Chapter Text
Rin's arm was pulled free suddenly as a transparent Plasmius hung in his grip, snarling.
Vlad dropped to his knees, falling unconscious. Plasmius continued to snarl, but couldn't phase from the half demon's grip.
Rin grit his teeth. "Say hello to oblivion, Plasmius." Blue flames encircled Plasmius, and the ghost started to shriek and scream in what sounded to be pain and fear.
The flames exploded, making everyone except Rin duck and cover their eyes. It died down soon after, and Plasmius was gone.
"...What happens now?" Tucker asked, "If Vlad isn't half ghost anymore, then couldn't he just reveal Danny now?"
"Unless you have a device that could erase the memories of him and Danny being half ghost and replacing them with more human-like memories, then we'll have to settle for threatening him with the option of eternity in Gehenna." Rin shrugged.
"What about after you leave?" Maddie wondered.
"Hopefully, the threat will stick," Rin said.
"Mads and I can try to make a device that will erase Vlad's memories!" Jack bellowed.
"For now, let's just drop him off in his mansion and leave a note. That's all we can do for now." Sam sighed.
Vlad blinked as he looked around the living room of his mansion, vision slightly blurry for a few moments.
Memories came rushing back to him. Rin, demons, Maddie, Jack, Daniel, his friends, his ghost half getting ripped out.
He furrowed his eyebrows at the note stuck to his forehead. He scowled and pulled it off.
'I'm sure you know what's happened up until now, but if you even so much as think of exposing Danny, an eternity of Gehenna will only be one of the many consequences you will face. - The King of Gehenna
Vlad scowled. "Butter biscuits!"
Rin stared at his ceiling, thinking about the events that took place today.
A knock sounded on his door, opening a crack, Lizzy poking her head in. "Rin?"
"Yeah?" He murmured softly.
Lizzy sighed, walking over and sitting on his bed next to his legs. "Are you okay?"
Kuro meowed next to him, draping himself above Rin's head on the pillows.
"I'm fine, Lizzy. Just stress. I get to come back to work tomorrow, right?" Rin looked at her curiously.
"Yes, Rin." Lizzy laughed lightly. "You know, most people would embrace the chance to get off work."
"It's the only thing that makes me feel human anymore. It makes me feel as if my life is normal...even just a bit." Rin closed his eyes slowly, a tingling feeling shooting through his head at the action, soothing him.
Lizzy looked at the boy sadly. Of course that was the reason, why wouldn't it be? Lizzy wished it was different. "I'm sorry, Rin."
"Why? You being here for me is enough." Rin smiled at her, eyes still shut.
"Why wouldn't I be? It doesn't matter what you are, you're still Rin," Lizzy told him.
A few minutes of silence ensued before Rin spoke up. "Can I tell you something?"
"Of course," she replied softly.
"I told you how everyone called me a demon when I was younger, but when I went to True Cross, nobody knew who I was. I was just the slacker who's brother was the teacher, not a demon. Then, I had to expose myself to save them. They...they called me evil, yelled at me, called me names, sneered at me, ignored me, feared me, just like my childhood."
"This time was different, though. They had been my friends, told me they would always be there for me, but they lied. I felt betrayed. They couldn't accept me because my father was the embodiment of evil, so they thought I was its incarnate. I tried so hard to prove them wrong, but they refused to listen, refused to see the truth. A girl in my class, Izumo Kamiki, was the only one to treat me normally, but she was always cold, so she wasn't someone I could confide in. Yukio didn't understand, he had pointed a gun at my head the first day of Cram School. I couldn't talk to him. The only one who I thought I could rely on was Shiemi, but she couldn't look at me, too afraid."
"I didn't understand. I was still Rin, wasn't I? They knew me, but suddenly I'm a monster when they find out the truth? I wasn't different, they just knew something that they didn't know before. I had kept that secret since I'd met them, so how had I changed since then? The only difference was that they knew. If they hadn't found out, it would have been different...they would have accepted me."
"Certain events lead up to the startling truth, something that they all suddenly realized. I was still Rin, and they soon came to remember that. Progress was slow, but existing. To this day, we're all back in comfortable terms, friends again, but I can't ever forget the pain they'd put me through, the betrayal I had felt when they hadn't realized..."
"I was just as much human as I was demon."
Lizzy frowned. "Rin...I'm sorry. It shouldn't have taken that long to realize that, they should've known better."
"Humans fear what they don't understand, Lizzy." Rin opened his eyes to stare into her's. "Even before they knew the truth, they never understood me."
At that moment, his eyes looked so much more shattered than she had ever seen.
She hated it.
The following day, Rin frowned as he was once again slammed into the lockers.
Fortunately, (or unfortunately, depends on how you view it) Rin was too big to fit into lockers, so Dash settled for repeatedly slamming Rin against them.
"I got an F on my English paper, and since Fentoad isn't here, you'll take his punishment." Dash barked.
Rin narrowed his eyes, not even flinching as his head was slammed into the lock of the metal door. "You're pathetic! You take out your failures on everyone else, like somehow it's our fault! News flash, Dash Bastard, your failures aren't anyone's fault but your's! I'm getting real tired of you treating everyone else like trash! You're all human beings, for crying out loud! I've seen animals treat one another better than you treat people! I suggest you shut up, put me down, and walk away, or I'm going to combust into hellfire and burn your ass!"
This sounded like a metaphorical threat, but Sam and Tucker knew the statement to be literal and 100% true.
"As if!" Dash sneered.
Rin snarled, kicking Dash in the groin. He groaned, dropped Rin, and stumbled back, holding his crotch. Rin landed on his feet, growling. "You wanna test me, Ba-"
"Rin, stop!" Sam and Tucker cried, rushing forward. "Remember what happened last time?!"
"I don't really give two fucks anymore! He wants an ass whooping, I'll give him one!" Rin hissed, pupils slowly starting to fade into a blood red, turning into slits. Luckily, his flames hadn't made an appearance.
Their eyes widened. "Rin, calm down!"
Rin couldn't hear her, already starting to approach the bully with his teeth bared.
"RIN!" Sam barked.
Rin paused as he felt something come into contact with his cheek, stinging slightly. His eyes turned to Sam.
Sam clutched her hand in pain. "Damnit! I think I broke a few fingers!"
Rin blinked, eyes fading back to normal. "You slapped me, Sam."
"Shut it!" Sam snapped, still clutching her hand in pain.
"I guess I did deserve it, though." Rin chuckled.
"Damn right you did!" Sam said, "I'm going to need a cast."
"Oh, sorry!" Rin startled suddenly, quickly realizing that some of Sam's fingers were broken. "Come on, you need the nurse."
"You know, you'll probably get detention for this," Tucker said.
"For what? Breaking Sam's fingers or kicking Dash where the sun don't shine?" Rin asked.
"Probably both." Tucker shrugged.
"I'm not letting them give Rin detention for breaking my fingers. I slapped him, and while he did deserve it, it's my fault my fingers are broken. I can't get him out of the Dash situation, though. Sorry." Sam sighed.
"No problem. I am kinda pissed that they refuse to punish Dash, and insist to punish others, though. Maybe I'll give them a piece of my mind..." Rin trailed off.
"That doesn't sound like you just wanna yell at them." Tucker eyed the half demon.
"Of course not. A few fireballs here and there never hurt anyone." Rin smiled.
"I'm pretty sure they did." Tucker corrected.
"I would slap both of you right now, but if I slap you, then I have to slap Rin, and one disabled hand is enough." Sam sighed.
Unfortunately, Sam had to be sent to the hospital to have her hand put in a cast since too many fingers were broken for the doctors to just put individual casts on each of her fingers.
Sam's parents were outraged. "Who did this to my Sammy-kins?!" Pamela wailed.
"It was me," Rin answered as he stepped forward.
"You're that waiter from Eclipse! I knew you were bad for my Sammy-kins!" Pamela hissed.
Sam frowned. "Mom, it was my fault. I slapped him, and I broke my fingers. It was my own carelessness. Rin didn't do anything wrong."
"Yes, that comes to our next question. How in the world does someone break their fingers by slapping someone?" The doctor asked.
Rin chuckled nervously while Sam and Tucker gave sheepish shrugs.
"It's complicated..."
"Sam broke her fingers slapping you?" Danny raised an eyebrow at Rin.
Rin blushed. "Yes! How many times do I have to repeat myself?!"
"As many times as it takes for me to get over the absurdness of that situation." Danny laughed.
Rin ducked his head, muttering and grumbling under his breath. "Yeah, well, I didn't exactly expect it either. I was just as surprised."
"Really?" Tucker sounded skeptical. "You seemed more worried over the fact that Sam was injured rather than the reason she was."
"I panicked!" Rin defended. "My surprise was outdone by worry."
"You think it has something to do with Rin being a demon?" Tucker asked.
"Duh!" The other three responded dryly.
Tucker put his hands up in a surrender gesture. "Sorry, sorry, stupid question!"
"Speaking of stupid questions..." Rin trailed off. "Have you found anything else about the disk, Danny? Sorry for being pushy."
"Don't worry, and it's not a stupid question. I was thinking of traveling to Clockwork's today, try and ask him a few questions. It's a long shot though, since he is very cryptic most of the time," Danny replied.
"Thanks." Rin smiled gratefully.
"No problem." Danny smiled back.