No Turning Back

Yukio shot him. He shot...

Rin inwardly shook. No-one moved, too lost in the sound of the bullet leaving the barrel of the young exorcist's pistol.

The Abbot remained standing, body seized up. Tense. No pain displayed on his face, though by the darkening, red-tinted patch at the thigh, on his already black trousers, he should in all rights be howling.

In brief hesitancy, he glanced at the gun and its aim, having not moved since firing. The priest slowly followed the line of fire to where the bullet hit its mark.

Yukio winced but held firm.

"Traitor. I expected better from Fujimoto's protégé."

The younger twin swallowed in an attempt to stop his voice from cracking. "Make no mistake, sir. I'm not turning my back on humanity. I hate demons bit I can't let him die. I won't leave my brother. He shifted his weight slightly to his left leg. Then back to the right leg. Yukio slowly got back control of his shocked body. Even he couldn't believe what he'd just done.

He had shot a human.

He had shot a person he'd considered family.

A gentle voice came from his side. Maruta? When did he get so close? "Yukio. Put the gun down."

No. Not yet. Not until Rin was safe. He shot a warning to the side of one of the number stupid enough to edge closer to Rin. The second bullet eased the tension in his hands. Yukio was wary of when they would make their move.

He didn't have to wait long. Three dragoons shot at once in his direction. He dodged before the fingers touched the triggers. Maruta yelped and ducked behind a bench. From there chaos ensued. Two knights ran at Yukio whilst the dragoons reloaded. A third exorcist positioned herself at Rin, who was thankfully moving a little now. Shura had leapt to the Okamura's aid in wild fury, distracting and taking down four more. Hayato had removed himself from the action, opting to watch from the side.

Izumi appeared at the door, took one look at what was happening, then shoved the nearest person into a wall. Yukio opted to pick off the exorcists that were closest to Rin when he noticed Maruta.

"Cover me. I'll get Rin", Maruta said quietly.

He didn't make any motion of acknowledgement except for a brief flick of the eyes.

Maruta dived forwards as Yukio shot through the shoulder of someone going to grab him. He clumsily lifted Rin's body onto his back and managed to get halfway to safety before Rin's microchip zapped them both. Murata's legs turned to jelly and crumpled.

"Ah! Fuck!"

Hayato had pressed the button again. Yukio didn't need to think twice. He shot the arm holding the detonator.

Meanwhile, Izumi was waving Maruta to escape through the doorway behind him, which he did with Rin in tow. When Rin was safely away from the fracas, Yukio switched from defence to offence, fighting alongside Shura.

"I thought you were bluffing", Shura called out between slashes. "I didn't even see you switch the cartridge."

"That's because I switched them earlier in our room."

"Son of a bitch! Well done four-eyes. Didn't think you had the balls."

Murata darted forwards hoping to avoid unwanted confrontations. He wasn't a fighter. He reached the end of the hall and turned down a stairway. Rin was barely conscious, using his shoulder for support.

They stopped suddenly, nearly unbalancing Rin. "Behind the painting of Mary. Go!"

Rin stammered into the narrow passage to a hidden bunker. The concrete room was basic, with a singular cot bed, boxes of dried and canned food and a wooden bench on the far wall. His back and legs spasmed as he moved, leaving him crawling to the bench, where he curled up and dozed. The sounds of violence abruptly died off.

His solitude was interrupted fifteen minutes later when a bleeding Yukio appeared. There were no words spoken between them, though Rin worried about the gash that had barely missed his eye and the way he held his side. Both brothers supported each other out into the corridor.

"Where's everyone?" Rin whispered on finding the hall empty.

Yukio flinched. "Shura got hit".

"Is she okay?"

He swallowed and creased his brow. "I don't know. Murata's with her". They walked a bit further, ignoring the bodies underfoot.

"So many..."

The younger forced another strained breath out. "We had help. Someone we'd worked with last mission sided with us".

'And died', was left unsaid.

"What was his name?" When Yukio remained silent, Rin didn't press the issue.

As they turned they spotted Sir Pheles smirking from the entryway. Two of Rin's dedicated guard lay motionless at his feet. He spoke to them with one arm in front of his face, covering his eyes.

"Well then, off you go," he encouraged after a short pause. Yukio, panting from exertion, looked from Mephisto to their bags, then to his brother. Where Rin was normally an open book, the twin was now struggling to read his thoughts.

"Mephisto? What are you saying?" Yukio asked nervously.

Rin finally piped up. "You're just gonna let me leave?"

Mephisto hummed and turned his back to them. "I wonder?" He summoned the familiar remote to his gloved hand. "Such a thing…" The demon promptly smashed it. "You may still want to remove that microchip of yours. Though I do not think that our 'friends' in the Vatican will take too kindly to it."

"Wait... Did you plan this?"

The headmaster hummed noncommittedly. "While you didn't behave exactly as expected, the outcome is the same."

It had been Mephisto who had persuaded the Vatican to give Rin the potion to suppress his demon side. While all others had believed this to be a move to prolong his life, what he had actually done was make him harder to track. A suppressed demon signature was near impossible to get a bearing on, even with the Grigori's best technology. The system of keeping a record of a demon's activities relied heavily on microchip monitoring, something that Mephisto had insisted on inserting himself: no doubt to prevent it from becoming lodged between the vertebrae of his spine like it was supposed to. With a scalpel and some tweezers, the microchip would be easy to remove. And with Rin's tail gone, the tail-band, complete with tracker, shocker and virtual leash, had nothing to stop it from simply falling off. This was a chance.

But did so many have to die?

Yukio watched his brother rub his neck where the chip sat, undisturbed, just under the first few layers of skin.

The sly demon shrugged in mock denial. "I'm not admitting to anything. As far as I am concerned, I haven't seen you all afternoon." He gestured to his purposely blocked vision.