Rin took a deep breath before pulling open one of the double doors. He poked his head out of the open doorway to be met with the sight of two towering guards standing outside his room. He walked out closing the door behind him. The guards tensed up and looked down at him. They were head to toe in armour so he couldn't see their faces.

"Come with us, Young Prince. We are to take you to Lord Satan." One guard said, his voice deep and husky. Rin swallowed a lump in his throat and nodded.

The guards escorted Rin down a long corridor, he walked a little behind them. Hands in his pockets he kept his line of sight to the floor and the guard's feet. They past by various other demons scurrying around the castle, most stopped to get a look at Rin before hurrying off again. The walk seemed to go on forever, the castle feeling much bigger than he had imagined. He began to get lost in his thoughts.

Before long the guards stopped. Rin, not paying attention walked into the back of one of them, hitting his head on their armour in the process.
"Ow…" He said to himself as he rubbed his head. Making sure no extra bumps had appeared in addition to his new horn nubs.

He looked around and realised they had stopped in a large lobby, outside some large double doors. The were larger than the ones to his room and decorated with an elaborate design in silver and blue. He gulped.

"Lord Satan is awaiting you." The guard declared as he pushed Rin towards the door.

Rin pushed the door open. He looked upon a large throne room, candles lit the walls with a blue light. At the end of the room was a throne, and sat upon it was a demon clad in blue flames, an amused smirk decorating his face.

Stood beside him were four other demons.

He vaguely recognised one of them from when he arrived. Green hair with a single spike on his head, that looked more like a cone. He held the same bored expression.

The second was a scantily clad woman with dark skin, and long black hair tied into a tight plait. She was enveloped in red flames. The most noticeable feature was a third eye on her forehead. Despite the extra eye she was quite pretty, for a demon.

Stood behind the woman, holding on to her leg, was a small demon. Almost childlike in height, he had the appearance of a shark but with legs and arms.

The final was a all man in a suit, his face hidden by a paper bag. Holes cut out for the eyes and mouth and what seemed like mushrooms and other fungus growing out of it. Rin wasn't sure he wanted to know what his actual face looked like, now thankful for the bag.

The four powerful demons watched curiously as he stood lurking in the doorway. He tried to back out of the room, now regretting his decision to come. The guards stopped him and pushed him forward, before grabbing the door and closing it behind him. The resounding bang echoed throughout the room.

Rin looked around, there was no other way out of the throne room apart from two doors either side of the throne. He took a shaky breath and hesitated before walking towards the throne. His legs felt like jelly and he had to use everything in him not to fall to the floor.

As he approached, Satan suddenly rose from this throne and descended towards Rin, pleased expression plastering his face. He wore a long white robe and his white tail dragged along behind him. If Rin didn't know any better, he almost looked benevolent all in white, the other demons watched in silence.

Before he knew it, he was in the shadow of the tall demon. He swallowed a lump that had formed. Keeping his eyes downward, avoiding the eye contact he feared would swallow him whole. This was the demon that was the root of his problems, had torn his world apart and had possibly killed the man that raised him. But all the anger was washed away by pure fear.

Satan raised his arms and put them on Rin's shoulders, Rin flinched at the gesture and was certain he was shaking. Satan circled him as if he was appraising a piece of work, before he stopped behind him and leant in close to Rin's ear.

"Welcome home, my son" he whispered gleefully, sending a shiver down Rin's body.

He moved to Rin's side, hands still on his shoulders and glided him forwards. He was now standing in front of the throne and right in front of the other demons. Satan released Rin and moved to stand back at his throne. He gestured to the demons next to him.

"These are some of your siblings. There are others, of course, but they are currently in Assiah, and could not be here to witness our reunion. I will let them introduce themselves, but there will be plenty of time for that after we have spoken." He smiled. Rin stood stiffly, eyes still glued to the floor in front of him. Satan sent the demon kings away, they left through one of the doors beside the throne. All turning back to sneak a final glance towards their new little brother.

The silence in the room was deafening. But it took Rin all of a few seconds to realise he was now alone with Satan. He looked up slowly, finally meeting Satan's piercing gaze.

Satan sat back in his throne eying Rin up and down. Much more satisfying than the lump of useless meat he'd started out as.

"You look like me but your eyes…they remind me of hers." He rested his head on the back of his hand. "What was your name again my boy?"

"…It's Rin"

Satan nodded. Although Rin was sure he had some sort of knowing smirk on his face as if remembering something funny. Was his name funny?

"I'm sure you have questions, so ask" The smirk dropped and Satan's face turned serious.

"What do you want with me? What happened to Father Fujimoto? Where's my sword—?" He was cut off my Satan raising his hand, looking rather irritated.

"One thing at a time." He paused for a moment "Your sword was returned to Samael, what he will do with it doesn't concern me, your heart is unsealed and cannot be resealed."

"As for Shiro…dead, probably." Satan cackled "Few are able to survive my possession, Shiro might've been able to handle it once but he is old and weak now. I should thank you for providing the opportunity for me to force my way in." He smirked at Rin's horrified expression.

"But…I never meant; I didn't-" Rin started, but Satan's maniacal laugh cut him off.

"HA! It doesn't matter anymore, you're here now! Shiro's dead! I win!" Satan was looking overly pleased with himself like it was just some sort of game.

Rin clenched his fists and lunged at Satan, an action he immediately regretted. Satan dematerialised into blue flame and Rin's fist passed straight through him, only to make contact with the throne itself. Rin fell to the floor holding on to his fist in pain. Satan reformed behind Rin.

Gripping hold of Rin's neck, Satan lifted him from the ground, pulling Rin's face closer to his own. His other hand hovered over Rin's demon heart, still floating in front of him. Wrapping his hand around it, Rin let out a gasp. He instantly brought his hands up to grip Satan's on his heart, panic in his eyes.

"You'd do well to remember not to cross me boy. My kindness to you will only stretch so far. All I have to do is destroy this-" He squeezed at the heart slightly "-and that will be the end of you." Satan's voice was a low growl. He released Rin's heart and dropped him back down to the floor.

Rin coughed rubbing his neck, other hand over his heart, glaring back up to Satan.

"Or would you rather spend your life here in the dungeon?" Rin remained silent "As I tho—"

"Send me back!" Rin finally found his voice, looking Satan directly in the eyes. Satan stared right back, there was no amusement in his expression. "Please…"

"You no longer have any place to go back to, my son. You are a demon now; your place is with me."

"I still have Yukio…" he panted out.

Satan let out an amused huff. "Your human sibling would cast you out along with the other Exorcists. Or didn't you know that your brother was also an Exorcist himself?" He held a wry smile at the look of confusion on Rin's face. "Oh? More secrets they have been keeping from you it seems."

"But why…? Yukio is my brother…my twin. Why would he of all people lie to me?" Rin's face contorted from confusion to hurt; his tail swished in agitation.

"For the same reason they all did, fear. They fear your power, so they sealed it away and hid the truth from you. And your brother on top of that resents you. You are the reason he is able to see demons in the first place." Satan returned to sit at his throne, Rin remained kneeling on the floor beside it, still trying to process everything he was being told.

"Why didn't they just kill me then. Why did they raise me?" He looked back up meeting Satan's gaze.

"Why else? A powerful demon raised from infancy among humans would have loyalties to those that raised them. So, they could then use that demon as a weapon against their own kind. I'm sure that if I hadn't have brought you back here, you'd have been sent off to the Exorcists, to use for their own amusement…" Satan looked away, he looked angry about something but for once this was not directed at Rin.

"I was raised to be a weapon for Exorcists?" Rin tried but couldn't quite hide the hurt in his voice. Satan nodded in response. "And what if I had refused?"

"You would've been killed…or worse. They wouldn't have allowed you to be free… I would know."

"How? What happened to you?" Curiosity spiked in Rin, listening intently to what Satan had to say, much to Satan's surprise.

"That is…a tale for another time. But I will tell you this, I tried to leave with your mother…peacefully. We were ambushed by the Exorcists, Shiro amongst them." Satan began to growl, anger in his eyes. Rin stayed silent, not wanting to push Satan any further. If his own temper was anything to go by, he imagined Satan's to be worse.

"What do you want from me?" Rin finally spoke, changing the subject.

Satan contemplated his answer for a few moments "For now, I want you to get stronger. Learn to control your power and use it."

"How-?"

"First you need to get used to your new body, you've been trapped in a human form for far too long. Learn to be the demon you were meant to be, I will have your siblings assist you with that."

"But I don't want to be a demon…"

"That is the problem. You need to learn to accept your demon nature. Once you do your ability to control your power will follow."

"But what will you do with me after that? You said you needed me to claim Assiah, what did you mean?"

"As I said, no material in Assiah is strong enough to hold me. But you are born of Assiah, with my blood and my flames - you are a perfect vessel." Rin froze, he didn't like the direction this was going. Satan noticed this and continued "However… if you were to pledge allegiance to me, I may rethink my plans for you."

"If I was…but you just said—"

"I have had a body before – to which you were conceived from. I have had patience this long for a vessel, so I could be…persuaded to wait. If you play your role in my plans."

Rin remained silent; this was insane. Either he become loyal to Satan or lose his body to him.

"I will allow you time to mull over your choices, of course." Satan gave Rin a wide toothy grin.

Satan snapped his fingers and the main doors opened, allowing the guards to re-enter the room. He stood and pulled Rin up from the floor by his arm.

"That will be all for now. Return to your room. But remember what I have told you, you are more accepted here amongst your true family. You will no longer be shunned for your demonic nature. So, I suggest you learn to accept it and let go of your old life."

Rin slowly turned from Satan and walked towards the guards. He was escorted back to his room.

The doors were shut behind him and he stalked over to the bed, collapsing face first onto it. That was probably one of the most mentally exhausting things he's had to experience. But he couldn't rest yet, he had too much to think about. Be loyal to Satan or become his vessel…he needed to get out of here, but how? The only way he knew of to get in and out of Gehenna was that creepy gate, but he needed Satan for that.

He was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of his stomach churning with hunger. He'd not eaten a thing since…well since before the interview. But that could've been days ago, he had no clue how much time had passed since he had been down here. He rolled on to his back putting his hands over his face, the bumps on his head poking into his fingers.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Rin jerked upright, fearing Satan had come to speak to him again. He tentatively moved towards the door, hovering his hand over the handle he hesitated before finally opening it. There was a small female demon at the door, she jumped as Rin opened it.

Bowing down low and visibly shaking she spoke in a quiet voice.

"L-Lord Satan has sent me to see if you need anything, my Prince." She didn't raise her head, just kept her head bowed silently waiting for an answer.

Her timing was impeccable, Rin's stomach continued to growl. He was slightly embarrassed.

"I uh – I could do with something to eat…please" He stood awkwardly scratching the back of his head.

"Y-Yes your Highness! Right away!" The little demon squeaked and hurried away down the hall. Rin looked around, the two tall guards were still positioned outside his room, not saying a word. He moved back into his room, closing the door behind him. Letting out a sigh as he leant his back up to the door.

"I suppose he's still being hospitable…for now."

After some time, Rin's stomach was beginning to get more painful now he realised how hungry he actually was. He wished the little demon girl would hurry up. He started to wonder what the food in Gehenna was actually like, and how it compared to home. Would he even find it edible? What the hell did demons eat? There was a knock at the door, Rin jumped being brought out of his thoughts.

He moved to open the door; the little demon girl stood outside with a trolley full of plates covered over with cloches. He stood aside and she wheeled the trolley into the room. Turning back towards Rin she spoke.

"I-Is there anything else you require, your Highness?" Her eyes moved to the broken mirror on the floor. "Would you like me to clean that for you?" Rin quickly shook his head.

"N-No that's not necessary." He nudged the bits of glass with his foot out of the way. "Thank you"

"Very well." She bowed and walked back out of the door. Turning back to Rin before leaving. "Do not hesitate to send for me if you require something else. When you are finished please leave the trolley outside your door and it will be collected." She bowed again and wandered back down the corridor. Rin closed the door again and was soon hit with the smell of the food in his room.

His stomach ached with the new smell. He moved over to the trolley and pulled off the covers revealing the food that had been brought. It wasn't like anything he'd seen in Assiah. What he assumed were vegetables were all sorts of different colours: black, purple and blue. Then there was the meat, this looked a normal red/brown colour, just like beef. He stopped and thought for a moment. Was this demon meat…or human? He decided to leave it for now, much to his dismay. It had been nearly six months since he'd last had meat. He wanted Sukiyaki; he would've had it as well if he'd gotten that damn job. He let out a sigh, no use thinking about it now, he probably wasn't ever going to have Sukiyaki again.

He needed to eat if he was going to survive down here. He prodded one of the vegetables with a fork, examining it for a few seconds before promptly putting it in his mouth and chewing. It was…different. The texture and taste were not the same as anything he could think of from Assiah but not unpleasant to eat either. He tried all the different foods, nothing to his surprise tasted bad.

His eyes kept moving back to the meat. He really wanted the meat, maybe it was just demon meat? He could handle that right? There wasn't exactly an abundance of humans down here to feast on, did demons even eat humans? Rin shuddered at the thought, if they did, he didn't want to be that type of demon. He wished he'd had more of an education on demons considering he is one!

It kind of looks like beef; sweet, succulent beef… Rin found himself drooling at the thought. It seemed he was having an internal struggle against meat of all things. He really wanted the meat.

Screw it! All the shit that's happened to him in the last few…however long its been. What else did he have to lose? He scoffed the meat down, savouring every bite. It was so satisfying! He smiled contently afterwards finally feeling full. He made a mental note never to ask what the meat was, lest he regret it.

His hunger sated; his thoughts drifted back to his conversation with Satan and other recent events.

Father Fujimoto and the others had raised him to be a weapon for the exorcists. Yukio is an exorcist. Everyone but him had known the truth, that he was a demon and the bastard son of Satan. For fifteen years they had kept the truth from him, even going so far as to make him believe he was human. Then as soon as he awoke to his heritage, they abandoned him. Ready to ship him off to the exorcists to do what they wanted with him.

Then there was Satan, his 'Father'. Whom had 'saved' him from becoming a weapon for the exorcists. But now it seemed like he was going to use Rin as a weapon for himself. He had also possibly killed Father Fujimoto, the man who raised him, in the process. He'd shed some light on the secrets being kept from him his whole life, but Rin knew there was more he wasn't telling.

He sat on his bed, pulling his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. His tail curled around him, as if to comfort him. He didn't know how to feel. Rin missed his family but was angry at them for lying and keeping all this from him. If they had told him sooner, he might not have ended up in this situation.

Now he was faced with the ultimatum of being loyal to Satan or becoming an empty vessel for him to wear into Assiah himself… He really didn't like that second option, but he didn't want to help Satan either. He wished there was the option of escaping, but how to do it was a complete mystery to Rin.

Even if he did find a way, where would he go if he got out? Rin groaned in frustration. Either way he looked at it, he was going to be used as a weapon for someone… and right now he didn't want that someone to be Satan.

##

"Okumura!" Konekomaru shouted over to Yukio as they were passing in the school courtyard.

"Oh, hey Miwa, Suguro, Shima." He gave a slight wave and smiled.

"We were just heading over to cram school, we wanted to know if you wanted to walk with us?" Suguro asked.

"That's okay, I have something I need to get first. I'll make my way over after that. You guys go on ahead." Yukio pulled out a key and moved over to the nearest door he could find with a lock. He inserted the key and walked through, leaving the trio to carry on to their class.

The trio had settled down into their seats at the exorcist cram school. The teacher was late it seemed. Aside from the trio there were four others in the classroom.

Two girls sat on the opposite side of the room to the boys. One was a timid looking girl with short brown hair. Next to her was a serious looking girl with long purple hair tied back into twin-tails, red eyes and small oval eyebrows.

At the back of the room was a short boy with light brown hair playing with a puppet. The other side was a boy with his face hidden by a hoodie, playing a handheld computer game.

"What's taking Okumura so long. I thought he just went to get something?" Shima stared at the door, head in his hand.

"Forget that, what's taking the teacher so long? We've been waiting for 10 minutes now. You'd think it was the teacher's job to be punctual at least?!" Suguro huffed, leaning back in his seat, arms crossed.

They suddenly heard footsteps approaching, stopping outside the door. The door clicked and everyone looked up as their new teacher entered the room.

"Sorry I'm late class, please take your seats. Class will now begin."

The trio's eyes widened in shock at the person that entered the room. Stood there in full exorcist garb with a gentle smile on his face. Putting his briefcase on the desk in front, he turned to address the class.

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Yukio Okumura, and I'll be your Anti-Demon Pharmaceuticals Instructor." He paused as the students said their greetings. "As you may have guessed, I'm a new instructor who's the same age as you. I am currently taking over from Paladin Fujimoto, as he was recently injured and is recovering in hospital." Realisation dawned on Suguro, Yukio's father in hospital was the Paladin. "But with regards to exorcism, I'm two years ahead of you. So please address me as Mr. Okumura."

As he looked around the room, he noticed his three roommates giving him odd looks. He'll be getting another interrogation after class it seemed.

The purple haired girl raised her hand. Yukio nodded to her "Yes, Miss Kamiki?"

"I heard a rumour that it was Satan that attacked the Paladin, is this true?" She kept a serious look on her face as she waited for a response. Everyone in the room looked towards Yukio, silence descended on the room. Even Yamada, the boy playing his handheld, stopped to hear the response.

"Do you believe all the rumours you hear?" He kept a straight face looking back at Izumo. She shook her head. "Where would a first year even hear something like that?"

"I overheard some passing teachers talking about it… they seemed pretty serious about it too." She turned her gaze from Yukio's and bit her bottom lip.

"I can assure you, as someone close to the Paladin, Satan was not involved." He lied through his teeth and hoped to God they bought it. "Rumours are rumours for a reason and should not be taken seriously." He wondered who had been carelessly talking of what had happened, only a few knew the circumstances of the attack. Sir Pheles had covered it up the best he could. Either way he wasn't going to indulge his students in the rumours, no matter how true they might be.

With that the class continued on as planned. At the end of class Yukio was packing up his things and Bon, Shima and Konekomaru approached him. Yukio looked at them hesitantly, waiting for someone to make the first move.

"So, Mr. Okumura? You sure kept that quiet." Shima was the first to speak, with a sly grin plastering his face.

"It didn't really seem important to mention, since you were going to find out anyway." He said with a smile. "I didn't really want people knowing I was the teacher before classes either. It was kind of nice just being me for a little while, before becoming your instructor."

"So, the Paladin, he's your dad. Right?" Suguro asked, Yukio nodded his confirmation.

"Yeah, if he had been well, he would've been teaching you with me as his assistant. But due to the circumstances, I was kind of thrown in the deep end… So hopefully the class was okay, despite my tardiness." Yukio scratched the back of his head forcing a laugh.

"So about what Kamiki said, is it true?" Suguro looked serious for a moment. The thought of Satan returning had dwelled on his mind the whole lesson. Yukio looked at him thoughtfully before smiling.

"Like I said, it's just a rumour. My father was just caught off guard. But because he's the Paladin, people tend to think he's invincible, so no common thief could just take him on. So, their imaginations get the better of them." They looked like they were buying it. "Anyway, I'll see you back at the dorm. Oh, don't forget I've assigned homework." He shot them an evil smile and left the room, briefcase in hand.

"That guy has a dark side…" Shima let out a nervous laugh.

"I don't buy it. Satan is too sensitive a subject for anyone to be casually gossiping about. There must be some truth behind it, but Mr. Okumura has to keep his mouth shut." Suguro looked back to the others, Shima seemed to agree but Konekomaru fidgeted nervously.

They soon left to make their way back to the dorms. The trio cracked on with their homework whilst their 'teacher' was busy working on lesson plans. Shima had tried joking about letting him off the homework only for Yukio to give his 'I'm-not-amused' face. There was a deafening silence after that filled with only pen scratches on paper. Yukio's mind wandered to Rin again, his dreams still haunting him every night. Shima had now taken to hitting him with a pillow every time his sleep talking woke him up.

He wondered what had happened to Rin when he was taken to Gehenna. What had Satan done to him? Was he even still alive? If he was alive, what sort of things was Satan putting in his head? Would Satan even keep him around or just take his body right away, surely that was Satan's only use for him? But they would've heard something already if he had taken possession of a body. Judging by the Blue Night, he was one for big theatrics.

His father had apparently spoken to Mephisto sometime after waking. But the demon being ever aloof about the situation hasn't offered any help or insight, yet. Even with all his so-called 'contacts' in Gehenna, there had been no sight or contact with Rin. He had been down there 2 weeks now… It did make Yukio wonder if Mephisto was on their side or if he was conspiring with Satan.

He was brought out of his thoughts when his phone started to ring. He checked the caller ID to see 'Dad' on the phone. He pushed the call button to answer.

"Hi Dad. Everything okay?"

"Yukio! Guess what!" Shiro nearly shouting down the phone caused Yukio to jump.

"What?"

"I'm getting discharged at the end of the week." Shiro sounded extra cheerful to finally be getting out of the hospital. He had not been lucky with the pretty nurses, so they started sending him male nurses instead. He had then decided to self-discharge, much to the annoyance of the doctors, but he was well enough to rest at home now.

"Are you sure you're well enough Dad? How're you getting home?"

"Yes, yes I'm fine! Well, Mephisto has offered me a ride, but I'm under the impression he wants to discuss something about Rin. He seemed pretty serious over the phone." Shiro's voice trailed off.

"He wants to talk about Nii-san? Did he manage to contact him?" It took Yukio a second to realise the pen scratches had stopped. Then it dawned on him he wasn't alone in the room. Crap. Yukio quickly stood up and left the room, phone still stuck to his ear, shutting the door behind him.

"Well, that was odd." Suguro said looking towards the door Yukio had just walked out of. Shima snuck over to Yukio's desk to peek at the lesson plan he had been working on.

"Shima what are you doing?" Koneko looked over curiously.

"Well…I was just looking to see if he had any surprise tests planned. But apparently our lesson plan for the week is… 'Rin'. Both Suguro and Koneko looked over confused. Shima held up the piece of paper and what started off normal, turned into repeated scribbles of the word 'Rin'.

"Was he spacing out or something?" Suguro asked staring at the paper.

"Possibly. Who's Rin though?" Shima looked to the other two and then towards the door. Koneko sat thoughtfully for a moment.

"His brother maybe? You said he was having dreams about him, right?" They both nodded simultaneously "So, he's obviously thinking about him subconsciously."

"Well he did just suspiciously run out of the room as soon as he mentioned his brother. There must be something more going on than him just being a 'drop out looking for a job'." Suguro looked at both his friends who seemed to be in agreement with him.

Out in the hall Yukio continued his conversation with his Dad. "Sorry, I was in a room full of classmates…what exactly did Sir Pheles say? Has he managed to contact Nii-san?"

"He didn't say, he didn't even mention Rin over the phone. Just said he had important matters to discuss, when I asked if it was related to Rin, he just made a noise. Damn demon can't just give a straight answer." Shiro sighed "Anyway, I just wanted to let you know I'd be going home soon."

"Okay, thanks for letting me know. I'll come be dropping by end of the week after classes. I want to hear what Sir Pheles has to say…" Yukio pushed the red button on his phone and hung up. "Nii-san…" He turned around to see shadows moving in the light from under his dorm door. He sighed, maybe he should've taken the room on his own after all…

He went back into the dorm room, his roommates sat innocently on their beds, pretending to concentrate on their homework as if nothing had happened. Yukio wondered if they had been listening at the door, not that they would've heard much more. Yukio sighed and went back to his lesson plan.

"Everything okay?" Yukio looked up to see a concerned Suguro looking his way. He sent back a smile.

"Yes, fine. My father is going home at the end of the week, so I'm going to spend the weekend there. Provided nothing else comes up." He said no more and went back to his work. The trio remained quiet, giving each other suspicious looks, eventually returning to their homework.

Yukio looked at his lesson plan, he then noticed all the scribbles of Rin's name over the paper. He pinched the bridge of his nose; this was getting ridiculous. First the dreams, now he was unconsciously writing his brother's name everywhere. He screwed up the paper and threw it into a nearby paper waste bin. He pulled out another piece of paper and started again, finishing the lesson plan before going to bed for another restless night.