone he's ever cared about death. Maybe, just maybe, if he repeated it to himself enough then he'd believe that he'd actually be able to keep it from happening.

Satan's only answer was to send a sharp, searing pain throughout his skull. Rin gasped and fell to the ground, the pain too much to take. He curled into a ball on the cold tile instinctively, waiting for the pain to hopefully pass. Who knew, Satan was probably sadistic enough to keep this up indefinitely. He was the Devil, after all.

It was then that Rin heard the thump thump of boots on the floor, rapidly coming his way. He tried to stand up, but another wave of pain made him crumble to the floor again. He hissed and squeezed his eyes shut; maybe the person coming would ignore him if he looked like he didn't want to be found. One could only hope.

"Aaah! If it isn't Rin-kun! What are you doing here, all alone, on the floor? You look like you're in pain!" The obnoxious voice of Mephisto Pheles boomed almost as loud as Satan's through the corridor, making Rin want to cover his ears. He moved to do it, but instead found himself not in control of his own body. He made a feral hiss from the back of his throat and suddenly he was crouched in a defensive stance in his demonic form, fangs bared and flames out all around him. For the first time, he noted how the flames felt different from before. They were more of an electric blue color and were most definitely not under his control.

They must be that bastard Satan's flames. Shit. He really does have some control of my body. Rin tried to tell his body to do what he wanted, mainly to stop being so fucking stupid to the headmaster, but it wouldn't listen, no matter how hard he tried or how much force he put into his thoughts. It was like he and Satan's positions were switched; he was in the back of his own mind now, and Satan was at the front.

"OH MY, what is this?" Mephisto feigned shock. "Why Rin-kun, it looks to me like your flames are just a tad… different this time around. And your eyes… they're glowing an unusual brighter blue, just like your new flames. If I didn't know any better I'd say… those were Satan's flames."

Oh no! shit, shit, shit, shit and shit! He found out! What the hell am I going to do?! Dammit, MOVE YOU FUCKING BODY! But once again, his body did nothing but what Satan wanted it to do. He could feel it preparing to attack and lunge at Mephisto, but just at the last minute Mephisto pulled something out of his coat pocket and stuck it on Rin's forehead with enough force to knock him back. Then the pain started. His forehead felt like it was fucking melting. He could hear himself screaming and feel himself rolling around on the ground, but at the same time it felt strangely all detached. But slowly, slowly, he began to feel himself in his own body again, until he felt like completely normal. All the pain was gone, except for a slight ache in the center of his forehead. The best part was, he couldn't even feel Satan anymore, not even in the back of his mind. His head felt clearer than it had in weeks. He actually smiled for real.

"Rin-kun, are you quite yourself again?" Mephisto's voice pulled Rin out of his happy realization. He suddenly felt very nervous. Who knew what Mephisto would do now that he knew the truth. Figuring it was best to acknowledge his sanity, Rin turned and nodded at Mephisto. "That's very good! And your head feels better, right?"

Rin nodded again, though he looked confused. Just how had Mephisto known that? Did he know more about Satan being inside him than he thought? And how had he been able to subdue his body in control of Satan anyway?

"I see you're confused! That is to be expected!" Mephisto laughed heartily. "I suppose you want to know how I was able to subdue you so easily?" Rin nodded, and Mephisto continued. "It's because I have this!" He dramatically pulled out the same object from before out of his pocket and shoved it in Rin's face with a flourish. It was a teeny, tiny cross. "This is a tool that I created myself that can work against Satan's flames. It cancels his demonic power out with holy power instead. This is the first time I've been able to test it, so we'll see if it has any kinks."

Rin nodded his understanding again. He gulped and decided to finally say what had been on his mind the whole time. "You won't… tell anyone… right? About me… and… Satan?" He mumbled the words, not being able to say them clearly due to nerves. He even looked down at the ground, unable to meet Mephisto's eyes. He didn't know what else to do but beg.

"Hmmm…" Mephisto appeared to be deep in thought. "I believe I have no choice but to tell the Vatican and everyone in the True Cross. It's my duty as Headmaster, you see. I deeply apologize, but we're going to have to kill you." He bowed slightly to show how "sorry" he was.

Rin's heart started beating faster. He started to panic, trying to think of any possible way out of this. "B-but I have to stay here! I can't die yet! I-I have to take care of Yukio! I can't leave him all alone!" Rin clenched his fists together, hating what he was about to do. "I-I'll do anything you want. Just please… please don't kill me or take me away from Yukio. Don't tell anyone about this. Please." He whispered one last time in a desperate plea for sympathy.

"Well, this is a surprise… I didn't think you were that desperate to live…" Mephisto smirked as an idea came into his head. I wonder how far he'll go… "Do you mean ANYTHING?"

Rin took a deep breath, knowing that he was basically giving up his last shred of dignity. After this there would be nothing left of him. But he had to do it. "Yes."

"Well then! Come with me." He grabbed Rin's wrist harshly and led him away. Rin had a very, very bad feeling about this.


Mephisto threw Rin with great force onto a big, pink bed with a canopy over top. It wasn't just the bed that was pink, but practically the whole room. It made Rin want to puke. "What the hell's going on? Where the hell are we? Why'd you bring me here?" Rin shouted, sounding braver than he felt.

"We're in my quarters, obviously. Can't you see my exquisite taste everywhere?" Rin rolled his eyes at how proud Mephisto sounded at his horrible sense of style.

Suddenly Mephisto was on the bed as well, taking off his hat and tie. He crawled over to Rin, until he was almost straddling him. Rin's mind went blank, not wanting to process any thoughts at that moment. It just could NOT be possible.

"Wh-What the FUCK are you doing?" Rin shrieked and tried to scramble away. Mephisto grabbed his arm tightly, squeezing it painfully and pulled him back onto the bed. Rin's breathing became faster, erratic in its pace. He tried not to show how freaked out he really was, but he knew it was a losing battle.

"Isn't it obvious? This is how you're going to pay for me keeping your secret. With your body." Mephisto leaned in and whispered into Rin's ear. Rin pulled his head away quickly, hating the disgusting feeling.

"NO. NO. Anything but this. I refuse!" Rin yelled and attempted to get off the bed again, only to be met with the same result. Mephisto only pinned him tighter to the bed.

"Ah ah ah, you said you'd do anything. Are you going to go back on your word?"

"N-no, but I'm NOT doing this!" Rin wiggled and tried to worm his way out, to no avail.

"But this is what I order you to do. If you don't do it, I'll report you to the Vatican and you WILL be executed. It's your choice." Mephisto sneered, knowing exactly how much of a choice it really was.

"B-but... no… I said NO! I don't want to!" Rin outright panicked and tried to summon his powers. But when he called, they didn't come. He tried again, even trying to get Satan's attention, but that didn't work either.

"You're still feeling the effects of that little charm I used on you earlier. Your powers will be sealed away at least until morning." Mephisto smirked. "Now what do you say?"

"I SAY NO!" Rin screamed again and tried to unlock his limbs from Mephisto's hold, but his hold was too tight. It didn't help that he was beginning to get tired from all the shock and the pain.

"Well, if that's your choice, then I can't argue. Maybe I'll even add in Yukio to the execution as well, seeing how he harbored a dangerous criminal such as yourself, not to mention he's Satan's son too. He might turn out like you… yes, that would be a good idea…" Mephisto made to get up.

"N-no! No! Don't you dare!" Rin stopped struggling.

"It's all up to you… you can do whatever I ask of you… or sentence both you and your poor brother to death, who had nothing to do with this.. It would be a pity, wouldn't it?" Mephisto pretended to look sad, but it pissed Rin off to no end. But he thought about it, and could see no other way. He would NOT let his brother die because of him. No way. He really had no choice; Mephisto really would kill them both.

"…Fine." Rin whispered, almost inaudibly, but Mephisto heard it and smirked broadly, almost grinning. He had to look away because the sight made him sick and want to reconsider. But he knew he couldn't.

Rin tried to relax his body and let it happen. He really did. But he found he was so disgusted with the situation that his instincts took over and he fought back, but not seriously. He struggled and tried to wiggle out of Mephisto's hold, but never really tried to get away. It didn't matter, because Mephisto seemed to like it. Not that Rin wanted to make the sick bastard happy. He'd much rather have him rotting in the ground somewhere. He blamed the idea on Satan's bad influence.

Any noise Rin made was out of pain. It hurt so much; a part of him actually wanted to cry. But he didn't let that happen. He wouldn't give Mephisto the satisfaction. His screams of "No!" and "Please don't!" and simply of pain fell on deaf ears and only served to make the cruel clown-like man make it more painful for Rin, but more pleasurable for himself.


Rin stumbled through the door of his and Yukio's room. He barely made it and collapsed onto the bed. He curled up into the tiniest ball he could and could already feel little tears burning behind his eyes, dying to be let out. But he wouldn't let them, because that was all he had left. He would NOT let Mephisto make him cry. He repeated it to himself over and over again, until he heard the door creak open, announcing Yukio's return from wherever he'd been.

"Ah! Nii-san! What are you doing getting home so late? It's almost midnight." Yukio immediately saw Rin on his bed and walked over, intent on giving him an earful. But when he saw Rin's face, he closed his mouth. Something was wrong. He could sense it immediately. Rin looked like he was trying not to cry, and that he was holding himself to keep from falling apart. That was the impression Yukio got at least, and he was sure it was right. But he didn't know what to say to those dead looking eyes that seemed to look right past him.

"Where were you?" Yukio demanded, now knowing what else to do. Maybe he was overreacting, but his gut told him he wasn't. Something was wrong with his twin. They had twin sense, after all. But they why hadn't he felt anything was wrong until now?

Rin ignored him and stood up very slowly, as if he was in pain. He went to his closet just as slowly, and then started to walk out of the room. But Yukio wasn't having that.

"Don't ignore me, nii-san. Where are you going? I want answers." Yukio demanded again. He reached out to put a hand on Rin's shoulder, but before even a finger had touched it Rin dodged out of the way, flinching. Yukio was shocked. His brother had never turned away from his touch before. It was so unbelievable; his brother was a very touchy-feely kind of person, especially with him and especially lately. Yukio just stood there, frozen in disbelief.

"I'm taking a shower." Rin muttered. He walked away without any explanation or apology.

Yukio felt an almost overwhelming urge to go after him. It would be easy, because he was walking so slowly. He knew he should. He felt it with every fiber of his being. But he didn't. His body just wouldn't listen to him. He already regretted it.


So… yeah… what do you think? I've noticed that a lot of people think that begging for reviews is a bad thing, but… I have no morals so I don't care! :D if it gets me reviews, I'll do it! So pretty pretty please with sugar, chocolate, peanuts, marshmallows, and cherries on top please review! It makes me want to write and makes me feel loved! More reviews, faster chapter… generally. So please review. I'd love you for all eternity for it. And hey, don't be afraid to make suggestions or even a request. I will most definitely take it into consideration, and will most likely do it, as long as it fits in somewhere.