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He could brag to everyone and their cousin that he had predicted the whole ordeal — truly it wouldn't be far from the truth, as everything did quite happen as he foresaw, albeit some mild details no one thought of possible.
Not to mention that he could demand being revered as a Seer, a magnificent yet extremely rare power to any demon. Much to their common displeasure it was far easier for humans to develop such abilities as Shamans — even if not so usual and restricted to few lineages — which didn't change their value, however it was much more convenient to reach out to a Seer in Gehenna than it was to swallow their pride as demons in Assiah, looking for humans.
It would take just two or three testimonies of said prediction, maybe his notes from the time of the supposed vision and it would be more than enough for him to be recognized as a Seer — for any demon that not only would elevate their status but also their valuable possessions.
None of this mattered to him , of course.
Being recognized as a Seer was far from his utmost desires and after the mess of True Cross Academy, The Vatican's true colors and the Illuminati's twisted plans being exposed for the whole of Assiah, most demons decided to lay low — although not the reason behind his rejection of this Seer idea, it was enough of a factor to make him uninterested to put up another mask so soon.
He was not a demon capable of future predictions, however Mephisto had a combination of both latent ability to read people and their relationships and the highest joy to speculate about it. Amaimon once dared to call him a blatant gossiper, which was truly an offense to his techniques of observation and storytelling.
Anyhow, the story of the Okumuras would be the only tale of his old age that Mephisto would rather be a mistake on his part.
At first glance the siblings had all the star crossed signs to be a marvelous story of resilience, brotherhood and loyalty.
But.
A careful gaze into their daily life, actions showing far more than empty words laced with counterfeit worry ever could have made something curl up inside this old demon, a feeling that most surely should not even exist as he was no newborn — yet, it did.
Everytime he watched the brothers interact, his eyes would follow the youngest with scrutiny never once trusting his interests.
It was bothersome and pathetic, the whole debacle. More often than not this old demon found himself sneering while he drank tea just for what the youngest Okumura would stand for.
What an excuse of a being.
All he had was one mediocre position within the Vatican, merely a fly on the wall that they were ready to crush in less than a breath — still the fool thought so highly of himself as if he was a god.
Mephisto snickered at such naivety then.
That one Okumura could never reach the sky with his bare hands and determination alone, and that was the proof of his lacking. It wasn't about flames, those could never be the sole reason for one's downfall – but to fall you must first reach the top, which had never been true in his case.
Truly a pity show, boring and all the same disgustingly to watch.
Whilst with the oldest…
He was—
“I'd dare to say you seem almost fond whenever you think about that brat.”
Amaimon jumped out of the way the next second to avoid the attack, but dismissed Mephisto's glare all the same as if nothing had been done. The green haired demon kept munching on his potato chips, staring down at him expressionless as always.
“I'm just saying, brother,” his youngest has the nerve to shrug, his lazy movements making the crumbles of the package fall on his tapestry.
There's no point in making a ruckus to deny his sibling's words, as Amaimon couldn't care less if anything he said was held as truth in other's tongues.
“Has it been long enough since he disappeared so that I must expect him to be dead already?”
Mephisto rolls his eyes, uncaring of Amaimon's foolish resentment since he never got over the fact that a half demon with suppressed and still unlearnt abilities were able enough to make a full fledged demon to be scared.
“It's not been nearly enough years for a normal human to have died of old age, not to mention a half demon one that ceased an ongoing war in an instant, silly brother of mine,” he singly mocks the younger demon.
Amaimon scoffs while throwing his head back on the spinning chair. “He wasn't supposed to survive it anyway, who's to say he didn't die shortly after?”
The purple haired demon resigns himself into curling up his lips only to not break character and laugh hysterically — he may be not worried in gaining fame as a Seer, but sure as hell itself he won't tarnish his current one over something so brazen.
“Given the fact that we ourselves cannot do much in terms of displays of power outside Gehenna, I would say that Okumura Rin is pretty much not dead indeed.”
He swirls a wine glass between his fingers while meticulously watching the red liquid turn on itself. His eyes glint and he takes a sip.
“But I wouldn't dare to go after him if I were you, Amaimon.”
His younger, foolish (but not naive) and almost childish-like brother arches an eyebrow at him, utterly confused. It's funny how Amaimon truly doesn't care enough to act upon how others perceive him (although neither does Samael, for a fact).
“Why, though? It would be fun!”
Whilst Mephisto doesn't snort, his lips curve up humorously. “If the saying of never poking at a lion den is warning enough, imagine what it would be to provoke a beast's?”
Amaimon stares at him unimpressed and face's void of humor – whilst not something out of the ordinary for a millennia aged demon, this brother of his often doesn't carry himself with severity. “I just meant to say that he's powerful and proved to be a great adversary to alleviate accumulated tension. I don't mean to interfere or harm him in any way. If he doesn't want to be king of Gehenna, that has nothing to do with me. But maybe he's up to a friendly spar...” then he arches an eyebrow, “Or brotherly-spar, whatever.”
Mephisto chuckles this time.
“Of course,” he hums.
It doesn't surprise him that Amaimon is feeling bored given the quietness of it all in Gehenna. Lately it's been far more entertaining to travel around Assiah even without their powers.
Maybe that's what they both should do.
Being an unemployed fake-human sucks, though — and his cover has long been compromised within Assiah and if honesty is truly required in a change of heart, Mephisto must admit that he also feels quite bored with how things have been lately. It's only for that reason that one more pleading look from his sibling has him sighing and conceding to the other’s request.
“You better behave, Amaimon,” the purple haired demon warns while preparing the portal.
His brother rolls his eyes, hands leisurely going at the back of his head to support it as he gets closer, “I find your lack of faith in me really offensive.”
Mephisto stares pointedly at his brother, offering an arm. “Well, dear brother of mine, this matter requires our utmost care and delicacy which you seem to lack on a normal basis.”
Amaimon gives him the middle finger – quite the obnoxious gesture he gathered from mortals, but straightens his posture to grab his brother’s forearm.
“Do not take me for an idiot, even someone like me has some decency,” he mutters.
Before stepping in the portal taking his brother with him, the taller demon chooses not to extend their meaningless debate any longer than he already has as both of them have much more pressing (and greater) matters to attend to even if they weren’t invited.
It's relatively easy that the pair of them end up mostly in the central region of Japan, where the weather at this time of mortal’s year is moderately chilly for most there. Just as they appear in the back of an alley, Amaimon is the first of them to sneeze loudly. “Damn! Why does it have to be so cold!?”
“Indeed, brother,” he answers with a frown, the sensation nothing even he was used to.
Certainly, none of them had been prepared for the sudden change of temperature, given that Mephisto’s study room and the overall thermic sensation at Gehenna was adequate to their demonic bodies in the sense that they never experienced any sort of discomfort regarding it.
In the past, however, Assiah wouldn’t have that much of an effect on them either, drops or highs in the weather were barely noticed before – unless on rather specific occasions where they were usually hurt.
Needless to say that over the last ten years much in the world had changed — notably more for higher-up demons such as Amaimon and him, as Mephisto himself feels his fingertips getting colder even while gloved.
Even if they weren’t familiarized with the feeling of coldness itself, it was more than obvious that for humans the current weather wasn’t much of a bother given that people walked around the streets with only a few layers of clothing.
“Where are we, anyway?” Amaimon asks, verging on annoyment as he rubs his hands together in an attempt to keep them warm.
Mephisto begins to search his coat’s pockets, looking for the popular human device he had acquired some time ago. “We are in Nagoya, dear brother.”
“And where is that brat, anyway? He’d better not be far from here.”
At his brother’s pout after a shivering clatter of his teeth, Mephisto snickers. “I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed to known that I have no clue.”
Ever one for dramatics and exceedingly loud shrieks, Amaimon hands shoots to the air in disbelief. “What?! Then what in Gehenna’s eight kingdoms are we doing here?!”
Ignoring his youngest’s antics and childish behavior, the former director of True Cross Academy begins exploring the smartphone device in his hands.
“Hey, why do you have one of these?”
“For traveling purposes, of course. It is not like my powers can be freely used in Assiah, Amaimon. We’ll have to do it in the human way.”
Being the sadist he is, Mephisto is thoroughly satisfied when his sibling’s face becomes startled in horror as if in physical pain at the sudden realization that they’ll have no choice but to travel like humans until they find Okumura Rin.
It’s not an easy task to look for the Blue Exorcist that flew under the radar ten years ago, but they’ll begin their search off somewhere.
After buying warmer clothes, of course.
~
Their destination is, unsurprisingly, Kyoto. After all, his dearest and former double spy has been located there since after the final battle and Mephisto needs to ascertain what information has been circulating regarding his half-brother before proceeding with his plans.
Shima Renzou used to be a cute little student, one of the six former members of the so-called Cram Squad that Rin had been a part of. A spy for the Illuminatis in the beginning, who turned out to become a spy for the Order per Mephisto’s request — not that any of his classmates knew until much later in their daily lives together.
That boy had been a true wild card that had kept Mephisto interested for a long time, never sure of his truest goals and intentions as Renzou had played a central part in the abduction of another classmate, Kamiko Izumo, and the recruitment of Okumura Yukio’s to the Illuminati’s side.
Both acts had been perceived unmistakingly as a painful betrayal for the group, all of them unaware of their friend’s dark secret, as for he was a young heart with one of the grayest of morals that Mephisto had ever seen in all of his existence — a human, at that. Renzou wasn’t inherently a good or bad person, just an uninterested teenager that didn’t label either himself or his relationships even if his two closest and childhood friends had been forced to battle him in the aftermath of his decisions, never before choosing to directly cause them harm other than at that moment.
Of course such hesitation couldn’t and mostly wouldn’t be perceived as even a shy ray of loyalty from his classmate’s point of view in general. Mephisto clearly remembers their exasperation and sorrows, after all, given that all of Assiah had come to suffer through raids of violence from both humans and demons alike.
“What are you plotting after all this time, Mr. Mephisto?”
It hadn’t been needed for him to actually visit the temple where he knew the Shima young man lived, it was enough to send a courier pigeon in the code both of them had created together a decade ago, setting a time and place for meeting — a small cafe downtown.
Looking at him, it seemed that despite his physical growth and manlier features, nothing else had changed. Not even his choice of hair color.
While ten years wouldn’t mean much for a demon like Mephisto, for humans it should have been more than enough time for a whole transformation to take place — yet, Renzou still looked like the boy who revealed himself to eavesdrop on the private conversation of a demon and agreed to play the double agent role if no reason more than his own will and varying mood. As if nothing had changed.
And for someone much like Mephisto himself, only keen on what was interesting, it wasn’t a surprise that he didn’t.
Having dispatched Amaimon at the nearby tourist spot over an hour ago, Mephisto lazily laid back in his seat, wordlessly inviting the former Exwire to also sit down by nodding to the chair across the round table.
“So?” the pink haired man asks, propping an elbow at the table to support his chin. “What brings you here?”
“I was bored,” the demon shrugs. “Things have been quiet and I thought it would be interesting to pay my former cute students a visit.”
Shima snorts and stares at him with an arched eyebrow. “Are you looking for trouble after this long?
“Nothing of the sorts, I assure you,” Mephisto smiles as the server brings two cups of coffee, thanking the girl. As she leaves, he takes a sip of his beverage. “I simply wanted to see how my gremlins have been doing.”
“There’s no simplicity behind any of your motives, Mephisto. I’d know that more than anyone else,” Renzou snarks, but does not frown with annoyance. “In fact, you know exactly more than anyone else what happened to each of us throughout the years.”
The demon’s eyes glint with humor. “Now, now. I’ve only heard speculations, and those are far from giving me the pleasure of knowing about them first hand, Renzou-kun.”
Drinking from his own cup of coffee, Shima rolls his eyes but there’s a smirk in his lips.
“There was no point in becoming a knight after everything went down, but you know I finished the training anyway as soon as I was out of probation. Ryuuji pursued a career in teaching Exorcism Theology at Kyoto University, Konekomaru became the chief of his family and now runs the temple here. Shiemi is a lovely nurse in Tokyo, you know.”
When the pink haired young man offers no more explanation, Mephisto smiles mischievously. “Oh, is that so? What else?”
Shima doesn’t glare at him as doing such would indicate he cares more about all of the repercussions his actions caused than he actually wants to show, except nothing goes unseen for one of the eight demon kings of Gehenna.
“Yukio tried to keep his teaching job after probation, but that didn’t work out with all the repercussions. He’s been an architect for a few years now, he and Shiemi married about three years ago and were trying for children last I heard.” He circles the edge of the cup with a finger, gaze dropping to the dark liquid inside it.
“Oho. I didn’t have the impression that he was romantically interested in Shiemi-chan, truly remarkable.”
In fact, Mephisto was sure it wasn’t the case as the Moriyama girl's infatuation had clearly been directed to the oldest Okumura sibling at the time, not to mention quite awkwardly reciprocated.
“Well, things would never work out with Shura, especially after what happened at the war. She still avoids me like the plague,” Shima shrugs, not bothered in the slightest with the fact the Exorcist hates him. “Shiemi always sort of admired him, at least, and was the first one to give him another chance after the trial.”
Yes, the Illuminati’s Trial — which both Shima Renzou and Okumura Yukio were defendants parts in. Mephisto himself had taken part as a spectator when they had been held accounted for a quite a number of crimes including torture, kidnapping and terrorism, however both of them had great pleadings in their defense, such as Shima having served the Order a double spy that had cooperated with crucial information about the Illuminatis (including the ones necessary to dismantle most of the organization), and the youngest Okumura being a genius Exorcist with more than enough contributions to the Order himself, which ended up with them getting a deal: house arrest for five months, and probation for a year.
Johann Faustus, his fake identity as the director of True Cross Academy, had helped both of them with positive testimony statements — much like Kirigakure Shura did – and the fact that one of the main victims in the whole ordeal had been a Nephilim (a half blood), son of Satan, and who was nowhere to be found either to give a statement or to demand harsher punishments, everything settled down quite nicely for both Renzou and Yukio.
Mephisto was well aware that Kirigakure Shura had distanced herself from the remaining Okumura, and had only helped his pleadings due her friendship with the deceased exorcist Fujimoto Shiro. Although just months before the final battle she had threatened Mephisto in case the twins were hurt because of his schemes, everything that the youngest of them had done out of envy of the oldest seemed to pain her deeply enough to create a rift in their relationship — completely fraternal from her side.
“Nothing else, Renzou-kun? ”
Rolling his eyes and finishing his coffee, Shima looks directly at him this time not able to disguise his irritation. “Izumo left the country and came back about a year ago, she’s an elementary school teacher somewhere in Hokkaido.”
The purple haired demon hums, fingers drumming on the surface of the table, not really interested in the girl of silly eyebrows. “None of your network has provided information on the whereabouts of Okumura Rin, then?”
“Presumed dead. There has not been a single activity or mention of his name since the Indigo Dawn.”
Mephisto hums and stays in silence for a few moments. “What is your opinion on the matter?”
Shima frowns before laughing, throwing his head back in the chair. “Of course he’s alive. It’s damn impressive that he’s been able to hide so well, not that the others agree with me, though,” and then he asks “There’s been no sight of him in Gehenna?”
“Not as far as I am aware of.” Mephisto denies.
The demon hums again when both of them stay silent, this time with disappointment in his tone as he gazes deep into the young man’s eyes.
“Those days of peace are truly boring, but I guess I’ll have to get used to it. If my little brother truly lives, then he’s done a great job in covering his tracks. And given what transpired in that battle, I don’t think it would be wise if any of us tried to find him.”
“As if you’re scared of Rin, Mephisto.” Shima snorts, crossing his arms.
Instead of laughing as it would be expected of him, the demon drops any hint of a carefree smile. “I'm no fool, Renzou-kun, I’ve seen what his power truly is. Assiah is also his domain now, no demon can do as they want in this realm,” or even in Gehenna as a matter of fact, but he doesn't mention this part.
It’s Mephisto’s turn to finish his coffee, already on the verge of cooling down.
“And I would rather prefer if he remains an urban legend than to set loose a beast, if you get what I mean,” he graciously gets out his wallet, choosing through the money and placing it under his empty cup. “Although I think his disappearance to be quite overly dramatic, there’s no denying what all our eyes saw that day.”
Shima doesn’t utter another word, barely moving from his chair even as the demon walks past him.
“There’s only so much Rin could take before it was too much, Renzou-kun. Even a good person won’t grant forgiveness for those who only played with his life, and that we all took great part in.”
This wasn’t a deep realization, some sort of lightning strike idea that came after a long process of consideration — it had been a plain and yet completely evident outcome for everyone’s actions involving the life of Okumura Rin.
Nietzsche hadn’t spoken carelessly, after all.
The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends.
And that was exactly what the world’s only Blue Exorcist did.
Before his hand reached for the doorknob, Mephisto paid his former student a last glance and commentary. “It’s truly a shame he never sought revenge on those who deliberately hurt him,” to which, of course he knew he would be included.
What a truly wonderful turning of events it had been, though.
The despised and lonely black sheep of the class had not only proved his worth countless times more than his pairs, he had also surpassed all the limits imposed to both his mind and body, stretching without mercy his resiliency and breaking apart any kind of relationship he fought to maintain.
To the point where the half blood demon chose to absorb and consume every trait of fight from both sides in the war only to cease fire for once and for all.
At the end of the battle, his half brother made a choice valuing his self worth above the insincere world while it burnt to the ground — all the while righteously taking permanently from every soul involved in the fire their chance to ever do him harm again.
He had been quite merciful, still.
Okumura Rin could have easily decimated the whole lot of them, powerful enough to do it at barely a blink from the bluest eyes — dear father Satan had pointed out not long after, laughing in hysterics as Lucifer’s plans fell to utter demise and Samael and his other brothers could only stare at the supposed unachievable power their half sibling had been able to attain.
The amount of times all of the Eight Kings of Gehenna were left speechless and borderlining frozen in their spot, fear creeping up their spines like an electrical shock that made their claws and tails to dither could be counted on the fingers of one lonely hand.
Rin’s true form as a demon, even though unfortunately not displayed in its full glory to mere mortals, was seen entirely and undeniable ruling by his demon kind: all of them across Assiah and Gehenna itself, no matter how scattered or deep into the flaming abyss without a choice had been witness to a new sovereign ascension since ingrained in their mind much like carved into obsidian was the imponent figure surrounded by the largest amount of pure demonic flames, burning in a devastating deep indigo fire.
In the center of it all, there stood the magnificent view any demon would kill for.
Blue irises with blood dark pupil empty of feelings, majestic horns and wings flowing immensely made of sheer flames with his tail pointed and shining in blue fire.
Satan himself chuckled with mirth in his deep blue orbs, flourishing his movements for a small but noticeable bow down to this new ruler, not only a sign of recognition of such tremendous power, but submissiveness to it — the act itself triggered an automatic response from all other demons around the realms, not a single one exempt from paying their respects even if in absolute but silent astonishment.
For heads, he was always the demon and never a human. At tails he was merely human, never a demon.
Despite it all, the fact that made any and all of them to freeze was that they could hear as if it had been spoken directly into their ears, resonating in an echo in their minds.
“I will never forgive you.”
No amount of words would ever be capable of describing the feeling each of them felt in their very core in that moment.
The ascension of a new Emperor.
And the downfall of the world as they knew.
A man betrayed by his closest confidant, the half of his heart, his own twin. Despised from early childhood by said sibling, gaslighted and made to believe to be useless, a burden and a threat all at the same time. Discarded and disregarded by his classmates, underestimated and undervalued unless he had anything to offer. Even at the cost of his own life.
Rin granted them both a blessing and a curse: to coexist without being a threat to each race — truly a devious act on his part, giving the significance of both reduction and extinguisher of their powers, indiscriminately, compelling demons and humans to the mediocre existence of a forced peace with nothing either of them could ever do to reverse it. A more general approach of revenge, although one nonetheless.
As Mephisto gets out of the coffee shop, leaving behind a wary yet astonished young man that found pleasure in playing not only against the odds but in mending them to his favor, the demon smirks to himself.
What kind of demon would he be if not one to thoroughly enjoy messing with humans heads, to twist the guilt and regret inside their hearts that they’d long buried in hopes of it never resurfacing?
Rin may have decided to move on with his life but Mephisto is the one with dubious morals and as such, planting the seed of fear is his favorite job when playing with mankind.
“You took too long, brother,” the annoyed voice of Amaimon greets his ears as soon as he turns a corner.
“Well, I was gathering information with a safe source.” the oldest demon rolls his eyes at his sibling's impatience.
The other arches a skeptical eyebrow. “With that sneaky pink haired rat? Did he actually know where the brat is?”
Mephisto laughs. “That he is. However, this meeting was more to ascertain the extent of his knowledge before we moved. Given the fact that most of the Exwires are orbiting their former teacher, if albeit reluctantly, I gather that they have no clue.”
It’s Amaimon’s turn to hum, thoughtfully. “So, what do we do now?”
With a gleam, he fishes the phone out of his pocket — after weeks of exploring it, he finally got used to the strange device and all its fun applications, especially to buy train tickets without having to bother going to a station. “We’ll need much warmer clothes.”
His brother’s eyes become almost triple in size, face reddening in fury while simultaneously paling in dread. “Are you fucking kidding me?! Is that little shit up in the North Pole?!”
Mephisto cackles as they walk down the street side by side.
Truly, a wonderful turn of events.
~