Fanfic Post - Revelation (AnE)
So, somehow Pact got a sequel. The kind that sort of demands I write a few more shorts to see where this is going. ...Look, I just do what the plotbunnies tell me.
Revelation
Okumura Yukio stared at the letter in his hands with deep distrust.
Rin peered over his shoulder. "Wow. Isn't True Cross Academy that fancy school kids talk about?"
"Yes."
"I thought you weren't applying to a big place like that."
"I didn't."
Yukio had been carefully improving his grades over the last few years. They had always been good but not great. Deliberately so. But, he wanted good job prospects, and, for that, he would need to get into a good high school. So, he let a little more of his real abilities show through. Just enough to look like the normal improvement of a diligent student. Not a genius. Not the sort of student who got scholarships to places like True Cross. That was more attention than he ever wanted.
And, much too close to the exorcists for comfort.
"Maybe it's a mistake," said Rin. Even he sounded doubtful.
Yukio let his eyes trail over the garishly purple, Western-style signature purportedly from the school's chairman himself. There was something subtly ominous about it.
Rin must have felt it too.
"I could burn it," he said. Flecks of red appeared in his blue eyes at the words.
Yukio considered that. Rin's blue flames were more than fire. When Rin concentrated properly - and he always did after some early scorch marks almost gave them away - he burned only what he wanted to burn. But, more than that, Rin's flames could burn beyond the physical. Even into the abstract.
They discovered that fact only a year after he summoned Rin. The young demon had burned Yukio's homework, naively trying to "help" and unaware that teachers would still be expecting it. His making it "disappear" wouldn't help. Except when Yukio got to school, the assignments had disappeared. None of his teachers ever asked about them again. Nor had his classmates.
Decided, Yukio offered the unwanted letter to Rin. "Please do."
Three weeks and one more incinerated letter later, he found an even more unwanted visitor waiting when he opened the door to his small dorm room.
"You're a very hard young man to contact, Mr. Okumura."
But, the way the purple-haired man - demon - in an outlandish white suit and top hat smiled from his perch on Yukio's desk wasn't annoyance. It was pure predatory interest.
Yukio immediately flung back a hand to keep Rin behind him.
"I'm sorry," he answered. He wasn't but was distantly afraid he might be soon. This was a true demon. Not one of the hungry creatures that lurked in the shadows and burned at the faintest touch of blue fire. Not even like Rin, who he had come to realize genuinely was as young as he looked. This was a temptor and a trickster who could bind souls with words. So, he would use as few as possible. "Er, you are--?"
The demon leapt to his feet and swept the white top hat off his head with exaggerated grandeur. "Johann Faust V, Chairman of True Cross Academy," he announced. "Or you may call me Mephisto Pheles."
Cold dread settled in Yukio's stomach as Rin muttered about weird names. But, at least his brother was sticking to their usual plan.
"I'm impressed," the demon went on, beaming. "For a few days, I honestly thought I'd forgotten to mail your acceptance letter." His smile widened, showing sharp fangs. "Young Rin's power truly is impressive to have learned at such a young age how to unmake, to burn if you will, even pieces of time itself."
Rin growled, no doubt sensing the open wanting in the praise.
Yukio fought to keep his face neutral. So, Rin was as powerful as he'd suspected. And, of course this demon knew about their pact. However innocuous, it was a demonic bargain.
"But," the grinning Faust wagged a gloved finger as he settled his hat back on his head, "it's not quite at my level. Time is my specialty, you see."
Yukio mentally filed that away. "Is there some reason you have such an interest in my attending your school?"
Faust laughed. "Straight to the point, Mr. Okumura." Then, he hummed, leaning back against the desk. "Do you know anything about your heritage?"
"No."
A name had been left with him the day he was abandoned in front of a government office. It hadn't been any help in locating even a trace of family records for him.
But, demons weren't bound by paperwork.
Yukio bit down the boiling need to know even as he felt Rin start to speak, to warn him. The knowledge wouldn't come without a price, after all.
"You and your brother are the twin sons of Satan himself."
Even offered freely, there was a price. And, it threatened to crush him.
"But, I'm not--!"
"Yukio's not a demon!"
Even as Rin echoed him, Yukio stopped himself, realization flooding in. "When I agreed to share my blood with Brother..."
"Oh, you were always brothers," said Faust. "And, while your summoning contract has greatly benefitted young Rin, I can't see that it's had any effect on you. Which is absolutely fascinating."
The demon's grin was wider than ever as Yukio felt everything he thought he knew crumble beneath him.
Revelation
Okumura Yukio stared at the letter in his hands with deep distrust.
Rin peered over his shoulder. "Wow. Isn't True Cross Academy that fancy school kids talk about?"
"Yes."
"I thought you weren't applying to a big place like that."
"I didn't."
Yukio had been carefully improving his grades over the last few years. They had always been good but not great. Deliberately so. But, he wanted good job prospects, and, for that, he would need to get into a good high school. So, he let a little more of his real abilities show through. Just enough to look like the normal improvement of a diligent student. Not a genius. Not the sort of student who got scholarships to places like True Cross. That was more attention than he ever wanted.
And, much too close to the exorcists for comfort.
"Maybe it's a mistake," said Rin. Even he sounded doubtful.
Yukio let his eyes trail over the garishly purple, Western-style signature purportedly from the school's chairman himself. There was something subtly ominous about it.
Rin must have felt it too.
"I could burn it," he said. Flecks of red appeared in his blue eyes at the words.
Yukio considered that. Rin's blue flames were more than fire. When Rin concentrated properly - and he always did after some early scorch marks almost gave them away - he burned only what he wanted to burn. But, more than that, Rin's flames could burn beyond the physical. Even into the abstract.
They discovered that fact only a year after he summoned Rin. The young demon had burned Yukio's homework, naively trying to "help" and unaware that teachers would still be expecting it. His making it "disappear" wouldn't help. Except when Yukio got to school, the assignments had disappeared. None of his teachers ever asked about them again. Nor had his classmates.
Decided, Yukio offered the unwanted letter to Rin. "Please do."
Three weeks and one more incinerated letter later, he found an even more unwanted visitor waiting when he opened the door to his small dorm room.
"You're a very hard young man to contact, Mr. Okumura."
But, the way the purple-haired man - demon - in an outlandish white suit and top hat smiled from his perch on Yukio's desk wasn't annoyance. It was pure predatory interest.
Yukio immediately flung back a hand to keep Rin behind him.
"I'm sorry," he answered. He wasn't but was distantly afraid he might be soon. This was a true demon. Not one of the hungry creatures that lurked in the shadows and burned at the faintest touch of blue fire. Not even like Rin, who he had come to realize genuinely was as young as he looked. This was a temptor and a trickster who could bind souls with words. So, he would use as few as possible. "Er, you are--?"
The demon leapt to his feet and swept the white top hat off his head with exaggerated grandeur. "Johann Faust V, Chairman of True Cross Academy," he announced. "Or you may call me Mephisto Pheles."
Cold dread settled in Yukio's stomach as Rin muttered about weird names. But, at least his brother was sticking to their usual plan.
"I'm impressed," the demon went on, beaming. "For a few days, I honestly thought I'd forgotten to mail your acceptance letter." His smile widened, showing sharp fangs. "Young Rin's power truly is impressive to have learned at such a young age how to unmake, to burn if you will, even pieces of time itself."
Rin growled, no doubt sensing the open wanting in the praise.
Yukio fought to keep his face neutral. So, Rin was as powerful as he'd suspected. And, of course this demon knew about their pact. However innocuous, it was a demonic bargain.
"But," the grinning Faust wagged a gloved finger as he settled his hat back on his head, "it's not quite at my level. Time is my specialty, you see."
Yukio mentally filed that away. "Is there some reason you have such an interest in my attending your school?"
Faust laughed. "Straight to the point, Mr. Okumura." Then, he hummed, leaning back against the desk. "Do you know anything about your heritage?"
"No."
A name had been left with him the day he was abandoned in front of a government office. It hadn't been any help in locating even a trace of family records for him.
But, demons weren't bound by paperwork.
Yukio bit down the boiling need to know even as he felt Rin start to speak, to warn him. The knowledge wouldn't come without a price, after all.
"You and your brother are the twin sons of Satan himself."
Even offered freely, there was a price. And, it threatened to crush him.
"But, I'm not--!"
"Yukio's not a demon!"
Even as Rin echoed him, Yukio stopped himself, realization flooding in. "When I agreed to share my blood with Brother..."
"Oh, you were always brothers," said Faust. "And, while your summoning contract has greatly benefitted young Rin, I can't see that it's had any effect on you. Which is absolutely fascinating."
The demon's grin was wider than ever as Yukio felt everything he thought he knew crumble beneath him.