When Rin stepped out the Gehenna Gate he immediately fell to his knees.
"Did I just tell Father that I'm going to dethrone him?"
He just realized what he had done.
"Fuck. What am I supposed to do? I'm not strong enough to take him on."
He sat down on the ground, thinking about everything that just happened.
He wasn't the Prince of Gehenna anymore, just an outlawed traitor.
Would Satan really send demons to kill him, his own son?
A few weeks ago, Rin wouldn't have believed that but Satan had just ordered him to kill Mephisto. Why wouldn't he send someone to kill Rin?
"Maybe I could just hide here in Assiah like Mephisto." He immediately disposed of this idea.
Satan would start a war if he didn't do something.
That's when it struck him.
"Mephisto! He doesn't know that they're coming for him." He stood up, trying to find out where he was.
"Where the fuck am I?" Rin asked himself before starting to climb up a tree.
When would Satan start his attack? Would he start to take him and Mephisto down before declaring war?
Reaching the top of the tree, he looked around.
He could see the Academy Town in the distance.
He jumped down the tree but before he started running towards his destination he realized that the exorcists now knew about his existence. Could he even get close to True Cross Academy?
"I really messed up." He sighed.
He decided to go to the Academy and think about how to contact Mephisto when he was there.
An hour later, Rin hid in the woods in front of one of True Cross Academy's gates.
"Ugh, I wished I could fly like Mephisto. I would have been way faster." He thought out loud groaning.
He watched the gate carefully. There were definitely more guards than before so he couldn't just walk in.
He waited for a long time, hoping that he could pass the gate when the exorcists changed shifts but it all happened too quickly.
Maybe he could distract them and slip through the warding. He looked around, trying to think of a plan.
He couldn't ask another demon since everyone was out hunting him.
That's when he got an idea. A very risky idea but it was better than nothing.
Focusing on the tip of a giant tree he could see on the opposite side of the gate, he ignited a blue flame. If someone noticed it they would definitely leave their posts.
Unfortunately, a blue flame on top of a tree with only the blue sky as the background wasn't as visible as Rin had hoped.
"Fuck, what am I going to do now?" He cursed, making the flames disappear again.
He turned around to leave and find another way when he heard a voice.
"Hey!"
Rin froze. Someone discovered he was here.
Slowly, he turned around. At first, he was confused when he didn't see anyone but then something small, furry and surprisingly heavy landed on his head, dragging him to the ground.
"You're back! Are you here to play with me again?"
"What the…? Kuro?" Rin asked baffled, being pinned down by a slowly growing Cat Sidhe.
"You promised to play with me again!" The giant black cat sounded excited. He jumped off of the young demon, taking a playful fighting stance.
"Yeah right, but I don't have time right now. How did you even find me?"
Kuro stopped what he was doing and sat down obviously disappointed while shrinking to his original size.
"Well, that wasn't really hard. Every demon nearby can probably feel your presence. I thought you came here to play. Why don't you ever have time?" The Cat Sidhe explained whining.
"I'm sorry but this is really important. Can I ask you a question?"
The Cat Sidhe sighed, "Okay what is it?"
"I need to talk to Mephisto. Can you go in there and tell him to meet me? Please, Kuro. It's literally a matter of life and death."
Kuro seemed to think about it for a while.
"Okay, but then you have to promise me that you're coming over to play with me and that you'll bring me catnip wine!"
"Alright, alright. Whatever you want."
"Yay! Just wait here. See you later." Kuro shouted before turning his back on Rin.
"Wait, umm, Kuro. You didn't hear about anything concerning me or Kyoto, did you?" The young demon asked hesitantly.
Kuro seemed like a good person or cat. Even if he didn't know him that well he could tell that the Cat Sidhe was really loyal to Shirou Fujimoto. There was still a chance that he would tell the exorcists about him.
"Hear about you?" Kuro seemed to think about it for a while, "No not really, Shirou hasn't visited me since then but I could see the blue lights in the sky. That was really pretty."
With that Kuro made his way back to the academy.
"Pretty?" Rin muttered, wondering about Kuro's reaction.
Demons and humans alike usually cowered before his flames, nobody had ever called them pretty.
The Cat Sidhe was a truly peculiar demon.
Rin sat down on a tree branch and waited for Mephisto to show up.
He started throwing little rocks against an oak on the other side of the little clearing.
He hoped that Mephisto received his message.
When he heard a cracking behind him he jumped up.
Had he been discovered?
There was no way someone could have found him.
After Kuro left, he had been completely quiet.
Before he could find out what caused the crack behind him pink smoke clouded his vision.
"What the-" Rin found himself on top of one of the academy's towers.
"Well hello, little brother. What brings you here again? You must know that every exorcist in Japan, no wait, you can scratch the 'in Japan' part, every exorcist is out hunting you." He was greeted by Mephisto who floated just a few feet in the air on his armchair.
"I know but that's not important right now. I have to talk to you." Rin came to the point, "Listen, I was back home in Gehenna and talked to Father."
"So, what did he say about his precious heir saving exorcists?" Mephisto asked more or less interested.
"He came to the conclusion that you're manipulating me and then he banished you, taking away your title as King of Space and Time." Rin quickly explained.
For what seemed to be the first time in his life Mephisto was actually surprised, no startled.
He quickly regained posture and coughed slightly.
"Is that so? I'm guessing that you're not just here to tell me that. So what are we going to do now? Are you going to attack me? Is this going to end in an epic battle between brothers? Which I will win, obviously." Mephisto made dramatic gestures while swirling his umbrella around.
"What? No! I told him that I wouldn't do that and then he banished me too." Rin sighed shortly.
"Who would have thought that? You are full of surprises today. To think that you would betray the person you tried to please for your whole life. This is turning out even more interesting than I could have ever imagined!" Mephisto grinned widely.
"I wonder how you are going to survive when you're persecuted by humans and demons alike."
Rin sighed. Should he tell Mephisto about his plan? It really was more an idea than a plan but he couldn't do it without help.
"I'm not planning to run. I want to take Father's throne and prevent a war between Assiah and Gehenna."
Now Mephisto burst out laughing.
"You will-" Laughter, "You are trying to-" Little tears appeared in Mephisto's eyes, "You think you can-"
This went on for a while and Rin was left with no choice other than waiting until his brother had calmed down.
Finally, after minutes, when Mephisto got hold of himself Rin started talking again.
"I know it seems impossible-"
"Impossible? I have often made fun of your intelligence but I would have never thought you were suicidal. You're little firecracker want to take on Satan! He is going to roast you on the spot if you try that."
"I don't have a choice! I need to stop him before he can declare the war between humans and demons!"
"Okay, I can't stop you but I can make this more fun." Mephisto grinned.
"Fun? How can you say that? People could die!" Saying that Rin was upset would have been an understatement.
"Ugh, who would have thought that? You're almost as uptight as Egyn." The now unofficial King of Time rolled his eyes in annoyance.
"Let me put it differently. I say that you can't become the new God of Gehenna which you will be as soon as you sit on that throne. If you can prove to me the opposite I will help you establish a relationship between you and the Vatican so you can bring this peace you're talking about." He explained.
"You would do that?" Rin knew that Mephisto could make talking to the Grigori a lot easier. He almost agreed when he suddenly remembered who he was talking to.
"Wait. What happens if I lose?"
Mephisto gasped, "I can't believe it. There might actually be a brain in there."
"Just tell me."
"Fine, if you lose, and somehow survive the confrontation with Father, you get a front row seat in the war. You will be trapped in a mirror dimension where you can see everything that's happening but you won't be able to interact with this world. Maybe I'll let you out when everything is over and it's too late to change anything. So, what do you say? Deal?"
Rin first wanted to deny but then he hesitated.
He would need Mephisto if he wanted to have a diplomatic relationship with the Vatican.
But what if he really lost? He would have to watch people suffer if he didn't die. Mephisto could truly be a cruel person.
"Alright fine." He growled.
"Perfect!" Mephisto shouted gleefully, "Now then, let's make this deal binding."
"Eins, Zwei, Drei!" He tapped his pink umbrella on Rin's head.
"Ow! What was that, you idiot?" Rin rubbed the spot the umbrella hit him.
"Now you're not able to weasel yourself out of this bet if you're about to lose. Also, there will be no misunderstanding who won." Mephisto explained before adding something under his breath, "I'm not going to make this mistake again."
"I didn't mean to. You will see, I'm going to stop Father." Rin took a deep breath, smiling confidently.
"Youth's naiveté. This is going to be fun."
Meanwhile in Gehenna Satan was boiling from anger. Two of his sons had betrayed him. He should have suspected something like this from Mephisto but it was truly surprising that Rin would follow his older brother.
"Father? You wanted to see us?" Iblis asked, entering the throne room with Egyn, Amaimon and Astaroth.
"Yes, I have a mission for you." The Demon God laid back in his throne.
"Please, can I ask you a question first?" The King of Fire stepped forward.
After a small nod of Satan, Iblis went on.
"Is it true what Astaroth told us? Did you really outlaw Samael and Rin?"
"Yes, it is true. They both betrayed Gehenna."
"But Father, I don't know about Samael but Rin is-" Iblis tried to defend his youngest brother.
"Are you questioning my decision?" Satan growled, clenching his fist.
The King of Fire quickly noticed that his father wasn't in the mood to discuss what he had done.
"Of course not. I'm sorry." He apologized, taking a step back.
"Too bad Big Brother is outlawed too. It was fun messing with the exorcists with him." Amaimon stated as apathetic as ever.
"What is this mission you need us for? It must be really important if you call four of the Ba'al." Egyn said with his usual calm and arrogant attitude.
Satan was the only one that deserved the King of Water's respect and he made sure that everyone who talked to him knew how he thought about them.
"It is important. Even though they are a disgrace to me I know not to underestimate Samael and Rin. I want you all to go to Assiah and bring them both back here. I don't care in what condition Samael will be but make sure not to destroy Rin's body." The ruler of Gehenna ordered.
Egyn immediately nodded, "Of course, Father. Consider it done."
"Can I ask why we're not allowed to hurt that little bastard?" Astaroth asked.
"No, you can't. Just do as I say." Satan growled, glaring at the King of Rot.
"Yes, I'm sorry for asking." It was obvious that Astaroth would try getting his answer if Satan was in a better mood.
"Now go. I want them back here as soon as possible." Satan ordered.
After they left the Demon God looked at his still clenched fist.
How could he have missed when he sent his flames after Rin?
It didn't make any sense.
Even though Rin also possessed the power of the blue flames he could never be powerful enough to redirect them.
These were still Satan's flames and his alone. His son was simply copying it, using the royal flames as if they belonged to him.
It upset the Demonic God.
It upset him enough to use his plan B.
Hey! I'm back with a new chapter.
So, the mistake Mephisto mentions refers to Goethe's Faust in which the devil Mephistopheles makes a bet with the protagonist Faust and it ends with Mephisto thinking he clearly won the bet but he's actually tricked by Faust. In the end, it is really up to the reader's interpretation who won the bet. So this time with Rin Mephisto is going to make sure there is a clear winner.