Chapter Text
It wasn’t supposed to be like this. It was supposed to be a simple rescue mission. In and out, just grab Izumo then they’re done. As it turned out, it would be far more complicated than that.
It wasn’t even that long ago when Rin asked Izumo to be the mascot for his class’s food stall. It wasn’t that long ago that he gave her that uniform. The same one she was wearing the night she was taken.
Renzo, that bastard.
He never expected this week to go to shit this easily. He hated the fact his first time on a plane was to rescue his kidnapped friend from an organization that he didn’t even know existed until that fateful day.
Even now, despite it all, he tried to keep things positive, for him and his team. Someone needed to boost morale, and nobody did it like Rin. Deep down inside, Rin hoped this would take even a little bit off of his brother’s plate.
It is his job as the older brother after all. Even when he’s pushed away. Even when he’s treated as if the title means absolutely nothing because he’s so immature, apparently…
He still takes the job seriously. Making sure to protect his brother from things even he doesn’t know of yet. Even if Yukio hates him for it.
It was just him, his brother, and the remaining exwires as they investigated the new apartments in Inari.
As the exwires entered the makeshift apartment complex that looked to be more like a grand hotel than anything else, the first thing they noticed was how empty it was. This alone was already sending alarm bells to Rin’s head. His tail stiffened and he instinctually crouched closer to the ground, in a position more prepared for fighting. His friends tended themselves, knowing it was better to trust his instincts than their own inferior ones.
Rin had known this was going to be difficult. That clown wouldn’t have that stupid look on his face if otherwise. Rin honestly hoped that he was having fun, so when he got back to beat his ass, it wouldn’t be for nothing.
It was the smell that alerted him first. Then the shuffling of many, many pairs of feet. Too many. Then he heard the groans and cries of the almost inhuman beings that began to pour into the room. Zombies, of course, there had to be zombies. These things danced around the fine line between human and demon just enough to give everyone in the room a second thought.
Rin didn’t even want to hurt them at all until they started to attack his friends. That alone made him bite his tongue and chose the lesser evil out of the two and began to slice away. He kept muttering a prayer of forgiveness over and over in his head like a mantra.
He couldn’t help but grimace as the smell of burning flesh assaulted his nose. Not that it smelled bad, but for the exact opposite reason. It smelled just right. It smelled good. He actually liked the smell.
That terrified him. Not really though. The constant battle between his human and his demon side was becoming very tiring.
What pained him, was to kill these innocents, but he tried to think of it more as setting them free.
Bon fired his bazooka, Shiemi used Nee, Yukio used his firearms, and Rin slashed away again and again and again. But they kept coming. If one was killed, three took its place, then five, then seven more arrived. There were simply too many of them. Their numbers reached over the mark of hundreds rapidly.
Rin looked over to gauge how his friends and brother were handling them, but they weren’t faring too well either. But the zombies weren’t the worst issue at that point, given that a trap door opened right beneath their feet.
Rin managed to jump high enough to grab onto one of the banisters on the second floor before he could fall down what looked to be some series of pipes. His friends and brother on the other hand, did not receive the same fate. Instead they plummeted down the pipes, each to their own, effectively separating them from each other.
“YUKIO!” He remembered yelling out his brother’s name, but he heard no reply back. He bit his tongue hard and metaphorically bit the bullet. His friends were all capable, he reasoned to himself. They would be fine…right?
The zombies at the top of the banister clustered towards him, threatening to push him off. With a quick prayer he burned right through them with a large blast of his power.
He wouldn’t normally be so reckless, but there weren’t any people around to worry about their safety. So he determined that it would be okay.
What he didn’t expect was the resulting explosion from his fire coming in contact with a gas pipe that was damaged by his blast.
He was thrown back violently, ripping open part of his arm in the process. Panicking, he tried to hold the wound close. He briefly remembered something from one of Yukio’s lectures about cauterizing wounds.
Desperate, he does. He tries to use his flames to burn the wound close, and it worked. It worked almost too well. By pouring his flames into his would, he could intimately feel almost every cell in his body. He used his flames to burn away at the old cells and replace the new ones.
He had no idea how this worked, but being guided by his instincts, it did.
Wiping the light blood spatter from his face, he ran down one of the sterile white hallways, hoping to find Izumo in one of the rooms.
With the flickering lights above him creating a constant hum that threatened to drive him mad, Rin continued down the otherwise silent hallways. Too silent. Rin was no fool, silence on a battlefield meant something else was coming, but he didn't know what.
The hallways were all the same. White, sterile, fluorescent lights buzzing above him. Buzzing and buzzing and buzzing…
He had to hand it to the Illuminati, they built these things like labyrinths with the point of driving the traveler insane. The endless white walls…it was driving him mad.
That was until he heard hurried footsteps from up ahead. Quickly, he took cover in the shadows. He pushed himself as far back as he could and did his best to conceal his presence. Illuminati soldiers rushed past him, running frantically.
“The son of Satan disappeared!” One yelled over to the ones following closely behind. They all but growled, “Find him!”
Rin felt a bead of sweat drip down the nape of his neck. And now they were looking for him? Rin couldn’t help but nervously chuckle at his circumstances. Steeling his nerves, he ventured deeper into the Illuminati base, moving more carefully this time.
There were the occasional near encounters with the Illuminati soldiers running through the base, looking for him, and shouting random orders like:
“That brat destroyed most of the cameras and short circuited the main frame!”
“We need to inform Todo-san!”
“The zombies are out of control! Who thought releasing them was a good idea?!” (That one was responded with, “I didn’t think they would be turned on us!”)
Rin just sunk into the shadows and prayed they didn’t see him, despite the many soldiers that shuffled about. He even thinks he recognized one of them, the one that Renzo went with, the one with a patch of her hair dyed blonde.
He continued on until he realized how utterly lost he was. The uniformity of it all was dulling his senses. And the pungent smell of chemicals and cleaning products only made the ache worse.
He felt utterly hopeless, until his senses caught on to something. It was a faint demonic presence at first. He almost thought it was Izumo.
He began to burst down the never-ending row of doors with increasing franticness in search of this presence. All until he came across the one of interest.
The demonic presence seeping from the room seemed more immense than before. And the surrounding area was admittedly brighter than the rest of the labyrinth.
Rin decided to open the door instead of bursting it down like the others. He had hoped Izumo had been in there, but she wasn’t. The door creaked loudly upon his entry. He was almost scared that it would give his location away to the searching Illuminati members.
He closed it hurriedly, hoping to conceal his presence from those outside the room. It was then the smell of the room actually registered to his senses.
It reeked of misery, hopelessness, and the unmistakable smell of rotting. It was so thick in Rin’s throat it choked him. The room permeated with the smell of death and despair paired with the unforgettable scent of cleanliness.
The room itself was otherwise empty, except for the single person resting on the bed in the center of the room. Upon closer inspection, the smell of rotting was radiating off of the person. The person who was in fact a demon.
Rin could immediately tell by the limp tail, half hanging off of the bed, and the abnormally long, sharp nails that adorned his fingers. That and the immense amount of demonic energy circulating the room. However subtle it may be to anyone else with duller senses.
There were dozens of machines hooked up to them and their constant thrum only added to the annoying hum of the lights. The constant drip of at least twelve IVs paired with the beeping of a nearby machine (which seems to be keeping track of their vitals) was enough to make Rin question his sanity.
Frankly, this place was insufferable. He had no idea how this demon did it. Now that Rin thought about it, he wondered if he even had a choice.
He looked at the rotting body that looked more like a corpse than anything else. A rotting, dead corpse.
It was upon this closer inspection that Rin noticed the poor demon seemed to inhabit a human host, something not many could from Rin's understanding. Even then, Rin did not understand much.
The demon seemed unable to move, being completely bound to the bed he was in. Rin thought it to be a miserable existence, it likely was worse.
How much crueler could the Illuminati get? It was a question Rin kept asking himself the deeper that he fell down this rabbit hole with the corrupt organization. How could this possibly get any worse? He kept asking himself that, but it just kept getting worse and worse.
And now he stood in front of a poor demon, another victim of the Illuminati. Not unlike the zombies running amuck in the corridors and hallways. All, each with their very own lives, families, and dreams and aspirations. Each uniquely human. Each another innocent.
Like the green liquid flowing through the numerous tubes hooked up to him, the demon’s eyes were a bright fluorescent green, much like Mephisto’s, yet very very different. Unlike Mephisto, his eyes held a golden hue much like the molten surface of the sun. Blazing and bright, killing everything that got too close.
The slitted pupils tracked him the moment he stepped into the room. The unnerving gaze was much unlike that of the Grigori, who were cold, cruel, and calculating. They looked at him with eyes that bore deep into his soul and only saw a monster.
The eyes in front of him gazed at him with amusement and suspicion. Yet it was kinder than anything he experienced, it was warmer. He’s never received gazes this warm before.
“Uh…” He stammered, the piercing gaze made Rin feel weak. Something his demon side bristled at. Despite being bedridden, the demon easily commanded his respect and all his attention.
“I’m not here to hurt you or anything,” he pushed out. He figured that they were nervous or something, likely due to the exwire uniform he had on. It was no secret that any relationship with the Order likely meant the absolute hatred of demons.
The demon in question made a cough that suspiciously sounded like a chuckle.
“I just…” Rin didn’t really know what to say. “I’m gonna help you okay? I don’t know what those Illuminati bastards did to you but I’m gonna help you.”
The corpse man in front of him delicately raised an eyebrow, this went otherwise unnoticed by Rin.
Rin began to frantically look around the room to find something that may be able to help him. “You’re hooked up to these machines,” he muttered, not really talking to the demon, nor expecting him to answer. “Do you need them to be sustained?”
He turned to the demon laying on the bed in front of him as if expecting an answer. “Can you even talk?” He asked.
“…”
The demon opened his mouth, as if to speak, but soon delved into a coughing fit. Rin panicked and rushed to his side.
“Ah, it’s fine you don’t need to talk, you don’t have to talk at all. You can—can you blink?” Rin was so frantic he kept on stumbling over his words. “If you can, then can you blink once for yes and twice for no?”
The demon below him just stared at him, unmoving. It was unnerving to say the least. But the way a single lock of blonde hair fell forward as he craned his neck slightly to get a better look at Rin.
Rin couldn’t help but stare at the golden locks of hair that perfectly framed his face. To be honest Rin just wanted to reach out and feel it.
Entirely against his better judgement, he did. He gently carded his hand through his hair and muttered softly. “Fluffy…”
Rin could feel the demon stiffen completely beneath his touch. Rin instantly removed his hand. “Oh my god, I'm so sorry! That was totally weird and uncalled for!” He apologized, but the demon’s face remained relatively emotionless.
He could tell the demon wanted to talk, but he only got coughs from his throat. They seemed extremely painful considering how his body shook with them. In response, Rin tried to comfort him.
Rin made sure to be as gentle as possible when helping him, partially because Rin was scared a limb might fall off in the process.
“Do you want to be propped up, or would that be too painful?”
Finally, after not blinking the entire time, the demon blinked once. Rin could feel his body radiate with joy, as it was a win in his books.
Rin gently helped the man up from his bed and into a sitting position. The demon seemed to still be in pain, but more comfortable.
Now that he was propped up, Rin had a better look at the patches of rotted flesh that littered the demon’s host. Despite it, the demon could still be considered very beautiful.
Yet in the back of his mind, Rin couldn’t help but think how completely unnatural it was. Unnatural like the fake potted plants you can only really tell are fake when you feel the plastic leaves. Unnatural like the fluorescent lights from the hall. Unnatural like the fluid being injected into him from the tubes.
Rin took the arm closest to him and stared intently at the patches of rotting flesh and decided to try his hand at healing it.
“Hey…can I try something? I can promise you that it won’t hurt…” Rin softly asked the demon. Pulling his hand back, he lit them using his father’s flames. Thus creating a sheen of light blue, covering his hand.
The demon stiffened at the sight and stared intently into the flames. Rin was almost scared that the demon was scared of it, but slowly he blinked his eyes once.
Rin smiled. His flaming hand lightly grazed over the skin of the demon and they flinched. “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” he murmured. The demon soon relaxed into his touch and that was enough of an invitation as he was going to get.
Upon his touch, Rin realized just how cold his skin was. Not cold like walking through a winter storm, cold like a rotting corpse. Considering he didn’t look too far off the target, it made sense. But it still rubbed Rin the wrong way.
It all just felt wrong. So incredibly wrong. There looked to be absolutely no life in the demon at all.
As he poured his flames over the rotting flesh, just as he did with his own wounds, he could begin to feel the cells of the unnatural fake body of the demon. It was much more of an odd experience when it was the body of someone other than himself, but Rin managed.
He felt the idle eyes of the demon on his flames. He looked a lot more relaxed than he had since he had entered the room. This made Rin glad, it was the least he could do. No one deserved to be in that much pain.
As Rin became more comfortable with the motions, he could feel the defective cells and just burned them away. This unfortunately left gaping holes in between the relatively healthy skin. Rin panicked at the sight, which resulted in more power being flooded through the poor demon’s system than Rin intended.
They were more quiet than before. If that was at all possible.
But due to the excess power, the flesh began to knit itself together under Rin’s command to heal this person. Both Rin and the demon watched the flesh just mend itself in utter amazement. Rin wasn’t even aware this was possible. But he was overjoyed enough at the thought that his flames that were known for destruction, can heal too.
It was healing on a deeper level for him. Although the healing reached only from his hand to his forearm, Rin felt deeply accomplished.
“I have a friend here, in a predicament not unlike yours. I promise you that I’m going to save you, you both, okay?” The final okay was mostly to himself, to convince himself that things were going to be okay. That he was going to be okay.
The demon was otherwise still silently gazing down at his flames. Not his father’s. Never his father’s.
Rin had to take back his hand because of the extraneous use of his power. It was frankly exhausting. The demon looked almost disappointed as his touch faded away.
Rin almost felt bad, but he felt like he would pass out if he continued at all.
Unknown to him, the demon in question gazed curiously at him.
Lucifer thought it odd that he would find himself alone. He would need to speak with Homare about that. He had planned to visit the younger Okumura brother soon, but with no one to help him up, and his condition worsening all of a sudden, he was bed bound.
All until the little enigma that was Rin Okumura walked through the door. It was the second time he met his little brother, not that long ago.
He carefully entered the room, if not for the door opening, Lucifer didn’t think he would have noticed him. His presence was so masterfully concealed, that it began to make Lucifer question his power.
From the reports, it said he was quite oblivious and, for other words, stupid. But the way his presence was concealed, Lucifer began to doubt the reports.
The boy stared at him for some time before coming to his bedside. Lucifer didn’t know if this was to harm him in his weak state or not.
The first thing he said to him was a promise to not do any harm. Lucifer thought it both sweet and naive. He could obviously tell that Lucifer was a demon, what he should have done was take the chance he was given.
But no, he used his chance to comfort Lucifer in this pitiful state of his. (Lucifer thought it hilarious that Rin thought he was a victim of the Illuminati. He thought it even more amusing when he claimed he would save him from them.)
When the boy murmured softly and carded his hand through his hair, Lucifer stiffened at the action. On the one hand, it was humiliating that there was nothing he could do to stop it. On the other hand, it was a…nice…gesture.
When the boy began to use their father’s flames, Lucifer couldn’t help but be captivated by the sight. The brilliant blue flames reminded him so much of their father. And his destruction.
When his younger brother poured the flames into the patches of rotting flesh down his arm, he felt near clarity for the first time in nearly his entire existence.
The momentary lack of pain was enough to reignite the spark of hope he long discarded, after seeing little use in keeping it.
It was a dangerous game to play, hope. But it was one he was willing to emerge himself in.
He felt the flames imbed themselves deep into the feeble host he inhabited. He felt his little take command of it down to the microscopic level. Each cell, healthy or defect, all was under the domain of his younger brother.
It was a level of control he likely should fear. But the clarity that came from it override any lingering hesitations.
He could begin to feel the slightest differences in his hand, mainly how different it felt to feel his own power.
When the boy pulled away, as disappointed as he was he flexed his hand. He commanded the slightest bit of his power to surface. And brilliant light illuminated the room.
He couldn’t help the excitement that emerged on his face. The childlike wonder that came with the ability to actually use the power he wields without the simultaneous burning sensation because of it.
He glanced over at his little brother, who was looking intently at the light emitting from his hand. Ever so slowly he seems to be catching on.
”You’re Lucifer!” He all but screams. He scrambled back and moved to unsheathe his sword, but pauses momentarily. He looks as if he isn’t going to do much more, until the door bursts down from the door.
Homare steps into the room and sees the older Okumura. She unsheathed her wooden staff, ready to attack.
Rin, the youngest, looks just about ready to pass out.
Deciding to step in, he raises a hand, his healed one, commanding Homare to stay down.
“C-commander!” Almost hesitantly she halts, and notices the condition of his hand. She looks where Lucifer’s eyes lead her and understands immediately.
When he turns his attention back on Rin, he looks completely delirious. His sword is now drawn at the sight of the small team of his members. He looks hesitant to hurt any of them, but his tail thrashed behind him, ready to fight anyways.
Homare rushes to Lucifer’s side. Rin, despite being the enemy, assessed her as if she was a threat to Lucifer.
Lucifer locked eyes with Rin. “Ah,” he spoke with less difficultly now, “It is truely a blessing to meet you here, younger brother.” He smiled, hoping it would disarm him enough to relax.
It didn’t seem to work all that much. Or maybe it did. Either way, Rin dropped like a pile of bricks.
His crumpled form on the floor began to seep with blood, likely coming from an injury he sustained on his way towards Lucifer.
In a split moment, Lucifer decided that he was all they needed for now. “Homare.”
She straightened her posture. “Yes commander?”
”Release the girl and the exwires, make sure they have a safe passage out,” he commanded.
Homare nodded. “Of course.” She issued the corresponding orders to the remaining soldiers that accompanied her.
Lucifer, curious, attempted to get up from the bed himself. Homare stood carefully by, ready to intervene, but otherwise let him test it out. Successfully he stood from the bed and walked carefully over to the collapsed form of his younger brother.
“Homare, ready the aircraft. We have exactly what we need.”