Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Fujimoto Shiro sat alone in his office, a pile of documents and a bottle of sake in front of him, the glass for the sake discarded in favour of drinking straight from the bottle. The documents lay unmoving for hours, Shiro stared at the page in front of him but didn’t register the words.

He then sighed and pushed his work away, realising that he wouldn’t be getting anything done today, he just wasn’t in the mood. Today was the anniversary after all, of the day his son went missing.

Shiro’s eyes drifted over to the photo frame that sat on his desk and he picked it up, smiling at the two faces that grinned back at him. It was the last picture he had of them together, taken only days before one of them disappeared, he had taken them to the beach and snapped the photo of them standing proudly next to their sandcastle, poor Yukio had gotten a nasty sunburn that day, and Rin had slipped in the rock pools, getting scrapes on his knees and elbows that he had insisted didn’t hurt even thought it was clear they had.

Yukio was now a fully trained exorcist, even becoming the teacher to the next group of exorcists in training even though he was the same age as them, a promising exorcist prodigy that Shiro was proud of.

And Rin?

Shiro let out a heavy sigh.

Rin had gone missing seven years ago to the day.

Shiro still remembered that day clearly.

“Hello?” Shiro answered his phone.

He was currently on a mission involving a string of mysterious injuries happening to the residence of a small area, he predicted that he wouldn’t be back home until late in the afternoon.

“Mister Fujimoto, I’m afraid that there’s been another incident at school regarding your son.” The recognisable voice of the school receptionist answered back.

Shiro sighed. “What happened?” He asked regrettably.

“Your son has managed to injure another student as well as the teacher who pulled him away from the child. We’d like you to come in to discuss the matter as well as take him home.” The receptionist listed off firmly.

Shiro looked at his watch.

“I’m currently occupied with matters out of the city, and it’ll take me a few hours to get back.” He said, the case wasn’t serious at the moment, so he could afford to leave it to the others.

The receptionist didn’t speak but he could hear her speaking to someone else in the background.

“We will send him home now and speak to you tomorrow, is that acceptable?” The receptionist asked.

“Yes, thank you.” He’d rather speak to Rin first anyway. “Goodbye.”

Putting away his phone, Shiro went over to his team and spoke with them about leaving.

“I’m surprised that you don’t get into more trouble with how much that kid of yours pulls you away from work.” One of his team commented as Shiro wrote down his current observations so that he could leave.

“Whoever oversees our missions must have a problem child of their own.” Another added.

“I’d appreciate if you didn’t refer to my son in such away.” Shiro told them coldly.

The two quickly shut up.

Shiro handed over the papers and left.

It took a few hours, but Shiro eventually arrived home.

“Rin!” He called as he entered the monastery.

“You’re back early.” One of the priests said.

“Rin got in trouble again.” Shiro said. “Where is he?”

The priests looked at each other.

“We haven’t seen him.” Another answered.

Shiro felt a shot of ice go through him, but he quickly quelled it, telling himself he was overreacting.

“I was told that Rin was being sent home after his incident at school.” He told the priests.

The priests gave worried looks.

“Check Rin’s room to see if he snuck past you and contact Yukio at cram school to see if he knows where he is if he’s not in his room, I’ll go to the school, it should still be open.” Shiro said, taking charge.

“Okay.” The priests answered.

Shiro left again, heading towards his children’s school, on the way getting the message that Rin wasn’t hiding in the monastery, quickening his pace at the news.

“I’m sorry, but we’re closed for today.” The receptionist said as Shiro arrived.

“I’m looking for my son.” Shiro said.

“I’m pretty sure that there aren’t any children left in the school, the cleaners would have found anyone who stayed and brought them here.” The receptionist answered.

“Rin’s not here?” The ice was back, stronger than before.

“Oh, Mr Fujimoto!” The receptionist now recognised him. “We sent Rin home hours ago, the paperwork says that he was fine to walk home alone.” The receptionist began to look worried too. “Did he not arrive home?”

Shiro shook his head.

“Would you like me to phone the police?” The receptionist asked nervously.

“No, I’ll do it myself if I can’t find him.” Shiro told her, quickly leaving.

Shiro phoned the monastery as he ran towards the park, hoping that Rin was sulking there instead of heading home.

“Did you find anything out from Yukio?” Shiro asked as soon as the phone picked up.

“All he told us was that his teacher told him that Rin had been sent home early after the fight.” Was the answer.

Shiro cursed, both at the answer and because he arrived at the park to find Rin nowhere to be found.

He took a deep breath to calm himself.

“Contact the police and organise a search party to find Rin.” He told the priest.

The priest was silent for a second. “Yes, Shiro.” His voice was strained.

The search went on for hours, the police, priests, and a few volunteers splitting up to search the area for Rin. As they searched, Shiro prayed that Rin had simply gotten lost, he’d taught the boy not to go with strange people or take things from them, and Rin was strong enough to fight off attackers even as just a boy, but it was still a possibility that Shiro didn’t want to think of.

“Over here!” One of the volunteers called out.

Everyone nearby rushed over, Shiro pushing to the front.

The person who called out handed Shiro a backpack, Rin’s backpack.

“I found it just lying there.” The person explained.

“Is this-” A police officer began to ask.

“Yes.” Shiro answered sternly.

“Call all the volunteers to this area and spread out for more clues.” The officer called to the other officers.

Still holding Rin’s backpack in a tight grip, Shiro continued his search, calling out his son’s name frequently.

They never found him.

Rin’s backpack was the only clue they found, no other indication as to what happened to him or where he went, only that he was likely taken due to his backpack being found just lying on the ground.

Shiro still remembered holding a sobbing Yukio that night, when the boy realised that his brother was gone, and then again when the search was officially called off and Rin became just another name on the list of missing children.

The two of them never gave up though, despite the seven years since Rin disappeared, Shiro and Yukio continued to look, searching for any scrap of evidence for where he went, fighting to bring him back home. Others told them that it was likely Rin wasn’t even alive anymore, but Shiro, Yukio and the monks of the monastery knew something those people didn’t, the kurikara.

The blue flames still burned behind the seal, flames that would have surely gone out without their true owner still alive. The flames that they feared had become a source of comfort for the family, for as long as they burned, they knew that Rin was still out there somewhere, waiting to be found.

Shiro placed the photo frame back in its place and checked his messages, he had a new case.

With a parting glance at the photo, Shiro opened his door using the key that took him to the central headquarters to receive the details of the case and who he’d be working with.

Chapter Text

(7 years ago)

Rin rubbed at his eyes furiously as he ran, trying his best not to cry.

It wasn’t fair!

The other boy had started it, throwing insults at him that were so hard to ignore, pushing and pushing until Rin had to push back, or rather, punch back. He was just so angry, the things that boy was saying about Yukio and his family, so he hit the boy, and then hit the teacher by accident in his anger.

And the teachers had blamed it all on him, not listening to Rin when he tried to explain, telling him that he shouldn’t resort to violence over ‘harmless teasing’. The boy got out of it without even a scolding while Rin got suspended again and sent home on his own because his father was away.

Frustrated, angry at the world, and fearful at how his father would react to him being suspended again, Rin did the only thing his young mind could think of and ran. He had no direction in mind, all he knew was that he needed to get away, to try and outrun his problems.

Eventually, Rin came to a stop, exhausted and still upset, he slumped down where he stood and sobbed into his hands.

“It’s not fair.” He sobbed into his hands. “They never understand!”

So wrapped up in his misery, he gave no notice to what approached him from the shadows.

Rin moaned as he came to, rubbing his eyes as he tried to make sense of what happened. The last he remembered was breaking down, and then nothing. Apparently, he’d fallen asleep or something.

But what he woke up to was certainly not where he last remembered.

The ground beneath him was overgrown, coming up from beneath cracked pavement and crawling up the walls of buildings, the buildings themselves in various states of disrepair, windows smashed, and some buildings caved in in areas, cars sat abandoned on the road, rusted with plants also growing over them. And it was quiet, Rin couldn’t hear a single other person, not even any animals.

“Where am I?” Rin questioned as he stood up and began walking through the ruined streets. “Hello!” He called out.

There was no answer.

“Hello!” He called again desperately.

Still, no one came.

Rin’s eyes began to burn as more tears came, he was alone in this strange place, he didn’t recognise anything. The dilapidated buildings were unfamiliar, he didn’t recognise the faded shop signs, and he couldn’t see any sign of the clock tower his father had told him to head to if he or Yukio ever got lost.

Rin began running desperately, turning random corners, hoping to catch sight of something familiar that would lead him back home.

From the distance, he was watched by a set of eyes.

“Hello! Please, someone!” Rin cried as he continued to run, until he found himself exhausted. “Where am I?”

Suddenly, there was a rustling sound nearby and something flashed in the corner of Rin’s vision.

“Hello?” He asked hopefully.

There was more rustling.

He turned a corner and spotted a human-shaped figure not far away.

Rin let out a breath of relief. “Can you help me, I’m lost and don’t know where…” He trailed off as he finally got a good look at who he was talking to.

What was a more accurate word. The figure was skeletal, wearing no clothes to hide its emaciated body, it had long arms with long fingers tipped with long claws, it was completely bald, and its belly stuck far out from the rest of its body like a melon. When it turned to face him, Rin could only register fear, its eyes were sunken in and wide like it had no eyelids, and its teeth were on display with no lips covering them.

The thing turned to face Rin fully, gnashing its teeth together.

Rin began stepping back nervously and the thing opened its mouth and let out an inhuman screech.

Rin screamed in fear, turning and running, hearing the pounding of feet behind him. Around him, more of the creatures emerged from the shadows, creeping out from between building, screeching and giving chase.

Rin ran until he found himself backed into a corner, the creatures advancing towards him.

“Hey!” A voice suddenly called out.

Rin looked up to see someone leap down from above him, landing between him and the creatures, brandishing a jagged metal pipe. Said pipe was then lodged in the chest of one of the creatures, which gave a screech of pain and fell over, the pipe was pulled out of its body and swung at another creature, striking it across the face. The creatures back away in fear and pain, wary of the pipe but also testing their way forward, only kept at bay when the jagged metal was swung their way.

Rin’s saviour then reached into their bag and threw something on the floor, smoke quickly spewing out of it, obscuring everything from sight.

Rin coughed and tried to clear the smoke from his eyes when he felt a hand latch onto his arm.

“Come on.” It was his rescuer.

With no other options, Rin allowed himself to be pulled along through the smoke, until they had cleared it. None of the creatures were in sight, but they kept running until his rescuer deemed them a safe distance.

Now that they had stopped, Rin was finally able to get a good look at who had rescued him. It was a girl, much older than him, her hair was brown and tied in a ponytail with a tattered bow, she wore a high school uniform that was slightly dirty and tattered as well.

“Are you alright?” She asked.

“Yes, thank you.” Rin said, coughing slightly.

The girl frowned slightly. “Given that you were loudly proclaiming your location, I’m guessing that you’re new here.” She said.

“I guess so.” Rin said. “Where is here?”

“That’s a bit hard to explain.” The girl said.

She then looked up at the sky.

“Darkness is falling, we need to get to the hideout quickly.” She said.

She turned and began walking, Rin quickly following.

“Why?” He questioned.

“Those creatures you encountered are much more active during the night, it’s incredibly dangerous.” The girl answered.

“Oh. I’m Rin, by the way.”

The girl turned her head towards him as she continued to walk.

“Well, Rin, you can call me Mami.” She said.

Mami’s hide out was in some random building, she knocked on the door in a pattern and it opened. With one last scan of the area around them, she went inside, Rin following.

Inside the building, there were more children, gathered around in a room doing their own activities. They were all young like him, some slightly older and some younger, Mami seemed to be the oldest of their group by quite a few years.

“Children.” Mami called for attention. “This is Rin, the newest member of our family.”

“Hey.” Everyone gave their own variations of greeting.

Mami began to introduce all of the children. “Here we have Akiko, Yamato, Chiro, Isamu, Kagami, Ken and-”

Rin let out an ‘oof’ as something impacted him in the stomach, looking down he saw that is was a girl about half his age.

“That’s Suzy.” Mami finished with a laugh. “She’s very affectionate.”

“Hi.” Suzie greeted smiling up at him.

“Hi.” Rin smiled back.

Mami guided Rin over to a chair where he sat down, giving an exhaust smile, beside them a fire burned, providing warmth to the room, a few of the children were gathered around it, sitting on the floor in order to be closer. Mami sat down next to him and quickly found herself with a lapful of Suzy.

“Now that we have time to rest, I guess it’s time to explain, as best as I can at least.” Mami said, absentmindedly stroking Suzy’s head. “The truth is that none of us know where we are or even how we came to be here, we all just woke up here. And haven’t been able to find a way back home, so far.”

“What about those monsters?” Rin asked, eyeing the window.

One of the children, Ken, walked over to the window and drew the curtain across it, as if the creatures would be summoned to the window my mention of them.

Mami shook her head. “All we know is that they usually come out at night and want to…hurt us.”

“You mean kill us!” One of the children exclaimed.

“Yamato!” Mami scolded. “He’s new here, don’t lay something like that on him.”

“Why not? It’s what happens to all the others, he should know.” Yamato protested.

“They’re going to kill us?” Rin asked fearfully.

He already knew that, the way the creatures had attacked him, but that didn’t mean he had to like hearing the confirmation.

Mami sighed. “They try to, and sometimes they will catch one of us off guard.”

“But Oneesan keeps us safe.” Suzy interrupted this time. “She fights off the monsters.” She swung around her hand like she was holding a sword.

“I do my best.” Mami laughed. “I keep everyone safe her, and we scavenge for supplies during the day. Thankfully, whatever happened to this place left the shops mostly untouched.”

“What did happen here? Where’s all the other people?” Rin asked, remembering the empty and overgrown streets.

He was met with shrugs.

“We know as much as you.” Chiro shrugged.

“This city isn’t any we belong to.” Mami agreed. “Thankfully, I’ve been around long enough to know where all the best places to scavenge in the city are.”

“Mami-san’s been here longer than any of us.” Akiko told Rin. “She found all of us and brought us here to be safe.”

 “Thank you.” Rin said, thanking Mami again for his rescue.

“Well, I wasn’t just going to leave you to wander the streets alone with the monsters, it’s my job as big sister to protect all of you.” Mami said, pulling Rin into a one-armed hug.

“Big sister?” Rin questioned.

“Well, that’s what the children started calling me?” Mami smiled as she explained.

“I’ve never had a big sister?” Rin said.

“Well, now you do. Along with plenty other brothers and sisters.” Mami told him. “We’re all a family here, and family stick together.”

“Yeah.” The other children agreed.

“A family.” Rin tested the word. “But I already have one.” He thought of his father and brother, who were no doubt looking for him by now.

“We all did.” Kagami told him. “But some of us have been here for a long time, so we’ve made a new family here.”

“There’s no way out.” Yamato added. “A fog surrounds this city.”

“And no one’s ever come out from it after going in.” Finished Isamu.

“Alright, stop scaring him.” Mami interrupted, seeing that Rin was starting to become upset. “And you never know, we may find a way back one day. There was a way into this place after all, so there has to be a way out.” She added comfortingly.

“I hope so.” Rin said.

“But, until then, it’s time for bed.” Mami said, standing up and positioning Suzy onto her hip.

“Aww.” The children groaned.

“None of that now.” Mami chastised with a gentle smile. “We need to be bright eyed for the morning.”

There were some more grumbles of complaint, but everyone got up and made their way to the door, a few trying to hide their yawning.

“What about the fire?” Rin asked, looking back at the fireplace where the embers continued to glow.

Though the monastery had a burning stove instead of actual fireplaces to keep it warm during winter, he knew enough about fire safety from school that you weren’t supposed to leave open flames unsupervised.

“It’s alright.” Mami assured him, moving a grate in front of the fire. “I’ll be coming back once you’re all to bed, and it’s almost out anyway.” She gave a yawn herself.

‘Bed’ turned out to be a collection of futons pushed together, everyone grabbed a pillow and blanket from the pile of them next to it and chose a random spot to lie down on, thankfully there was a pillow and blanket each left over for Rin.

Mami set Suzy down and sat on the futon with her back leaning against the wall, the youngest quickly shuffled up so that her head could rest on the older girl’s legs, the other children had also migrated towards Mami once she had sat down, seeming unbothered by having so little space, in fact they seemed to cuddle up to each other. It left Rin with plenty of space at the other end of the futon.

“Lullaby” Suzy yawned.

Mami smiled down at her fondly, and then began to hum. The tune was gentle, and the children relaxed at the sound of it. Then she began to sing.

“~Watashi was asa no yume wo miru

    Made dame yo

    Made dame yo

    Nani iro no asa ga kuru

    Made dame yo

    Made dame you

    Mada yoru was tabekake you

    Nemutteru ko wa doko ni iru?

    Saa ohayou Nightmare

    Warui oyume wa korekkiri~”

Rin’s eyes quickly grew heavy as Mami sang, in his doze he could almost hear more than one singer.

As he began to drift off, he was aware of Mami carefully extracting herself from the pile of children cuddled up to her, and then make her way over to him.

“Now what are you doing here by yourself?” He heard Mami ask quietly.

He then felt himself being lifted slightly and gently deposited next to someone, causing him to stir slightly.

“You’ll be happier with everyone else.” Mami said.

Rin cracked open an eye to look at Mami and then let out a whimper when he heard the screech of the creatures outside.

Mami frowned. “Usually everyone’s asleep when they start making their racket.” She said. “It’s alright, sweetie.” She sat down next to Rin to comfort him.

“Will they get in while we sleep?” Rin asked fearfully.

“No.” Mami assured him. “I’ll stay up and keep watch, so you have nothing to worry about. Big sister will protect you.”

Rin continued to shake, but then the person he was lying beside turned and an arm was draped over him.

“See, we’re all here for each other, Isamu will keep you safe too.” Mami told him. “Now, my child, the fire has died, and night is dark and deep. Close your eyes, let go, and drift off to sleep.”

Rin smiled as he closed his eyes.

“You got that from a story book.” He yawned before dropping off.

Mami’s humming of her lullaby carried him off to sleep.

Chapter Text

“Come on! This way! Hurry!” Rin called.

Eyes carefully scanning the buildings, he darted across the street, multiple figures following him.

“Is everyone here?” He asked.

“Yes.” One of the children answered.

“What are we waiting for?” Another of the children asked, their newest member.

“For Mami’s distraction.” One of their group informed them.

A flare suddenly went up in the distance, followed by loud noises.

“That’s the signal.” Rin said.

The children stayed put however, listening as the creatures who dwelt around during the day began running out of their hiding places and down the street, towards where the noise was coming from.

“Coast is clear.” One of the children reported.

“Let’s go.” Rin said.

The children ran into the open street, usually a bad idea with the creatures walking around, but they were currently distracted, they quickly reached a set of shops.

“Alright, Kiki’s team is on clothes, my team is on food. Go!” Rin instructed.

The children split off into two groups, one set of children going into a clothing store while the other set went into the supermarket.

“Rin, some help.” One of the children called to him.

There was a car blocking the way into the supermarket.

“Hang on.” Rin said, going over.

Bracing his feet against the ground, Rin put his hands on the trunk and began to push with all his strength, the car barely moved. As Rin struggled to move the car, one of the children looked inside of the car’s open window.

“Would it help if I pulled off the breaks?” She asked cheekily.

Rin huffed. “Yes.”

The girl reached into the car and pulled off the break, the car then suddenly began to move as it rolled out of the way of the door, Rin pushing it all the way.

“We’re lucky to have you.” One of the children commented as they ran into the shop.

Rin smiled at the compliment before following.

The children were quick to fill their bags, Mami’s distraction would only work so long and the creatures would soon be back.

As Rin filled his own bag, he saw his reflection in the window, still eight years old despite the many years that had passed by now. Mami had explained to him that they didn’t age in this place they were trapped in, but only he and Mami had stuck around long enough to experience that, the others were long gone.

“We’ve got everything.” One of the children interrupted his thoughts.

Rin nodded, slinging his own bag over his shoulder, heading to the exit and checking that the coast was still clear, his group then ran across the street, joined by Kiki’s group.

“Ok, head count.” Rin announced. “1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. That’s all of us.”

As the children snuck their way through the city, Rin’s thoughts drifted towards the past again.

The first to go had been Isamu, disappeared during a supply run and never came back. Next had been Kagami, dragged away by the creatures, Yamato being taken in a similar fashion a little while after that. One by one, their group had been taken, even little Suzy had disappeared after being left behind at their hideout, until only Rin and Mami remained of their original group.

But like Rin, other children appeared, brought to the safety of the hideout by Mami, and like the others, they too would disappear or be dragged away by the creatures, only to be replaced by another child found by Mami. Many years later and Rin and Mami’s ‘family’ had changed members many times.

Their current members included Kiki, Daisuke, Emi, Jiro, June, Mami and himself.

Eventually, they made it back to their hideout, which had changed locations a couple of times after Rin had first arrived. After another quick headcount to make sure that none of them had gotten lost on the way back, they all went inside.

Mami was already there, stoking the fire that provided their hideout with warmth and a sense of safety. One by one, the children went over to her and gave her a hug, which Mami accepted with her usual gentle smile, the children then went about unpacking the results of their supply run.

When it came to Rin’s turn, he refused to let go.

“Is everything alright, angel.” Mami asked him, sweeping his hair out of his face with her fingers.

“Bad memories.” Rin mumbled into her chest.

“Oh, it’s alright.” Mami comforted, wrapping her arms around him tightly and rocking them both. “I’m here. As long as I’m here, everything will be alright.”

They parted and Rin went over to help with the unpacking, some jeans were quickly thrown at him.

“Here.” Emi said. “I think they’re your size and your ones are falling apart.”

Rin looked down at the jeans he was currently wearing, they were frayed at the bottom with bits of material dangling off, the frays would make their way up his legs eventually. Despite never growing, the children still had to change clothes when they got too battered.

“Do you need anything, Mami?” Emi asked.

“I’m fine for now.” Mami denied.

Rin couldn’t help but roll his eyes, because that was always Mami’s answer when asked about clothes. She still wore the same school uniform as she always had, yet unlike Rin whose own uniform had been long replaced, Mami’s clothes remained in a not perfect but wearable condition. Rin suspected that for some reason, Mami preferred to wear a uniform instead of normal clothes and would grab uniforms identical to hers to replace her old ones whenever she disappeared off on her own, it was the only explanation he had for why her outfit had never changed since he met her.

“Did you have any trouble, Mami?” Daisuke asked once they had all settled down.

“Nah.” Mami waved off. “Your Mami is too smart for those monsters, I was gone before they even arrived.”

“Mami-san is so cool.” Jiro said.

“I like to think so too.” Mami joked. “Now, did we manage to get everything?”

June, the oldest of the children bar Mami, looked up from where she had finished counting the food Rin’s group had gotten. “We should have enough for about a week.” She reported.

“Good, no more putting ourselves in danger for now then.” Mami said happily.

“Except for you.” Kiki pointed out.

“I have to if I want to find the children end up here and bring them back safely.” Mami responded. “And you don’t need to worry about me, those monsters are no match for me.”

“I wish I could fight the monsters too.” Rin pouted.

“I know you do, but we can’t risk that. I’m older, I can make that decision, but I could never live with myself if you got hurt trying to fight. You don’t want to do that to me, do you?” Mami told Rin.

“No, Mami.” Rin said, shaking his head.

“Good. Now, let’s get you all fed.”

Shiro, Yukio and their group trekked their way through the trees, making their way towards the destination they had worked out on a map after collating the evidence of their research.

Their case involved missing children, which is why Shiro had quickly accepted despite what day it had been. Over the years, many children had disappeared never to be found, and just recently someone had managed to link the disappearance to demon activity but had little luck working out much else, which was why Shiro was brought in. The Paladin was charged with researching the disappearances, working out the location of the demon, and slaying it.

It hadn’t been an easy job, and it would have been harder without Yukio there to help him, they had to work out the regular children disappearances from the ones who disappeared due to the demon, then they had to work out the common thread between those children, and then use that common thread to work out the location of the demon. Which led to wear they were now, trekking towards the point on a map where all the disappearances collated.

Eventually, the group reached the entrance to a cave that was hidden by vines and leaves, it had been by luck that they had managed to spot it.

“Alright, we need to proceed with caution, we don’t yet know what type of demon we’re dealing with.” Shiro told his team.

“Right.” The team responded.

The Exorcists crept into the cave, their weapons or memorised chants at the ready for if a demon attacked, they didn’t need their torches as the cave was surprisingly well lit on its own.

“What is this stuff?” Exorcist one asked, analysing the fleshy vines that decorated the walls of the cave.

“I’ve never seen this before.” Exorcist two of their group commented.

Deeper in they went until the vines became thicker and they found pods stuck to the walls or floor as well, part of the pods had transparent flesh that showed liquid inside.

“I wonder what’s inside these.” Exorcist three approached with caution.

“Careful, it could lash out.” Shiro warned.

“I’ll be careful.” Exorcist three assured, looking inside, his face turning to horror. “Oh no!”

“What is it?” The group turned towards him.

“Bones.” Exorcist three answered grimly. “From what I can tell, it’s a human skeleton, and its small.”

It didn’t need to be spelled out to them exactly what was in the pod.

“So, whatever we’re after consumes the flesh of…the young.” Exorcist two concluded, not willing say ‘children’.

If Yukio remembered correctly, they had a child of their own. Maybe it would have been wiser to send childless Exorcists on this mission.

“Let’s just hope that they were able to pass on.” Exorcist four said.

They continued deeper, coming across more pods with bones collected at the bottom, but as they got deeper in, it wasn’t just bones in the pods any more.

“Oh god!” Exorcist two bent over, struggling not to vomit from the sight that met them.

The rest of the group looked similarly ill, only Shiro showed no reaction but Yukio knew that he was being strong both for all of them and himself, as the sight brought unpleasant ideas into their mind.

“Please, don’t let him be here.” Yukio prayed under his breath.

Inside the pods were corpses, in varying states of decay, some were nothing but bones held together by the tiniest amounts of flesh, limbs already falling off, others had more meat, their flesh floating off their corpses, some even still had their hair. The most intact of the corpses were clearly children, and the same was likely for the less fleshy of the corpses.

“This one still has her face.” Exorcist one cried, looking at one of the corpses.

“We seem to be getting closer.” Shiro said, closing himself off.

“Do you need to go back?” Exorcist four asked the sicker members of their team.

“No, I want to get want did this?” Exorcist two snarled.

They continued further in, the corpses in the pods getting less decayed until they looked almost whole, and they finally emerged into a cavern.

“What is that thing?” Exorcist one asked.

At the centre of the cavern lay what could only be described as a mass of flesh, hundreds of tendrils branched off from it and worked its way over the walls and floors, some of these tendrils connecting to yet more pods.

“Does it know we’re here?” Yukio asked quietly.

“It probably already does.” Shiro said. “We just haven’t presented ourselves as a threat, yet.”

“What about when we have to kill it?” Yukio asked.

“We could try fire, burn it where far away from these tendrils.” Shiro suggested, looking down at the tendrils that snaked along the floor as if it would come to life and attack them.

“These ones are alive!” Came a shout of joy.

The group turned to the exorcist who had shouted, thankfully not disturbing the demon, and ran over to investigate.

In the pods were more children, but these ones were complete, no decay to be seen. Peering in further, they spotted the small rising and falling of the children’s chests. They were alive.

“We need to get them out.” Exorcist two reached for a knife to cut the skin of the pod.

Shiro’s hand snatched theirs before they could touch their weapon, he shook his head at them.

“Right now, we are currently in unknown territory, we don’t know what this demon is or what taking the children will do to it or the children themselves. We could risk the children if we don’t proceed with caution.” Shiro told the group evenly.

The group looked reluctant but didn’t question the Paladin’s orders.

“Good. Natsu, I want you to leave and call in the situation, hopefully they’ll be someone who knows how to deal with this.” Shiro instructed Exorcist two.

“Yes sir.” Natsu replied reluctantly.

“I’ll go with him.” Exorcist four volunteered, not wanting their friend to have to walk through the corpse-lined walls alone.

Shiro nodded and the two Exorcists left, leaving the rest of their group to investigate.

“How many alive so far?” Shiro asked.

“Five, total.” Exorcist one answered. “The rest of them…” They didn’t finish, but they didn’t need to.

“Looked like they passed fairly recently, no apparent injuries.” Exorcist three reported.

Shiro sighed, five children was such a small number compared to how many pods they had passed. He looked over their group and noticed one of them missing.

“Yukio?”

The was no reply.

“Yukio!” Shiro called louder.

“Over here!” Came Yukio’s choked reply.

“What’s wrong?” Shiro asked as he made his way over to where Yukio’s voice had come from.

Yukio didn’t reply.

Shiro eventually reached his son, who was standing in front of a pod, his face deathly white and full of shock. The pod itself was separated from all the other pods, both those with the living and those with the dead, the pod also seemed ‘fancier’, for lack of a better work, it was bigger with the tendrils of flesh curled around it like decoration. But it was what, or rather who, was in the pod which caught Shiro’s attention.

“Rin?” Shiro whispered in disbelief.

Chapter Text

The boy in the pod looked the exact same as when they had last seen him, not having aged a day and still wearing his school uniform.

“Rin?” Yukio said in disbelief, touching the pod as if he could somehow reach his brother inside. “He’s still breathing.”

Shiro said nothing, only continuing to stare at his child sealed away in the pod.

“He’s been here all this time, ever since he went missing.” He eventually said.

“We have to get him out of there!” Yukio said.

Shiro put a comforting hand on his son’s shoulder.

“We will.” He told him

Despite the now personal stake in the case, Shiro knew that he had to keep a level head and stick to the plan, even though he wanted nothing more than to cut the pod open himself and hold his child again.

“We’ll get you out safely.” Shiro said to his son in the pod, placing a hand on it.

Rin gave no indication to being aware of him, or anything for that matter, continuing to sleep on.

It was painful waiting for reinforcements to arrive and then planning it out, but Shiro and Yukio weren’t highly trained Exorcists for nothing and waited. Another scan of the demon’s den confirmed that there were only six pods with living children inside, including Rin’s, and analysis of the pods showed that all of the living children were being kept in a coma-like state with the pods providing what their bodies needed to stay alive.

“It’s keeping the kids alive as food storage.” One of the Exorcists who had arrived concluded.

Honestly, none of them knew what exactly the demon was doing, but they did know one thing thanks to the analysis of the pods.

The children wouldn’t be harmed in removing them.

They would probably cough up the liquid that surrounded them and was possibly in their lungs, but they wouldn’t need it once they were removed from the pods.

So, an Exorcist was stationed at each pod with a knife in hand, ready to cut them open and take the children out of the cave to where a medical tent awaited them, and the rest of the Exorcists, including Shiro, were stationed around the fleshy mass, ready to attack, as the demon was most likely going to attack as soon as they touched the pods.

“All right, on the count of three!” Shiro called out, getting nods of confirmation. “One…two…three!”

The Exorcists at the pods brought down their knives…

And all hell broke loose.

The children cried as the world outside turned chaotic, a storm raged so hard that it broke apart buildings.

“Mami, what’s going on?” Emi begged.

“Nothing to worry about.” Mami smiled, drawing the curtains as if they could somehow block the destruction going on outside.

But Rin could see how strained her smile was.

“We’re all safe in here.” Mami continued.

“But what if we get blown away too?” Jun asked.

“This building is strong, it can withstand.” Mami placated.

“I’m cold.” Daisuke shivered.

“Let’s all huddle around the fire then.” Mami said.

The children all gathered around the fire, which had grown weaker as the storm outside raged on, clutching each other for comfort with Mami at the centre of the cuddle pile.

“Feel the warmth of the fire and know that you are safe.” Mami told them as she hummed her lullaby.

They fell into a state of content as Mami’s voice echoed around the room, happy to believe that all that existed was the inside of the room.

But the storm grew louder, drowning out Mami’s singing, and the fire grew dim, allowing the cold to creep in again.

“It’s not fair.” Rin heard Mami sharply whisper.

“Mami?” Rin asked, turning in her hold to look at her.

Mami turned to smile at him.

“It’s okay my little angel.” She said.

There was a loud crash as the building shook, causing the children to whimper.

“I’m scared.” Rin admitted.

“Shh, it’s alright.” She comforted him. “It’s alright.” She repeated to everyone.

The building shook again, causing Mami to frown.

“I want you all to close your eyes, like we’re going to sleep.” She smiled desperately.

Despite their fear, the children all did as told, clinging tightly to each other.

“Remember, we are a family.” Mami’s voice drifted over them. “We will always find each other, I will always be there to love and protect you. So, sleep, and I will find you again.”

Mami then began to sing her lullaby as the storm raged harder.

The building around them then exploded and they were whisked away into nothingness.

Shiro looked down at his son, gently cleaning off the goo from the pod Rin had been encased in. Yukio sat opposite him, holding one of Rin’s hands in both of his own as if his brother would disappear without a trace again if he let go.

The fight against the blob-like demon had been easier than expected, it had been a challenge at first, but once the children had been taken away it had fallen easily under salt and holy water. It had been like an over-sized low-level demon.

Now, here they were, tending to the children as the sun was setting, to make sure they were in a stable enough state to move out and take them to a proper hospital, helping the unconscious bodies throw up all of the pod goo that had been inside them and cleaning them off.

“Dad.” Yukio said quietly. “He’s actually here, isn’t he?”

He sounded like the young child who had asked where his brother was all those years ago, rather than the hardened Exorcist he was now.

“Yes, he’s here.” Shiro confirmed.

Granted, the child before him could have easily been a demon who had taken on the form of his son, but Shiro knew that this was the child he had spent eight years raising.

“One of them is waking up!” The heard a shout.

They turned to see one of the other children starting to stir, their arms and legs slowly moving.

Shiro and Yukio were then distracted by a groan coming from beside them, looking down to see Rin also stirring.

“Rin?” They both cried.

Shiro cradled Rin’s head as the young boy shook it and forced his eyes open.

“Whe…where…?” Rin struggled to speak, looking up at the two figures above him though his squinted eyes. “Mami?”

“Rin, do you think you can open your eyes properly for me?” Shiro asked gently.

Rin groaned but tried to open his eyes further.

“Bright.” He complained, his arm moving uselessly beside him to try and cover his eyes.

“Yukio, turn down the lamp.” Shiro instructed his son.

Yukio turned to the gas lamps that were hanging near to make up for the sun being almost gone and turned the gas valve until they were almost out, darkening their area of the tent.

“Is that better, Rin?” Shiro asked.

“Yeah.” Rin mumbled, managing to open his eyes fully with a bit of effort.

Rin struggled to sit up but was too weak to, barely able to use his arms, let alone coordinate them into helping him up. Both Shiro and Yukio helped Rin to sit up slightly when they saw what he was trying to do, supporting his back with their hands.

“Who…who are you?” Rin looked up at Shiro and Yukio questioningly.

Both men felt stabs of ice in their chests.

“Don’t…don’t you recognise who we are?” Yukio asked desperately.

Rin looked at Yukio and Shiro, his face scrunching up in the same when he used to when trying to do his homework.

“You look familiar.” Rin concluded. “But I can’t remember who you are.” He said, clearly frustrated. “I know that your both important, but I can’t remember why. I’m not meant to forget.”

Rin began to cry, tears making their way down his cheeks unobstructed due to his arms being too weak to wipe them away.

“Hey, hey, it’s alright now.” Shiro comforted, pulling Rin to his chest. “It’s alright if you don’t remember, it has been a long time since we last saw you.”

“A long time?” Rin said quietly to himself as he pushed into the comforting warmth. “Like before the city?”

Shiro and Yukio looked at each other, both questioning what the ‘city’ was.

Rin looked up at Shiro, managing to reach his hand up to clumsily touch the man’s glasses.

“Before the city.” Rin repeated, a fresh batch of tears making their way out of his eyes. “Daddy?”

Shiro let out a stuttering sigh of relief at the word.

“Yeah, Rin, it’s daddy.” He said, hugging Rin.

Rin clumsily coordinated his arms to try and wrap around Shiro as he cried.

“You’re here.” Rin sobbed. “You’re finally here.”

“I’m sorry that I took so long to find you.” Shiro apologised to his young son, holding him tightly as if he would disappear again.

It took a while for Rin to calm down, but his sobs eventually petered off, though he clung to Shiro’s sleeve tightly.

“I’m glad I’m out of that city.” Rin mumbled.

“What city?” Yukio asked.

Rin looked up at Yukio and his face scrunched up again before he answered the question.

“It’s where I’ve been. We were all brought to the city and couldn’t escape, and the monsters hunted us.” Rin explained. He then gasped. “Wait, the others!”

Rin attempted to get up but proved too weak flopping back down on his bed.

“Don’t stress yourself Rin.” Shiro told him. “It’s alright, the other children are here too.”

Shiro helped Rin sit up further so the boy could see his friends in their own camper beds, all of them were awake now, some sitting up like Rin and others opting to say laying down.

Rin sighed in relief when he saw them all.

“We all escaped.” He smiled.

“Hi, Rin.” One of the children waved at him, their movements a little more coordinated that Rin was currently capable of.

“Hi.” Rin tried to wave back but could barely shift his hand from Shiro’s sleeve.

Yukio wasn’t shocked by Rin’s inability to move, if his brother really had been in that pod all the years he’d been missing, his muscles would have fallen out of use and atrophied.

“Rin, why don’t you introduce us to your friends?” Shiro coaxed.

“Oh, right.” Rin said. “That’s Jiro.” He managed to lift his arm up enough to wave in the general direction of one of the boys who were sitting up. “Emi…Kiki…Daisuke and June.” He waved in the general direction of each of the children before his arm flopped back down, no longer able to find the strength to lift it.

Rin then frowned. “Wait, where’s Mami?”

Shiro and Yukio looked at each other.

“Who’s Mami?” Shiro asked as he looked back down at his son.

“Mami’s the last member of our group, the one who takes care of us. If we all made it out, she should be here.” Rin was beginning to become panicked as he looked around, hoping to spot said girl on one of the beds or standing guard outside the tent like she would when they moved hiding places back in the city.

The other children, having overheard Rin, also began to panic.

“Where’s Mami?”

“Why isn’t she here?”

“I want Mami.”

They began to cry.

“Calm down now.” Yukio tried to calm his brother. “Maybe it’s just that we haven’t found her yet. We’ll send in a team to have a look.”

It seemed to work as Rin began to calm himself at the prospect of the professional-looking men searching for Mami.

“But they were the only kids alive in the pods, there’s no one left alive in that cave.” One of the Exorcists said aloud before he could stop to realise what he was saying and who he was saying it in front of.

Predictably, this only served to distress the children even more, causing them to sob wildly and beg for Mami to come and comfort them.

“Idiot! Think next time before you speak!” The Exorcist was chastised by another who hit him over the head for good measure.

“It’s okay.” Yukio tried to placate again. “There might be another room in the cave that we didn’t find, and your friend could be in there.”

It wasn’t working this time as Rin and the children continued to cry.

The crying came to a suddenly stop when one of the children called out.

“Mami!” They cried, smiling widely as they looked out of the tent.

Everyone turned to where the child was face, spotting a young lady walking down a hill towards the tent.

“Mami!” The children stopped crying at the sight of the girl.

“There was another girl in there.” One of the Exorcists gasped. “How could we miss her? Quick, grab a blanket for her.”

Shiro frowned as he analysed the girl heading towards them, dressed in an indistinctive school uniform and her eyes obscured by her hair, walking calmly towards them with no issue.

“Stay where you are!” Shiro ordered before anyone to leave to help the girl towards the tent.

“Fujimoto-sama?” The exorcists questioned, turning towards him.

“Dad?” Yukio asked.

“How is she able to walk when the other children are struggling to move?” Shiro asked rhetorically. “And how come we didn’t find her with the other children? Something isn’t right here.”

All but the children quickly went on guard at Shiro’s analysis, realising that the danger wasn’t over like they had thought.

Mami drew closer to the camp, the Exorcists hesitant to attack until they knew for sure that she was a danger. As she got closer, they began to hear her saying something, repeating words over and over.

“My children. Give me back my children.” They were eventually able to make out her saying once she came close enough.

“Miss, can you please stop where you are.” One of the Exorcists spoke up. “We’ll get you help, but we need to make sure you’re safe first.”

Mami didn’t stop walking.

“You ruined it. You took my children from me.” She said.

“Mami, hurry up!” Rin called, unaware of the mounting tension.

The other children chimed in with their own calls, all impatient to be with Mami again.

“Rin, you need to be quiet right now.” Shiro informed his son gently.

“Why?” Rin asked. “I want Mami.”

“They need me.” Mami said. “And you took them from me. How dare you take them from me!”

As Mami drew ever closer, the adults took notice of her limbs becoming longer, her skin cracking as she began to outgrow her clothes.

“She’s a demon.” Shiro gritted his teeth. “Yukio, take Rin and run.” He instructed his older son.

“Wait, you’re Yukio?” Rin stated up at his brother, having only just realised who the other male attending to him was. “But you’re so much older.”

“Not now, Rin.” Yukio said, picking up his brother.

“Take the children and get to safety, the rest of us will handle the demon!” Shiro instructed the Exorcists attending to the other children.

An Exorcist picked up a child each while the remaining ones formed a line between Mami and the children with Shiro.

“No! What are you doing?” Kiki asked.

“Why are you taking us away from Mami?” Daisuke cried.

“Mami!” The children called out for the demon.

“Let me go!” Rin demanded, trying to struggle out of Yukio’s arms but not doing a very good job.

“I can’t do that Rin, she’s dangerous.” Yukio told his brother.

“She’s not dangerous.” Rin protested. “She protected us back in the city.”

“She’s a demon, Rin.” Yukio stated. “Look!”

Yukio lifted Rin so that he brother could look over his shoulder as he and the other child carriers ran away, giving the young boy full view of what was happening.

“No, my children!” Mami cried out as if she was in pain. “I won’t let you take them!”

Mami bent forward violently as four giant, spider-like legs burst from her back, lifting her body off from the ground, her face detaching slightly from her head like a cracked porcelain mask, hair becoming tangled like barbed wire.

“Mami?” Rin whispered as he looked at the person who had taken care of him for half his life.

“What is that thing?” One of the exorcists exclaimed.

None of them recognised the type of demon facing them.

Rin and Yukio did not get to see the fight between the Mami-demon and the Exorcists as the had quickly disappeared into the trees, everyone piling into a van once they exited the forest and driving towards the nearest hospital.

“I don’t understand.” Rin said in shock as he lay in his brother’s arms. “Why did Mami become like that?”

“That’s because she is a demon, Rin.” Yukio repeated.

“A demon?” June piped up.

“We’ll explain it to you all later.” Yukio managed to postpone. “After we’ve made sure you’re safe and cared for.”

“Is dad going to hurt Mami?” Rin asked.

Yukio didn’t say anything, he didn’t know what to say.

Rin frowned at the lack on answer.

They arrived at the hospital and the children were quickly taken inside, given showers to remove the rest of the pod goo that still stuck to them, and then put in beds while nurses and doctors preformed tests. Thankfully, apart from their weakened muscles from disuse, the children were healthy with no other apparent issues.

Yukio was sitting at Rin’s bedside when Shiro arrived. Most of the children, including Rin, were asleep at this point, so Yukio joined his father outside of the room.

“How is Rin and the others?” Was the first thing Shiro asked.

“They’re fine.” Yukio answered, much to Shiro’s relief. “They’ll need a while to get used to moving again, especially Rin, but the doctor said it shouldn’t be anything permanent with enough physical therapy.”

“That’s good.” Shiro sighed.

“The demon?” Yukio asked.

“Unfortunately, it got away.” Shiro frowned. “It was much stronger than what we’ve usually faced, and nothing seemed to be especially effective on it. Then it suddenly got weaker, I think because you got the children far away enough, meaning its strength is tied to them. When it realised it was losing, it managed to disappear off a cliff.”

“So, it’s still out there and it could come back for Rin and the others?” Yukio said.

“I’ve no doubt it will.” Shiro said.

Yukio tightened his fists at the thought of the demon taking his brother again.

“Have you made your report yet?” He asked.

“Not yet, but I’ll have to. It’s going to lead to a lot of questions though, we have no idea what type of demon we’re dealing with and I don’t want the children questioned until they’re more emotionally stable.” Shiro replied.

“Do you think someone else could file it? I think Rin would prefer it if we were both there when he wakes up again.” Yukio tried.

“Unfortunately, I’m the leader of the mission and the Paladin at that, they’ll be expecting the report from me. I’ll try to get it done and sent before Rin wakes up.” Shiro told his older son.

“Okay.” Yukio said. “I’m staying with Rin.”

“I know you are.” Shiro smiled. “I’ll phone home to ask someone to bring you a spare change of clothes. And try to get some sleep yourself.” He added.

“Thanks, dad.” Yukio said.

They both went back inside the room where Yukio retook his post beside Rin while Shiro gave the young boy a kiss on the forehead before leaving to get his report done as soon as possible.

Chapter Text

Shiro’s fingers itched to hold a cigarette as he sat in Mephisto’s office, despite his last cigarette being over fifteen years ago.

“This really is quite the unusual case.” Mephisto said as he stirred his teacup, the set floating in the air next to him. “Children being taken by a demon to feed on them, said demon turning out to have been behind little Rin’s disappearance. And little Rin having not aged a day since his disappearance.”

“From what the children have told us, they were trapped in a collective dreamworld that took the form of a ruined city full of monsters, one of the demons who took them taking the form of an older girl named Mami, who ‘protected’ them in this city, and they were kept alive in the real world by those pods they were found in. The children would eventually be ‘taken’ by the monsters in the dream world and killed and devoured in their pods in reality.” Shiro explained.

“Rather strange.” Mephisto hummed. “Two entirely different and unknown demons working together, the children being kept in a dreamworld rather than being immediately devoured or kept in a coma state until they were, and there’s the matter of little Rin surviving being trapped by those demons for seven years.”

It was clear that Mephisto already had a solid theory as to why Rin was still alive, the boy being the son of Satan.

“How is little Rin, by the way.” Mephisto asked. “I’ve already heard about the other children that were found being reunited with their families and sent home.”

“Rin is staying in the hospital for slightly longer than the other children. Since he’s been trapped in that dream world for so long, it’s taking him a while to regain his motor skills enough to be brought home.” Shiro reported.

“And I expect that you’ve already had Rin’s hospital room warded since you can’t take him back to the protection of your monastery?”

“As the demon who abducted the children is still on the loose, Rin’s room was already being warded before I needed to ask. As are the homes of all the other children.”

“It is undoubtable that this demon will return for the children. But there’s only so much you’re going to be able to do to even protect the children, let alone fight it, without knowing exactly what kind of demon it is.”

“We already have a few people going through the archives to see if they can find any lesser-known demons that match what this ‘Mami’ was.”

Mephisto suddenly laughed.

“What’s so funny?” Shiro frowned at him.

“I just got her name.” Mephisto grinned. “How better to instil being a mother in the eyes of the children than calling herself their ‘Mami’?”

Shiro understood what he meant but didn’t laugh.

Mephisto them hummed.

“I know a young Exorcist who specialises in demons who target children.” He said. “Given her knowledge, she might be able to identify our demon for us.”

“Considering our current situation, I’d be willing to work with whoever you brought in if it means bringing an end to that demon.” Shiro said.

“Gut.” Mephisto said in German. “I’ll contact her and see when she can fly over.”

“So, you’re training to become a doctor right now?” Rin asked Yukio.

Rin was sitting up in his hospital bed while Yukio sat beside him, the younger boy absentmindedly scribbling on some paper to help build up his motor skills again as per his doctor’s orders.

“That’s right, I managed to get a scholarship into a really high-profile school too.” Yukio told him.

“That’s great!” Rin smiled. “You always said you were going to be a doctor.”

Yukio smiled at his, technically, younger brother, relieved that Rin did remember him despite their seven years apart, though the smaller boy had taken some time to fully recognise Yukio as the boy he used to protect from bullies.

“Mami always said that once we got out of the city, she could see me becoming a police officer or a fireman, because I’m so strong and protect the others when she’s gone.” Rin said.

Yukio frowned sadly. “Rin…”

“Oh, right.” Rin said, remembering.

He looked down and played with his fingers. “I still can’t really accept it. I saw her become something else, but Mami was still the one to protect us, she loved us. I just can’t believe that she’s the reason we were in that city to begin with.”

Yukio reached over and pulled Rin into his arms, stroking the younger boy’s back as he began to cry.

It had broken Yukio’s heart to tell Rin that Mami had been the one to trap and kill them, but they couldn’t afford to not tell the children the truth, lest Mami come for them again and they go with her because they don’t know any better. He also knew that it was the worst for Rin out of all of the children, since the others had been captive for around a year at the most while Rin had spent seven years with Mami, nearly as long as he’d been with Yukio and their dad.

“I want Mami.” Rin quietly sobbed into Yukio’s chest.

Yukio felt as if those words were a knife going through him.

“I know, it’s alright.” He forced himself to say.

Rin’s sobs eventually petered off. Looking down, Yukio realised that Rin had fallen asleep, his emotional stress no doubt draining him in his current state.

“Don’t worry, Rin.” Yukio said as he gently tucked his brother back into the hospital bed. “I’ll fix this. Everything will be alright soon.” He promised.

“We’ll fix this.” A voice corrected him.

Yukio turned to see Shiro enter the room.

“We already doing everything we can to find and kill that demon, you don’t need to worry about it.” Shiro said as he walked over to his older son.

“But-” Yukio began to protest, standing up to meet his dad.

“You already have enough to worry about.” Shiro silenced him. “You’ve got your studies, students of your own to teach, and you have to be there for Rin.”

Yukio frowned, clenching his fists.

Shiro placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“I know you want to be part of this, and you would make a great part of the team. But don’t forget that you’re still a child yourself, and with having to deal with so much already, being part of this case may be too much.” Shiro told him.

“I…understand.” Yukio breathed. “I don’t like it, but I know you’re right.”

“There’s my responsible boy.” Shiro smiled. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep you in the loop despite this, you’ll know everything we’ll know.”

Yukio managed a smile. “Thanks, dad.” He said.

Shiro nodded.

“You’ll want to spend as much time with Rin as possible, anyway.” He said, walking around Rin’s bed to sit on the boy’s other side while Yukio sat back down. “He’ll be allowed back home in a couple of days, but you’ll be leaving in a week.”

Yukio looked down as his sleeping brother.

“It feels wrong to still leave, I feel like I’d be abandoning Rin again.” He admitted quietly.

“You won’t be.” Shiro promised. “You can phone home at any time and talk to Rin for as long as you want.”

Yukio nodded. “And I’ll try to come back as often as possible.” He added.

“Good.” Shiro nodded.

They both turned back to Rin as they heard him groaning, the boy slowly waking up.

“Hey there, how are you feeling.” Shiro asked his younger son.

“Tired.” Rin mumbled.

“I’ll bet you are.” Shiro laughed softly.

Rin weakly dug his hands out from under the covers and held them towards Shiro.

Getting the message, Shiro picked his child up and sat him on his lap, wrapping Rin back up in his blanket and allowing him to lean against his chest.

“Is that better.” Shiro asked.

Rin nodded shyly.

“Will the monsters get in?” Rin asked quietly.

“No, they won’t get in.” Shiro promised. “We’ll look after you.”

It was a question Shiro and Yukio were already used to answering, as Rin still feared the monsters of Mami’s dreamworld.

“Okay.” Rin said as he once again succumbed to sleep.

It was honestly a relief that Rin as sleeping, the first couple of days he had been unable to sleep comfortably, insisting that he needed ‘Mami’s song’. Thankfully, that need had past, but he still required physical contact, an assurance that he was protected, to sleep.

Yukio frowned as he looked at Rin, uncomfortable with how much his memories of his brother didn’t match up with the current version.

‘That demon will pay.” He silently vowed.

“I want Mami!”

“Daisuke, you can’t see her anymore. Remember what you were told, she’s dangerous, the one who took you from us.”

“I don’t care, Mami loves me! I need to be with Mami!” Daisuke continued to cry.

Daisuke’s parents were at their wits-end. Ever since being returned to them, Daisuke had spoke about nothing else other than his desire to be reunited with the very demon that had kidnapped him, and no amount of reasoning could make him stop.

The only thing keeping Daisuke’s mother from breaking down completely was the knowledge that her son was under a spell. The exorcist explaining that demon who took him most likely had a strong hold over him from his time with her, as all the children had loved Mami unconditionally in the dreamworld she had cooked up.

It still didn’t make it hurt any less for their son to cry out the name of his kidnapper and would-be murderer though.

“I can’t deal with this.” Daisuke’s father said, leaving the room.

Daisuke didn’t say anything, just crossing his arms and looking out the window with bag-heavy eyes.

Daisuke’s mother picked her son up and placed him in his bed.

“Try to get some sleep.” She said gently.

Daisuke remained silent.

His mother sighed left his room, stopping to switch on the nightlight she’d dug out of some old boxes for him before switching off the main light and closing his door slightly.

Daisuke didn’t bother closing his eyes, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to sleep without Mami there to make sure none of the monsters got in or singer her lullaby.

“Daisuke…” It took a few seconds for him to register the voice, his brain refusing to function properly from the lack of sleep.

Slowly, Daisuke sat up in his bed, looking around.

“Daisuke…”

“Mami?” He asked, looking around for the girl.

“Come to the window, Daisuke…”

Daisuke pushed himself out of bed and slowly made his way over to his window, his muscles not allowing him to move very fast. He eventually made it to his window and looked out, searching for Mami.

“Down here…”

Daisuke searched through the dark outside, ignoring the exorcist that was patrolling, until he saw something in between the trees.

“Mami.” Daisuke smiled excitedly when he recognised who it was.

“It’s time to come home, Daisuke…” Mami’s voice was as clear as if she were right next to him, despite not moving her lips. “You know you’re not meant to be out alone without me or the others…”

“I’m sorry.” Daisuke apologised. “But I’m with my parents now.”

“It’s too dangerous to stay with them Daisuke…” Mami told him. “We escaped the city, but so did the creatures…They’re out there, waiting to find us again…”

“No.” Daisuke gasped, terrified, looking around as if they’d suddenly pop up.

“Yes…And I’m the only one who can protect you, the only one who loves you enough to keep them away…”

That was right, Mami always protected them from the creatures back in the city. While she was there, in the hideout with the fire burning brightly, the creatures couldn’t even come near.

“You need to come with me Daisuke, come outside and I can take you away to safety…”

“I don’t know if I can.” Daisuke doubted. “I’m really tired and I can move that well.”

“I can’t enter the house, poppet…The adults, they don’t understand, they’d just hurt me…You don’t want them to hurt me, do you…?”

Daisuke vehemently shook his head, no, he definitely didn’t want Mami to be hurt.

“Then you need to come outside on your own, I believe in you, poppet…”

Daisuke nodded shakily and turned away from the window, walking slowly towards his bedroom door, which was still ajar.

The door creaked slightly as he opened it wider, causing Daisuke to wince, but after a few seconds his parents showed no sign of coming to investigate. He crept across the landing to the stairs, stepping as carefully as he could to avoid the floorboard giving him away. He took each step at a time until he reached the bottom, leaving him with the challenge of the front door.

He could hear his parents in the next room, they would certainly hear him if he opened the door, the latch was too loud. But the back door had a doggy door that he could use instead.

Peaking into the room his parents were in, he found that they were thankfully facing away from the doorway, allowing him to sneak past without being seen. The kitchen was tiled, meaning that he didn’t have to worry about creaky floorboards as he made his way to the backdoor, unlatching the doggy door and pushing it open.

Once he sure that the exorcist on watch wasn’t there, he began to climb through the doggy door. It was a tight squeeze as their dog was smaller than him, but he managed to push his upper body through, wiggling his legs after him, but just as he pulled his feet though, they knocked into something.

Daisuke tensed as he heard the broom clatter to the floor inside.

“Daisuke?” His mother’s voice came.

“Run to me…” Mami appeared in the treeline before him.

Daisuke quickly climbed to his feet and ran towards Mami, his atrophied muscles suddenly no longer an issue in her presence.

“Hey, kid, stop!” The exorcise appeared around the corner of the house.

Daisuke kept running, straight into the tender embrace of Mami.

“Let him go, demon!” The exorcist ordered, running over with a gun.

“You won’t take him away from me again!” Mami shrieked.

Long legs burst from her back as her skin cracked, shifting into her demon form.

This didn’t bother Daisuke one bit, he still saw the same Mami who took care of him back in the city.

The exorcist shot at Mami but her true form made her much quicker as she ran away with Daisuke still in her arms.

The exorcist tried to give chase, but Mami proved too quick and disappeared along with the child.

“This is not good.” The exorcist said to himself.

He reluctantly headed back to the family to tell them that their son had been taken from them again.

Chapter Text

The team of Exorcists who were assigned to the Mami demon case were in chaos, one of the children had been taken again, from right under their noses.

“Everyone, calm down!” Shiro ordered as he entered the room. “Now, it seems that Mami is working faster than expected and can reach the children despite the wards placed around their homes.”

“She seems to be able to influence the children from outside the wards but can’t enter herself, the Exorcist on duty reported that the child escaped the house and ran to her on his own.” One of the team said.

“Mami’s influence on the children is stronger than we thought.” Shiro hummed. “The best way to stop a demon’s influence is to kill the demon. Until then, we need to move the children to safe-houses, they’re too vulnerable in their own homes.”

“We’re already in the process of finding safe-houses and trying to convince the families to move, a few are being stubborn.” He was told. “What about your own son, sir.”

Everyone paused at the reminder that the Paladin’s son was among those who had been taken by Mami.

“He is being moved to the monastery tonight, its stronger wards and my fellow priests will keep him safe from the demon.” Shiro answered.

No one objected, the Paladin’s home was meant to be one of the most well warded places around. No matter her strength, Mami would struggle to reach Rin.

“Now that we’ve dealt with the placement of the children, we need to find and deal with Mami, and hopefully recover the child she’s taken.” Shiro said. “Do we have any leads on her and what she is?”

“We’ve found a few demons that are similar to Mami but aren’t exact matches. We won’t know if any of the exorcism methods used for those demons will work until we can use them on Mami.” One of the team reported.

“We’d need to find the demon first to do that, and it’s more likely to stay hidden than reveal itself.” Another of the team said.

“Unless it’s to go after a child.” A third member piped up.

“The demon will no doubt set up another lair for itself.” Shiro said. “And if it has a permanent residence, we can find it.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Shiro only hopped that they could find and kill Mami before she decided to come for his son next.

“Welcome home!”

Yukio pushed Rin on a wheelchair into the monastery, where a small party was waiting for him.

“You’re throwing a party for me?” Rin questioned excitedly.

“Of course.” Izumi said. “We finally have you home. Why wouldn’t we celebrate that?”

“We even got you presents.” Nagamato said, holding up one of the wrapped parcels meant for Rin.

“That’s a lot of presents.” Rin’s eyes bugged out at the size of the pile.

“Well, we have seven missed birthdays to make up for.” Koyodo said.

“So, why don’t you come open them. Then we can have cake.” Maruta said.

Rin smiled widely, wishing that he had the strength to run over to the four priests and hug them.

Yukio pushed Rin over to the group and they all sat down, handing Rin his presents to open and helping him when he struggled.

“Where’s dad?” Rin asked, taking notice of an important person’s absence as he opened one of the presents.

“He’s going to be a little late with work, something came up.” Yukio answered.

“Oh.” Rin said, putting the present down. “Then I’m not opening anymore ‘til he gets back.”

Yukio smiled. “Okay, Rin.”

“I’m guessing that means no cake either.” Izumi teased, picking up the cake.

Rin’s eyes widened in shock.

“No, I want cake now!” He demanded, holding out his arms weakly.

It had been so long since he had cake that he was not putting off eating it because his dad wasn’t there.

“Okay, okay.” Izumi laughed, putting the cake back down.

The cake was sliced and shared out between everyone, Rin quickly devouring his slice and getting a second, and then another.

“I don’t feel so good.” Rin moaned as he ate his third slice.

“I’m not surprised, eating so much sugar at once.” Yukio said. “I think you need to stop eating and lie down.”

“No, my cake.” Rin protested, stubbornly taking another bite of cake.

That only resulted in Rin looking queasier as he struggled to eat the rest of his slice. He managed to eat it, but didn’t look too triumphant for managing it, holding his stomach and groaning.

“Told you.” Yukio sighed.

Rin stuck his tongue out at him in response before groaning again.

“It’s time for a lie down, little man.” Izumi suggested.

“But I’m not tired.” Rin denied.

“It will still help you feel better.” The young boy was told.

So, reluctantly, Rin lay down for a rest and closed his eyes while the priests wrapped up the rest of the cake and cleaned up the presents that had already been opened.

And despite saying that he hadn’t been tired, Rin soon fell asleep.

Not that long after, Shiro arrived back home.

“Asleep again?” Shiro quested when he saw his youngest son.

“Yeah, the doctor said he’ll run out of energy easily due to his condition, but that he’ll get better. He’s already able to stay awake long than a few days ago.” Yukio answered.

“At least we can see that he’s getting better.” Shiro sighed. “I’m guessing that I missed the presents?”

“Actually, Rin only opened a few before we told him that you were going to be late, he insisted that you had to be there before he opened the rest.” Yukio pointed to the unopened presents.

Shiro smiled down at Rin, sitting next to him and stroking his head.

“I’m glad he did lose his kindness and caring to that demon.” Shiro said.

Shiro stood again and then picked Rin up, cradling his child gently in his arms.

While the other priests went about their duties, Shiro and Yukio walked to the boys’ room, where everything had already been prepared for Rin.

Yukio pulled the sheets back on Rin’s bed, allowing Shiro to place him down and tuck him in.

Yukio then went and sat down on his bed, Shiro joining him, the two of them just sitting and watching Rin sleep for a while.

“He’s home.” Shiro said reassuringly, putting a hand on Yukio’s shoulder.

“Yeah.” Yukio agreed. “He’s home.”

After watching Rin for a little while longer, Shiro and Yukio left to let him sleep, though they would check on him periodically to ensure that he was still there.

Yukio sat at the table, working on a small project, constantly referring to a book next to it.

“You’ve been working on that non-stop.” Shiro commented as he prepared himself dinner.

“I want to make sure I get it finished before I have to leave.” Yukio said.

“I’m sure you’ll finish it in plenty time, so don’t forget about your own health.” Shiro told him.

“I know.” Yukio said. “I just want to make sure Rin stays safe once I’m away.”

“Nagamoto and the others will look after him when you and I aren’t here.” Shiro said. “He’s safe here.”

“Still, I’d like some constant reassurance that I can always find him again.” Yukio said.

“Look at you, being the protective big brother.” Shiro joked. “The two of you seem to have switched roles.”

“Well, I am the literal big brother now. That’s still something I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around.” Yukio said.

“We’re still trying to find out why Rin hasn’t aged, just another part of the mystery.” Shiro said, sitting down with his food.

But before he could take a bite, the phone rang. Moaning, Shiro got up to answer.

“Hello…ah…I understand. I’ll be there shortly.” Shiro said, responding to who was on the other end.

He hung up and then went to grab his coat.

“You’re leaving already?” Yukio questioned.

“Another of the children has been taken while they were being moved to the safe house.” Shiro explained. “We have to investigate while the trail’s still fresh.”

“Rin’s not going to be happy.” Yukio lamented.

“I know.” Shiro sighed. “But I couldn’t bare it if I wasn’t giving it my all to catch this demon. Once this is all over, I’ll take time off to spend with Rin.”

“I’ll tell Rin so that he understands.” Yukio said.

“Thank you.” Shiro said. “Look after your brother.”

He then left.

Shiro entered headquarters with a grim determination. Not only had Mami taken his child from him seven years ago, she was now taking away from his ability to be with his son now that he was home. When she was finally reduced to ashes, Shiro knew he would feel immense satisfaction and relief, and he wanted to feel that as soon as possible.

“What do we have?” He asked his team.

“As I said on the phone. The Saito family had just finished packing up their things and were on the way to the designated safehouse with three exorcists watching over them, when there was a car crash ahead of them that blocked up the road, no doubt set up by the demon. The family stepped out of their car while they waited to be able to move again and the daughter, Kiki managed to wander off a fair distance before they noticed. They tried to get her to come back, but Kiki shouted that she saw one of her friends and continued running away, which is when she was snatched up by the demon. The Exorcists managed to get a few hits on the demon, but with Kiki there they couldn’t risk doing much, they say their attacks hardly did anything, so the demon managed to get away.” It was explained to Shiro.

“It’s already getting bolder.” Shiro said. “Attacking in broad daylight like that.”

“We’ve already sent extra protection to the other families being moved and told them to keep hold of the children at all times, if it tries that again.” One of the team said.

“Good.” Shiro said. “Miss Saito said she saw one of her friends. If it was Mami saw, she would have called the demon by name given how the children treat it, so it’s likely that she saw Mr. Muto.”

“Meaning that the children are still alive.” One of the team said hopefully.

“Or she’s impersonating them.” Said another of the less hopeful team members.

“They are likely to still be alive, this demon doesn’t kill its victims quickly.” Shiro said. “But it means that Mami is going to use the children she’s taken to lure the other children to her.”

“It’s already hard enough convincing the children to not trust the demon.” One of the team said. “How are we going to convince them that they can’t trust each other too. As far as they’re concerned, they survived hell together, that sort of situation ensures a strong bond.”

Shiro frowned but had to agree.

As much as he loved his son, and as much as Rin understood what had happened and that he couldn’t trust Mami, Shiro couldn’t trust him to be able to resist when Mami came for him.

“I also think its strength is linked to the children.” One of the team voiced their opinion. “You said that it was impossible to beat in your first encounter until the children were taken away, and then it had to run away. And when taking Mr. Muto it had to wait for him to come to it, but it got more daring when taking Miss Saito, as if it was in less danger when taking her despite their being more Exorcists on scene.”

“Meaning, the more children it takes, the harder it’s going to be to beat it when we do manage to find it.” Another of the team said.

“This would be easier if we knew exactly what type of demon it is and what its abilities are.” Said another of the team.

“Well, I believe I have the solution to that.” Mephisto appeared in the door way in his usual manner.

None of the team looked happy to see him, none of them particularly trusted him.

“Is your friend who’s meant to help us on this case here?” Shiro guessed.

“Yes, she is.” Mephisto grinned, stepping to the side to showcase the new arrival.

A young woman stepped through the door.

“Jones.” She introduced herself. “Jones Coraline.”

Chapter Text

For an associate of Mephisto’s, Shiro had been expecting someone a little more…unorthodox. But the most seemingly ‘unorthodox’ thing about the woman in front of him was her dark -blue hair. And maybe that she was accompanied by a cat.

She wore an Exorcist uniform, though it was different to their own, Shiro recognised it as the English uniform for Exorcists. And a metal summoning circle as a necklace around her neck, marking her as a Tamer.

“So, I hear you’ve been having problems with an unknown demon.” The woman said, Japanese was clearly not her first language, though they didn’t have an issue understanding her.

“‘Problem’ is an understatement.” One of the team said.

“It’s moving fast, two of the recovered children have already been taken.” Another said.

“I’m not surprised. This demon is nothing without her children.” Coraline said.

There was a pause.

“You know what this demon is?” Shiro questioned.

“Given what I’ve been told about her, I believe I do.” Coraline answered, walking over to the desk and opening her bag.

“What? What?” The team asked impatiently.

Coraline took a hand-bound book out of her bag and placed it on the table.

Her cat jumped up onto the table beside it as Coraline opened the cover to the first page, not needing to go any further than that.

There on the first page was the rough sketch of a skeletal woman with extra needle-like legs and hands, and buttons for eyes. The sketch did look similar to Mami’s demon-form, thought there were definite differences.

A name was printed at the top of the page in large lettering.

“A Beldam.” Coraline said.

“My,” Mephisto said as he looked down at the drawing, ignoring the cat’s hissing at him. “I haven’t seen one of those in quite some time. Such a rarity.”

“What’s a Beldam?” One of the team questioned.

“Yeah, I’ve never heard of one before.” Another joined in.

All of them were confused.

“I would be surprised if you had.” Coraline said. “They’re a very ancient and secretive type of demon, able to conceal their presence from even the most expert of demon hunters. It took me years to scrounge up all my information from old folktales and where Beldams have set up their lairs, and that was only because experience allowed me to know where to look.”

“So, what is a Beldam exactly, then?” Shiro asked, picking up Coraline’s book to leaf through it.

The entire book was in English and distinct handwriting, making it hard for Shiro to read, but he knew enough English to make some of it out. It went into detail about blocked off doors, keys, dolls and buttons on the first few pages before including information and sketched that were obviously added later on given the difference in ink and handwriting.

“They’re a type of demon that feasts on the emotions of children.” Coraline answered. “Each Beldam is different in what they do, but the common thread is that they lure children away from their families and feast on their emotions and life force until their all dried up, and then discard that child once done with them. They usually feed on a child’s love for them, creating a situation to foster that love, it can take the form of a child’s paradise, or as with your Beldam, a situation where the children had to rely on her to be safe.”

“What’s this stuff about sewing buttons into eyes, the demon didn’t do this to the children?” Shiro asked, reading through some of the text in the book.

“Like I said, each Beldam is different.” Coraline said. “The first Beldam I encountered lived in a pocket dimension where she took the form of my ‘other mother’, presenting me with a world made to please me, and then told me that in order to stay I had to allow her to sew buttons into my eyes, which would have allowed her to feast on my lifeforce until I was nothing but another ghost added to her collection.”

Everyone but Mephisto winced and covered one of their eyes.

“It was only after I started researching Beldams that I learned no two are the same.” Coraline continued. “Some employ pocket dimensions to take their victims too like the Other Mother, others trap their victims in a dream world like your Beldam. Some require the child to enter a contract of sorts to feed on them, others are able to feed on the children as soon as they grab them. I’ve had to add to my book many times over the years each time I find a new Beldam.”

“You’ve fought them before.” Shiro said, putting the book back down for another member of the team to look at. “How to we defeat a Beldam?”

“Mainly starvation.” Coraline informed. “If a Beldam can’t feed on a child’s life force, they’ll eventually fade away. That involves locking the Beldam away, great for the ones that employ pocket dimensions as those doorways can be sealed with them on the other side, not so good for the ones that have free reign.”

“The demon already has two children, and even if doesn’t take the rest of the children, it could always take new ones. I don’t think it’s going to starve.” One of the team pointed out.

“I think she has to form a trust and bond with children before she can feed on them.” Coraline theorised, picking up her book and skimming through it. “That’s why she created the illusion of the abandoned city I was told about, to quicken that bond by being the children’s ‘protector’. And since it’s going to be much harder for her to do that again without her companion, she’s stuck retrieving the rescued children if she doesn’t want to starve.”

“Do you know who that other demon we fought was, we couldn’t find any information on it either?” One of the team asked.

“Not a clue.” Coraline answered honestly. “Though it is common for a Beldam to form a symbiotic relationship with another demon to aid in their child snatching, both benefiting from it and becoming stronger. If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say it was a low-level demon mutated through the Beldam feeding it.”

“Could she find another demon to partner up with and set up her dream world again?” Shiro asked.

“She could.” Coraline nodded. “It all depends on the Beldam’s abilities. I may be the expert on them, but there are still things I don’t know.”

“Are there any other ways to fight a Beldam?” Shiro asked.

“I’ve found that a lot of animals are the enemies of a Beldam.” Coraline flicked to a page in her book showcasing sketches of animals. “They’re able to sense when a Beldam is near and that she’s bad news, they’re also good for protecting children against a Beldam’s influence. So, Tamers with animal-based demons should prove effective.”

Coraline’s cat pawed at the page where a sketch of itself was.

“Cats specifically are effective.” Coraline added, smiling down at her cat.

That gave Shiro an idea, though he’d have to wait before he could act on it.

“So, do you have anything in here about tracking down the demon? Because that’s our biggest issue right here.” One of the team brought up, looking at the book.

“All Beldams have a lair, and it’ll be somewhere remote enough to not draw attention to her but close to civilisation, so she can access children.” Coraline said. “For this particular Beldam, her lair will be set up not far from the city so that she can access the children she took, since she still has to travel to the houses and then back to her lair. Though, she’ll definitely move lairs once she’s got all the children back rather than stick around and risk getting caught again.”

Coraline turned her book to another page displaying sketches of old houses.

“They usually set up their lairs in old houses or caves, the house doesn’t necessarily have to be abandoned for there to be a lair there, but I doubt our Beldam would be able to sneak herself and the children into an occupied house. So, we should be searching caves, abandoned houses, and old houses where the owners have just died, or the owners aren’t known for being seen, if our Beldam doesn’t mind killing the normal way.” She continued.

“Are there any other ways?” Coraline was asked.

“The rest of my information is about how to work out whether a Beldam has set up residence somewhere, not about tracking newly built lairs. So, unless we’re willing to use the children as bait to lure her out or track her back to her lair, this is what we can do so far.”

“Using the children as bait is out of the question.” Shiro shut the suggestion down before anyone could vouch for it, not that anyone was really willing to.

“I’ll get to work finding all the caves and old houses in the city and surrounding area then.” One of the team said.

“I’ll contact some more Tamers to join the team.” Another member said.

“Thank you for your help.” Shiro said to Coraline.

“You can thank me when this is all over.” Coraline waved off.

“I look forward to being able to thank you, then.” Shiro responded.

With the case well and truly underway, it took a while before Shiro was able to take a break, taking the opportunity to quickly visit home, but not before quickly stopping off at True Cross Academy to pick something important.

It was way past midnight when he got home, so everyone was fast asleep.

Quietly, Shiro made his way up to his sons’ room, pushing the door open to peer inside.

Yukio was sound asleep in his bed, probably having finally passed out from working too hard if Shiro had to hazard a guess.

Rin’s bed, however, was empty.

Just as Shiro was getting ready to panic, he heard the sound of someone moving about in the kitchen.

Moving towards the kitchen, he was able to smell food being cooked. And going inside, he found Rin walking around with ingredients and a pot on the stove.

“Rin, you know you’re not meant to use the hob without supervision, especially in your state.” Shiro smiled.

Rin jumped slightly before turning around to look at Shiro guiltily.

“Sorry.” Rin mumbled. “I was hungry.”

“If you were hungry, you should have asked one of the others to cook for you.” Shiro told his son good naturedly.

“I didn’t want to be a bother.” Rin mumbled again.

“You’re not being a bother.” Shiro put his hands on Rin’s shoulders and knelt down to his level. “You were only just rescued from a very bad experience and are still recovering, it’s understandable that you’d need help.”

“I guess.” Rin said, understanding his father’s words.

“I know, it’s hard to let go of what you’re feeling, even though you know something’s not true.” Shiro said.

Rin only nodded.

“Now, you sit down, I’ll finish your food for you.” Shiro said, guiding Rin to sit.

Rin was too exhausted to protest, allowing himself to be put in a chair.

As it turned out, Rin’s food was almost ready and was quite well-prepared considering Rin’s physical condition. There was enough for a bowl each, so Shiro placed two bowls on the table and sat down opposite Rin.

“This is really good.” Shiro complimented after taking a bite.

“Thanks.” Rin said, eating his own food. “I was the designated cook of our group.”

Shiro put down his fork to look at his son.

“Each week we would go on a supply run, we’d work out how much we’d have, and then I’d cook it for everyone. Mami said that I could make even the worst packaged foods taste amazing.” Rin continued, staring off into space.

“Rin…” Shiro said.

“We’d always go to the same shop. It was the safer to do that because we all knew our way around it.” Rin didn’t seem to hear him. “Always the same shop.”

Shiro stood up and walked around the table, moving Rin to face him.

“Rin.” He repeated.

“For years.” Rin looked up at Shiro, eyes watering. “It never ran out of food for us. Why didn’t I realise?”

Shiro pulled Rin into his arms as the young child fell into another round of hysterics upon realising the clues that he’d been living in a false reality he’d missed.

“Shh.” Shiro comforted as Rin sobbed into his shoulder. “It’s not your fault.”

The emotional episode was thankfully a short one and the two were able to sit back at the table. Though, this time, Rin was perched on Shiro’s lap as they ate their now lukewarm food, still too fragile to be away from his comfort.

“How are you feeling?” Shiro asked once they finished eating.

Rin shrugged, he didn’t know how to put what he felt into words.

“Are you leaving again?” He asked instead.

Shiro sighed. “I am. I’m sorry that I can’t spend all my time with you like I want to, but it’s important that I finish this case.”

“It’s Mami, isn’t it?” Rin asked, shocking Shiro slightly with his perceptiveness. “You’re trying to find her, so she can’t take me again.”

“I am.” Shiro decided not to lie.

“Will you kill her?”

It was a difficult question for Shiro to answer in front of Rin.

“Rin, remember that Mami is a dangerous demon who took you away from Yukio and I, and she hurt all the friends you had while she had you too.” Shiro said instead of answering.

“I know.” Rin said. “Mami loved me…But…but…daddy…I’m scared of her coming for me.”

“I won’t let her take you, Rin.” Shiro said, giving his son another hug. “That’s why I’m working so hard to stop her.”

Rin obviously didn’t know how to feel about it all.

“Actually, I’ve brought home someone to protect you while I’m gone.” Shiro said.

Shiro guided Rin out of the kitchen and to the living room, setting the young boy down on one of the sofas and leading down to pick something up.

“This is Kuro.” Shiro placed the Cat Sidhe on Rin’s lap.

Rin’s eyes widen at the cat, cautiously petting him.

“He has two tails.” Rin said.

Shiro hoped that his son’s experience with Mami had given him a mashou, and not that his demon soul was starting to awaken.

“He’s a demon called a Cat Sidhe.” Shiro explained. “He’s my familiar, and he’s going to protect you from now on.”

“You’re giving him to me.” Rin looked down at Kuro in awe.

Kuro looked back up at him, meowing.

“I am.” Shiro nodded. “Now, I want you to keep Kuro with you at all times.”

“Even in the bathroom?” Rin questioned.

Shiro laughed at Rin’s question.

“Okay, he doesn’t need to be in the bathroom with you. But he’ll be by your side everywhere else.” Shiro amended.

When Kuro turned to Shiro, the Paladin could see the determination in his familiar’s eyes, assuring him that the demon would guard Rin with his life.

“And when this is all over, I’m going to spend all the time in the world with you, and we can go to any theme park that you want.” Shiro promised.

“Can Kuro come too?” Rin asked, smiling.

Shiro laughed again. He should have guessed that his son would get instantly attached.

“If you want him to.” He told his son.

Rin then yawned, clearly still tired.

“Alright, bedtime.” Shiro said.

They skipped brushing Rin’s teeth in favour of heading straight to bed. Shiro tucked Rin back in and Kuro jumped up to lay at the child’s side, one of Rin’s arms over him.

“Goodnight.” Rin yawned, closing his eyes.

“Night.” Shiro replied.

With how exhausted he was, it only took Rin seconds to fall asleep.

Shiro smiled down at him and patted his head before standing up.

He turned around to look at Yukio, who was thankfully still out like a light.

“Goodnight.” He whispered to his other son, patting his head too before leaving.

Chapter Text

Unlike her fellow rescued children, June had shown a remarkable recovery from her time with Mami. While the girl admitted still having some form of attachment to the Beldam, she had fully accepted being told that the older girl had been a demon and had not tried to deny it like the others. And she had also regained control of her motor functions much quicker than her friends.

As Coraline had explained, this was due to June being Mami’s last victim before her lair was discovered, only being captured a couple of weeks beforehand, rather than anything special about the girl. Mami’s hold over June was comparably weaker than the other children, who had been under the Beldam’s hold for much longer.

That wasn’t to say that June was safe from Mami coming for her. There was still a connection formed from the girl’s time in the dream world, being watched over by Mami.

Which was what allowed Mami to track her down despite June and her family being moved to a safe house.

“June…”

The girl groaned as she was woken from her sleep.

“Mum?” She questioned, rubbing her eyes and sitting up.

“June…”

June gasped as she became fully awake, realising who the voice belonged to.

“Mami?” She asked, looking towards her window where the curtains were drawn.

“June, it’s time to come home…” Mami’s voice echoed in June’s head.

“I am home.” June shook her head.

“Here is not our home…” Mami said. “Here is not safe…Come, the others are waiting…”

The others?

The other children.

June hadn’t seen them since the hospital, the Exorcist people said that they had to be kept apart for their safety.

She wanted nothing more than to see them again, to see that they were all alright with her own eyes.

And Mami could take her to see them again.

June suddenly drove her fist into her head, the pain snapping her back to reality.

“I-I can’t go with you.” She denied, shaking her head and stepping back.

She hadn’t even realised that she had been making her way over to the window.

“You must, Poppet…Only I can keep you all safe…” Mami told her.

“You’re the reason we’re in danger in the first place!” June cried at her curtains. “You don’t want to take care of us, you want to kill us!”

Mami said nothing in response, but June suddenly felt like ice was striking through her that froze her to the spot. She opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out, her throat seizing up and refusing to make a sound.

Then there came the pounding, the vibrations coming so hard that June was almost knocked off her feet.

The Exorcists guarding the house began to shout, then June heard the sound of fighting.

Mami’s scream of fury and pain forced June to her knees, gripping her head so hard that her nails drew blood.

June’s door then burst open and her parents ran in.

“Oh, June!” Her mother cried in relief upon seeing her. “My baby, you’re still here.”

“What’s wrong, June?” He father asked.

“It hurts.” June cried. “Mami, it hurts.”

The sound of fighting abruptly stopped and June collapsed to the floor, held up by her parents.

“She’s gone.” June sighed before passing out.

“How’s the girl?” Shiro asked.

“Miss Akami is fine, just exhausted, it seems.” One of the team.

“So, what happened, exactly?” Coraline asked.

“The Beldam tried to take Miss Akami the same way it did the prior two children, but when she refused to it attempted to take her by force. Thankfully, the Exorcists on site were able to match up to it, unfortunately she once again managed to run away.” The team member read off the report of what had happened. “For some reason, the fight had a negative effect on Miss Akami and she passed out.”

“Mami must have tried to draw on Miss Akami’s energy through their connection to bolster her strength.” Coraline said. “Thankfully, it wasn’t enough to beat the exorcists and wards there.”

“So, we’ll be able to fend her off?” One of the team asked hopefully.

Coraline shook her head. “We won this time because Miss Akami’s connection to Mami is weaker than the other children and she was able to deny it. The other children won’t be as strong and the wards and exorcists won’t be enough to stop them going to her. Not to mention, Mami will grow stronger with each child she reclaims, so she’ll eventually be able to take Miss Akami by force like she tried to.”

“This may be a small victory for us.” Shiro said. “But it has also told us an unfortunate detail. The Beldam will be able to track the children down, not matter where they are, so we can’t hide them.”

“With Miss Akami able to resist it and being well enough protected for now, who will Mami go after next?” Coraline asked.

“The other children are Hamada Jiro, Sakura Emi and…” One of the team began to list off.

“My son.” Shiro finished for them.

“With how well warded and guarded the Paladin’s home is, I don’t think the demon will go after him next.” One of the team offered their opinion. “It would be too risky for it.”

“But the Beldam could use their connection to get him without getting anywhere near the wards.” Another of the team pointed out. “Shiro, do you know how strong the connection is?”

“Rin has acknowledged that Mami is a demon who would hurt him but admits that he still feels a desire to be with her again.” Shiro answered after steeling himself. “Though, I have Kuro, my Cait Sith familiar, guarding him now.”

“I had heard about him leaving his post at True Cross.” One of the team muttered to himself.

“That does sound like enough protection to keep her away, for now.” Coraline said. “Mami may do anything to get her children back, but she won’t stupid enough to go past her limits either.”

“Meaning the demon will either go after Mr Hamada or Miss Sakura.” One of the team said.

“What’s their situation like?” Shiro asked.

“Miss Sakura still insists that the Beldam isn’t evil, though seems content with her family and only asks for the demon occasionally. Mr Hamada is unsure about what he’s been told, he still clearly wants the demon but was one of the children who saw the demon’s transformation as so is also afraid of her.”

“Miss Sakura seems to be the bigger risk.” Shiro hummed. “Still, the Beldam could go for either. Make sure that one of the parents or an exorcist is with the child at all times.”

“Yes, sir.”

Shiro sighed. “Any news on finding the lair?”

“We’ve managed to search all the abandoned homes in the area, a few low-level demons were in some of them, but none related to the Beldam.” He was told. “We’re still in the process of finding and searching the homes of those who have recently passed away or haven’t been heard from in a while.”

“Any chance it could be moving around instead of settling in a lair?” Shiro turned to Coraline.

Coraline shook her head. “A Beldam can be best likened to a spider.” She said. “They need a lair, it’s the place where they can be in the most control, their magic seeping into the area around them and allowing them to manipulate it, and also as a place to keep their victims

“At least we have that.” Shiro said. “If it’s staying in one place, we can find it.”

Rin sat on his bed as he watched Yukio pack the remainder of his things into his bag.

If asked, the boy would definitely deny it, but he was pouting.

“I know this isn’t fair, Rin.” Yukio sighed. “And if I could, I’d stay.”

“I know.” Rin pouted, looking away. “But you’re still going away.”

Yukio zipped up his bag before walking over to Rin’s bed and sitting down next to him.

“Don’t worry, I’ll visit as often as I can. I can’t guarantee every weekend, but I’ll try, and I’ll definitely be home for the holidays. So, we’ll get to spend our birthday together like we used to.”

Rin smiled. “That’d be nice.” He said.

It’d been so long since either of them had shared their birthday, Rin himself having stopped counting them in the timeless city.

Rin frowned as his thoughts were drawn back to Mami.

“What is it?” Yukio spotted his change in demeanour.

“It’s nothing.” Rin mumbled.

“It’s not nothing if you’re looking like that, Rin.” Yukio argued.

Rin still refused to say anything, but it wasn’t hard for Yukio to guess what it was about.

“Is it about the d-Mami?” He asked, stumbling over his words so as to not accidently upset his bother.

Hesitantly, Rin nodded.

“Don’t worry.” Yukio brought Rin into a one-armed hug. “Even though I’m not going to be here much anymore, you’re safe here. The house has special protections to keep demons out, some of the strongest you can get, and the other priests will be here when dad and I aren’t. And don’t forget Kuro.”

They looked over to where Kuro was napping at the foot of Rin’s bed.

“Plus, I made this for you.” Yukio continued.

He reached inside his pocket and brought out a carved pendant, handing it to Rin.

Rin looked at the pendant in his hands in awe.

“You made this for me?” He questioned.

“Yes.” Yukio smiled. “It’s a special pendant that will always allow me to find you, no matter what. So, make sure that you always wear it. Okay?”

“Okay.” Rin nodded, taking the string of the pendant and looping it over his head. “I’ll never take it off.” He promised.

“Yukio, you need to bring your bags down!” One of the priests called from downstairs.

“Coming!” Yukio called back.

Rin quickly went back to pouting as Yukio got up to grab his bags and walked out the bedroom door with them.

In the end, it almost took a crowbar to pry a crying Rin from Yukio when it finally came time for the older brother to leave.

As Yukio climbed into the taxi set to take him to True Cross and it drove off, Rin’s cries dying out behind him, he felt like the worst brother in the history of the Earth, having to fight the urge to jump out of the taxi and run back to his brother all the way to True Cross.

Not far from the monastery, a set of eyes watched the proceedings, taking note of the absence of the Paladin and the fact that the older brother was leaving home. Meaning that Rin only had the four priests to protect him.

Perfect.

“Time to come home, my little angel.” Mami whispered.

Chapter Text

“Ugh!” Rin groaned as he finally completed the paper in front of him.

The woman sitting next to him laughed.

“That’s the last of them today.” She said.

“Thank god.” Rin said, slumping in his chair.

“I know tests are so boring they’re painful, but these are important, we need to know what level you’re at currently, so we know where to resume your education from.”

“Yes, sensei.” Rin sighed.

‘Sensei’ reached into her bag and brought out a bag of sweets, setting them down in front of Rin while ruffling his hair.

“For your hard work today.” She said.

Rin’s face instantly lit up at he tore the bag open and started eating the sweets inside.

“Thank you, sensei.” He said after eating a handful, remembering his manners.

“You’re welcome. I’ll see you sometime next week, Rin.” Sensei said.

She left Rin’s room, soon meeting up with Shiro, who had returned home briefly to get some rest before returning to the case.

“So, what’s the results, Brook-san?” He asked the young woman.

“It’s too early to say, these tests need to be analysed first.” Miss Brook said. “He does seem to be behind for someone of his age from what I can gleam from his answers, but hopefully not incredibly so.”

Shiro sighed at the news, just another thing Mami had done to Rin.

With being in a survival situation for seven years, Rin had obviously not continued his education. Though the continuing his education was not a large problem due to Rin being the same age as he had been taken at, the real issue lay in that there had been nothing to reinforce his education and keep hold of what he had already been taught.

Which was where Miss Brook came in.

Someone with knowledge of demons but not an active exorcist herself, and being a regular teacher, Shiro had hired her to evaluate what Rin did remember of his education and be his private tutor to get him back up to the level he should be for his age and then continue his education for the foreseeable future, as they couldn’t exactly send Rin to a normal school with Mami on the loose.

“But Rin also seems like a smart kid, so I think he’ll get back up to speed fairly quickly, no matter what the results are.” Miss Brook said. “I’ll be back next week with the results and start evaluating what the best way to teach Rin will be.”

“Thank you, Brook-san.” Shiro said.

Miss Brook smiled and waved before leaving.

With the tutor gone, Shiro walked into his son’s room, when Rin was still sitting at his desk and eating his sweets.

“Oh, what’s this.” Shiro grinned. “Is Brook-san spoiling you?”

“Dad!” Rin cheered.

He stumbled out of his chair and ran over to Shiro, wrapping his father in a hug and knocking the wind out of him as his legs finally lost their strength and sent him barrelling into his father.

“Oof!” Shiro wheezed as he tried to get his air back while hugging Rin. “It’s good to see you too, Rin.”

He expected Rin to try and step back, but the boy remained clinging to him.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Shiro asked gently.

Rin shook his head, not wanting to answer.

Shiro sighed and moved them so that they both on Rin’s bed, the young boy still hugging his father.

“Feeling a bit lonely?” He questioned.

It took a minute, but Rin eventually nodded.

It was no surprise, even if the other priests and Kuro were there, Yukio was now gone and Shiro himself could only manage extremely brief visits if he was lucky.

It wasn’t fair, but Yukio couldn’t be expected to give up the opportunity he had been working so hard toward to look after Rin and Shiro had to work on the Beldam case to protect Rin in the long run.

“When this is all over, I’ll spend all the time in the world with you.” Shiro promised Rin again.

“Why can’t it be over already?” Rin muttered childishly.

“Unfortunately, it’s not that easy, Rin.” Shiro said, rubbing his son’s back.

“And why can’t it be?” Rin pouted.

“Because, unfortunately, this demon is very good at hide and seek.” Shiro said.

Rin nodded.

“Mami was always good at disappearing.” He said.

Kuro, who had been sleeping on Rin’s bed prior, came over and curled up on Rin’s lap, offering comfort.

Smiling, Rin stroked his back.

“We never really got to play hide and seek, though.” Rin continued. “The creatures outside meant that our games were limited to inside the house. But Mami made sure that we had other games, she loved playing games. She’d usually win, but she’s always let Suzie win just to make her…” Rin trailed off.

“Rin, are you alright?” Shiro asked in concern.

“Suzie, she…” Rin’s eyes welled up.

“Shh, it’s okay.” Shiro pulled Rin into a tight hug as he comforted.

It didn’t take long for Rin to break down yet again.

The name ‘Suzie’ didn’t ring a bell to Shiro, but it was easy to guess that she was one of the Beldam’s victims who didn’t make it, and someone who Rin knew during his time captured.

Then, Shiro realised something that deepened his hatred for this ‘Mami’ even more.

The children who didn’t make it.

According to Coraline, and how long the recovered children had been missing, children taken by a Beldam were lucky to last a year before they were all used up, Rin obviously being the exception. And Rin had been held captive in Mami’s little nightmare world for seven years.

Just how many children, how many friends, would Rin have witnessed lost to the Beldam’s hunger? For those seven years, how many children did Rin grow attached to only for them to be cruelly torn away while he continued to live on?

“It’s alright Rin. We won’t let it take anyone else.” Shiro promised his son.

An empty promise, maybe. But it was the first thing Shiro could think to say.

And Shiro didn’t intend to let it be an empty promise. He’d put an end to Mami and recover the stolen children, no matter what.

Like the few times before, Rin had tired himself out through crying and fallen asleep. Though he was making great strides in his recovery, he still got tired very easily.

Sighing heavily for what felt like the millionth time since Rin had been found, Shiro tucked his son into bed.

“Look after him, Kuro.” Shiro patted his familiar on the head before leaving the room.

It was already time for him to leave again, even though he had just arrived.

Breaks only netted Shiro a few minutes with his son, but he’d take every second he could to assure Rin that he wasn’t being forgotten.

Nagamoto was standing outside to greet Shiro as he left Rin’s room.

“Rin’s sleeping again, make sure that there’s some food for him when he wakes up.” Shiro said.

Nagamoto nodded.

“And…put effort into finding Rin a good therapist who’s safe.” Shiro added. “Unfortunately, I don’t have time to look myself while dealing with this case.”

“Yes, Shiro.” Nagamoto said.

Hopefully, with the help of the right person, Rin would be able to return to normal life once the Beldam was dealt with.

With one last look back to Rin asleep on his bed, Shiro left to continue the investigation.

Rin lay awake in bed, staring up at the ceiling.

It had been hours since Shiro had put him to bed, but after he’d woken up and ate the food that was left for him, Rin found it hard to return to sleep.

The room was just too empty.

Sure, Kuro was there, curled up next to him on the bed. But he wasn’t enough.

Rin turned over to look at the bed across the room, which was perfectly made and undisturbed now that Yukio was off to school.

With Yukio in that bed, Rin had managed, despite being used to sleeping with everyone, the presence of his brother being just enough to allow sleep. But now he was gone.

Huffing, Rin sat up in his bed and dropped his feet to the floor.

Kuro stirred slightly, letting out a quiet mewl.

“I’m just going to the toilet.” Rin assured the familiar.

Kuro lazily gazed up at Rin from squinted eyes before settling down again.

Smiling at the cat, Rin quietly made his way out of his room.

The halls were dark and silent, it being the middle of the night with all the other priests also being asleep.

It was only a short trip to the toilet, meaning that Rin didn’t have to go far in the darkness to reach his destination.

After doing his business, Rin walked back into the hallway, but just stood there instead of going back to his room.

It seemed that Rin had used up a good chunk of his energy for his short trip, and now the short return trip seemed too far.

So, Rin slumped to the floor, waiting to gain back enough energy to make it to his bed.

Pulling up his knees, Rin rested his heavy head on them, tears welling up in his eyes over how tired he was but unable to get to sleep.

He knew that it was wrong, but Rin craved Mami’s lullaby.

Maybe if he sang it to himself, it would work.

“~Watashi was asa no yume wo miru~” Rin sang quietly, remembering the familiar lyrics off by heart.
“~Mada dame yo~
~Mada dame yo~
~Nani iro no asa ga kuru~
~Mada dame yo…~”

Rin trailed off.

It just wasn’t the same without Mami’s voice singing.

She always had a calming voice that made the children forget all their troubles in the city, allowing them to sleep despite the monsters just outside the door.

“~Mada dame yo~
~ Mada yoru was tabekake yo~”

Rin smiled. Yes, her singing was so beautiful.

His memory played as if she were there, singing to him now.

“~Nemutteru ko wa doko ni iru?~”

Rin turned to the window.

The singing was muffled, too quiet. He needed to hear it properly.

So, he opened the window and smiled even wider as Mami’s lullaby came clear as day.

“~Saa ohayou Nightmare~

~Warui oyume wa korekkiri~”

Then the lullaby repeated, but this time Rin could hear other voices.

Daisuke and Kiki, it was them he could hear.

Rin bit his lip.

He missed his friends so much. He hadn’t seen them since they had all been rescued.

And now, they were just outside.

Rin needed to see them.

Not thinking twice, Rin went downstairs and opened the door, giving no mind to whatever energy he did or didn’t have, the need to see his friends overpowering.

As soon as he was outside, Rin saw them.

Across the street stood Mami, Daisuke and Kiki standing next to her.

They all smiled when they saw him, continuing to sing Mami’s lullaby for him.

Mami herself knelt to the ground and opened her arms, ready to embrace Rin.

And how Rin longed to be in those arms again.

He longed for the comfort and safety Mami brought.

Rin wasn’t even aware that he had started stumbling towards Mami, whose grin grew ever wider the closer he came.

Rin had only just passed the protective barrier that surrounded the monastery when the spell was broken by a large black mass imposing itself between Rin and Mami just before the demon could take him.

Mami grabbed Daisuke and Kiki and jumped back, narrowly avoiding the giant paw that swiped at her.

Blinking rapidly, as if there was sleep in his eye, Rin looked up at the giant black cat that was now guarding him.

“Kuro?” He questioned.

Kuro looked back at him and gave an affirming meow.

The giant cat then used its tails to nudge Rin back towards the protective barrier.

“But…” Rin tried to protest, but then paused as he wondered why he was protesting.

“Rin, my little angel.” Mami cooed.

Rin’s attention turned to Mami.

“We need to go home now.” Mami said gently.

Kuro growled at her, making sure that the other demon wouldn’t be able to get around him and get Rin.

“Mami.” Rin looked at his ‘big-sister’. “Why…?” He didn’t know what to ask.

“Because we need to be together.” Mami took the question and applied it to the moment. “I can’t keep you safe if you’re not with me.”

“But…I want to stay.” Rin began crying. “You took me from home, and now you want to take me again.”

Mami frowned.

“My little angel, they’ve been filling your head with nonsense.” She said. “They just want to turn you against me. You know I’d never hurt any of you.”

“Liar!” Rin shouted.

Mami flinched, taken aback by Rin’s sudden outburst.

“Akiko, Yamato, Chiro, Isamu, Kagami, Ken, Suzie, Cho, Hana, Naoko, Mai! Everyone! You took them all away!” Rin listed off some of the children he had know while in the city.

Mami’s face hardened.

“The monsters took them away, my little angel.” She said, calmly. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t save them but-”

“You’re the monster!” Rin interrupted. “You’re the reason they’re gone. You’re the reason they’re dead!”

Rin was full out sobbing now.

Daisuke and Kiki were crying as well now, unable to understand what was going on under the Beldam’s spell, only that Rin was upset, so they were upset.

All trace of kindness and gentleness disappeared from Mami’s face, a look of anger replacing it.

“Rin, enough of this.” Mami hissed as her limbs elongated.

Rin stepped back in fear as Mami shifted into her true form.

“Stop misbehaving and come home!” The Beldam demanded.

She reached for Rin but was stopped by Kuro, who snarled and scratched at the demon.

Rin fell back at the sight of the fight, which fully brought him back into the protective barrier of the monastery.

Rin was paralysed as he watched Mami and Kuro battle brutally.

It was obvious that neither of them were aiming to just wound.

Then, a living scarecrow joined the fight.

Rin blinked as the scarecrow attacked Mami.

Then, there was chanting, though Rin couldn’t find it in himself to turn away and see who it was.

Mami howled in pain under the assault, eventually disengaging from the fight to back away.

Rin felt himself being picked up, but he still kept his gaze on Mami.

Mami gathered Daisuke and Kiki into her arms, backing away as she was advanced on.

With the children in her arms, Kuro and the scarecrow couldn’t risk attacking anymore.

“Put the children down.” One of the priests ordered, Rin couldn’t identify which.

“You will not be able to keep my child away from me forever.” Mami hissed. “I will come back for you, my little angel.”

Rin watched as Mami turned and fled, pursued by some of the priests.

“Take Rin inside!” One of the priests told the one holding him as he ran after Mami.

Rin still stared at where Mami had ran off as he was taken inside, Kuro following, shrinking down to normal size.

“It’s okay, Rin, you’re safe now.” The priest set Rin down on his bed once they were inside.

Rin said nothing.

Kuro hopped up onto Rin’s lap, trying to offer some comfort and protection.

Rin pulled the familiar into his arms, but otherwise didn’t react, face now blank.

“Are you alright.” The priest questioned.

Rin didn’t react at first but then nodded slightly, pulling Kuro tighter into his arms.

The priest sighed and then reached for his mobile.

“Shiro,” He spoke into his phone. “We have a problem.”

Chapter Text

There was only one other time that Shiro could recall feeling horror as strong as he did as he raced home, and that was when Rin had been kidnapped all those years ago.

So, learning that Mami had come for Rin again almost stole the life from Shiro.

He almost hadn’t heard the relieving news that the demon hadn’t succeeded.

“Rin!” Shiro burst into the room.

Rin looked up as his dad entered, quickly finding himself scooped up into a tight hug.

“You’re alright. You’re alright.” Shiro said, either to comfort Rin or comfort himself, he didn’t know.

Rin wove his hands into the folds of Shiro’s clothes and gripped them tightly, but said nothing.

“Rin.” Shiro pulled away to look at his son.

Rin only clung tighter and tried to pull himself closer to his dad.

“He’s been like this since it happened. I think he’s in shock.” Izumi told Shiro.

Looking down at his son in concern, Shiro hoped that his fellow priest was right.

The idea that Mami could have alright done something to Rin while trying to take him sent ice right through Shiro.

“Ah, found you.” Shiro turned around as Coraline appeared in the doorway, panting heavily. “You run fast. We barely caught onto what was happening.”

Seeing the stranger, Rin immediately hid in Shiro’s clothing as best as he could.

This caused Shiro to frown.

Rin had never been the type to be shy with strangers.

“Anyway, the rest of the team are here, questioning your priests and scouting the area.” Coraline explained.

“Okay, thank you.” Shiro sighed.

“So, this is your son.” Coraline looked at Rin. “Nice to meet you, I’m Miss Jones.”

Rin continued his silence.

Coraline didn’t seem bothered by it, turning her attention to Izumi.

“So, the Beldam tried to come and take Rin?” She asked.

Izumi nodded. “We didn’t even realise until Kuro woke us all up with a loud yell, we went outside and found him guarding Rin from the Beldam and two other children, and joined in driving her off.”

Shiro turned to Kuro, who was sitting on the bed.

“Good boy, Kuro.” Shiro pet his familiar.

He was extremely grateful that he’d thought to bring Kuro home. If he hadn’t, then Rin would have been taken without anyone realising until it was too late.

“And Rin walked out on his own?” Coraline asked.

“I think so.” Izumi answered. “I mean, he didn’t seem to be bound or anything. Though, it’s strange, because Rin also clearly didn’t want to go with the demon.”

Coraline hummed. “Rin is strong enough to realise that the Beldam is dangerous, but still under her sway to a degree, for her to draw him out in the first place.”

“Rin, why did you leave the monastery?” Shiro asked his son.

Rin remained stubbornly silent, electing only to hold Shiro closer.

“What did she do to him?” Shiro asked.

“I don’t believe this is a direct cause of the Beldam.” Coraline advised. “It’s a common effect of trauma. ‘If I don’t speak, they won’t find me’, or perhaps Rin speaking played a roll in events and he doesn’t want them to happen again.”

Shiro took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying not to get angry with his son still in his arms.

“So, what’s the next move?” Izumi asked. “Do we keep Rin here, or move him somewhere else?”

“I’ll work it out.” Shiro rubbed under his tired eyes.

He then went to hand Rin to Izumi, only for Rin to hold tighter to his clothing.

“Rin, it’s alright.” Shiro tried to comfort. “I just need to speak privately with some people for a moment.

Rin silently shook his head, not letting go.

“Rin, I’ll only be going into the other room. And the demon won’t try to take you while we’re here.” Shiro told his son.

“We thought that Mami would try to target your home at all with her current level, and look what happened.” Coraline pointed out.

Rin flinched in Shiro’s arms, causing the man to fix Coraline with a glare.

Coraline pulled an ‘oops’ face.

“Sorry.” She said.

“Listen, Rin.” Shiro turned his attention back to his son. “What if I called Yukio? Would you feel safe with him here while I’m in another room?”

Rin didn’t rely at first, but then slowly nodded.

“I’m willing to bet that Yukio will be coming back anyway, once we tell him what happened.” Izumi commented. “Ah, speaking of which. I should call him now.”

Izumi left to go call the former-youngest-now-older brother.

Shiro sat on Rin’s bed while resting Rin on his lap, suddenly finding himself very tired.

Standing awkwardly, Coraline fiddled with one of the necklaces she wore, suddenly brightening as an idea occurred to her.

Coraline couched down to be at Rin’s level.

“Hi, Rin.” She said to get his attention. “You know, I used to be in your situation when I was a kid.”

Rin turned slightly towards Coraline in interest.

“She called herself my ‘Other Mother’ and wanted to take me away from my family too.” Coraline explained gently.

Rin flinched.

“But I managed to fight back, lock her away and return to my family.” Coraline continued. “And I know that you can do the same, because we’re both strong. Aren’t we?”

Rin looked a Coraline unsurely but nodded anyway.

Coraline smiled at the young boy.

“Here.” She said, grabbing one of her necklaces.

She pulled it out from under her clothing, revealing a stone with a natural hole in it, the necklace chord threaded through the hole.

“When the Other Mother tried lure me to her, I was given this to protect me. It kept me safe from her sway and allowed me to see what she didn’t want me to see.” Coraline said, holding out the stone to Rin. “So, it looks like your turn to have it.”

Slowly, and reluctantly, Rin released one of his hands from Shiro’s clothes and reached out to take the stone, pausing just before he touched it. It took him a few seconds to take the stone by the string, bringing it closer to himself to look at it.

Rin eventually took hold of the stone itself and brought it up to one of his eyes, looking out through the hole.

Rin frowned when nothing seemed to look different through the hole.

Coraline laughed, familiar with the reaction.

“Don’t worry, it’s be there for you when you need it most.” She smiled.

Rin looked at the stone again before putting the string around his neck, resting it neck to the charm Yukio had made for him.

“Thank you.” Shiro said to Coraline.

“No problem.” Coraline waved off. “So, any idea for what do with Rin’s living situation. I stayed in the same house the Beldam tried to take me from for a while, but I also had the ability to lock her away, unlike this one.”

“I have somewhere I think Rin can be safer.” Shiro looked almost pained to Coraline. “Though, I’m not very sure about it.”

Chapter Text

Shiro’s hand once again itched for a cigarette.

He wanted anything but to be here, especially with his son, but it was unfortunately the safest place for Rin at the moment.

“My, even your home has become compromised.” Mephisto spoke in his usual infuriating tone. “What an unfortunate turn of events.”

“The demon couldn’t breach my wards herself, but she apparently has a hypnotic song that lured Rin out.” Shiro explained. “I’m hoping that this song can’t be heard at a distance. So, Rin needs to be somewhere where the edge of the wards are far from where he will be. And, unfortunately, this is the best place for Rin at the moment.”

“Well, I’d be more than happy to take in my little brother in his time of need.” Mephisto clapped his hands.

Shiro scowled.

He was lucky that he’d left Rin outside the office with Yukio.

“I don’t want you playing any of your tricks with Rin.” He warned the demon. “So, none of your manipulative plans and no leading him to the truth of his heritage.”

“I’m hurt, Shiro.” Mephisto grinned. “That you think I would do such a thing.”

“I mean it.” Shiro said, not believing Mephisto for a second. “Rin’s only seven, has gone through one traumatic experience and is experiencing another because of this Beldam. He doesn’t need any of your trickery on top of it.”

“I humbly promise not to involve my dear little brother, Rin, in any of my dastardly schemes that could lead to his awakening.” Mephisto said, hand over his heart in an off-handed manner. “And I’ll even promise not to place his life at risk on top of it. Only until this Mami has been dealt with, of course, I only have so much generosity.”

Shiro wasn’t at all satisfied, knowing that Mephisto hadn’t made any sort of binding promise, and so could break his word if he wished.

And Shiro wouldn’t put it past Mephisto to start manipulating things just for his own amusement.

“Though, I can’t guarantee that little Rin’s seal won’t break.” Mephisto added.

“What?” Shiro subconsciously went for his weapon but he held back.

“As you’ve said, little Rin is under a lot of stress, is threatened by his Mami.” Mephisto grinned while giving a what-can-you-do gesture. “His powers will try to manifest, to protect him, eating through his seal faster than they would normally. If the Beldam that threatens him is not dealt with soon, little Rin could awaken to stop her himself.”

“I won’t let that happen.” Shiro promised.

“We’ll see, won’t we.” Mephisto said. “Until then, little Rin can stay in the old dorm, just in case there are any unfortunate demonic mishaps. Yukio can be moved into the old dorm as well to keep an eye on him.”

“Fine.” Shiro sighed, turning to leave.

Catching something in the corner of his eye, Mephisto turned to look at his office window, where a black cat was gazing in.

Mephisto raised an eyebrow, recognising it as the cat that followed Coraline around, and also wondering how it managed to reach his window in the first place.

Coraline’s cat blinked slowly as it realised Mephisto was watching it before standing up and jumping off the side of the ledge like it was no big deal.

…

 Shiro sighed as he closed the office door behind him, looking to his side where Yukio was slumped against the wall, Rin in his lap and Kuro lying next to them.

The brothers gripped each other with equal tightness, as if the other would disappear if they let go.

They hadn’t let go of each other since Yukio had burst into the monastery after being told of Rin almost being taken again, practically snatching his brother from Shiro’s arms.

With all the chaos that happened, and considering that it was now only early morning, one would expect Rin to have fallen asleep in Yukio’s arms. But despite Rin’s stillness, his red rimmed eyes were still open, even though the boy was clearly exhausted.

“Your headmaster has agreed to let Rin stay at True Cross until…it’s safe.” Shiro said, not wanting to mention Mami’s name in case it affected his younger son. “Yukio, you’ll be staying with your brother to keep watch over him.”

Yukio nodded.

“I’ve managed to arrange a couple of weeks off from classes for a family emergency, as long as I keep up with all my work.” He said, standing up while Rin still clung to him.

Shiro nodded, glad that his son had thought ahead.

Rin clearly needed either Shiro or Yukio there to feel safe, and wouldn’t accept anyone else, at least at the moment. Hopefully, by the time that Yukio had to return to his classes, Rin would be able to be separate from them. Or better yet, Mami would no longer be a problem by then.

Shiro led his sons towards their temporary home, Kuro following close behind.

The father and eldest twin couldn’t help but notice that Rin just let himself be carried, rather than insist that he could walk there himself like he usually did.

When the family arrived at the old dorm, they were surprised to find Coraline there, adding protective symbols to the walls.

“Hi.” Coraline waved. “Mephisto mentioned that you’d be staying here, so I decided to add some of the protections that work best against Beldams.”

Shiro sighed.

Of course Mephisto had already planned out Rin’s stay before Shiro had entered the office.

The second that Mami was dealt with, Shiro was taking Rin as far away from True Cross as possible.

“The clown tried telling me that his protections will be enough, but like I’m going to trust his manipulative ass.” Coraline added.

Shiro nodded in agreement.

He was glad that his teammate was aware of Mephisto’s nature.

Sensing that his father wanted to discuss the case, Yukio decided that Rin needed to be out of earshot.

“Hey, how about we go exploring, huh?” Yukio smiled at his brother. “A place like this will have some interesting secrets.”

Rin nodded and allowed his brother to carry him further into the dorms, leaving Shiro alone with Coraline and Kuro.

“So, True Cross seems to be the safest place away from the Beldam.” Coraline said, finishing off her work. “Are the other children going to be joining Rin here? Because I only saw one dorm room cleaned up for living.”

“True Cross would be the safest place for all of them.” Shiro agreed.

“What’s the issue then?” Coraline groaned.

“Partially, it’s the parents. A few worry about their children being moved again.” Shiro answered.

“And what else?” Coraline asked, knowing that she wouldn’t like the answer.

“Unfortunately, the wards around True Cross could be too strong.” Shiro frowned. “If all the children are moved here, there’s the worry that the Beldam would give up on trying to retrieve her remaining children and run off with those she’d already kidnapped, and to find new victims instead. Making her harder to find.”

Coraline frowned heavily, not liking that the children were being risked to keep Mami in range.

“I wouldn’t be so sure. Beldams are strongly attached to the children they target. In their twisted minds, for the ones that feed off of love at least, they really do love the children they take.” Coraline informed. “But” She sighed in defeat. “They aren’t suicidal either. There is a chance that Mami could leave for now to accumulate power from new victims, before returning to try and reclaim her previous victims at a later date.”

Shiro nodded.

He didn’t like that they were practically using the other children as bait by not moving them to the safest possible location, but it had to be done if they wanted to track down Mami.

Movement out of the corner of his eye caused Shiro to turn, finding Coraline’s cat suddenly sitting on the counter, licking its paw.

“Ah, there you are.” Coraline raised an eyebrow while putting her hands on her hips. “Been searching for secrets, have you?”

The cat meowed in response.

“It’s a bit strange that your cat accompanies you on your cases.” Shiro commented as Kuro went over to investigate his fellow feline.

“Well, he isn’t really my cat.” Coraline admitted. “He isn’t anyone’s cat, he doesn’t even have a name. He just decided to follow me around after my first encounter with a Beldam. He seemed really eager to join in this case, for reasons I think I can guess.”

Shiro hummed and analysed the cat, which was reluctantly letting Kuro sniff it.

“Why don’t you scan the dorm for dangers and hiding spots.” Coraline told the cat that wasn’t really hers.

Seemingly understanding Coraline perfectly, the cat stood up, stretched and then jumped down from the counter, stalking off deeper into the dorm.

Shiro watched the cat walk off in suspicion, wondering if it was some sort of demon that had attached itself to Coraline. It was likely a benign demon, since it hadn’t done anything, but Shiro didn’t want to take any risks.

“Kuro, why don’t you accompany him.” Shiro told his familiar.

Kuro meowed to show he understood before running after the cat.

Coraline raised her eyebrow again but didn’t comment, apparently not fazed by Shiro not trusting the cat that followed her around.

The two exorcists were then distracted by alerts on their phones going off, causing them to both go stiff.

“She’s struck again, already.” Shiro said, looking at the message that was sent.

“Let’s get back then.” Coraline said, pulling on her coat.

“Yukio! Rin!” Shiro called for his sons.

The two boys quickly appeared.

“We’ve been called to work.” Shiro informed. “I’ll try to see you both again soon.”

“Okay.” Yukio said in understanding.

Instead of responding, tears began to well in Rin’s eyes.

“Hey, it’s alright.” Shiro put a hand on Rin’s head as his son began to cry proper.

Rin shook his head, hands shooting out to try and grab at Shiro’s coat.

“Sorry, Rin.” Shiro apologised, moving out of the way but allowing Rin to grab his hand. “I know that you don’t want me to go, but I have to.”

“No.” Rin startled everyone with his first word since the attack. “N-no.” The boy stuttered as he sobbed.

Shiro’s heart broke but he reluctantly pried his hand from Rin’s, causing his son to sob harder.

“Don’t worry.” Yukio tried to comfort his brother. “Dad will be back.”

Rin only continued to cry, turning and burying his face on Yukio’s chest as Shiro and Coraline left.

Coraline decided to keep a few feet away from Shiro as they walked, feeling the despair and anger coming off him.

“I am going to murder that demon.” Shiro vowed.

Coraline just nodded.

Shiro took a deep breath to try and calm himself down.

“Is the cat not accompanying you.” He said, noticing Coraline had left without the cat.

Coraline shrugged.

“He goes where he wants.” She said. “And he’ll find his way back to me when he wants.”

To Coraline, it seemed as if the cat had an interest in Rin and was investigating, similar to what happened when the Other Mother had targeted her. For some reason, the Beldam known as Mami had a special interest in Rin, either enough to keep Rin alive while all the other children were eventually fed on or because Rin managed to somehow stay alive while the other children eventually fell to Mami’s hunger.

And that made Coraline worry.

If it was the latter option, how much stronger would Mami become if she managed to reclaim Rin?

Chapter Text

Shiro and Coraline did not receive good news when entering into their base of operations.

Another child, Sakura Emi, had been taken.

“Damn.” Shiro hissed when given the report.

“It seems like Miss Sakura’s abduction is similar to the first child’s.” One of the Exorcists of the team noted. “By all accounts, she left of her own free will.”

“I don’t think that’s entirely true.” One of the exorcists who had been on the scene during the abduction said. “The kid seemed like she was in a trance when we ran after her.”

Unfortunately, the Exorcists on site had noticed Emi’s state and ran after her too late to stop Mami from grabbing her and running, the demon able to shake off any attempts to stop her.

“She likely used the same tactic she used for Rin then, that lullaby.” Coraline said.

The Exorcist giving his report nodded.

“I think I heard and saw the demon singing just before she grabbed the kid.” He said.

“So, what do we do now, get the remaining kids to wear headphones twenty-four-seven?” One of the team sighed.

“Increase protections on Miss Akami and Mr Hamada.” Shiro instructed. “Make sure that the children won’t be able to slip by again, even if it means that the children don’t get a second of privacy.”

“More protection, really?” One Exorcist voiced. “These children are going to be more protected than the president.”

“With three of her children back under her hand, Mami is going to be more powerful, and the report says that attacks only seemed to annoy her.” Coraline responded. “With how stronger Mami seems to become with each child, she may be able to shrug off attacks and move through wards long enough to take the remaining children.”

“What about…you know…your son?” One of the team asked Shiro hesitantly.

“He’s been moved to True Cross, under the guardianship of his brother.” Shiro said simply.

The team decided to not ask any more questions about Shiro’s son.

“It looks like Mr Hamada is most likely to be the Beldam’s next target, since Miss Akami has already resisted the demon’s thrall.” Another of the team spoke up. “So, should we focus on him?”

“Mami has already shown to use our assumptions against us.” Coraline shook her head. “We thought that being under the protection of the Paladin’s home would keep Mr Okumura safe, but that led to him almost being taken. Not to mention, Mami could now have the strength and skill to take Miss Akami by force.”

Shiro nodded in agreement.

“We’ll be treating the children with equal priority” He said. “Both get equal protection and attention.”

The team nodded to show they understood.

“So, are we any closer to tracking down the Beldam’s hideout?” He asked.

“The good news is that we’ve managed to significantly narrow down the options.” One of the team spoke up, showing her tablet with a list of locations. “The bad news is that there are still many other locations on the list.”

Shiro gave an exasperated sigh as he looked over just how many locations were left on the list.

“If it makes you feel any better, in scanning all of these locations, we’ve uncovered a significant number of demon nests of varying levels.” The Exorcist added. “So, it’s not like we’re achieving nothing.”

Perhaps, but they still weren’t achieving the one thing that Shiro wanted.

“Well, there’s not much we can do about Miss Sakura at this moment.” Coraline said. “So, we may as well knock a few more of these locations off the list.”

Picking out some of the locations on the list, Coraline grabbed a few of the Exorcists under her and headed out to check the locations.

Rather than copy her, Shiro decided to visit the Sakura home, to see if he could work out which direction Mami had gone and how far her trail went.

…

Yukio resisted the urge to rub his eyes as he finally managed to get Rin to calm down.

His, now younger, brother hadn’t completely calmed though, sniffling and continuing to cling to Yukio, clearly tired out from his crying.

“Hey, now.” Yukio said to get his brother’s attention. “How about we get something to eat? I bet you’re hungry.”

Rin sniffed as he nodded, belly producing a rumbling sound.

Chuckling, Yukio carried Rin into the old dorm’s kitchen to see if any food had been left for them.

As soon as they entered, Rin unlatched one of his hands from Yukio’s shirt and reached for the kitchen utensils, the shift in weight almost causing Yukio to drop his brother.

“No, O-Rin.” Yukio pulled his brother away, almost fumbling with how to address Rin, as his brother was now younger than him. “You’re not in any state to cook right now.”

Rin pouted heavily, clearly not happy about being refused, but didn’t say anything, much to Yukio’s disappointment.

He’d been trying to get Rin to speak since they had been reunited, but his brother had gone back to being silent after trying to deny their father leaving.

“We can do some cooking once you feel a little better, okay?” Yukio gave a compromise.

Rin stopped pouting to think over the offer before nodding, still not saying anything.

Sighing, Yukio went about searching the kitchen.

To Yukio’s surprise, not only was the kitchen stocked, but there were containers of pre-prepared meals in the fridge and freezer.

“Did the headmaster leave these here?” Yukio wondered aloud.

He couldn’t imagine the eccentric man doing something so nice, so perhaps someone else under the headmaster’s employ had decided to help the brothers out, maybe one of the school cooks.

“Oh well.” Yukio shrugged, placing Rin in one of the chairs at the table.

Grabbing two of the containers, Yukio set about heating them up.

At some point while Yukio was waiting for the food to be ready, Kuro had returned and taken his place at Rin’s side, Coraline’s cat nowhere in sight.

Similar to his father, Yukio also had concerns about the cat that accompanied the English Exorcist, hoping that it wouldn’t cause issues for them later.

“I know I’m no cook, but I don’t think I managed to ruin these.” Yukio spoke to his brother as he placed the heated meals in front of them, giving a smaller portion to Rin.

Leaning close to the meal, Rin analysed it, to see if Yukio really had ruined the food just by heating it.

“Just eat the food.” Yukio sighed, digging into his own plate.

Grabbing the fork and spoon he’d been given, as his fine motor skills still weren’t recovered enough to use chopsticks like Yukio, Rin hesitantly started eating.

Much to Yukio’s joy, Rin’s face lit up at the food, showing signs of his usual self as he ate the food.

To Rin, though he found the food delicious, he also knew that he’d like it even more if he could make it fresh, rather than made and then reheated. Still, the food was miles better than what he’d been eating while at home.

Kuro meowed and sniffed at Rin’s plate, eyes huge and begging.

Rin scooped up some of his food and looked at his father’s familiar in consideration.

“I better not see you giving Kuro any of your food.” Yukio warned his brother. “You need to eat what you’re given if you want to recover faster.”

Rolling his eyes, Rin shovelled the spoon into his mouth, much to Kuro’s dismay.

“You have cat food.” Yukio pointed to a set of bowls in the corner, one filled with jelly covered meat.

Kuro looked over at the cat food before turning up his nose, not even wanting to consider eating that food when what the brothers were eating looked and smelt so much better.

Rin patted the familiar on the head in comfort.

“Since True Cross campus is so big, I can probably take you on a walk tomorrow, uh, later today.” Yukio tried to comprehend the time.

It was actually early morning, close to the time that Yukio would usually be waking.

But both Rin and Yukio had hardly gotten any sleep before Mami had tried to take Rin and Yukio had been called about it, so their biological clocks were all messed up.

“After we’ve caught up on our sleep.” Yukio added, noticing how Rin was close to faceplanting into the remainder of his food.

Yukio himself didn’t feel tired anymore, as his biological clock had reset after being awake for so long. But it would be best for him to settle down to rest alongside Rin rather than waiting until night to sleep again. And he knew how to fall asleep quickly.

Rin nodded slightly in response.

“I’ll try talking to my teachers, so that I can show you the classrooms where I learn.” Yukio continued his one-sided conversation. “Would you like that.”

Rin nodded again, offering Yukio a small smile.

“It’s unfortunate that there aren’t any children your age that I could introduce you to. It’d be nice for you to have some friends, instead of just me.” Yukio said.

Rin shrugged.

He had friends, but they weren’t allowed to see each other because of Mami, though Rin didn’t really understand the adults’ reasoning. So, for now, Rin was happy to just have his brother.

Eventually, the food was finished, Kuro giving the brothers a sad and betrayed look at nothing being left on their plates for him to eat.

Yukio stretched after washing the plates, not wanting to risk leaving the dirty dishes to attract flies.

“Bed?” Yukio startled at Rin’s voice.

Yukio turned around to see Rin slumped at the table rubbing his eyes.

“Yes.” Yukio smiled, glad his brother had managed to speak, even if it was only one word. “But first, we should get clean, especially you.”

Rin was still in his night clothes, but they had dirt of them from Mami’s attempt to take him, meaning that Rin would need to be cleaned before bed.

Rin pouted and shook his head fiercely.

“Yes, Rin, you know we have a bath before bed.” Yukio smiled.

Rin shook his head again and slid out of his chair, set on running away.

However, still being weak, Rin didn’t even manage to fully leave his chair before Yukio had picked him up.

“The quicker you’re in, the quicker you’ll be out.” Yukio told his brother as he walked to the bathroom, ignoring Rin’s struggles.

Thankfully, like with the kitchen, the bathroom was fully stocked with supplies, including bottles clearly targeted towards children.

Rin returned to heavy pouting as he was placed on a plastic stool while Yukio ran their bath, reluctantly removing his clothes and dumping them on the floor instead of the laundry hamper in protest of his unwanted bath.

“Do you want bubbles, Rin?” Yukio asked his brother, picking up a bottle with a cartoon bear on the front.

Rin refused to look at his brother, mad at being forced to take a bath.

Shrugging, Yukio poured in some bubble bath anyway, causing the bath to emit a fruity smell as it frothed with bubbles.

As the bath ran, Yukio started up the shower, waiting for the water to get to the right temperature.

Rin continued to pout as Yukio used the shower quickly clean Rin and rinse off the dirt that covered him, so that the dirt wouldn’t carry with them to the bath.

As soon as Rin was rinsed, he tried to stand up to leave, deeming himself clean.

“Oh, I guess that you don’t want to play with any bubbles then.” Yukio temped, scooping up a handful of bubbles from the bath and blowing on them to send them flying.

Rin dropped his pout and reached out his hands for the bubbles.

“Nope, these bubbles are all mine, since you don’t want the bath.” Yukio shook his head as he teased.

Scowling so cutely, Rin quickly turned around and stumbled over to the bath, attempting to hoist himself over the edge to grab at the bubbles.

Smiling, Yukio lifted Rin up and deposited him in the bath, turning off the water since it was high enough.

Rin was quick to play with the bubbles, piling them up and blowing them into the air.

Yukio sat by the side of the bath, content to let Rin just play by himself, but Rin paused in his play to tug on Yukio’s arm.

“What?” Yukio questioned.

Rin fixed his brother with a glare as he tugged on his arm again, sending a clear message of ‘if I have to have a bath, so do you’.

Chuckling, Yukio removed his clothes and joined Rin in the bath, allowing his brother to push piles of bubbles in his face and on his head so that he looked like Santa, until they slid off.

Eventually, all the bubbles were gone, so the brothers climbed out of the bath and dried themselves off, travelling to their new room in towels.

“Good, our stuff is here too.” Yukio said to himself as they walked into the room.

Going over to Rin’s stuff first, Yukio pulled out his brother’s sleepwear.

“Which ones do you want?” He asked.

Rin looked over his options before choosing some cat themed ones.

After helping Rin get dressed, Yukio pulled on his own sleepwear and began setting up their beds.

“There we go. Climb in.” Yukio said to Rin once the beds were made.

Rin looked at his bed and frowned, making no moved to climb in despite his earlier desire to go to bed.

“What’s wrong?” Yukio asked his brother. “Is there something wrong with the bed?”

He looked over the mattress and covers, trying to see if he’d done anything wrong.

Rin didn’t respond, turning to look out the window.

“What are you-oh.” Yukio cut himself off as he realised the issue.

Rin was now scared to sleep because of Mami almost taking him while everyone else was asleep.

Things were much safer in the dorms than at the monastery, but Yukio knew that a seven-year-old wasn’t going to understand that, even if told.

Yukio hummed, looking around the room for an answer.

His eyes landed on the pile of toys Rin had received as presents on his return home.

“How about we give these guys a place?” Yukio offered to his brother, picking up one of the toys.

Rin looked at the toys, considering his brother’s words and picking up one from the pile.

The next few minutes were spent arranging the toys around the room, placing the hard toys on the windowsill and desk, while the soft toys lined the wall Rin’s bed was pressed against and the foot of the bed.

“There, now these guys can help watch over you and keep any nasty monsters away.” Yukio put as much effort into sounding as honest as he could.

Obviously, the toys could do nothing against even the weakest of demons. But if Rin believed that they did, then it would allow him to sleep.

And Yukio’s idea seemed to work, as Rin climbed into his bed, digging himself under his covers and snuggling with Kuro once the cat appeared, having made himself absent during the bath.

Sighing in relief, Yukio turned off the main lights, leaving the room to be illuminated solely by Rin’s nightlight, bought for the boy’s comfort.

“Goodnight, Rin.” Yukio kissed his brother’s forehead, turning to go to his own bed.

“Night…oniichan.” The muffled response was so quiet that Yukio almost didn’t catch it.

Yukio paused and looked back at Rin, who had already closed his eyes, smiling warmly.

Feeling slightly lighter, Yukio settled down into his own bed to sleep.

…

Still heavy with sleep, Yukio woke up as sunlight began to filter through the curtains covering the window.

Before he could throw a pillow over his eyes and continue sleeping, Yukio became aware that he wasn’t alone in his bed, feeling something pressed against him as he shifted.

Lifting his covers slightly, Yukio found Rin cuddled up to him, one of his cuddly toys also in his grasp as Kuro slept next to him.

Smiling down at his brother, Yukio dropped the covers and gently placed and arm Rin, settling back down to sleep.

Chapter Text

“…and that is how you end up with six.”

Yukio watched from his bed as Miss Brook gave Rin his first proper math lesson since he was rescued, or at least tried to. With Rin’s recent selective muteness, lessons were going to be even slower than they would have been before.

But, hopefully, Miss Brook would also be able to help Rin with his recent trauma.

With her therapy training, the teacher was able to step in as a temporary therapist until the Beldam case was finally dealt with. At which point, the family would be able to work on finding a therapist for Rin who was better qualified for his unique mind and trauma.

Yukio could only hope that they’d be able to get the proper help Rin needed soon, which seemed like a far off hope with his father telling him about how the case had been silent for the past near-week, with no further kidnappings or sightings, and the team only able to continue narrowing down locations.

As it was, with her training, Miss Brook backed up Coraline’s hypothesis for Rin’s silence, adding that the young boy had likely been verbal just before Mami had lured him out, and so subconsciously associated him being verbal with him almost being taken from his family again, leading to his muteness to prevent it happening again.

“So, do you understand?” Miss Brook asked her student.

Rin wrinkled his nose before hesitantly nodding, not sure if he fully understood the problem.

“It’s okay if you don’t get it yet, Rin.” Miss Brook easily picked up on Rin’s body language. “I won’t be mad.”

Rin exchanged his nod for a shrug.

“Okay, why don’t you try solving this problem, and see if you can understand. Don’t forget to use the bears if you’re stuck.” Miss Brook said, pointing to a collection of small and colourful plastic bears.

Rin picked up the big whiteboard marker and held it to the whiteboard in front of him as he began to work out the math problem he had been given, moving around the plastic bears. While Rin’s fine motor skills had recovered enough for him to hold a pencil, his smaller handwriting was barely legible, so he used a whiteboard to allow him to write bigger until his handwriting lessons fixed that issue.

Once done, Rin presented his white board to his teacher.

“Hmm.” Miss Brook looked at the answer. “Correct. I knew you could do it.”

Rin smiled slightly at getting the answer right.

Miss Brook then looked at the time.

“It seems that our lessons are over for today, little man.” She told her student. “I’ll see you again tomorrow. But while I’m gone, I want you to try these five problems. Okay?”

Rin watched as Miss Brook highlighted five math problems, offering her a thumbs up.

Yukio got up from his bed and walked with the teacher to the door.

“Anything to relay?” Yukio asked.

“Just keep being there for Rin for now.” Miss Brook told the older brother. “Help him with his homework and encourage him.”

“What do I do about Rin’s silence?” Yukio asked, wanting Rin to be able to speak regularly again as soon as possible.

“It’s going to be slow.” Miss Brook said simply. “Rin’s going to have to grow his comfort zone and how much he’s willing to say, it’s unlikely to come all at once. If you remember any songs that Rin liked to sing, try playing them to encourage him to follow along, act positively when he does speak, and do not let any disappointment show if he doesn’t speak.”

“Okay.” Yukio said. “Thank you.”

Once the teacher had left, Yukio sighed and looked over to his brother, who was already looking around for a manga to read.

“We should probably do your homework first.” Yukio suggested.

That was always how he did things, completing homework as soon as he returned home from school so that he was still in that working mindset and wouldn’t waste time on it later, time that was better used for Exorcist training.

Rin turned to look at his brother like he was insane for such a suggestion.

“It means that you don’t have to do it later, and it’s not even that much.” Yukio tried to reason.

Rin didn’t drop his look.

“Fine.” Yukio rolled his eyes. “I guess you can have a break. But I don’t want you to complain about doing it later.”

Rin smiled in victory and went back to his manga.

As much as Yukio preferred his method, he had to acknowledge that not everyone worked like him, especially not a child half his age.

Later, Rin was helping to prepare dinner under the very close watch of Yukio.

Yukio himself was not doing the cooking with Rin, but rather a small demon named Ukobach was, even though the demon was even smaller than Rin.

The stove spirit would constantly shoot glares at Yukio throughout cooking, which Yukio would just ignore. It was partially because the older brother was encroaching on his territory and getting in the way, but also because Yukio had almost shot him on their first meeting.

When Yukio had entered the kitchen a few days ago in search of his wayward brother, the only thing that had stopped his immediate exorcism of the demon via bullet had been that Rin was in the way, with a grin on his face as he cooked.

In Yukio’s defence, no one had ever mentioned the little demon being stationed in the dorm’s kitchen.

It had only been Rin’s refusal to step away from the demon when told and then Mephisto appearing to explain that Ukobach was his familiar and in charge of cooking the brother’s meals that stopped things from getting messy.

Though, Yukio suspected that the headmaster hadn’t told them of the stove spirit to begin with because he’d known how the brothers would react and wanted some amusement, only stepping in before things could get deadly.

In the end, it was safe to say that Yukio and Ukobach had got off on the wrong foot.

And neither were particularly motivated to correct it to the right foot. The only reason they were around each other at all was for the sake of Rin, and also because Yukio didn’t trust Ukobach not to poison his food in some way as payback for almost shooting him.

So, Yukio kept to the role of supervisor as Ukobach led Rin through cooking their meals.

“Done.” Rin said brightly while grinning, which warmed Yukio’s heart.

No matter Yukio’s feelings about Ukobach, the stove spirit did seem to be good for bringing his younger brother more out of his shell through their shared cooking, which was creating the comfort zone for Rin to be able to speak again that Yukio had been told about.

Allowing Rin to ladle out the freshly cooked meal onto their plates, Yukio sat down to enjoy the food.

In that moment of enjoying Rin’s food, his younger brother looking so proud, Yukio could see the light of the horizon, that the family would be able to recover from what Mami had done to them.

Provided that there were no more complications.

Yukio shouldn’t have jinxed himself.

“Come on, there’s got to be someone you can call in.” Yukio pleaded into his phone.

“There really isn’t.” The voice on the other end of the phone informed. “Everyone else is too busy or injured, and we’re not able to get another Exorcist from the Order in at such short notice.”

Yukio huffed angrily.

“And I’m busy too. I have my brother to look after. I can’t just leave him at the dorms for an hour.” He said.

While theoretically, Yukio could call in someone to take care of Rin for an hour, even drop him off with the headmaster if he was really desperate, it was impossible for Yukio to actually do so thanks to Rin’s mental state.

Rin may have become livelier in the past week, but he still clung to Yukio, often unable to withstand Yukio being in a different room, let alone across campus.

“The lesson isn’t going to deal with anything dangerous, and the kid knows about demons. So, you could probably bring him along with you.” The voice on the other end suggested.

Yukio wished that they were talking in person so that he could glare at them.

“You mean take my eight-year-old, traumatised by a demon, brother to a class of teenagers that I teach about demons, and expect him to be able to sit through it for an entire hour without disrupting the class?” Yukio said to try and make them realise how stupid their suggestion was.

“Yep, I’m sure it’ll be fine. So, I’ll say you’re coming in. Bye.” The person on the other end said quickly before hanging up.

“Wha-you-ba-” Yukio gritted his teeth to stop himself from swearing where his brother could hear.

Redialling the number only went straight to voicemail.

So, Yukio was left with two options, either stay in the dorms and leave his students with no teacher or bring Rin along to his lesson and hope that nothing went wrong.

…

“Do not touch anything.” Yukio stressed as he led Rin into the classroom.

Rin looked around the room in both awe and disgust.

Awe for the size of the room, disgust for how dirty it seemed.

“I know it’ll be hard for you, but you’ll need to behave as I teach the class and not interrupt me or any of the students.” Yukio told his brother. “I’m likely already going to have to spend the first ten minutes answering why you’re here, so we’ll already have less time to teach with.”

Yukio took the bag he had packed for Rin, filled with drawing supplies and manga to hopefully keep Rin busy for an hour, and placed it on one of the desks he knew would be free during lesson.

“Teach?” Rin’s voice was almost a whisper as he cocked his head to the side.

“Yep, I teach stuff like what plants and stuff are good against stopping nasty demons.” Yukio said.

Rin already knew about Yukio being a teacher, but the fact was probably only just sinking in for Rin as he finally got to see the classroom.

“Help.” Rin stood up straight, going over to the teacher’s desk.

“You want to help me?” Yukio questioned.

Rin nodded.

“Well, I don’t think you’d be able to help with much.” Yukio rubbed the back of his head.

Rin pouted.

“But I’ll see what I can do.” Yukio added, unable to bare the disappointment on his brother’s face.

Rin’s pout turned to a smile.

It was then that the classroom door opened, signalling the arrival of the Cram students.

“Yukio, I thought you were off for a while.” One of the students, with blond hair and dressed in a kimono, said.

“There were some complications with my sub and so I had to come in.” Yukio explained.

“Wait, is that a kid?” A boy with dyed hair questioned.

Rin was quick to hide behind Yukio as attention turned to him.

Yukio sweat dropped and wondered how Rin expected to be his assistant if he was too shy to be around the other teens.

“Sensei, why is there a kid here?” The teen directed his question towards his teacher.

“Maybe he’s a new member of the class.” A boy with pink hair joked.

Yukio sighed as he prepared himself for the questioning.

“Everyone, this is my younger brother, Rin. Due to personal reasons that you are not privy to, he is under my personal supervision and care. But since I was given no choice about coming in today, he will be joining us for class.” Yukio explained.

The group of teens blinked in surprise, not realising that their teacher had a brother.

“Hello, Rin.” The girl in the kimono bent down to be at Rin’s level. “I’m Moriyama Shemi. It’s nice to meet you.”

Rin blushed and continued to hide behind Yukio but stuck out a hand for the girl to shake, which he then quickly snatched back.

“So adorable.” Shemi smiled.

Shemi then stood up straight an went to her seat, followed by a girl in pigtails, who designated the young boy as not worth her time.

“Hey there, I’m Shima Renzou.” The pink haired boy introduced.

“And I’m Miwa Konekomaru.” A bald boy in glasses also introduced.

Rin waved at the boys, then looked at the teen with the dyed hair, who was standing and not looking at him.

“That’s Suguro Ryuuji, but we all just call him Bon.” Renzou introduced for his friend.

Rin continued to stare up at Bon.

The older teen looked cool, with his large build and coloured hair, and he had a nickname as well, which had to mean something.

Rin came out of hiding to wave at him.

“Sensei, this kid isn’t going to get in the way of our learning is he.” Bon turned his attention to Yukio instead of greeting Rin back, causing the boy to drop his hand and pout.

“I’ve told Rin to behave.” Yukio offered.

“Come on, Bon, you’ve got to say hi.” Renzou prompted his friend, having noticed Rin’s pout.

Bon just tsked. “I’m not going to waste my time on some kid who’s already interrupting things by being here.” He said.

Okay, Bon was no longer cool in Rin’s eyes, he was now a jerk.

And since he had now judged Bon as a jerk, Rin felt no guilt in kicking the teen in the shin.

“Agh!” Bon cried out, almost falling over from the force of the strike.

Rin’s kick wasn’t as strong as it would have been thanks to still recovering from muscle atrophy, but his natural advanced strength made sure the kick still hurt.

Renzou laughed at his friend’s pain.

“Serves you right for having that attitude.” He said.

Bon glared at his friend, and then shifted his glare to Rin, who was quick to hide back behind Yukio for safety.

“Rin, what have we told you about hurting people.” Yukio scolded his brother.

He had to fight to keep the smile off his face though, both because Bon was given retribution for acting like his brother was a burden, and also because the kick meant more of Rin’s original personality was shining through again.

“Come on, let’s get to our seats.” Bon grunted, dragging his friends past their teacher and to their desks, Renzou still laughing.

“Right, with that delay out of the way, we can get on with the lesson.” Yukio said.

Rin spent a little longer hiding behind his brother before emerging, given work sheets to hand out to each student, making sure to glare at Bon as he handed over the worksheet, the older boy returning the glare.

After Rin had handed out the worksheets, there wasn’t anything else for him to do, so Rin was sent to his seat, which he decided to take next to Shemi, much to the girl and Yukio’s surprise.

For the first half of lesson, things went smoothly, Rin occupied by his drawing and manga.

But in the latter half, the young boy began to become restless, fidgeting in his seat and losing interest in his manga.

Just as Yukio was ready to call a break so that he could take Rin into the hall to run around and work off energy, Shemi stepped in.

“Hey, Rin, do you want to know what this herb does.” The normally shy girl asked.

Rin stopped fidgeting and turned his attention to Shemi and her work.

“It’s used in a power that’s useful in banishing spirits.” Shemi told the boy. “When I was younger, I didn’t know that other ingredients were needed, so carried it around in my obi to keep myself safe. I had to stop when I kept leaving it in my clothes, so they got stained with the plant and it got stuck to them when they got washed.”

Rin laughed slightly at the story.

“And this one…” Shemi continued on.

Yukio sighed in relief as Shemi managed to keep Rin engaged enough so as to not disturb the class, the girl staying as quiet as she could as she told Rin about the herbs alongside stories to do with each. Rin still fidgeted and would eventually need to move, but Shemi’s distraction thankfully worked until the end of class.

“I can’t thank you enough, Shemi.” Yukio sighed once class had ended and the other students left. “I didn’t mean for you to become a babysitter and be distracted from your own work.”

“It’s fine.” Shemi shook her head. “I saw that Rin-chan was getting bored and talking with Rin actually helped me get used to the actual names of plants.”

“Well, thank you anyway.” Yukio bowed. “Hopefully, this won’t happen again.”

“I was nice to meet Rin-chan though.” Shemi said.

“…see Moriyama-san again.” The two teens looked down at the voice.

“What was that, Rin?” Yukio questioned, wondering whether he had actually just heard a full sentence from Rin.

Rin curled in on himself slightly at the attention, biting his lip.

He then took a deep breath and let it out.

“Can I see Moriyama-san again?” It was quiet and Rin looked slightly pale after saying it, but it was a full sentence.

Yukio smiled widely at Rin’s accomplishment.

“Of course you can see Shemi again.” He said, before realising that he had to get Shemi’s say in the matter. “Uh, that is, if you’re fine with it.”

“Oh, I’d love to see Rin-chan again.” Shemi smiled. “Maybe you get tell me about some things next.”

Rin smiled in return, bouncing his feet slightly.

“Anyway, I have to get back home.” Shemi said, leaving.

Yukio smiled after her as she left.

He should have known that Shemi’s kind and caring personality would be able to help Rin.

Rin looked at his brother’s smiling face, then to the door that Shemi had just left through.

“She your girlfriend?” He asked quietly.

Yukio was distracted from Rin’s second sentence after so much silence by turning red because of the words.

Chapter Text

Shiro sighed as he sat down in his seat, rubbing his eyes.

Nearly two weeks had passed since the last sighting of Mami and the end seemed to be in sight, or at least Shiro hoped it was.

While there were no fresh trails leading to Mami, the number of locations left to search for the demon had narrowed down to just a handful left, which meant that finding the Beldam’s lair was near, provided that her lair was on the list to begin with.

Since it was a possibility that Mami’s lair hadn’t made it onto the list of possible locations, due to a house being skipped over or hiding out in an undiscovered cave, Shiro tried not to get his hopes up.

Still, it was hard not to join his teammates in a feeling of relief that the Beldam case could possibly be drawing to a close.

“When we find the lair, we should just torch the entire thing.” One of the team suggested, going over the details to one of the remaining houses on the list.

“The children will be inside, you know.” Coraline reminded them.

“Oh, yeah. Never mind.”

“We’ll need to formulate a plan for when we find the lair.” Shiro said.

Technically speaking, the team already did have a basic plan, but it needed refinement considering how many children Mami had kidnapped, and even more refining when they discovered whether Mami had set her lair in a house or in a cave.

Coraline couldn’t even tell them what exactly to expect. Since every Beldam was different, Coraline could only make a rough estimate of what Mami’s temporary lair would be like.

“The obvious is to set up perimeter wards around the lair.” Coraline said. “But that could be hard if the lair ends up being a cave system, or a house with an exceptionally long basement. “Then we’ll have to navigate the lair itself, which will likely be warped by the Beldam’s magic in some way. Thankfully, I have some tools that can help with that.”

“And then there’s the Beldam itself and how to separate it from the children.” Shiro said.

“This Beldam is likely to keep the children close, so we probably won’t be able to just sneak them away from her.” Coraline said.

Shiro sighed, having already expected that. Most of the Beldam sightings had her traveling with the children.

“So, we’ll have to have at least two teams after the Beldam.” Shiro proposed. “One to actually fight the demon, the other to pull the children out of harm’s way and make enough distance that it can’t draw power from them.”

It would be hard; the teams would need to be specially selected and in sync so that they didn’t get in the other’s way.

And, of course, Shiro would be on the team fighting the Beldam. He would accept no other position.

The planning was interrupted by everyone’s phone’s going off.

“No, not again!” Shiro snarled as he read the message.

He quickly got to his feet and practically ran out the room to get to the scene as fast as possible, the other team members close behind.

…

Shiro looked over the scene to find clues, trying his best to ignore the crying mother and father who were standing next to their damaged home.

The damage was focused around one of the rooms to the house, the bedroom window of Hamada Jiro knocked out completely.

“I think we managed to injure her badly.” One of the exorcists in charge of protecting the house reported. “But it was like she just didn’t care, ignoring all the damage we were doing to break through the wall and snatch the kid. It seemed like we almost had her, then she snatched the kid and seemed to get a second wind, running off before we could stop her.”

“Another child added to her energy.” Coraline said. “I wonder if Mami has trouble gathering energy within herself, and that’s why she has to keep her children with her and target multiple children at a time. More like batteries than food.”

“We managed to track the demon for about two miles South-East, before we lost the trail.” The other Exorcist continued their report.

“Good.” Shiro said. “Take the point from the house to where you lost the trail and then correlate that with the list of possible lair locations to see if it reveals anything.”

“Yes sir.”

Shiro sighed and looked around, noticing Coraline’s pensive look.

“What?” He asked the Beldam expert.

“I know I said that Mami forcing her way in was a possibility, but this seems too risky. If she didn’t manage to snatch Mr Hamada when she did, it likely would have been over for her. And then the team was able to track her for two miles before they lost her.” Coraline said. “It’s like-”

They were interrupted by their phones going off again.

“Need Help! Beldam attacking at Akami house!”

Shiro’s eyes widened, the Beldam was attacking again so soon.

“Let’s go.” Coraline said, already running to get to the Akami house.

…

Unlike all the other times, Mami was still at the house by the time Shiro and Coraline arrived.

“No! Let me go! Let me go!” June pleaded as she was dragged away by Mami’s extended reach.

Coraline paused for only a second as she took in the sight of Mami, this being the first time she saw the demon in full.

In that brief second, she was brought back to her own childhood, the Other Mother baring down on her.

Thankfully, Coraline was quick to make herself snap out of it, pulling out a tool to quickly construct a summoning symbol on the ground.

Shiro, meanwhile, didn’t waste any time, racing over to the Beldam to fight the demon himself.

However, it seemed that even though June was reluctant to be with the demon, Mami was still able to draw some power from her, able to deflect the Paladin’s first attack. Though, the attack still left Mami slightly injured, meaning that she still wasn’t at her previous full strength without her final child.

“The other children must be close by!” Shiro realised. “Find them!” He instructed the other Exorcists.

This caused Mami to scream in rage.

“You will not keep my children from me.” Mami cried, sending an attack of her own at the Exorcists.

“And I will not let you take mine!” Shiro hissed back.

“Rin is my child!” Mami claimed.

They clashed again, this time Shiro ready for Mami’s level of power.

If it was just Mami there, Shiro would have been able to end the demon in a heartbeat. But the demon held a screaming June to her like a shield, forcing the Paladin to hold back as to not injure the child.

And it was hard to separate June from the demon, as she constantly transferred the child between her many limbs while used her other limbs to keep Shiro at a distance.

It was also a fight to keep Mami from fleeing, as the Beldam was clearly withdrawing from the scene as she defended, trying to get away.

At a distance, Coraline finally finished drawing her summoning circle, using a blade attached to her jacket to cut open the base of her palm.

“I call upon the watcher of the skies, come fly amongst us once more.” Coraline incanted.

The symbol glowed as a massive shape flew out, up into the air with a shrill cry.

A giant bird manifested above the exorcists, beady eyes searching.

“After the Beldam, save the child without harm!” Coraline instructed her summon.

The bird’s eyes zeroed in on Mami, who saw it and jerked back in fear, allowing Shiro to slice off one of her limbs.

Mami cried in pain and fled away, making sure to keep June between her and the Exorcists as protection.

“You claim to love these children, yet you endanger them.” Shiro scowled at the demon.

“You are the ones to bring harm to them when you attack me.” Mami shot back, seemingly completely blind to the truth.

The Beldam barely managed to get out of the way as Coraline’s summoned bird dived at her, talons scratching at her.

The bird then circled around and dived at Mami again, forcing the demon back towards the Exorcists.

From her position beside her summoning circle, wrapping her hand to stop the bleeding, Coraline frowned.

Her Roc wasn’t the best summon for this situation as long as June was hostage, but it seemed adequate enough from stopping Mami from running away.

It seemed as though they finally had Mami, that the demon had bit off more than she could chew and it would all end soon. But Coraline knew Beldams enough to know they always had some way of surviving when it seemed like they were defeated.

And, only very occasionally, Coraline hated being right.

Just as Coraline’s Roc made another dive at Mami, one the demon would not be able to avoid because of all the Exorcists around, it disappeared.

“What?” Coraline startled, quickly turning her attention to her summoning circle.

Her eyes widened at the sight of one of the missing children, looking very pale and haggard, using his foot to mess with the carefully laid lines of her symbol.

“Hey!” She made a grab for the child.

Despite his poor state, the boy was quick, running away from her.

But no matter how quick the boy was, Coraline was gifted with longer legs, allowing her to catch up easily.

Just as Coraline was about to grab the boy, something else snatched him up.

Looking up, Coraline gritted her teeth at a demon shaped like a rather large rodent holding the boy.

Around the area, more demons of varying types and levels emerged, forcing exorcists to move their attention from Mami to defend themselves.

Mami grinned as the demons appeared, some even attacking Shiro and distracting him from her.

“Ah, my friends.” She said.

They weren’t truly her friends, but it felt nicer to call them that, even if she had bribed and/or threatened them into coming to help with the Exorcists. And as a friend, she could even forgive their lateness.

Mami slipped further away from the Exorcists, despite Shiro’s attempts to keep her in range through the swarm of demons she had called. Once a satisfying distance, Daisuke was deposited in her arms by the demon who had kept him from Coraline, and her other children climbed out of their hiding spaces to join her.

Mami sighed in satisfaction at her family being almost reunited.

“She’s trying to get away!” Coraline shouted, summoning some dragonfly-like demons to take out the ones attacking her.

With all her children in hand and claw, Mami turned and fled, leaving her “friends” to distract and die at the hands of the Exorcists.

But Shiro was not willing to let her go so easily, giving chase and cutting down any demon that dared get in his way.

Shiro ended up chasing the demon for miles, but in the end, she eventually lost him, leaving the man to stew in anger.

…

The rest of the team eventually tracked Shiro down to where he’d lost Mami’s trail, one of the team already working on using the trail to try and give a better idea of where the Beldam’s lair would be.

“I should have known that she’s have help.” Coraline berated herself. “But Beldams don’t usually have control of so many other demons, especially not ones in Mami’s position.”

Given their low level, it was obvious that Mami had likely forced them into helping her, rather than it being a symbiotic relationship like with Mami’s other demonic partner back in the cave the children were first found in.

“We must be closing in on her lair.” Coraline theorised. “For her to get desperate enough to attack twice in a row and put herself at so much risk.”

“Well, her gamble paid off, and now we’re down to just one kid.” One of the team said.

“And given that said kid is under the protection of True Cross, the demon could potentially cut her loses and run off with the kids she has.” Another voiced.

Coraline shook her head. “I don’t think she’ll give up without trying in some way. So, we still have a little time.” She said.

“Perhaps we could-” The Exorcist was quickly slammed around the back of the head before they could fully voice the forbidden idea of using bait, especially in front of Shiro.

“There’s only a few locations left.” Coraline said. “We’ll need to search them quickly. The directions Mami ran should hopefully help us narrow down which of the remaining locations to search first.”

“Right.” The team agreed.

Coraline then went over to Shiro.

“We’ll stop her.” She assured him. “Once we’re at her lair, it’ll be harder for her to run.”

“Next time, she will not run.” Shiro promised.

“Now, can you tell me the difference between the two plants Rin is holding?” Yukio asked his class.

He ignored Shemi’s hand shooting up.

“Shima, would you like to answer?” He focused on his lazy student.

“Uh…” Renzou mumbled, trying to remember. “One attracts demons, the other repels.” He ventured.

Rin looked over to his brother, Yukio giving a slight shake of the head.

“Wrong!” Rin told Renzou cheerfully.

Renzou slumped in a seat, pouting at being told he was wrong by a child.

Yukio gave his brother a slight smile before calling on another student to give him the right answer.

“Correct!” Rin bounced once he received the answer from Yukio.

Yukio smiled again at how much energy his brother was displaying.

The Cram school being unable to find a teacher to replace Yukio turned out to be a regular occurrence, requiring Yukio to once again bring Rin with him.

Thankfully, having learned from the last time, Yukio worked out how to involve Rin more in his lessons, helping to keep Rin from falling into boredom while his big brother taught.

And, as it turned out, these lessons were a blessing in disguise. Since meeting the cram students, Rin had become more and more vocal, even managing full sentences; the students giving Rin other people to talk to, and the involvement with the lessons also encouraging Rin to talk.

Rin wasn’t yet his old self, favouring short replies over long sentences and going almost completely silent towards bedtime, but they were getting there.

Eventually, Yukio’s lesson came to an end, releasing the brothers to go back to their dorm.

“Like usual, please wait here for your next instructor.” Yukio told his students.

Rin began his wander around the room while waiting for Yukio to clean up the teacher’s desk.

“Do you have your chants memorised?” Rin picked up on Miwa’s conversation.

“Ah, I know that I forgot to do something.” Renzou said uncaringly.

“Why do you even want to be an Exorcist when you can’t be bothered to learn?” Bon questioned roughly.

“Hey, not all of us that perfectly memorise entire books word for word.” Renzou defended himself.

“You would be able to if you bothered to practice.” Bon scowled.

“You can memorise?”

The three boys startled and turned to look at Rin.

“Yep.” Renzou spoke for his friend. “Bon here knows just about every fatal verse there is to know.”

“Wow.” Rin’s eyes sparkled.

Then he noticed Bon looking at him and Rin remembered that he didn’t like the boy, quickly changing to a glare instead.

“Aw, how cute.” Renzou teased. “It’s like he has a puppy crush on you, Bon.”

This comment earned the teen physical retribution from both Bon and Rin.

“Stupid.” Rin said, blushing.

The young boy then turned to go back to his brother, only to notice that Yukio was gone.

“Oniichan?” Rin looked around.

“He just got called out of the classroom. I’m sure he’ll be back soon.” Shemi informed the boy with a smile.

That didn’t work to placate the boy as his breathing became heavy.

While Rin and Yukio had worked on being in separate rooms with the help of Miss Brook, it had only been done inside the familiarity of the dorm, and they were nowhere near the point where Yukio could just leave the room without Rin noticing.

“Onnichan!” Rin panicked, breaking into a run.

He quickly opened the door, tears starting to gather when he didn’t immediately see his brother, running out the room.

“Uh, should we stop him?” Renzou asked his classmates.

“The little idiot could get lost.” Bon said, getting out of his seat. “We should probably keep an eye on him.”

…

Yukio frowned heavily as he mulled over the information he’d been given.

When his father had appeared to discretely pull him out of the Cram school classroom, Yukio had already expected bad news, but it turned out to be even worse than he could imagine.

“So, Rin’s the only one left now?” Yukio asked to clarify.

Shiro nodded his head, looking three times his age.

“And Rin will be next.” Shiro warned. “There’s a possibility that she’ll just leave to consume the children she already has, then return for Rin later, rending our search through all the locations for the lair useless. But the Beldam already managed to get through the wards around our home, so it’s possible she’ll find a way to bypass the wards at True Cross, no matter how strong Mephisto boasts they are.”

And Shiro still didn’t trust Mephisto to not purposely let Mami get to Rin for the sake of his own plans or amusement.

“Okay.” Yukio sighed. “Thank you for telling me. I should probably get back to Rin, I had to leave him alone in the classroom.”

“Hey, don’t run off like that, you can get lost in here.”

Yukio and Shiro turned to see some of Yukio’s students approaching.

And to their horror, it was Rin that Shemi had been addressing, who was stood not far from his father and older brother.

“Uh, Rin. How much did you hear?” Yukio asked his brother with wide eyes.

The expression of horror on Rin’s face told that the young boy had heard too much.

Rin’s eyes quickly filled with tears.

“Gone.” Was the only word he managed to hiccup.

“Hey, it’s okay.” Yukio tried to comfort his brother as Shiro stooped down and pulled Rin into a hug.

“No! No!” Rin wailed into Shiro’s chest.

The idea that the other children, his friends, had been taken and that he was the only one left was too much for the boy.

Yukio coughed and looked at his students, who were giving Rin looks of worry.

“Please go back to class. This is a personal matter.” He instructed.

The students didn’t offer any objections and left.

“If you need to talk, I’m here.” Shemi offered Yukio shyly as she left.

…

Shiro continued to rub Rin’s back as he walked into the dorm building.

His son had already transitioned from wailing to quietly crying, not having the energy to continue expressing his grief fully.

Thankfully, Yukio had already informed Shiro about Ukobach, so when the stove spirit appeared to express concern over Rin, Shiro wasn’t alarmed.

After seeing that Rin was just upset and not harmed, Ukobach left as Shiro took Rin to his room, Shiro able to make out the demon doing something in the kitchen as he left.

Due to Rin’s iron grip, Shiro had to sit on the boy’s bed with him, continuing to offer comfort.

As Rin’s cries faded away into sniffles, Ukobach appeared with a mug of hot chocolate for the boy.

“Thank you.” Shiro said, taking the mug and putting it to the side for when Rin wanted it.

The demon nodded and then left.

“Get them back?” Shiro almost startled at the sound of Rin’s voice.

In light of learning such bad news, Shiro had half expected his son to go back to being none-verbal.

“I won’t stop trying until Mami is stopped and everyone is safe from her.” Shiro promised his son, avoiding actually promising to return Rin’s friends, not wanting to risk making a promise he couldn’t keep.

“Wish I could do something.” Rin mumbled.

“You are doing something.” Shiro assured his son. “By staying safe and where Mami can’t reach you. That’s all you need to do while my team deals with the rest of it.”

Rin didn’t look convinced but didn’t object either.

The two looked up as the door opened and Yukio stepped through.

“I’ve already been here longer than expected.” Shiro said, standing up. “Take care of each other.”

Reluctantly, Rin let himself be transferred over to Yukio.

“I’ll make sure we don’t have to deal with this issue for much longer.” Shiro promised his sons. “Until then, take care of each other.”

The boys nodded as Shiro left.

…

Rin remained silent the rest of the afternoon and evening, despite Yukio’s attempts to coax him into talking, not that the older brother blamed him after what Rin had just learned.

Eventually, it was time for bed, Rin climbing into his own bed and burying himself under his covers.

“Goodnight, Rin.” Yukio said, turning on the nightlight and turning off the main lights.

He already expected Rin to eventually make his way to his bed, having done so every night since arriving. In light of the news, Yukio was tempted to just bring Rin over to his bed, but decided to let Rin come to him if he wanted, lying down and going to sleep.

In his bed, Rin tried his hardest to go to sleep, not wanting to have to go to Yukio’s side just to sleep yet again. He was eight years old, he shouldn’t need his formerly-younger-now-older brother to be able to sleep.

But after a painfully long time of trying to get to sleep, Rin eventually gave up and slipped out of his bed, defeatedly plodding over to Yukio’s and climbing under the covers.

Rin rubbed at his eyes, too tired to properly cry anymore.

He just wanted it all to be over. To be a normal kid again, to be with his dad and be able to sleep on his own.

And at that moment, what Rin wanted most of all was his friends back.

Chapter Text

“Rin, please get down from the wall, it’s not safe.”

Rin pouted but did as his brother asked and hopped down from the wall he’d been walking along with Kuro.

The brothers and familiar were out for one of their daily walks around the campus, as Rin couldn’t exactly be kept inside all the time.

Yukio frowned when his phone rang, the caller ID indicating that the call would have to be private.

“Rin, stay where I can see you.” Yukio instructed his brother, walking a short distance away.

Huffing, Rin began to wander around, making sure not to leave Yukio’s line of sight like instructed.

Playing with Kuro for a bit, Rin quickly grew bored, deciding to leave the familiar to his own devices as he wandered further away while still remaining in Yukio’s sight.

Kuro moved to follow Rin, only for his nose to catch an enticing scent.

Following the scent, Kuro was amazed to find a whole cooked fish just lying there, begging for the familiar to eat it.

Before Kuro could question why a cooked fish was just lying on the ground, he was already digging into the delicious meal, happy to have something so yummy after Yukio had subjected him to nothing but canned cat food.

Unaware of Kuro’s distraction, Rin continued walking until he came to a stop to look at the scenery.

Scratching his neck, Rin’s fingers met with two different strings of the necklaces he’s been given. Pulling at one of them in boredom, the stone Coraline had given him popped out from under his shirt.

The stone had yet to prove itself to be anything more than a stone with a hole in it, but Rin still kept it because that Exorcist lady had given it to him with the promise that it would help, and Rin didn’t think she was lying.

Holding the hole up to his eye, Rin looked around through it, the world looking no different.

But then Rin caught sight of something peering from around the corner of a wall before quickly pulling back.

Lowering the stone, Rin cocked his head at the wall, wondering what he’d just seen.

Gazing back at Yukio, Rin found him still involved in his phone call.

So, making sure that he still remained in Yukio’s sight like he was told, Rin walked forward so that he could see what was around the corner of the wall.

“Daisuke!” Rin’s voice became strangled at the sight of his friend, preventing his exclamation from reaching Yukio’s ears.

“Hi, Rin.” The young boy waved.

Rin didn’t think as he pulled the boy he hadn’t seen since their rescue into a hug.

“I missed you.” Rin cried.

They pulled apart just before Yukio looked at Rin to check on him, so to the older boy it looked as if Rin was just standing there as he waited, Daisuke still around the corner and thus unseen.

Fooled into thinking nothing was wrong, Yukio took his focus off of Rin, though still kept his brother in his sight.

“I missed you too.” Daisuke said to Rin. “But now we can be together again.”

“Really? Dad find you?” Rin asked hopefully.

“You’re dad?” Daisuke’s face scrunched up in confusion. “No, Mami found all of us. Saved us from the people who kept us apart.”

Rin’s hope dropped like a stone.

“You need to come with me, it’s not safe for you here.” Daisuke told Rin.

Rin took a step back from his friend, realising that he was still firmly under Mami’s sway.

He also took notice of Daisuke’s poor state of dress and that his friend looked rather sick.

“Daisuke, I’m safe here, with my family.” Rin told his friend. “Mami is the dangerous one.”

“Mami is the only one who cares for us and who can keep us safe.” Daisuke argued. “The monsters followed us back from the city and they’re waiting to take us again.”

Rin shook his head, unable to understand why Daisuke could believe such a thing.

“Mami’s the monster, did you not see her become that thing and attack everyone. And she’s the one who took us to that city in the first place.” Somehow, Rin was finding the strength to speak in full sentences.

Daisuke frowned.

“Mami’s not a monster, just because she looks like that. She says that it’s all a big misunderstanding and that the people who took us from her aren’t willing to understand, just attacking her. She’s just trying to look after us.”

Rin’s heart clenched as Daisuke explained his view.

The explanation sounded so temping to believe.

That Mami was not truly evil and that everything was a result of the adults not stopping to listen to each other, that he could be with both Mami and his family once the misunderstanding was cleared up.

Rin gripped his sleeves tightly as his mind was filled with confusion, battling with what he should believe.

“And those people who took us kept us apart.” Daisuke continued to argue. “You wanted to see us all again too, right? But they wouldn’t let you?”

Rin shook his head, he hadn’t been allowed to see his friends since the hospital.

“But Mami came and saved us all, so we can be safe together.” Daisuke said. “We can all be together again now.”

“The others.” Rin mumbled.

Daisuke nodded frantically.

“They’re all waiting for us, just over there.” Daisuke pointed down the hill. “I was told to come get you.”

“There.” Rin looked longingly towards where his friends supposedly were.

“Yes.” Daisuke said. “Come on, they’re waiting for us.”

Rin’s heart skipped. He could finally see his friends again.

But then Rin remembered Yukio before he could take a step to follow Daisuke.

“Wait, I need to tell oniichan.” Rin said.

Daisuke’s hands flew to Rin’s mouth before he could call out for his brother.

“No!” Daisuke said urgently but quietly. “He’s one of them. The people who took us. If you tell him, we’ll never be able to see the others again, they’ll keep us apart forever.”

Rin’s voice froze in his throat at the prospect.

Rin looked over to his brother, who was still distracted by his phone call.

“Come on, they’re waiting for us. Don’t you want to see them again? We’ve all missed you.” Daisuke continued to plead. “Just a little bit down the hill and we can all be together again. Don’t you want that.”

Rin nodded.

He really wanted to see his friends again, to see if they were alright with his own eyes.

And if he called out to Yukio, Yukio would call for the other adults and then Rin wouldn’t be able to see the others again.

“J-just see.” Rin came to a compromise, forcing himself to speak. “Need to stay.”

He would go to see his friends, to see that they were all there. But he wouldn’t go with them.

Daisuke nodded, though looked sad.

“Okay.” He said. “Come on then.”

Looking back at his brother one last time, Rin followed after Daisuke.

From on top of the wall above the children, a black cat watched with narrow eyes.

…

Bon, Renzou and Miwa were walking between classes when they spotted Rin and another boy walking down a hill together.

“Huh, I didn’t know there was another kid here.” Renzou commented.

“Rin seems to look better, considering how upset he was yesterday.” Miwa noted. “Though, I would have expected Okumura-sensi to be watching over him.”

“He’s probably not far.” Bon dismissed. “We need to get to class.”

“Hey, I’d say making sure that children are alright would be a viable excuse to be late.” Renzou said, though followed his friend towards their next class regardless.

Not even a minute later, the students came across Yukio, who was looking around frantically.

“Have you seen Rin?” Yukio asked as soon as he saw his students.

“Uh, yeah, just over that way with that other kid.” Renzou answered, pointing back to where Rin and the boy had been.

Yukio’s eyes widened.

“Other boy?” He asked. “The only child here is Rin.”

The three students quickly went into alert, realising that the situation was more dire than they originally realised.

Yukio didn’t waste anymore time with talking, racing off in the direction Renzou had pointed.

Forgoing their class, the three students joined Yukio in chasing down Rin and the unknown boy.

…

Rin came to a stop as Daisuke continued walking.

“Come on, just over here.” Daisuke goaded his friend.

For some reason, Rin felt an icy feeling in his chest at the thought of taking another step, like stepping out of bed when there was something hiding under it.

Fiddling with the stone the Exorcist Lady had given him, Rin hid it back underneath his clothing, feeling it settle reassuringly alongside the charm Yukio had given him when he’d left for True Cross.

…

The four teenage boys ran towards the edge of the protections around True Cross, trying their best to find Rin.

“How could those kids have gotten so far?” Renzou panted.

The time that passed between seeing the children and meeting with Yukio should have not allowed the children to have gotten so far way. Meaning that demonic forces were likely at play.

“I think I see them!” Bon shouted, spotting some shapes in the distance and increasing his speed.

“Rin!” Yukio yelled at the top of his lungs, hoping his brother would hear him.

…

Rin almost turned at the faint call of his name, only for Daisuke to yank him around.

“Look!” Daisuke said excitedly.

Rin’s eyes widened as his friend came into view, all of them.

Distantly, Rin noticed that they all looked unwell in some way. June in particular looked as if she wasn’t present in her own body. But Rin was too distracted by finally seeing his friends again too let it stop him from walking forward.

“Rin!”

“It’s great to see you.”

“Come here!”

The children greeted Rin as he walked towards them.

A figure emerged from the shadows behind the children, looming over them with a gentle smile on her face that stopped Rin in his tracks.

“Mami.” Rin whispered at the sight of the demon.

“Rin, my little angel.” Mami smiled, arms open wide.

Despite everything, Rin wanted so desperately to run into them.

“Come home, now. We’re all waiting for you.” Mami temped.

“Yeah, come on.”

“Let’s go, Rin.”

“Mami’s going to take us home.”

The other children added to the temptation.

Rin started to move his foot, though whether it was to go forward or backward he didn’t know.

“Rin!”

The young boy startled, turning to see his brother and three students running towards him.

“Stop!” Yukio shouted again. “Come away from them.”

Rin was just inside the protective wards around True Cross, meaning that Rin was still safe from Mami grabbing him despite being so close to him. All Yukio needed to do was grab his brother.

Unfortunately, while Mami was unable to cross the barrier, her children had already proven that they could.

Just as Rin blinked, as if coming awake from a trance, and moved towards Yukio, several of the children lunged forward and grabbed onto Rin, pulling him back and out of the barrier.

“No!” Yukio cried out, going for his guns.

But it was too late, as soon as the children had pulled Rin across the barrier, Mami grabbed him along with the other children, shifting into her demonic form with a triumphant grin on her face.

Yukio raised his guns at the Beldam, not hesitating in firing.

“Hey, there are kids in the way!” One of Yukio’s students protested.

With Yukio’s skilled aim, the bullets passed by the children and hit Mami, the Beldam winced slightly but otherwise looked unbothered by the bullets now that she had Rin in her hold, like the bullets were nothing more than small stones thrown at her.

The students tried their best to help Yukio, but they were unfortunately all Arias, who had no idea what type of demon Mami even was to attempt a fatal verse.

So, the teens could do nothing but chase Mami as she ran off with the children.

“Oniichan!” Rin cried out for his brother, struggling in Mami’s hold.

Rin’s enhanced strength almost allowed him to pull free, but he was still only a child and Mami was now feeding off him again, meaning that all the Beldam needed to do was tighten her grip.

The teens ran as fast as they could, but they were no match for the demon, Rin’s cries for help fading into the distance.

“Damn it!” Bon grunted when he realised they’d lost the demon. “I can’t believe we let a child get taken right in front of us like that. I should have known something was wrong.”

It was unclear to the three students whether the other children were also victims, or demons in the form of children to trick Rin, considering that they grabbed him.

“Rin.” Yukio muttered in shock, unable to believe that he’d let Rin be taken from him just like that.

He’d only looked away for a minute, and they were supposed to be safe within the wards of True Cross.

“Hey, man, we’ll get him back.” Renzou was the one to try and comfort.

“We should alert the other teachers.” Miwa suggested.

The students had to take Yukio’s phone from him in order to call the teachers, as Yukio was in no state to do anything, trying hard and failing to not break down.

It was just like that day, seven years ago, all over again.

Chapter Text

When Shiro received the call, he felt like the world was collapsing in on him, only barely keeping it together by being reminded that Yukio was still there.

So, instead of breaking down, Shiro raced to True Cross.

On arriving, he found Yukio being worried over by three of the boys he taught, his son shaking and barely holding himself together.

“Yukio!” Shiro called out to his son.

“Dad!” Yukio cried out.

Shiro was quick to embrace his son, to ensure himself that at least Yukio was okay.

“Dad, Rin’s gone.” Yukio sobbed into Shiro’s chest. “That demon showed up and took him.”

Shiro only held Yukio tighter, running a comforting hand down his back.

“Shh, it’s okay.” Shiro comforted, like Yukio was just an upset child.

And really, no matter his position, Yukio was still just a child.

“It’s not okay.” Yukio denied. “I-I was m-meant to watch him. But I-I let him get taken anyway. He’d still be here if I’d just looked after him.”

Yukio wanted his dad to get angry, to punish him for losing Rin, because that’s what he deserved.

“It’s not your fault, Yukio.” Shiro only offered assurances instead. “It’s that demon’s.”

Truthfully, there was a part of Shiro that wanted to yell at Yukio for losing Rin, but it was squashed down by the rational side of him, who knew that a fifteen-year-old, no matter how well trained, could not be expected to keep his eyes on someone one-hundred percent of the time.

Steeling himself, Shiro turned to the three boys, who had just been standing around awkwardly since Shiro’s arrival.

“Report!” Shiro ordered.

“Uh,” Miwa is the first to stand at attention. “We passed Rin following another child on the way to class and didn’t think anything of it until sensei appeared, looking for Rin and explaining that there shouldn’t have been another child. We raced after Rin, finding him at the edge of the wards with a group of children on the other side, they then grabbed Rin and pulled him out of the wards where this woman then revealed herself to be a demon, grabbed all the children and ran off. We ran after her but eventually lost her trail.”

Shiro took a deep breath and let it out.

With how one of the children had been seen willingly helping Mami in her kidnapping of Miss Akami, he should have expected for her to use the same tactic to bypass the wards around True Cross.

The small group looked towards the sound of approaching footsteps, finding Coraline and Mephisto approaching, with some of the Exorcist not that far behind to survey the scene.

Shiro’s eyes widened when he spotted Kuro lying limp in Coraline’s arms.

“I found him on the way here, next to a half-eaten fish.” Coraline explained as she carefully handed off the familiar to Shiro. “Looks like he was poisoned.”

Shiro sighed slightly in relief when he caught that Kuro was still breathing, hopefully meaning that the demon had only been given something to make him sleep rather than to hurt him.

Turning to the three students, Shiro handed Kuro to one of them.

“Take him to Mrs Moriyama, she’ll be able to look over him and give him an antidote to whatever was used.” Shiro instructed.

The boys seemed reluctant to leave but didn’t disobey the Paladin, leaving the Exorcist group.

Once the boys were gone, Shiro quickly turned around to face Mephito, glaring accusingly.

“If I find out that you let this happen, I’ll make you wish you were dead.” Shiro threatened.

“Shiro, I’m hurt.” Mephisto said, faking being offended. “You think that I would let little Rin get taken away again? My wards are made to keep out demons, not children.”

Shiro glared, not believing the demon for a second.

Mephisto prided himself on being all-knowing so that he could be the master manipulator. So, it was unlikely that the demon hadn’t been aware of the Beldam-controlled child entering into True Cross, or Mami waiting at just the other side of the wards.

“We can discuss how much to blame Mephisto later.” Coraline diverted. “Right now, we need to focus on retrieving the children immediately.”

“But it has the last child, isn’t it going to just run with them now?” One of the team asked.

Coraline shook her head. “A Beldam can’t just up and abandon their lair.” She said. “When building their lair, they become tied to it. She’ll return to it and undo the bindings, and likely do something the children to ensure they can’t be taken from her again. So, we need to find her lair before that happens.”

Shiro frowned heavily. “We still have a handful of locations left to search. Our forces will be split if we’re going to investigate them all at once.”

Coraline nodded in agreement.

“Do you maybe have anything that can be used to track Rin?” She asked.

Yukio gasped, scrabbling to bring something out from under his uniform, a carved charm attached to a necklace.

“The pendant you gave to Rin.” Shiro recognised.

“I gave Rin a mirror of this. If I made them correctly, they can be used to track each other, within a certain range.” Yukio explained, shaking slightly.

He really hoped that he’d made the pendants correctly, and that Mami wasn’t taking Rin out of the tracking range.

“Does somebody have a map on them?” Shiro questioned his team.

“Here!” One of the team came forward, pulling a map out.

The map was laid flat on the ground with Yukio’s pendant held over it, the young Exorcist chanting some words followed by Rin’s name. The pendant began to swing on its own, tracing around the map in a circle before pulling in one direction at an angle, like it was being pulled by a magnet, touching down on the map.

“We have them.” Shiro smiled for the first time in a while. “Good job, son.” He patted Yukio on the back.

Coraline scrutinised the pendant on the map closely.

“She’s still on the move.” The British Exorcist concluded. “She’s still moving towards her lair.”

Looking at the map, Yukio and Shiro realised that the pendant was still moving slowly across the map.

“Cross reference where the pendant is currently pointing with the location of True Cross and compare it to our current list of locations. See if we can figure out where the demon’s lair is before she reaches it.” Shiro instructed the team.

“Yes, sir.” The team responded.

They quickly took note of where the pendant was pointing on the map and got to work.

“I hope Rin will be okay.” Yukio mumbled to himself.

“Don’t worry, the kid survived being with the Beldam for seven years, I’m sure he can survive a little longer.” Coraline assured. “Besides, I’m pretty sure the Cat is following them, since he’s not anywhere around here.”

“The cat?” Yukio questioned. “You mean your cat?”

Coraline nodded. “He’s the one who helped me when I encountered my first Beldam as a child, and he’ll help the other children.”

As Shiro started preparing his team for the raid on Mami’s lair, he once again wondered about Coraline’s cat, knowing that there had to be something supernatural about the creature. Considering how old Coraline described herself as being when explaining her first Beldam encounter to him and the age she currently was, her cat had to be very old by now, yet could apparently keep up with a fleeing Beldam when trained Exorcists couldn’t.

…

In a short amount of time, Shiro and his team had assembled, ready to set off and storm Mami’s lair.

“Dad, please let me help.” Yukio begged.

Shiro sighed.

His older son had been begging to be part of the team since the preparation had started.

On one hand, Shiro wanted his son to stay away from the Beldam case, to not risk the safety of both of his sons at the same time. And there was also the risk of Yukio letting his emotions inform his decisions since Rin was involved.

But Shiro also knew that he couldn’t just say no to his son, it would eat Yukio up inside to be left out of the team, feeling as if he wasn’t able to do anything in protecting his brother. And this time, there was no younger brother to watch over to keep Yukio occupied from the hunt for the one who took Rin.

“Fine.” Shiro relented. “But I need you to promise that you won’t let your emotions get in the way. I know your instincts will tell you to protect Rin at all costs but remember that there are the other children that also need to be rescued and returned to their own families.”

It hurt Shiro to insert this stipulation, as he too wanted to priorities his own son, but he knew that he needed to act professional in this. Those other children also had parents who loved them dearly and who wanted nothing more than their children back, just like Shiro, and the man could not put his own wants above them, no matter how much he wanted to.

Yukio bit his lip but nodded. “I won’t let my emotions control me.” He promised.

The teams loaded into their vans and set off, following the direction Yukio’s pendant was pointing towards.

After a while, they noticed that the pendant has come to a stop.

“Looks like we finally have her lair.” Shiro commented. “Hawthorn House.”

He recognised the location from the list, the house had been near the bottom of the list, labelled as “unlikely”, as the house was meant to be occupied.

“Researching now.” Yukio said, pulling out his laptop to search all the information they had on the location.

After a couple of minutes, they had information.

“Hawthorn House, owned by a Mister Tomoe Hachi.” Yukio read the information aloud. “Lives on his own with no other close family and is apparently well-known in the village that’s close by.”

Shiro hummed and messaged for a few of the team members to break off from the group and enter the local village instead to interview people.

After an annoyingly long time of being cooped up in the van, the Exorcists finally arrived at Hawthorn House, a rather large property that seemed deceptively homely, considering that a Beldam was currently using it for her lair.

“Spread out and start laying down the barriers, we need to make escape as hard as possible.” Shiro instructed as soon as the team started spilling out of the vans.

Coraline looked up at the house and once again found herself briefly thrown back into her memories.

Though the entire building looked different. Coraline couldn’t help but compare it to the Pink Palace, where she had met her first Beldam, the Other Mother, as a child.

“The place is big, and that’s just the stuff above ground.” Coraline commented. “A lot of places for Mami to hide.”

Pulling a suitcase out of the van, Coraline opened it to reveal many stones among bubble wrap to keep them from damage. The stones were of varying shapes and sizes, all with a naturally formed hole or two in them.

“Hag Stones.” Coraline explained as she began handing them out to every member of the team. “They’re a natural protection against the manipulation of demons like Beldams, and looking through them can reveal things to you through a Beldam’s spell.”

Shiro looked over the stone he’d been given, recognising it as being the same sort of stone Coraline had given his son. He didn’t know if Rin had it on him when he was taken, but if Coraline was telling the truth about the Hag Stones, then Shiro hoped he did.

Opening another compartment in the suitcase, Coraline pulled out what looked like a set of optician glasses, though there were no lenses in the eye pieces, and there was some sort of metallic claw coming off one of the eye pieces. Coraline then took one of the Hag Stones for herself and slotted it into the metallic claw before putting on the glasses.

The purpose of the eyepiece became apparent when Coraline moved the claw holding the stone so that the hole was in front of her eye, allowing her to see through the hole without needing to hold the stone herself.

“Sorry, I only have one.” Coraline shrugged to the other Exorcists.

Shortly later, while the Exorcists were just about to enter the house, Shiro’s phone range. The team members he’d sent to the village reporting in on what they’d found.

“Apparently, Mr Tomoe was seen only yesterday.” Shiro explained to the rest of the team.

“But then, shouldn’t he have noticed the demon and children in his house?” One of the team questioned.

“Mr Tomoe mentioned his granddaughter and her children coming to stay with him to the people in the town. Obviously, our demon and children.” Shiro explained further.

It didn’t take Yukio long to pull up the necessary information.

“Mr Tomoe’s granddaughter went missing years ago, though he apparently never gave up looking for her.” Yukio said, showing off a picture of said granddaughter, who looked very similar to Mami’s human form.

“So, Mami took advantage of Mr Tomoe’s grief and desire to see his grandchild again, as well as his likely poor eyesight, to sneak her way into his home.” Coraline theorised. “Allowing her and the children into his home without the need to kill him.”

“Does that mean that the old man’s still alive?” One of the team asked.

Coraline shrugged. “With us finding the lair, there’s no need for Mami to keep him alive, but there’s also no reason for her to kill him either.” She said.

“We’ll have to see if we come across him.” Shiro said. “For now, let’s move in.”

…

Using the floor plan of the house, the team split into groups to enter the house at different locations.

As soon as they entered the house, the Exorcists could already tell that something was off.

“Is it just me feeling a little disoriented?” One of the team asked.

“It’ll be Mami’s magic, some Beldams can warp reality within their lairs.” Coraline explained. “It’s only going to get worse the further we get to the heart.”

“Warped how?” Yukio asked.

“Things becoming bigger, rooms bending, doors that shouldn’t be there, doors that are no longer there, things floating. It really depends on how strong the Beldam is.” Coraline said. “Mami seems fairly young, in terms of being a demon anyway, so I don’t expect the warping to be worse than what I’ve already experienced fighting other Beldams.”

The had group travelled further in, the building becoming even more warped around them, when another one of the groups radioed in.

“We’ve found Mr Tomoe.” Said one of their teammates on the other end of the radio. “He’s alive but doesn’t appear to be aware.”

The group turned to Coraline for an explanation.

“Probably an effect of Mami using her magic on him to stop him from questioning things and then withdrawing it now that he serves no use. Provided that she didn’t influence him to do anything bad, he should be fine.” Coraline shrugged.

The group travelled even deeper, things becoming even more warped than before.

“I don’t think this place even fits the building plan anymore.” One of the team muttered.

Coraline hummed in agreement.

“This is more reality warping than I’d expect from a Beldam like Mami, considering her original set up relied on mental warping rather than reality warping. Those children must have really boosted her powers.” She commented.

Shiro and Yukio remained quiet, knowing that Rin was likely what allowed Mami to have so much power.

Hearing something, Shiro quickly held up a hand to halt everyone.

“Be ready.” Shiro warned.

There was a pause of silence.

Then emaciated creatures burst out from the shadows and through the walls to attack.

Rin sniffled and tried his best to stop the tears spilling down his face, which he wasn’t doing a very good job at.

The other children were in the room with him, playing with various toys that littered the rather tall room around them. Some of the others were on beds, like Rin, while others chose to play on the floor.

Mami, thankfully, was in the other room, preparing something.

The other children had tried to include Rin in their play, but the boy had proved too upset to involve, trying to get away from the friends he’d wanted to desperately to see only a few hours ago.

The only friend Rin let close was June, who did her best to comfort him despite her hazy eyes and slurred speech.

After another stuttering sob, Kiki looked up at Rin.

“If you can’t calm down, Mami can give you some special tea.” Kiki told Rin innocently. “It helped June calm down after Mami first brought her home, though I think it made June a little too tired since she doesn’t want to play at all.”

Rin was old enough to know what “drugged” meant, and he did not want to end up like June.

So, Rin slipped off the bed and headed to the door, hoping that Mami was too busy in the other room to notice him leaving.

Opening the door, Rin immediately froze when he was met by the horrifyingly familiar sight of emaciated bodies.

The monsters of the city patrolled the hallway outside.

Rin’s breathing became quick and short as those lidless eyes turned towards him.

Before the creatures could move, Mami appeared and shut the door, somehow keeping the creatures out.

“T-the m-monsters…from…from the…” Rin struggled to comprehend what he saw, turning to Mami for comfort even though he knew that he shouldn’t.

“What?”

“The monsters are here?”

“Are they going to kill us?”

“We need to leave!”

The other children started to panic.

“The people who took you must have led them here, they’ve put you all in danger.” Mami said gravely. “Don’t worry, they can’t get through that door, I’ve put special protections on it.”

Rin found himself once again falling for Mami’s words.

How else could the monsters from the city, which he’d been told was all just a shared dream caused by Mami, be here?

Still, Rin felt as though something wasn’t quite right.

“Soon, I’m going to take us all far away from here.” Mami promised. “Where the monsters won’t be able to find us ever again. I just need to prepare something first, so we can’t be separated again.”

With that, Mami went back into the other room.

“I wonder where we’ll go.”

“Maybe a faraway country, like India.”

“No, if should be a cool place, like in a sea base under the ocean.”

“Better yet, a moon base.”

As the others came up with fantastical places that Mami would take them, Rin settled back on the bed, confused in his thoughts.

June mumbling something brought him out of his thinking.

“What?” Rin asked his friend.

“Don’ be’eve ‘er.” June slurred.

Rin sighed, feeling his tears return.

“I don’t know what to believe.” He admitted.

Catching a flash of black in the corner of his eye, Rin turned to see that a black cat was now in the room.

“Kuro?” Rin mumbled hopefully.

His expression fell when he realised that the cat wasn’t Kuro, though he did recognise it as the one that walked around True Cross campus.

The other children failed to notice the cat, too wrapped up in their conversation, as it stalked its way over to Rin.

“Uh, hi?” Rin said quietly.

The cat looked over to the door that Mami was though, his ears twitching, as if listening for the demon.

Apparently satisfied that Mami wasn’t going to appear, the cat then started pawing at Rin’s chest.

At the feeling of his necklaces pressing against his skin, Rin gained a vague understanding of what the cat wanted and pulled out the stone he’d been given by the Exorcist lady and the pendant his brother had given him.

The cat then pointedly nudged the stone.

“This thing?” Rin questioned.

Despite showing nothing all the other times that he had looked through it, Rin once again brought the stone up to his eye and gasped.

Through the hole in the stone, the room he was in looked different, much smaller and with less vibrant colours.

Looking at his friends, Rin found that their eyes were clouded over through the stone, except for June’s, and all of them had some sort of thread coming off of them then led through the doors Mami was through.

Still looking through the stone, Rin looked over to the cat, only to find him gone.

Lowering the stone, Rin caught sight of a black tail disappearing under the bed. But when checking under the bed, Rin found nothing there.

Rin looked down at the stone in his palm and realised that the Exorcist lady really had given it to him for a reason, and now the cat was telling him to use it.

Wandering around the room, Rin looked at it through the stone but didn’t find anything new of note. Then, he came to a stop in front of the doors that Mami was through, gazing at the window that was in the door.

Carefully, Rin pulled himself up to peak through the window, finding a still human-looking Mami drawing something on the ground and placing candles.

Putting the stone in front of his eye, Rin was shocked to see Mami’s demonic form instead.

Rin quickly ducked from the window before Mami could spot him.

“Do I see the truth?” Rin wondered to himself.

Was that why he was given the stone? Because it broke through the illusion?

Suddenly, Rin remembered the monsters outside, and how they made him question the truth.

If the stone showed Rin the truth, then it’d tell him if Mami was being truthful or not, right?

So, carefully and quietly, Rin snuck over to the door and opened it only slightly, so that he could see the horrifying creatures in the hallway.

Then, Rin lifted the stone to his eye and immediately cried out in horror.

Coraline cried as she looked at the creatures currently attacking her group, doing little to defend herself against them, forcing Shiro and Yukio to defend her.

“These demons look like what Rin described from that imaginary city.” Yukio grunted as he fired off shots, careful not to hit any of the team.

“Can a Beldam bring imaginary creatures to life with their reality warping?” Shiro asked Coraline as he defended her.

Coraline didn’t respond, only continuing to look at the attacking creatures with a deep sadness.

“What’s the matter with you?” Shiro questioned, wondering why Coraline was suddenly refusing to fight.

“There…” Coraline stopped, unable to bring herself to say it. “Look through your stones. Just look.”

While Coraline’s special glasses allowed her to continuously look through her Hag Stone, all the other Exorcists had yet to use theirs because of the sudden attack, meaning that the specialist was currently seeing something the others weren’t.

Getting some space from the creatures, Yukio was the first to hold his Hag Stone up to his eye.

He then immediately almost dropped it, horror written all over his face.

Concerned at both Coraline and his son’s reactions, Shiro brought his own Hag Stone to his eye.

“Oh, fuck.” Shiro swore.

Through the small hole, Shiro still saw the creatures, but they were now silhouetted with a small and emaciated figure inside each.

Children stared at Shiro with empty eyes, expressions of terror frozen on all of their faces.

“These children, I recognise them.” Shiro said in disgust. “They’re the dead children from the Beldam’s old lair.”

The rest of the team gasped in shock, suddenly finding themselves reluctant to do anything but defend themselves against the creatures.

Coraline looked pained.

“Some Beldams will have their previous victims linger around them as ghosts, but I’ve never seen something like this before.” She said.

Despite the new revelation, the ghost creatures still continued to attack the Exorcists, seemingly unable to understand any attempts to reason with them. Meaning that the team had to fight, despite their reservations.

“They just keep coming.” Yukio gritted his teeth.

“The demon killed a lot of children.” Another member of the team said gravely.

In the end, it wasn’t the Exorcists of the ghost creatures that ended the fight, it was the house itself.

“I think the Beldam is warping things even more.” Coraline said, wobbling on her feet as the ground shook.

One of the team looked over to her, only for their eyes to widen.

“Look out!” They shouted.

But it was too late, Coraline only had time to look down and see the ground given way underneath her feet before she fell.

“Ah!” Coraline cried out alongside Yukio as they both fell through the floor.

“No!” Not even thinking, Shiro jumped after them, Yukio specifically, not wanting to be separated from his son.

And before the rest of the team could do anything, the floor sealed right back up, leaving them to deal with the ghost creatures while three of their team was separated down below.

Chapter Text

Rin screeched and cried incessantly, no matter the other children’s attempts to calm him down after they’d pulled him away from the door.

The image of frozen faces of terror were firmly imprinted on Rin’s mind.

Worse still, he knew every single face out there.

Yamato had been down the hall, Mai had been close by too, and little Suzie’s horrifying face had practically been in Rin’s own.

Rin’s dad and brother hadn’t tried to hide the truth from him, so Rin already knew that Mami was the reason all of his friends had died in the nightmare city, and that truth had already hurt so much that Rin had been tempted countless times to deny it.

But this…

The revelation that everyone, his friends, not only died but had been turned into the very creatures used to terrify and kill them, was something that was agonising.

That Mami, who cared for all of them, sung to them, loved them, protected them from the ‘monsters’, had been the one to do this to them.

Deep inside Rin, something fractured from its already fragile state.

“Oh, Rin, did you really try and leave out the door again?” Like before, Mami appeared.

But unlike before, Rin did not attempt to seek comfort from her.

“No! Don’t touch me!” Rin reacted violently to Mami’s attempts to touch him.

“Rin?” Mami frowned and held a hand to her chest, as if hurt by his actions.

“You killed them! You turned them into the monsters!” Rin accused through tears.

“Rin, please stop-”

“No!” Rin interrupted Mami’s attempts at calming him. “I saw them. I saw their faces. You kill us, and then you turn us into those monsters outside!”

The other children looked to one another uncomfortably, trying to comprehend what Rin was saying.

“Rin, your trauma is making you see things.” Mami tried to dismiss.

“Don’t you dare try and bullshit me!” The children gasped at Rin’s language. “I saw their faces, Yamato, Mai and Suzie! They were all out there, inside those creatures. And their faces, oh god, their faces.” Rin sobbed heavier.

Daisuke, Emi and Kiki gasped.

Though Yamato and Suzie had come and gone far before them, the three children had been in Mami’s ‘care’ long enough to remember Mai before she had been taken by the creatures like all the others.

And if they were understanding Rin correctly, then Mai, stubborn but caring Mai, had been turned into one of the very monsters that hunted them in the city and now lurked just outside the door. And Mami was the one to do it.

The other children started to cry, both at what Rin was saying and just at the fact he was shouting at Mami.

“Rin, you are upsetting the other children.” Mami said firmly, assuring smile gone from her face as she moved towards Rin.

“No! Stay away from me!” Unthinkingly, Rin threw the stone in his hand at Mami in an attempt to get her to stay away.

Mami merely moved her head to the side to avoid it, letting it sail over her hair and land next to Jiro, who picked it up inquisitively.

Looking the stone over, Jiro found the hole in it and realised that Rin had been holding it up to his eye when he started freaking out.

So, in curiosity, Jiro walked over to the door while Mami was busy with Rin and opened it to take a peek at the creatures outside.

At first, the creatures looked just as monstrous as Jiro remembered them being from the city.

But then, Jiro lifted the stone up to his eye.

“Ah!” The young boy cried out when he saw the children trapped inside the creatures and the horrifying expressions their faces held.

Mami turned around and gasped, eyes widening when she saw that Jiro was at the door, quickly snatching him away and slamming the door shut.

“I-I saw them!” Jiro cried. “Th-they’re inside them!”

“Is it true, Mami?” Emi gave Mami a look of betrayal. “You’ve been turning us into those monsters.”

“Nnoo…cann bbee!” June was also freaking out, those it was hard for her in her drugged state.

“No, Mami wouldn’t do that to us!” Daisuke denied.

“Mami cares for us, she wouldn’t…she wouldn’t…” Kiki sobbed.

Mami looked around her children panicked, realising that she was no longer in control, that her magic wasn’t working to keep them blind anymore.

Spotting the stone that Rin had thrown at her in Jiro’s hand, Mami snatched it to get a closer look at it, snarling when she recognised it as a Hag Stone.

The Beldam was quick to crush the stone in her hand, though the damage was already done.

Her gaze then turned sharply to Rin and the necklace he still wore.

“Give that to me!” Mami demanded, reaching for Rin’s necklace.

“No!” Rin denied, trying to get away.

Despite Rin’s struggle, Mami eventually succeeded in taking the pendant from him.

“You brought them here!” Mami accused the boy, recognising the pendant for what it was.

Like with the stone, Mami crushed it in her hand.

“No!” Rin cried out at the loss of the pendant his brother had given him.

Mami dropped the pendant to the floor and went to step on it, only for a black blur to snatch it from under her.

Everyone caught a quick glimpse of a black cat, holding the damaged pendant in its mouth, before it disappeared under a bookcase.

“Vermin.” Mami hissed, knowing that the Cat was already gone.

Casting away her broken façade, Mami shifted into a demonic form and grabbed for her children.

Unlike the last time, where her demonic form had been accepted just as much as her human disguise, all the children now cried and panicked at the sight of her true form.

“It doesn’t matter.” Mami muttered loudly to herself as she took the children into the other room. “They’ll be too late to stop me. You’ll never be able to leave me again!”

Rin took in the room, at the symbols on the floor and the unlit candles, and realised it was for a ritual.

A ritual that, if Mami’s words were anything to go by, would ensure that they could never escape her again, just like all the other children trapped in their monstrous forms.

Eyes widening in fear, Rin quickly began to struggle.

The corridor was long and dark, seemingly endless.

Yukio led the group, his pendant floating out in front of them, leading the way to Rin.

Thankfully, none of the group of three had been hurt in their fall, only slightly winded. And it was decided to find their way to the children, rather than attempt to meet back up with the other Exorcists.

The three of them were all silent, still shocked by the revelation of what the creatures that attacked them really were.

“Jones-san.” Yukio said quietly. “Will Rin...will he…those creatures.”

Yukio bit his lip in an effort to stop his tears, once again reminding the adults of just how young he was.

“I don’t know.” Coraline answered honestly, not sugar-coating it. “Rin lasted seven years, much longer than any child targeted by a Beldam ever, for whatever reason. So, it’s possible that he’ll be spared while the other children won’t be if we don’t reach them in time, but we can’t know for sure.”

Yukio frowned heavily.

He then gasped as his pendant suddenly dropped, just dangling on its string instead of pulling towards its counterpart.

“No! No!” Yukio pleaded, trying to get the pendant to work again.

“Does that mean…?” Coraline trailed off as Shiro nodded.

If the pendant had stopped working, then the counterpart was out of range or more likely destroyed.

Shiro placed a calming hand on Yukio’s shoulder.

“We should be close to Rin anyway, we’ll still save him.” He assured his son.

“You’ll need to hurry.”

Everyone jumped at the new voice.

Looking down, Shiro and Yukio were surprised to find Coraline’s cat, though Coraline just raised an eyebrow.

“So, you can speak again?” She stated.

“Your statement suggests that I lost the ability to speak.” The Cat said nonchalantly in a deep voice, grooming his whiskers. “Perhaps I just didn’t feel the need to speak again until now.”

“Right.” Coraline said, not believing him.

The last time she’d heard the Cat speak was in the pocket dimension that housed the Other Mother, where he’d been perfectly chatty.

So, a far more likely explanation than the Cat’s self-important words was that Mami had twisted Hawthorn House enough that it allowed the Cat to communicate like he did in the Other World, though Coraline had yet to figure out why exactly the Other World, and now Mami’s lair, gave the Cat the ability to speak.

Yukio gasped as he spotted a broken pendant in front of the Cat, the same one he’d given Rin.

“You-!”

Anticipating Yukio’s outburst, Coraline grabbed the teen before he could attack the Cat.

“I saved it from being fully destroyed?” The Cat acted as if that was what Yukio was going to say. “Yes.”

“Mami?” Coraline asked.

The Cat nodded.

“Right after destroying that stone you gave the boy, she didn’t like what it showed him.” He said.

Coraline pursed her lips slightly.

While the Hag Stone she’d given Rin wasn’t any more powerful than the other Hag Stones she had, it had been the one to help protect her when she’d been targeted by the Other Mother and was therefore something of value to her. She’d meant to pass on that value in gifting it to Rin, but now it was gone.

“He saw the children?” Shiro asked to clarify.

The Cat nodded, ears downward.

Shiro curled his fist, knowing that Rin would have even more trauma, on top of what he already had, with learning what happened to all his past friends.

“Can you lead us the rest of the way to the children?” Coraline asked the Cat.

“I can.” The Cat nodded, not sounding particularly incentivised. “They’ll be more of the Beldam’s victims in the way though.”

“We’ll just have to push past.” Shiro said.

He did not like the idea of attacking the creatures, but they were already dead while the other children, including Rin, could still be saved. So, he’d have to ignore what the creatures really were.

Without another word, the Cat turned and ran down the corridor, the Exorcists quickly following.

The creatures didn’t take long to appear, so the Exorcists steeled themselves and kept running, taking down any creature in their way as they continued to follow the Cat until they reached a door.

The Exorcists charged through the door, slamming it shut behind them as the creatures began to bang on it behind them.

“They’re not going to stay out for long.” Coraline noted, looking around the room.

“Here.”

The group looked over to the Cat, who was standing at an open door.

Walking over to the open door, they found a giant room full of what looked like messy spiderwebs.

Coraline shivered as she was reminded of her final confrontation with the Other Mother.

“Be on guard, she’s in here.” The Cat warned.

“Hello?”

Shiro and Yukio perked up at the sound of a familiar voice.

“Rin?” Yukio looked around for his brother.

“Onii-chan!”

Looking up through the layers of webbing, the Exorcists spotted shapes wrapped up in webbing. The children.

From his own wrappings, Rin looked down at the group, a hopeful smile on his sickly face.

Rin seemed to be the only child aware of them, as all the other children were unconscious and deathly still.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get you down.” Coraline told Rin.

Through her Hag Stone, Coraline watched as pulses of energy came from Rin’s wrappings and travelled down the web, the same happening to the other trapped children.

“She’s draining them of their life energy as quickly as she can.” Coraline informed Shiro and Yukio.

“Then let’s find a way up to them and cut them down.” Shiro said.

Walking deeper into the web, they found what could be called the centre, where Mami would be, though she was completely absent, much to Coraline’s suspicion.

“Everyone move!” Coraline yelled, diving to the side.

Shiro and Yukio didn’t question it, diving to the side themselves in time to avoid a surprise attack from a demonic Mami.

Mami was quick to follow up her attack, going after Shiro, who was struggling much more against the Beldam now she was pulling energy from all her children.

Coraline looked at Mami and then frowned up at the children.

“We won’t have long until the children are completely drained.” Coraline said, deciding to go for the children instead of attacking Mami.

Yukio drew his guns and started shooting at Mami, ready to take down the demon even though his bullets had done nothing last time.

“No, Yukio!” Shiro grunted as he clashed with Mami. “Go free the children.”

“But father.” Yukio complained. “You can’t fight it alone.”

“Do as I say!” Shiro ordered. “The children are more important.”

Frowning, Yukio reluctantly did as told.

Looking back at Shiro fighting alone, Coraline mentally cycled through all the familiars she could summon to help him but realised that all the webs and closed in space prevented any of her familiars from being useful.

Though, that didn’t mean she was out of options.

“Hey.” She said to get the attention of the Cat. “You willing to do it?”

The Cat stared up at Coraline with an unreadable expression then looked at the Beldam.

“I suppose I can. But only because I don’t feel like being flung at a Beldam again, especially when they have no buttons for me to scratch off.” The Cat said uncaringly.

“You’re still holding onto that?” Coraline said with mirth as she reached for the necklace she wore and took it off.

“I shall never forget.” The Cat said seriously.

Coraline laughed as she wrapped the cord of her summoning symbol necklace around her hand, with the symbol itself resting in the palm of her hand.

Holding out her wrapped hand in front of her, Coraline clenched it into a tight fist, wincing slightly as the sharp edges of the metal summoning symbol cut into her flesh. Opening her hand again, the symbol was now covered in her blood.

“Ancient gods of the forgotten past, a plead with you to come forth and allow for the true form to be reclaimed once more.” Coraline incanted.

Rather than a new Familiar appearing, smoke leaked out from Coraline’s summoning symbol, snaking towards the Cat and enveloping him.

The mass of smoke grew bigger until it abruptly fell to the floor, revealing a man standing in the place of the Cat.

‘Man’ wasn’t exactly the best description for him though, as though he was humanoid, he was clearly not human. His face was too pointed with a cat’s nose and line trailing down to a curved mouth, his eyes were too big and practically glowed blue, and his ears were too long and pointed.

“Ah.” The Cat’s deep voice emerged from the figure as he stretched, satisfaction on his face. “To be in this form once again.”

“Cat, Beldam!” Coraline reminded the transformed feline ungently.

“Yes, yes.” The Cat waved off. “I need to dig my claws into something anyway.”

The Cat inspected his clawed fingers before leaping into the battle against Mami.

With Shiro having some help, Coraline turned back to helping the children, pulling out a knife to start cutting at the webbing to reach one of the children.

“Kid, focus on the dying children first!” Coraline called to Yukio when she noticed him heading towards Rin first. “Rin should be fine for a while, but the others won’t be.”

Yukio clenched his teeth and looked up at his brother, his instincts screaming at him to go for Rin first, to make sure his brother was fine. But, remembering his promise to Shiro about not letting his emotions control him, Yukio reluctantly changed course to one of the children who was unconscious and very still in their wrappings instead.

“Onii-san!” Rin cried out, realising that his brother wasn’t coming to get him anymore, panicking slightly.

“I’ll be there soon, alright Rin.” Yukio didn’t look at Rin, worried that seeing his brother’s face would make him abandon the other children. “But your friends need urgent help. So, just hang in a little longer.”

“O-okay.” Rin hiccupped.

“No! I won’t let you take them!” Mami screeched, still occupied with Shiro and the Cat.

With seemingly a wave of her hand, the door to the room burst open and the creatures came storming in, heading for the humans.

“Oh, great.” Coraline grumbled. “Let’s get these kids down fast.”

Thankfully, Coraline wasn’t just a Tamer, so she had some weapons and skills to combat the creatures, so she and Yukio were able take turns keeping the creatures occupied while the other worked on cutting down the children. Thankfully, the creatures seemed solely focused on Yukio and Coraline and didn’t bother the children they freed on the floor.

As she kept the creatures away, Coraline hummed at the strings she saw coming off the creatures through her Hag Stone.

The strings hadn’t been there before, but perhaps the strings had been stretched so thin with the distance from Mami that Coraline hadn’t seen them even with her Hag Stone, or Mami was only just now controlling them.

Either way, Coraline knew that those strings had to be cut.

The problem was, her knife just passed through the strings when she attempted to cut them, obviously requiring something more than a basic weapon to sever the link.

Despite the attacking creatures, Coraline and Yukio managed to cut down all but one of the children, Rin, who was looking much paler than before, struggling to keep his eyes open.

“Don’t worry, Rin. I’m coming!” Yukio called to his brother, relieved that there were no more children in the way of freeing him.

Both Yukio and Coraline made their way up towards Rin, only to find themselves suddenly knocked back by Mami, who had disengaged from Shiro and the Cat to prevent them from freeing Rin.

“You will not take him away from me!” Mami screeched.

Thankfully, the Cat was there to catch Yukio and Coraline before they hit the ground.

“She’s becoming desperate.” The Cat remarked, smelling it.

“Wait for an opening.” Shiro told the others as he charged back into the fight.

Yukio, Coraline and the Cat waited for an opening to either attack Mami or take Rin, only for the Beldam to throw another wrench into things.

“If I can’t have my children, then you will not either.” Mami snarled. “Kill them all!”

Coraline and the Cat barely managed to turn in time to start defending the unconscious children from the creatures, who were unable to do anything to defend themselves.

“Kid, a little help here.” Coraline grunted, overwhelmed in trying to defend a stationary target with just the Cat.

Reluctantly, Yukio turned from his father and brother to help defend the other children, trusting that his father would be able to do something without them.

“Come on, dad!” Rin cheered weekly for his father, vision blurring from how tired he was becoming.

Seeing an opening, Shiro took it and stabbed Mami right in the chest.

Unfortunately, the attack also allowed Mami the opportunity to stab Shiro in the side with one of her spider legs.

“Dad!” Rin cried out in worry.

Mami grinned at Shiro despite the pain she was in, reaching behind her to pull Rin out of her web, still trapped in his wrappings.

“You may be able to injure me. But I can just heal, unlike you.” The Beldam boasted.

Pulling her leg from Shiro’s side, the Paladin started to fall, managing to catch himself on some webbing before falling all the way.

“Dad!” Rin cried out again, this time joined by Yukio.

Mami crawled over to where Shiro hung on the webs, draining energy from Rin to heal her chest wound.

She grinned victoriously as she raised up her spider legs to stab down on Shiro again.

“No!” Rin cried out, struggling in her grip.

At the sight of his dad about to die, as well as being brought to death himself from Mami draining his lifeforce, something inside Rin finally broke free, bursting out of him violently.

“Agh!” Mami howled in pain as blue fire erupted out from Rin, burning her and freeing the boy from his bindings.

On instinct, she dropped Rin to the webs below her, which spread the fire to the webbing that filled the room, setting everything alight.

Miraculously, the creatures stopped attacking, looking around as if suddenly lost. And through her Hag Stone, Coraline was able to see that the threads connecting them to Mami were also burning away in the supernatural fire.

“Satan’s flames.” The Cat said, quickly clearing the webbing away from them so that they wouldn’t be caught in the fire when it spread their way. “But why would he bother with-”

Coraline looked up at Rin, realising the same thing as the Cat, much to Yukio’s dismay.

The webs holding Rin and Shiro were quickly eaten away by Rin’s flames, breaking and sending the two to the ground, Shiro quickly grabbing his son and holding him to his chest until they game to a sudden and painful stop.

“Dad!”

“Fujimoto-san!”

Yukio ran over to his father and brother while Coraline and the Cat stayed with the children, Coraline looking at her co-worker in worry.

“I…I’m fine.” Shiro wheezed out, thoroughly winded from his less than pleasant landing, as well as the smoke caused by the burning webs.

“D-dad! What’s going on? Why am I burning?” Rin was freaking out in his father’s arms, blue fire still licking his skin.

“It’s okay Rin.” Shiro comforted as he fought to get to his feet. “You just need to calm down and it’ll go away.”

“Dad, don’t move.” Yukio demanded. “You’ve been stabbed.”

“Staying in one place is not an option right now.” Shiro denied.

“But wouldn’t the fire have-”

Mami lurching out of the burning remains of her webs cut off Yukio’s assumption that she was already dead.

The Beldam was heavily burned, down to the bone at the side she’d been holding Rin, and half her limbs weren’t working. But the demon continued to make her way towards the family.

“Don’t you get it?” Mami hissed with a psychotic grin.

Blindly, Yukio began to pull his father and brother back towards where Coraline and the Cat were watching over the children, the Cat moving forward to position himself in front of them.

“You are my child, Rin.” Mami addressed the trembling boy. “Don’t you see what you are now, you’re a demon too. And I’m the only one who can love you enough to accept you.”

“You’re crazy!” Rin shook his head, crying as he clung to Shiro’s coat.

Mami’s grin turned to a scowl.

“Do not talk back to me! I know what is best for my children!”

“Well, I don’t believe that your children would agree.” The Cat interrupted smugly.

“Especially now that Rin has freed them.” Coraline added stonily, gazing at Mami through her Hag Stone.

“What…?” Mami started to look around, finding that they were all surrounded by the creatures she had twisted her former children into.

And all lidless eyes were focused solely on Mami.

Mami gasped as the creatures converged on her with their sharp claws, the Beldam unable to runaway as her burnt flesh was dug into. Her screams of agony quickly followed.

“Don’t look, Rin.” Shiro ordered as Yukio blocked his younger brother’s view of the gruesome display.

Through her Hag Stone, Coraline could see that the faces of the dead children were no longer contorted in terror, but rather in pure rage.

“It’s always the same.” The Cat remarked as he cleaned himself.

Coraline nodded. “No matter how different Beldams are, their undoing will always be the very children they tormented.”

Mami’s screams eventually ceased and the building began to shift, the huge room shrinking. With the death of the Beldam, Hawthorn House was returning to normal.

In a blink of the eye, the creatures disappeared, leaving behind the ghost of the children who looked at the group before also disappear.

“Goodbye.” Coraline said to the ghosts.

…

Rin had joined the other children in unconsciousness by the time the other Exorcists joined them in the now significantly smaller room, the energy drain, emotional turmoil and awakening taking its toll on the young boy.

Thankfully, Rin’s blue flames had all been extinguished by the time that the other Exorcists had arrived, saving the youngest Okumura from being exposed.

“What happened?” One of the team asked, looking over to the desecrated corpse of Mami.

“The Beldam’s dead.” Coraline took charge. “I’ll give a full report later, but for now we should focus on getting the children and Fujimoto-san medical help immediately. The children have been severely drained of their life energy, and Fujimoto-san received a stab wound to his side and fell from a distance onto his back.”

“Okay.” The team responded, moving to start transporting the children out of Hawthorn House.

Thankfully, medical teams were waiting for the group as soon as they were outside, taking the children to look over them as well as tend to Shiro’s injuries, until they could all get to a hospital.

“No, really, I’m fine. Please concentrate on the children.” Shiro denied medical help beyond the dressing of his stab wound, not wanting to lie down and be fussed over until they left for the hospital.

Sighing, Shiro looked around and spotted Coraline leading against a wall nearby, holding her Beldam book as she updated it with her latest information.

Limping over to her, Shiro found that the Cat was also there on the wall next to her, back in his normal Cat form. And likely also back to being unable to speak.

“You really shouldn’t be moving around with your injuries.” Coraline said, raising an eyebrow.

“It’s nothing that I haven’t had before.” Shiro waved off. “And I’m not doing anything strenuous.”

Looking at Coraline, Shiro spoke again.

“Listen, about what happened in the lair, with Rin-”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Fujimoto-san.” Coraline acted nonchalant. “As far as I remember, we accidently started a completely normal fire through one of my summons, and that’s what freed the dead children to turn on Mami. Rin had nothing to do with it.”

Shiro sighed in relief, glad that Coraline wouldn’t expose Rin’s secret.

“Come on, ambulance is arriving.” Coraline said, pointing to the flashing lights.

As Coraline walked past him, Shiro looked over to the Cat, who stared back at him before following after her.

Yukio sighed as he sat in between his brother and father’s bed at the hospital.

Usually, Rin would be in a ward with the other children, but after the last time Shiro had popped his stitches to personally check up on Rin, the staff had allowed the family to share a hospital room. Shiro being the Paladin probably also helped since all the doctors in that area of the hospital were Exorcists themselves.

While Yukio didn’t approve of his father’s actions, as it definitely did not help the old man’s stab wound or broken ribs, he was glad that we wouldn’t have to switch between rooms to check on his family members anymore.

Though, there wasn’t much to check up on with Rin.

Like the other children, Rin was still unconscious despite their rescue now being days ago.

Shiro and Yukio had been assured that the children would wake up and that they just needed to gather up all the energy Mami had stolen from them first. But it didn’t stop the family from worrying.

Yukio found that things were…not great.

His father was injured and his brother was unconscious after being kidnapped once again by the crazed demon that kidnapped him the first time, not to mention Rin’s Demon Heart being awoken by Mami’s actions.

Still, with Mami gone, Yukio found that he did have hope for things getting better in the future.

Chapter Text

The light was bright but pleasant in the field, a light breeze moving the grass and leaves of the trees ever so slightly.

The only sound was the laughter of many children as they ran about the field, playing with each other before it would be time for them to head towards that light.

Rin himself sat on a large picnic blanket on a hill, leaning contently against one of the other children that occupied the blanket with him.

A wing rested over Rin, a comforting weight to the young boy, who had no wings of his own.

All but a tiny handful of the children sprouted wings from their backs, as well as glowing halos held above their heads by seemingly nothing.

Daisuke, Emi, Kiki, Jiro and June were the only other wingless children in the field, the tiny group of survivors split between the large picnic blanket and running around the field with the winged children.

“It’s nice here.” Rin noted.

The winged children around him nodded.

“It’s been so long since we got to see colour.” Akiko said.

“And there are flowers!” Suzie bounced excitedly on Rin’s lap, showing off a half-finished daisy chain.

Rin smiled down at her.

“Thank you for freeing us.” Ken spoke up.

The other winged children nodded, expressing their own gratitude.

“I didn’t do anything.” Rin denied, shifting uncomfortably. “I just suddenly caught on fire. I didn’t even know I could do that.”

He still didn’t understand just how he suddenly lit up with blue fire, let alone why it burned Mami but not him.

“Well, your fire still feed us from the Beldam.” Chiro said. “Don’t take away your own credit just because you didn’t mean to do it.”

“I guess.” Rin hummed. “But I wish I’d known to do it sooner. So you didn’t have to suffer under M-the Beldam for so long, even after you were already taken.”

“And how exactly could you have known?” Yamato rolled his eyes. “We weren’t exactly able to communicate. The only fault lies with the Beldam.”

The winged boy spat out the demon’s title with disgust, unwilling to use her actual name.

Rin nodded.

Logically, he knew that Yamato was right and that there was nothing he could have done to free them sooner, but emotionally he still felt guilty that his friends had been suffering for so long after they already died.

“I wish we could all stay together now that she’s gone.” Rin expressed.

“Sorry, kid.” Osamu reached over to ruffle Rin’s hair. “But we can’t stay forever. Now that we’re free, the light is waiting for us.”

“And we don’t want to catch you following us into it anytime soon.” Chiro added.

Rin sniffed, internally raging at how unfair it was.

“It…it’s not fair.” He hiccupped. “I only just got you all back and you’re leaving again.”

“It’s okay, Rin.” Kagami comforted. “At least now, we get to say goodbye.”

“Smile!” Suzie cheered, holding up a completed flower crown and placing it on Rin’s head.

Rin smiled.

He, at least, found it a slight comfort that his final memories of his friends was this moment in a beautiful field, and no longer their horrible fates in the fake city.

“Be happy, Rin.” Akiko said as the children gathered around him for a group hug. “For you are still alive.”

All around, the children joined in the comforting hug.

“And for that, we are at peace.”

Rin couldn’t tell who said that, lost in the hug as the field faded away.

Rin blinked awake to an unfamiliar, stark white, ceiling.

Due to how much cotton had to be in his head, it took Rin a moment to register the continuous beeping filling the room. It then took a little longer for the young boy to recognise that he was in a hospital room.

Turning his head, Rin looked around the room, finding his brother sitting in a chair next to their father, who was in a hospital bed like Rin, the two staring intently as some papers out of a large pile of them.

Registering a weight on his legs, Rin looked down to find that Kuro was sleeping there, quietly purring away in his sleep.

This made Rin question whether he really was in a hospital after all, as he was pretty sure that animals weren’t allowed in a human hospital, even if Kuro wasn’t a regular cat.

“Mmh…” Rin mumbled, unable to form words from how tired he was.

Yukio and Shiro immediately turned their attentions towards Rin at the sound.

“Rin!” Yukio quickly leapt to Rin’s side, overjoyed to see his brother awake.

“O-ii…an.” Rin mumbled, attempting to bring his arms up towards his brother.

Being careful not to disturb the various equipment surrounding Rin, Yukio pulled his younger brother into a hug.

“How are you feeling.” Shiro asked his younger son once he’d managed to pull himself out of his own bed.

“Da…” Rin made grabby hands towards his father instead of answering.

“I guess you’re tired then.” Shiro laughed slightly as Yukio reluctantly passed Rin over to him. “Not a surprise, considering all that’s happened.”

Mindful of his injuries, Shiro lent over and pressed the nurse-call button, knowing that he shouldn’t put off calling a health professional to prolong their family reunion.

Thankfully, the nurse that arrived didn’t need to stay long, reporting that Rin was still recovering well and recording Rin’s current state before leaving. Also giving news that the other children were waking up themselves.

“It over?” Rin asked, able to speak better after being given a while to fully wake up.

“Yes, Rin. It’s over.” Shiro promised. “The demon’s gone and you and your friends are all safe from her.”

He wished that he could say that Rin was completely safe, but with the burst of fire Rin had given out, he knew that wouldn’t stay true for long.

“I’m glad.” Rin stated, snuggling closer to his family, pulling a still sleepy Kuro into his arms.

Yukio smiled.

If Rin was expressing that he was glad Mami was gone, then that had to count towards his recovery somehow. Right?

“I am too.” Shiro said, running his fingers through Rin’s hair. “It means that I can finally take those holidays that I was promising you.” He then messed up Rin’s hair.

Rin giggled.

“Yay.” He cheered quietly.

“Where shall we go? Maybe a theme park, I’m pretty sure I can force some tickets out of a certain headmaster.”

“Beach!” Rin jumped excitedly in Shiro’s hold, before quickly sinking back down as he became dizzy.

“You both need to recover before you can go anywhere.” Yukio told his father and brother.

He didn’t want his father and brother going anywhere but their own beds once they left hospital, until they recovered.

“Ah, how could I raise such a stick in the mud?” Shiro joked.

“You raised me to be responsible.” Yukio replied. “Something that you’ve apparently lost in your old age.”

“Hey, who are you calling old?” Shiro demanded, reaching over and messing up Yukio’s hair.

Rin giggled as his brother complained and tried to neaten his hair.

Despite all that had happened, he found himself happy, being there with his family.

And he hoped that it wouldn’t change again.

“No, the sand needs to be wet, or it won’t make the castle.” Rin told Yukio, gesturing with his plastic spade.

“Okay.” Yukio replied, already well aware of how to construct a sandcastle, but wanting for his brother to be able to express himself by being in charge.

“Don’t add too much water, or it’ll melt and stick in the bucket.” Rin then said as Yukio poured water into the sand to wet it.

“Alright.” Yukio responded with a small smirk.

Shiro smiled at his sons from the blanket he was sat on, Kuro lazing beside him in the sun.

True to her word, Coraline didn’t make one mention of Rin’s flames in her report, meaning that the family didn’t have to worry about scrutiny from the Order for a little longer.

It was almost sad for Shiro when Coraline eventually left to go back to her home country, now that the Beldam case no longer kept her in Japan, it would have been nice for Shiro to have someone else who know Rin’s identity close.

Though, the two did remain in contact, Coraline promising to send Shiro a copy of her Beldam book once she had finished updating it with the information about Mami.

So, Shiro was free to enjoy his accumulated paid leave days with Rin, and Yukio when his elder son was able. Unfortunately, school was still a thing, and now that Rin was back home with Mami being gone, Yukio was able to resume his usual studies.

Thankfully, Rin wasn’t alone as he was before, and that was even taking into account that Shiro was home full-time for a while.

The other living victims of the Beldam were finally able to see each other now that the threat of Mami was no longer preventing them from meeting up. Some of their meetings were just play-dates set up between Shiro and the other parents, but a lot of the time the children met with each other during their group therapy sessions.

Each child had their own private therapy sessions, but the group sessions were also there to help them work through their issues collectively, using their strong bond to aid in their recovery.

Even Rin himself finally had a full trained and certified therapist, allowing Miss Brook to just focus on getting Rin back up to speed on his education, one who Shiro could trust with knowing the truth about Rin, since a therapy session could end up with the young boy bursting into flames if his emotions got too high.

With Rin himself remembering how he’d burst into flames, Shiro had been forced to reveal his son’s demonic heritage. Rin had winced and looked sad when he’d been told that he was half demon, though didn’t have as bad as a reaction as he could have, probably because being labelled as a demon by everyone was a seven-year-old wound that took a backseat to far more recent issues.

Still, Shiro hadn’t been entirely truthful with Rin yet. He and Yukio had agreed to keep the exact identity of the brothers’ demon father a secret, at least until Rin had properly acclimated to the world of demons and exorcists. They didn’t want to overwhelm the young boy.

At least with Rin being aware of his abilities, Shiro could work on helping him control them, so that there was less risk of Rin exposing his flames in front of the wrong people. Due to Rin’s outburst against Mami, the seal on the sword had all but burnt off already, but as long as it remained undrawn, Rin would get to keep his human appearance.

The family was in a rather precarious situation, even with the thread of Mami gone. But Shiro was just glad that he got to see both his sons smiling and being happy again.

…

Rin smiled proudly at his sandcastle.

It was on top of a large hill to look out on the vast kingdom of the beach, had many layers and even a moat. The perfect place for a crab to live, once he found one.

All it needed now was decoration.

“Onii-chan, we need shells.” Rin said.

“Okay, let’s go look for some.” Yukio said, getting to his feet.

There was no way he was going to let Rin wander off on his own again, after the last time.

“Dad, look after the castle! Okay?” Rin called to their father.

“I’ll keep a close eye on it, kid.” Shiro promised, waving from the blanket.

Content in the knowledge that his sandcastle would be safe under the dutiful watch of his father, Rin dragged Yukio off to find some nice shells.

“This one looks nice. Aw, this one’s broken.” Rin commentated on his finds, dropping his shells into his bucket. “Oh, sea glass for windows.”

As he reached down for another shell, Rin took notice of a small rock beside it.

It was just a stone, nothing special about it over than a naturally formed hole that was slightly off-centre.

Rin picket the stone up and turned it over in his hand, noting how different in shape it was to the stone that Miss Jones had given him.

Peaking through the hole, Rin looked around but found nothing different, just like when he’d first been given a stone by Miss Jones.

But this time, instead of it making him feel disappointed, it made him smile.

Pocketing the stone, Rin vowed to find a string for it later.

As he went back to picking shells, Rin remember that strange tool Miss Jones had worn over her eyes that held her holed stone for her, and wondered whether he’d need one for himself when he became an Exorcist.

And Rin would become an Exorcist. He’d vowed it to himself that he would become someone who protects people, like he did for Yukio when they were younger, or rather when Yukio was younger, that he’d save people from things like what happened to him and the others.

Yukio had pulled a funny face when Rin had told him that he wanted to become an Exorcist, immediately denying him. Thankfully, their father’s word still trumped Yukio’s, and the old man had agreed to start training Rin, though he said that Rin was just going to be taught the ‘basics’ for a while, because Rin still had a long road of recovery in front of him.

“Rin, I think you have enough.” Yukio interrupted Rin’s thoughts.

“Huh? Oh.” Rin looked into his bucket, which was full up of shells, sea glass and even some nicely patterned sea pottery.

Satisfied that he had enough, Rin turned around and began to head back towards their sandcastle.

On their return, Rin’s face shifted into an annoyed glare when he noticed that their father was napping, instead of keeping an eye on their sandcastle as promised. Luckily, nothing had happened to it in the old man’s negligence.

“Hey!” Rin marched over to his father and kicked sand at him.

“Ah.” Shiro spluttered, trying to get grains of sand out of his mouth.

Kuro yowled as he woke up to sand in his fur, quickly shaking to try and get it out, looking at Rin in betrayal.

“Sorry Kuro.” Rin apologised to the familiar first. “Next time, watch the sandcastle.” Rin huffed at his father, turning back to said sandcastle.

Shiro glared at his youngest son, not appreciating the taste of sand in his mouth.

“You brought this on yourself?” Yukio shrugged to his father.

The old man really should have known better.

Yukio went over to join his brother, helping Rin to sort out his beach treasures and handing him pieces to decorate their sandcastle. Now awake, Kuro crept over to them to eye the shiny pieces of sea glass, and so see if any of the shells still had sea food in them.

Quickly getting over having sand kicked on him by his own son, Shiro once again smiled at his sons playing together.

Grabbing an old camera from his bag, Shiro snapped a picture of the scene. It reminded him heavily of the last picture he had of his sons being the same age, which made him wonder if Yukio would manage to get sunburn again.

…

The family stayed at the beach for another hour, until the sun was dipping low in the horizon, before deciding to head home.

“Noo, don’ wanna go.” Rin mumbled, rubbing his eyes.

Thankfully, Shiro had washed Rin’s hands, so he wasn’t rubbing sand or salt into them.

Shiro just shook his head.

He knew that Rin didn’t actually want to stay, the tired young boy was just operating on tired kid logic, not really understanding what he wanted.

“Come on, I want to get home before it gets too dark.” Shiro said, holding the car door open for Rin.

With some mumbled complaints, Rin crawled into the car and onto his booster seat, letting Yukio fasten him in as Kuro clambered onto his lap.

The car had barely started on its way home before Rin’s head lolled back, the boy tired out by the day’s activities, causing Shiro and Yukio to chuckle as Yukio shifted Rin’s head to be in a better position.

It was almost completely dark by the time Shiro pulled the car up to the monastery.

“Yukio, can you carry Rin inside?” Shiro asked as he turned off the car. “Yukio?”

Shiro turned around at the lack of response, only to find Yukio with his eyes closed, leaning against Rin with one arm around his younger brother.

Shiro had to stifle his laugh as he took out the camera again to snap another photo, though he knew it was going to be bad quality with how dark it was.

Calling on one of the other priests to carry Rin and Kuro inside, Shiro summoned the strength to carry Yukio all the way from the car to his bed like he was a young child again, being careful not to disturb Yukio.

His ribs screamed at him for it, but Shiro found it was worth it to keep Yukio as relaxed as he was.

His elder son had been too up-tight lately.

With one last smile at his sons snuggled up in their beds, Shiro closed their bedroom door and let them sleep in peace.

THE END