Work Text:
"Zzzz..."
"Rin... wake up!"
"Huh...?"
He jerked awake upon hearing Shiemi's whisper and feeling her gentle prod. He'd fallen asleep in class again, but thankfully this time only Shiemi had noticed. School was boring whatever the subject was, but studying the Bible and related scripture recitation spells had to be the most tiresome subject ever. He didn't want to be an Aria, so why did he even have to be here? Did they really expect someone who was half-demon to be interested in holy scripture anyway?
It'd help if their teacher, Miss Angeline, could speak properly and make herself understood. Her weird European accent and the way she sometimes mixed her words around made her tricky to decipher at times. It was like learning from a female, human form of Jedi Master Yoda with a lisp.
"Good Meester Miwa - zat ees correct. Now, let uz move on to le Book of Revelationz to le John," she said, waving her finger from side to side. Her familiar, a large white cat sith that sat on her shoulder, yawned and readjusted itself to a more comfortable position round her neck. Unlike Kuro, the demon had only one tail, indicating a European origin like its master. The yawning was infectious; Rin followed suit, sighing and resting his chin on his fist, effectively propping his head up with his elbow. "Now, le Revelationz are usually used just to subdue le demonz. Ze contents of le book speak of the world ending, and of 'orrible things destroying ze Earth, and of Satan 'imself. These things appeal to le demonz, and will, 'ow you say, placate zem, giving you time to attack using uzzer methods or to escape without injury. Zere are no known demonz with a fatal verse in le book, but eet eez effective for placating any demon, even zose weeth no known fatal verses."
"Ze 'omework set last week included reading and memorising le book. So as le test, 'oo can recite le passage eleven from le verse 15, after le second woe has passed?"
There was no way Rin was going to volunteer for that privilege. He hadn't even opened his Bible, much less read and memorised entire chapters of it! He knew the morals, beliefs, tales and fables from growing up in a monastery, and if pushed could probably sing a hymn or two, but could you imagine Satan’s son actually reading the good book? Yukio's copy of Shonen Jump had been much more interesting. Instead, Izumo put her hand up and stood up to recite the verse.
"Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying 'The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever'..."
Izumo was good at remembering things, thought Rin. Almost as good as Suguro, only not as cool in her attitude. He envied their ability to absorb information sometimes. He could study until the cows come home and never memorise a thing, apart from maybe how many ceiling tiles there were in the room, or how many split ends there were in his tail hair, or how many pages of a textbook he needed to make a flipbook animation of a man being hit in the face by a custard pie. It might help if he could concentrate on a textbook for longer than ten minutes. He'd always been more of an action person, learning by doing, and he tended to do things his own way. 'Keep hitting it with the flaming sword until it goes away' had always worked for him in the past, so why stop the winning formula now?
Urgh, all this Biblical nonsense was giving him a headache. The room felt stuffy and his vision was actually distorting, as if he was about to have a migraine. He rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger, trying to relieve some of the discomfort. It didn't help. See, this was the reason he didn't enjoy classroom studies - nearly all eggheads suffered frequent migraines from the stress and pressure of learning!
It was a bit weird though, as he'd never suffered migraines before, either in class or out of it...
"And there were flashes of light, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail." Izumo finished.
"Yes - very good as usual Missus Kamiki, very good! Zat is perfect! Now, 'oo can continue with passage twelve?"
This time it was Suguro who raised his hand to speak. This ought to be good. Suguro was awesome at reciting, and his dulcet tone just added to the majesty of his words. Rin could imagine him reciting the works of Shakespeare in some huge auditorium in front of a large crowd of artsy admirers; he'd make a brilliant thespian.
"And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars..."
Something wasn't right. His chest all of a sudden felt tight and painful. Was he having a heart attack? He couldn't be - he was too young and good looking for cardiac arrest! He choked, grasping at his shirt with the fingers of his right hand, his breath catching halfway out of his mouth, feeling like he was suffocating, his lungs trapped in a vice. The room was spinning, his vision distorting further to the point he could no longer see anything with any clarity, his head feeling close to exploding in pain...
"Rin..." Shiemi had noticed his distress as he doubled up over his desk, clutching desperately at his sternum as he tried and failed to breathe.
"She was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery..." Suguro continued, drawing attention away from Rin.
"Rin... what's wrong?" Shiemi whispered desperately at him.
"Hush over there!" the teacher reprimanded briefly in an annoyed sigh, waving a hand dismissively in their direction but not actually paying them attention. To her, it looked like Rin was withholding laughter, which was nothing new.
"And another portent appeared in heaven; behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems upon his heads."
The room was unbearably hot now, the walls spiralling dizzyingly out of control while black spots danced in his increasingly tunnelled vision. Suguro's voice became hazy, replaced by a loud whining noise, like an un-tuned TV, that grew in volume until it obscured everything. His throat seemed to be closing over, as if a giant hand had grasped his neck and was slowly squeezing tighter and tighter. He was shaking, shivering uncontrollably despite the sweat beading all over his body. The hand grasping his shirt was white knuckled now, almost tearing the fabric. He wanted to cry out, to tell someone that something unexplainable was wrong, but words failed him. He could feel Shiemi's cool hand touching his arm, questioning.
"His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, that he might devour her child when she brought it forth..."
The intense pain was too much. It overcame him in a blinding flash of white light. He coughed once, a wet-sounding choke which brought forth a well of blood that gushed from his mouth and stained his front a bright crimson. Consciousness left him and he collapsed forward over his desk before rolling out of his seat onto the floor with a pained grunt.
"She brought forth a male child, one who is-"
"RIN!"
Shiemi's cry sliced through the lesson like a knife, stopping Suguro's recital short.
"Oh my goodness!" cried the teacher, flustered.
"What happened?!" Izumo shrieked.
"Aaaah! Passage 12 must be his fatal verse!" Konekomaru said in a panicky fashion, twitching his fingers nervously.
"Rin! RIN!" Shiemi kept calling him, knelt beside him, shaking him, trying to wake him up but getting no response.
"Oh shit - Okumura!" Suguro yelled, tipping his chair over in his haste as he hustled over. "You better not be dead, you hear me?"
"He's still breathing!" Shima confirmed, leaning over Rin and checking his vitals. "Someone find a Doctor!" Izumo and Konekomaru simultaneously dashed from the classroom followed by the teacher, off in search of someone - anyone - who could help.
"Shit shit shit shit..." Suguro repeated over and over, running the fingers of both hands through his hair. "What have I done?!"
"Oh Bon, you're far too good at what you do!" jested Shima. "But it's not your fault. Nobody could have known that Okumura had a fatal verse. He's mostly human... I think."
"Riiiiiiin!" Shiemi cried out, feeling helpless that there was nothing she could do.
It wasn't long before Konekomaru returned with none other than Yukio in tow. The young teacher had a wild, glazed look to his eyes from the shock of hearing bad news regarding a family member. It was an all too common expression on his youthful face these days, although usually it was for fear of Rin being carted off by the Vatican for whatever reason, or because Rin had gone and done something stupid again. It was a wonder he wasn't grey-haired, what with the amount of stress being related to Satan caused.
"Oh Rin!" he whimpered, dropping to his knees next to his brother. He instantly began the actions of first aid, checking vitals more thoroughly than Shima had done, clearing his airway of excess blood. "His pulse is weak..." he murmured, rolling his brother into the recovery position. "He's lost quite a lot of blood, but that should replenish itself quickly given his regenerative powers. It's not the first time he's been hit by holy weaponry, so I'd imagine the physical damage to his body will heal pretty fast."
He checked each of Rin's eyes with a small torch, observing the pupils contract to the light. "Responding well... that's good..."
Izumo came back then, visible tears collecting in her eyes, showing an unusually caring side to her usually stoic and cold personality.
"I can't find anyone!" she said, her voice breaking. "I sent my familiars out to look, but there's nobody around to help and- oh! Okumura-sensei!"
"I found Yukio," Konekomaru reassured her. She visibly relaxed at this.
"That's good," she said, the usual tsundere nature returning as she surreptitiously dabbed her eyes dry with her sleeves then crossed her arms. "Not that I really give a damn about that idiot, but it's not like I want him to die or anything..." she mumbled to herself.
"Will he be OK?" Suguro asked Yukio.
"It looks that way," Yukio said with a sigh of relief. He pulled a couple of vials out of his coat pocket and loaded a hypodermic syringe with a green-tinted liquid. He tapped the glass to remove any air bubbles, and jabbed the needle into Rin’s arm. “I’ve given him a herbal infusion which should aid his recovery. Obviously, I can’t use anything holy or anti-demon, but this is something we usually use for injured familiars and it’s perfectly safe for humans. I’m hoping it’ll perk him up a bit. From what I understand you were learning about the Book of Revelations. Just out of curiosity, what verse where you reciting?"
"Huh? Oh - twelve," Suguro answered, his mind obviously elsewhere. He appeared to be unable to take his eyes off the blood staining much of Rin's shirt.
"Twelve... the woman carrying the child of God destined to become the saviour and the dragon of Satan wishing to corrupt it... makes sense... although supposedly that was talking about Jesus, but I suppose Satan could be classed as a god also... more of a fallen angel though…" Yukio muttered mostly to himself. "I never even dreamed that an Aria existed that could destroy Rin."
"I shouldn't have recited it," Suguro huffed, angry with himself.
"How could you have known?" Yukio said blandly, taking Rin’s pulse a second time and pleased to find it was now beating with a stronger and more regular rhythm. Some colour was beginning to return to his brother’s face as well. "Nobody knew, and it could have happened to anybody. If Rin even bothered to do his homework, it would have probably knocked him out just reading it! It's just unfortunate that it happened to be you reciting. The human side of him protected him from the worst of the damage, and it's a good thing that you didn't complete the verse - that probably would have killed him!"
Shiemi gave a small gasp at this statement and Suguro went very pale.
Suddenly, Rin gave a weak cough and a pained moan.
"Rin!" Yukio and Shiemi cried simultaneously.
With what seemed to take a massive amount of effort, Rin managed to open his eyes a crack.
"Oooouuugghh... whu...?" he whined quietly.
"Shit Okumura - don't you scare us like that man!" Suguro scolded him.
"I... err... what?" Rin said, sounding stronger already but with a shaky, wavering tone to his voice. He blinked a couple of times and coughed again. "Why am I on the floor?"
"Well... err..." Suguro scratched his arm nervously, unable to answer the question.
"Let's just say that you don't have to worry about learning the Book of Revelations," said Yukio, earning a confused look from his twin.
"Yukio? What are you doing here? Did I... fall asleep in class again or something?" he queried. He sat upright with a bit of help from Shima and Shiemi, rubbing his forehead with one hand and groaning again. "Eeeeh... everything hurts...and why do I taste metal?"
"We should probably take you back to the dorms," Yukio said. "Considering what's happened, I think we should call an end to classes for the day."
"So... we can leave early?" Shima said with a barely concealed hope.
"...yes," Yukio said.
"Aha! Okumura, I could kiss you!" Shima said to Rin, earning another confused look from the still-pale demon.
"Hey - will somebody explain to me what happened?" he growled, sounding much more like his usual self. "Ah! I'm covered in blood!"
"You almost died Rin," said Shiemi. "One minute you were fine, the next it looked like you were having trouble breathing, then you collapsed."
"You have a fatal verse," Izumo said. "You realise this means I could easily kill you now."
"Don't you dare!" Konekomaru scolded her, frowning.
"Like I would," she growled, cheeks flushing a light pink.
"Huh? So... that actually happened?" Rin queried, frowning. He scratched at his cheek. "Hmm. I thought I dreamt that! I guess dreams aren’t supposed to hurt though." He smiled, but it looked sinister with the blood-stains still slathered on his chin. "Bon - you're gonna make a fantastic Aria!"
"Don't praise me idiot!" Suguro scolded him. "I nearly killed you! And don't call me Bon!"
"Yeah, but you didn't, right? So it’s fine," Rin shrugged. He wiped some of the blood off his face with the back of his right wrist while Yukio clamped a portable blood pressure monitor around his left arm.
"Th...that's not the point here!" Suguro stuttered. He was turning pale as the weight of what nearly occurred permeated his brain. "You could have... and it'd have been me who..."
"Suguro, maybe you should sit down for a minute or two," Yukio advised, observing the cuff as it inflated with a few quiet beeps. With a quiet puff of air, it revealed Rin to be within normal tolerance – a good sign considering he’d just lost quite a bit of blood. His brother’s regenerative ability was seriously impressive.
Suguro nodded and collapsed down into the nearest chair, running his fingers through his hair again. "Shit!" he swore again under his breath, while Konekomaru placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Bon - seriously. Don't sweat it!" Rin told him. "You can quote that bible-crap at me however much you want. I don't die easily, and I refuse to die until I defeat Satan!"
"Heh, not if I defeat him first!" Bon smiled.
“You know… if Revelations is Okumura’s weak point… maybe that holds true for Satan as well…?” Konekomaru pondered out loud.
“Well, it’s a start towards defeating him at any rate,” Shima said, nodding pensively. “I doubt he’d give you time to complete a verse though, what with the blue flaming insta-death and all that.” He made some sound effects for fire and acted out a comical screaming and dying routine.
“My, you sure are cheery,” Izumo huffed. “Tactful too.”
Shima noticed Rin was wearing an oddly wistful expression. “Oh right. Yeah. Sorry Okumura!”
At that point the teacher returned, bringing with her two doctors. They took one look at Yukio, saw that Rin was now sitting upright, and after one of them sighed and mumbled something about wasting their time, they left.
“Ah, sank goodness!” the teacher said. “Meester Okumura, are you alright now?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Rin said tiredly, nodding his head. He still had a slight headache, but no doubt he’d sleep it off.
“Zat is good. I see Yu-kun got here first. Good good.”
“I have dismissed class for today, Miss Angeline,” Yukio told her. “I hope that’s not too presumptuous of me… but after what happened I don’t think anyone will be able to concentrate. My brother, of course, will have to skip all classes relating to the book of Revelations from now on.”
“No, I was going to suggest ze same. I’ll leave ze class in your hands zen, Yu-kun?”
“No worries, Miss Angeline,” Yukio smiled. Miss Angeline gave a single nod and then left the classroom. “Right, everyone, class officially dismissed. However… can one of you help me get Rin back to the dorms? He’s too heavy for me alone.”
“Yukio, I can walk!” Rin spat indignantly. “I feel fine!”
“I’d still feel better about everything if I at least went with you,” Bon said heavily. “Just to make sure you get back alright.”
“I don’t plan on dropping down dead between here and the dorms either,” Rin muttered. “But… thanks.” A little unsteady, he managed to find his feet and stand.
With Bon one side and Yukio the other, they led him back to the dorms to rest. Everybody else went their separate ways, a lot of thoughts on their minds. If Rin had died, what would they have done? And if Rin could be hurt, could Satan? Those thoughts offered both hope and despair.