Walk me through the Valley
Disclaimer: Characters and premise are the property of Kazue Kato. I'm just borrowing them for a little non-profit fun.
Chapter Twenty-Four: Wounded Soul
"AWOL, Insubordination, threatened his superiors," Shima Yaozo scanned over the lengthy letter to see if he'd missed any other charges in the extended rant. "Well, it stops short of accusing Ryuji-kun of attacking a superior officer, but according to Tsu-chan that was only due to her bodily dragging him off before it could escalate any further rather than because of restraint Ryuji's part."
Suguro Tatsuma sighed. "Well, it seems Ryuji has set his path for separation from the True Cross. We knew we wouldn't be able to convince them that he was a drunken lay-about like his old man or more interested in running his mother's Ryokan after they'd met him." He shook his head, "I would have preferred a different cover, but angry fire-brand seems to be the one that suits Ryuji best. Of course, it will be made clear to the True Cross that, as the next head of the Kyoto Branch Exorcists, Juuzo will hold the true power and that Head Priest is simply a traditional and hereditary role of no real import."
Several members of the Myodhan high council hid smiles at that. But the Hojo clan representative, Uwabami frowned. "I don't know that I approve of the influence this Satan-child is exerting on Ryuji-kun."
The Miwa representative snorted. "You mean Ryuji-kun did NOT spend his entire primary school career getting in fights with anyone who so much as insinuated that our temple was cursed? Perhaps you would like to review his files? Or we could simply weight the one containing his academic allocades against the one holding his reprimands for fighting."
"Now Aunt Mahiro, that would hardly be a fair test," Tatsuma remarked with sly smile. "The school used better quality paper for commendations."
Miwa Mahiro shook her head and made a slight tsking sound. "I don't see any evidence of unsavory influence in my great-nephew's current behavior, in fact it seems he hasn't matured at all in the last year. My main concern about Ryuji-kun has not changed: he is too forthright and has too short a fuse for the demands of the position he is to inherit. My brother nearly brought us to ruin with his inflexibility, I fear Ryuji-kun is cut from the same cloth."
"This is the price we pay for the power we wield," Tatsuma said quietly. "Ryuji idolizes his grandfather. Once he truly understands what is needed of him he'll fulfilling his duties, but until then he burdens himself trying to be what he believes we expect him to be."
Shima Juuzo stuck his head in the council room. "Update from Sis," he announced. "Rumor has it that Bon just took a couple of shots at his field commander."
Grimly Angel proceded up the trail to Mount Jinba with his sword drawn. Lightning and several other members of the Angel Brigade followed behind. They had been warned of that Satan's flames were running wild, covering half the mountain, that Suguro was possessed and had turned on his fellow Exorcists and Angel had seen guns with the bullets melted into the barrel as they were fired.
From reports regarding the earlier victims Angel knew that the demon the team had been facing was a soul stealer. What Okumura, a second year Exwire, was doing taking point against such a foe Angel had no idea, but he suspected that his student had fallen to the demon, leaving his empty shell behind. What Angel didn't know, couldn't know, was if the blue flames were integral to Okumura's body.
If that were the case they could be facing any random, opportunistic demon that had come upon the shell. The idea of a hostile demon taking possession of Okumura's body and, consequently, his flames was bad enough but there was an even worse possibility: If Okumura's flames were solely a property of his demon heart, inherited from Satan, then it was Okumura's father in a body that was immune to the blue flames, that they would be facing when they reached the summit. Satan, loose in Assiah, the God of Gehenna free to wreak havoc as he willed, in a body that would not be burned away after a few minutes of contact with his power. There could be no worse disaster.
'If it is Satan, we go to face our deaths,' Angel thought fatalistically. He grimaced, 'At least I won't have to kill my student; Okumura is already gone. And if it is some lesser demon desecrating Okumura's body I will lay him to rest and then I will deal with the individuals who orchestrated his death."
"Sure you can walk," Suguro's voice drifted down the trail. A moment later the two boys came into sight. Bon had Rin's arm slung awkwardly over his shoulders and was all but carrying the smaller boy down the trail. Rin was making a valiant but uncoordinated effort to keep his feet under him and support at least a part of his own weight.
Angel sheathed Caliburn and sighed with relief. 'Or a team of experienced Exorcists saw Okumura using his flames and proceeded to panic like a bunch of ninnies,' he re-evaluated. True, Okumura was leaking blue flames in a truly abnormal manner but in Angel's opinion it looked like he was bleeding; on the verge of fainting rather than on the verge of going berserk.
"What's wrong with him?" Angel demanded.
Bon threw himself and Rin off the trail, blue flames enveloped both boys in a protective cloak. With his back against a tree and Rin pushed to the ground where he was out of the line of fire, Bon glared suspiciously at Angel's team. His gun wavered between them, trying to warn them all off. "Why are you here?" he demanded.
Angel waved his team back. "I think the Range Master verified your fitness as a dragoon much too quickly," Angel remarked. "You are supposed to shoot at demons, not your fellow Exorcists."
"Tell them to stop trying to kill my knight and I'll think about it," Bon snapped, settling on Angel as he primary target. "What do you want with us?"
"We were dispatched to deal with a possible apocalypse-level event," Angel replied dryly. "Instead I find this. He looks almost as dangerous as a day-old kitten."
Rin's flames died down. He pushed himself into a sitting position and immediately started listing to one side.
"Killed the demon," he protested in a heavily slurred voice.
Bon reached out to steady Rin. "Then you fainted."
"Didn't faint," Rin protested.
"He only took a minor hit from the demon we were sent to fight but he's been like this ever since," Bon reported, he let the barrel of his gun drop slightly, aiming it at the ground between himself and Angel.
"Probably the same as the other victims; it was a soul stealer, the bulk of the damage it does isn't to your body," Lightning said as he stepped forward. Bon's gun snapped up again. Lightning stop, he spread his arms slightly to show he wasn't armed. "I'm a doctor; among other things. Can I look at him or are you going to shoot me?" he asked.
Bon hesitated for a moment then lowered the gun again.
"Good choice," Lightning commented. He took a talisman out of pocket and held it before Rin as he whispered a few word.
"Well?" Angel asked impatiently.
"What you'd expect: a soul stealer got a good hold on him but didn't quite manage to get the job done," Lightning replied. He turned to talk to Rin. "Your soul was all but torn out of your body. I'm a bit surprised you're hanging on to consciousness. A full human with a wound like yours would be comatosed, but you've found a way to work around it." Lightning smiled warmly, "From what Angel says about you, I imagine you're doing it through sheer, bloody-minded determination to keep your aria safe. But you are hurt and this type of injury takes time to heal. You're not doing yourself any good by forcing yourself to work through it. So I want you to let yourself sleep. Rest and heal. Trust us to see you and your friend home safe."
Rin looked to Angel, the Paladin nodded slightly. Rin knew what Angel had said before still stood: if the Grigori gave the order Angel would kill him, but he wouldn't lie about it. 'If Angel says they're here to help that's what he's going to do,' Rin decided and let his eyes fall closed.
"Get a stretcher assembled," Lightning ordered.
"No, I got him," Bon protested, shifting Rin so that he could carry him piggy-back.
Lightning grinned and raised his hands in surrender as he backed off. "It's your back-ache. But you might want to take the chance to update Angel here on what's been going on with your fieldwork this summer, every last detail."
Bon's lips compressed, he nodded shortly. "Yeah, that'd be good," he said. "I can carry Rin and talk."
Once Rin stopped fighting to stay conscious he found himself floating in the general vicinity of his body again. He knew Bon was sticking close, his staunch watch over Rin was a constant warmth flowing into the bond between them. And it was answered in equal measure by Rin's resolve that nothing would be allowed to cause Bon harm. Their mutual desire to keep the agreement made the bond something comforting and supportive rather than restraining.
Rin noticed that when he'd used his promise to protect Bon from demons to pull himself back into his body it had shifted the bond. In it's new position it was helping to take some pressure off the tears between his body and soul. Rin looked around for other bonds that could be used to shore up the damage.
Almost immediately he found a ghostly connection between himself and Angel brought about by their implied responsibilities to one another as Knight-mentor and apprentice. It was notable because Angel's presence and actions were feeding the bond. Rin shifted it to join his bond with Bon.
Then Rin considered the oath he'd made to Ueno, but quickly discarded that idea. Ueno had offered him nothing in return for his promise and Rin hadn't given it freely. That she'd forced Suzuki to put an end to his harassment had lightened the chains a bit but she didn't make any real effort to help Rin keep his promise to her. It left the oath as a lop-sided burden of a thing, utterly useless to him.
Rin found a second chain binding him; the promise he'd given Mephisto to not touch holy water. It was as grey and lifeless as the oath he'd given Ueno but it was entwined with bright threads formed every time Rin had resolved or implied to his friends that he wouldn't hurt himself again, wouldn't hurt them by hurting himself. Individually the threats were tiny things that would snap with a single tug, but they were many and they glowing. Every time his friends had helped him past a bad day or tried to show him that the initial promise wasn't keeping him from something needed, it was protecting him from something harmful it increased the luminances of the threads. The threads wound around the chain, smoothing and buttressing it until he could wear it effortlessly.
It was also different from Ueno's promise which only looped in on itself, in that the promise Mephisto had extracted went somewhere. Curious Rin traced it back and found that it had grown out of Mephisto's oath to Shiro to look after Rin. Rin suddenly remembered the ultimatum Mephisto had given him the day they met started laughing hysterically. 'Damned clown set me up,' he realized. 'There was no way he would have killed me. Probably couldn't have even stood by and let the Order do it, not when he came personally. And I thought becoming an Exorcist was my idea!'
But it was perfect, Rin could feel that instinctively. He shifted Mephisto's chain and the intricate weaving of promises between himself and his friends that had grown up around it to the center of the damage. Slowly, painstakingly he started spreading the threads out to encompass his soul wound.
When Mephisto heard that Angel had called a meeting with a rather large number of mid-ranked Exorcists; in particular anyone who'd been on a mission with Rin and Bon that summer; he smiled and invited himself to the brewing fracas.
Given the numbers involved or perhaps a due to a sense of propriety, Angel had chosen the Order's tribunal hall for his meeting. Mephisto waited until things were underway then took a seat in one of the upper balconies, the better to observe without being observed. He balanced a bowl of popcorn on one knee and settled in to watch the show.
Angel stood before the Grigori's dias. The defendant's stand stood empty, but a small table had been placed to one side of it and Bon sat there along with Lightning. The requested Order members filled the lowest tier of the gallery. "I have carefully reviewed all of the complaints against Suguro Ryuji as well as all of the missions he and Okumura Rin have participated in," Angel stated haughtily.
A plump, pleasant looking woman stepped past the bar. "I really must protest the lack of proper form," she said.
"Aunt Mahiro!" Bon protested.
"It's okay," Lightning said, pulling a third chair up to the table. "I'm sure Angel has no objection to you representing your nephew in this matter." As he seated her he quietly added, "But you might want to get the lay of the land before you say too much."
"As to the initial matter," Angle resumed. "Suguro's failure to report for a mission-"
"Who cares about that! He shot at us," one of the Exorcists exclaimed.
Angel glared at the source of the interruption until the man quieted. "As I was saying, I find that Marcus Snow, the Tokyo Branch's dispatcher, did not give Suguro sufficient notification for that mission or the ones preceding it. Further due diligence was not observed when attempting to contact Okumura Rin for his missions. Suguro overstepped his authority in attempting to rectify the dispatcher's inadequacies; a minor matter given the circumstances. I'm dismissing the charge. As for you, Mr. Snow, your rank will be reduced by one level and you will be reassigned to duties more fitting your demonstrated lack of capability."
A shocked silence gripped the gallery as the Order member realized that they were on trial as much as Bon was. The more perceptive among them turned distinctly pale as the implications of Angel's second in command sitting beside Bon sank in. Mahiro gave Angel an appraising look.
"Further, in reviewing their missions, I find that Suguro and particularly Okumura were placed in rolls wholly unsuitable for Exwires. This inappropriateness was compounded by the dispatcher's failings. For the past month two Exwires have been repeatedly placed in high risk situations without even the small courtesy of being given time to properly be prepared for their assigned duties."
High in the back of the room, largely unnoticed, Mephisto tipped his hat to Lightning, recognizing the scruffy Exorcist's hand in Angel's phrasing. Although Angel's contribution the smoldering anger underlying the cool, measured criticisms, made it all the more effective at showing the assembled Order members just how badly they'd misstepped.
Angel gestured to Lightning, "My adjutant has made a few inquiries and informs me that it was widely believed that Okumura's nature set him outside of the standard guidelines for utilizing Exwires. There is some substance to that excuse I admit. However, Okumura is my apprentice and not one of you sought my recommendations on his preparedness. True, his raw power far exceeds a normal Exwire's but his experience does not. I'm appalled by the lack of judgment shown by the field leaders responsible for Okumura and Suguro's missions this summer. Your records will be updated with a formal reprimand for the endangerment of underaged trainees placed in your care."
Lightning tilted his chair back and put his heels on the table. "There were a few things I couldn't get an explanation for on this latest debacle," he commented. He tilted his head back to look out from under his hat brim and eyed Shiku. "Suguro mentioned that you claiming that Okumura would be immune based on the demon's earlier victims. You mind explaining your reasoning a bit more for us all?"
"I-" Shiku began. But Angel stopped her with a gesture and beckoned her to the front of the room. Standing before the courtroom, Shiku began again as her eyes darted up to the defendant's stand. "From the demon's victims it was clear that we were dealing with a soul stealer," Shiku said quickly. "Okumura shouldn't have been at risk; he's a demon, he doesn't have a soul."
Bon jumped to his feet, "You-" Lightning grabbed him and forcibly sat him back down. "You are aware that pure-bred demons can't exist in Assiah without possessing a material body as they have none of their own?" he asked nonchalantly. "That is the first, most basic principles taught by our Order." He glanced at Angel. "Probably should add remedial retraining to whatever else you sentenced her to."
"They aren't souls, it's not the same!" Shiku protested.
"Kindly shut up before you embarass the Order any further with your imbecility," Angel snapped. "The wounds to Okumura's soul were so severe that even a week later the exertion of climbing stairs is liable to cause him to faint. Had his soul been fully eviscerated his body could have provided Satan with a perfect vessel to gain access to Assiah. You needn't worry about remedial retraining, you won't be a member of this organization after today."
In the upper gallery Mephisto bit his hand to keep from laughing out loud. 'I knew our Arthur Auguste Angel could be magnificent once properly aimed,' he congratulated himself.
"As for the charges against Suguro regarding his firing on several members of the Order… Light, would you please sum up the events of the mission for all present?" Angel asked.
"Yeah, lets see," Lightning drawled. "Without a full briefing an Exwire was used as bait to draw out a wanyudo. Said Exwire sustained severe injuries while carrying out his orders. Despite those injuries, with aid from his aria - also an Exwire, he was able to destroy the wanyudo. At which point a number of Exorcists, acting on the orders of their field commander Shiku Nobuko, opened fire on the injured Exwire. The Exwire defended himself, destroying a number of the weapons used against him, but did not harm any of his attackers. Suguro also fired several warning shots in defense of his knight, again no injuries were sustained by any Exorcists. The two Exwire's efforts to defend themselves resulted in a mass retreat of over a dozen ranked Exorcists…"
"Thank you, I've heard quite enough of the Order's disgraceful and pathetic showing in this matter," Angel interrupted casting a scathing glare across the gallery. "The charges against Suguro are dismissed. Excluding the mission commander who will face a formal court martial at a later date, every Exorcist involved in this mission will lose two rankings and face disciplinary actions. The lot of you should be thankful that Suguro and Okumura were able to protect themselves or the penalties would be more severe."
"It is beyond apparent that the standard practice of rotating second year Exwires between mid-level Exorcists teams to provide them with a variety of field experience is are not working with regard to this knight-aria pairing. So for the remainder of their career as Exwires Okumura and Suguro will be attached to my brigade," Angel concluded.
"Okay, your conference call is working," Kinzo announced. He grinned at his father, "What would you old guys ever do without my generation to provide tech support?"
"Get along with you," Yaozo laughed.
"Ah come on, I'm worried about Bon too," Kinzo argued but his father gestured sternly toward the door. Kinzo sighed, he nodded to Suguro Tatsuma and Hojo Uwabami
"Mahiro, how are things going in?" Yaozo asked seriously, turning to the speaker phone.
"Not as expected," Mahiro replied. "The paladin stepped in."
"What is his interest?" Uwabami asked.
"Against all odds, it seems he has developed a protective streak towards his student," Mahiro said. "He turned the inquiry on it's head, dismissed all charges against Ryuji and penalized the ones making the accusations. Then he announced that Ryuji and the Satan-child, Okumura will be assigned to the Angel Brigade as a semi-permanent posting."
"Impressive company," Tatsuma remarked.
"Do you think the Vatican is trying to secure Ryuji's alliance?" Yaozo asked.
"I think the Vatican has larger concerns," Mahiro replied. "I saw Mephisto Pheles watching the trial and looking extremely pleased with himself. He may be making a play for the Paladin's allegiance."
"Arthur Angel's hatred of all demons is legendary," Uwabami remarked. "Pheles' reach may exceed his grasp."
"He's making an exception for his student," Mahiro argued. "Angel has always been exceedingly serious about his duties; the Vatican may have overplayed their hand by putting Okumura under his care."
The door to the conference room burst open and Hojo Mamushi exclaimed, "The keep is under attack!"
Yaozo and Uwabami leapt up immediately and raced after her.
As Tatsuma reached for the phone he commented, "Well, it seems that Ryuji's career as an Exorcist may last a bit longer than anticipated. A front row seat for a grand play from Mephisto Pheles is not to be missed. Still, make sure the boys get home for a visit this summer and have them bring their friends. Now I'd best be going."
Note: So I'm finally up to the Kyoto Arc... and to think this story was originally just supposed to cover it and the Seven School Mysteries, how plans change.