The Blue Exorcist: Book One

A Fairy Tail/Blue Exorcist Crossover

Chapter Seven: Who Will Save Us?

When they had used up almost all the hours in the day and the Slavers had exhausted themselves using their lightning staffs, they led the men, women, and children back to where they would be staying in their cells. Rin wasn't surprised when he was separated from the other children, even though Little Red looked over at him with surprise and sadness, he knew he was too unpredictable to the guards to put him with newcomers.

Especially after his stunt earlier in the day for Little Red.

But, Rin didn't regret it even as he was led through the familiar halls. When they passed his cell though he jolted in surprise, glancing up under his fringe to see the guard not even paying any attention to him as they continued up through the hallways. Rin swallowed, uncertain how to feel of this development, when they stopped in front of a much larger cell than he was used to where several others were kept inside, none of which appeared to be adults.

Rin only winced slightly as his chains were snapped away leaving him just in the metal cuffs before he was kicked into the space, the iron-barred door all but slamming behind him. He stilled as he waited for the guard's footsteps to fade in the distance before looking back at his new cellmates only for his eyes to land on a familiar girl and a grin lit up his face.

"Lily!"

The girl looked up at his voice and almost as though she couldn't believe her eyes as she stared at him for a moment, then in the next had thrown herself at him, easily caught by Rin's tired but strong arms. He held onto her tightly, so glad that he had seen her again, that she was okay, after being separated by what felt like so long.

Looking around he spotted a few more familiar faces and smiled at Soka, Rufftuff, and the others he recognized from the recent arrivals. He stepped back a little when Lily unwound herself from his grasp before he felt her now-calloused hand against his cheek, near his recently gained scar. Bringing up a hand to hold atop of her own pale one, he softened his gaze as he looked into her own teary-eyed one. "It's not yourself, Lils."

She didn't say anything but he knew she didn't believe him, and as the tears continued to stream down her face Rin just held her close before moving them both towards the back so that they could remain out of the spotlight in case the guards patrolling came too close for comfort. Shifting slightly so that Lily was beside him as they sat down on the stone cold floor, he allowed her to grip his ratty clothing tightly before looking around at the others, only stopping to bump fists with Rufftuff before looking over at the people he'd never met before then.

"First day, eh?" He asked them and smiled sincerely when the white-haired girl glanced up at the sound of his voice. She blushed in what seemed to be embarrassment before looking back down and Rin turned his head to look at the other kids kindly.

"Yeah," replied the boy with a purple snake coiled around his arm. "Woah! So cool," Rin said as he pointed at the snake with impressed eyes. Erik smirked at him as the snake's tongue touched his hand before leaning into the boy's touch. "Cubellious sends her appreciation," the boy responded after a moment before outstretching his free arm. "Name's Erik." Rin leaned forward to shake his hand firmly before letting go and leaning back, while Lily shifted again to go back to using his shoulder as a pillow.

"Sorano," the white-haired girl spoke up quietly them, even though her eyes remained downcast.

"Well, I'm Soka."

"Rufftuff, but don't hurt yourselves trying to say it," the boy ribbed and Rin chuckled sheepishly in reply.

"Lily," the cherry-blossom-eyed girl said tiredly but so softly they all settled for a moment, enjoying the quiet.

Eventually, the silence was broken by the last person in their cell, who had yet to introduce himself.

"You are strong," the boy with heavy bags under his eyes stated, looking at him with intense crimson eyes. Rin tilted his head before sheepishly scratching his hair. "I don't know about that! I'm just helping you guys get to your feet is all."

"You find your strength in helping others? Even when your strength is superior?" he pushed, his eyes gleaming in its intensity to understand Rin. The smile fell from Rin's expression and his own eyes became just as intense, if not more so than the other boys'. "Of course! There's always going to be someone stronger than I am. If I help others become stronger than the fewer the weak and the more strong. I think? Haha, I don't know. I just know that being alone makes power feel useless. I'm strong because I have to be, for my friends!" Rin said with a grin towards his friends. They smiled back with fond exasperation for the blue-eyed boy.

"My name's Macbeth," the crimson-eyed boy offered as he leaned back against the wall, seemingly exhausted yet satisfied by their conversation. Rin looked over at him curiously, his head tilted to the side and then his eyes narrowed. "That's a weird name! How about Midnight? Like your hair!"

"For what purpose would that serve?" Macbeth asked bored, closing his eyes to go to sleep.

"Well we're here, aren't we? Might as well give ourselves a better name before we're back out there!"

"You speak as though we can leave this place," he said, opening his eyes to stare intensely at Rin once more.

"We will," Rin said firmly with every once of sincerely he could muster. He wouldn't have it any other way. He was going to leave this place with all his friends and the other slaves!

The others looked at Rin with surprise, mostly in disbelief, but the ones who met Rin's eyes couldn't help but believe the younger boy even if it was what felt like an impossible task. To Sorano, it felt like only an angel could save them now, and maybe that's what Rin was for them?

Lily just giggled into Rin's shoulder and he looked back at her with his familiar grin, her soft eyes meeting his with happiness before closing shut.

"Very well."

"Eh?" Rin suddenly questioned while Soka erupted into laughter followed by a guffawing Rufftuff.

Crimson-eyes gave him a flat stare before repeating himself. "I am Midnight, then."

"So cool!" Rin exclaimed with excitement.

"Oh, Rin," Soka said before launching into another roar of laughter.

"Oi! What's so funny?"

Rin was deeply confused as the others continued to laugh at him. Their laughter was contagious though and soon Rin was laughing right there with them.

The night was cold and Rin mostly spent the night sharing his body warmth with Lily and Sorano, who seemed to overcome her shyness within the hour after introductions. By morning Rin considered them all his friends and though the way would be long and tiring, he knew he would do anything for the people in front of him.

Working in this new sector wasn't like the outside where the other slaves and guards respected him enough to give him his space, isolation, and his share of food when the slaves were close to fainting in starvation and exhaustion. With this new sector he felt like he was starting over again, respect gone, and the guards even more bloodthirsty than the ones outside. It wasn't as bad as his first day when he killed a guard and made a deal with one of them in exchange for that respect but it made his newfound friends harder to look after, especially since they separated him from them when it came the time to get back to work.

Rin didn't know what they were forcing them to build but he was certain it would lead to nothing good by the time it was completed. Because when it was finished the slavers would no longer have any use for them and there was just no way they'd return them to their homes where they could tattle on them. Life was hard but the pain reminded him that he was alive, and more than that but fighting for something too. A cause. A people. A hope. Maybe a dream.

Either way, all Rin knew is that he had to get these people out of here, and to do so he needed to convince them they could.

So, he worked small. Assisting the older slaves with their work and talking to them quietly to distract them from the pain of taking the heavier loads while quiet enough that it didn't draw the guards' attention to them. At first, Rin knew they were only humoring him by listening, but he had hope that one day they'd agree just to shut him up. He was a brat, after all.

When lunch came the slavers moved them to a large empty room where he found his friends, cellmates, and slaves he recognized from the other sectors. He grabbed his food quickly before moving over to Soka, whispered what he was doing in his ear, and walked away to a larger group of slaves that appeared to be in their teenage years. They looked at him oddly but went back to their food and exchanged little words with one another, their eyes glancing at the guards every other time in what Rin was certain was paranoia.

They were all heavily scarred, telling him they'd not only been here a while but had suffered greatly as well, while their wrists and ankles were lighter than the rest from where the cuffs had rubbed the skin right off them. He could tell that some of their arms had been pulled out of their joints and from the winces they let out every other minute or so he knew they'd only recently popped them back into place.

Convincing them of his grand escape plan would be extremely difficult.

He moved away after a moment of easy conversation seeing as it would be a little by little process and it'd be in his best interest not to dump it all on them in one sitting like he had last night with his cellmates. He wasn't much of a planner but sometimes one had to do what they never had to do before. A flash of scarlet caught his attention and he turned to see a shy yet smiling Little Red coming towards him with a hand firmly grasping and pulling along a blue-haired boy with a strange tattoo going down one side of his face.

"Hey! I realized I never properly introduced myself: I'm Erza," Little Red blushed suddenly as she peaked at the blue-haired boy under her fringe for half-a-second before turning back to him, "Erza Scarlet." Rin tilted his head as he watched the blue-eyed boy blush in return before kicking the floor in - something? Rin couldn't tell. "Oh! And this is-"

"Jellal," he replied, looking up then with his dark eyes staring at Rin with a look that reminded him too well of his childhood bullies. It wasn't a mean look, exactly, it was more a look of sureness of oneself. Confidence. First impressions of Little Red's - Erza's - crush wasn't good. Kami, he felt like a protective older brother.

"Well, I'm Rin. No need to be so proper to me Little Red," Rin teased and did a little curtsey as he drawled out the word proper. Erza's face reddened in embarrassment before she stomped on Rin's foot causing him to shoot up into the air, hopping on one leg as he clutched his foot. "Oi! What was that for?" He exclaimed, rubbing his swollen toes in despair. Erza crossed her arms and stuck out her chin as she ground out, "I'm not 'little'!"

"Fine, fine! Just Red, then. Happy?" Rin cried out in frustration but the twitching of his lips trying not to smile ruined the effect. Erza's lips twitched as well before she giggled quietly and nodded in exasperation.

"Come on, Scarlet, let's go find a place to sit," Jellal said suddenly, pulling Erza's hand after she released her grip on him. Little Red looked at him in surprise, almost as though she forgot he was there, before looking back at Rin. "I was going to talk with Rin for a bit, Jellal. But, uh-"

"It's fine. I'll see you around," Jellal mumbled before walking away at a rapid pace with Rin and Erza staring at the spot he vanished from.

"He's weird," Rin finally settled on saying, crossing his hands behind his head as he leaned back on his foot. An elbow thumped against his ribcage and suddenly he lost his balance causing him to fail to catch himself and hit the floor with a resounding thud. "Sorry! But he's not weird!" Erza said as she helped Rin sit up, who was holding his ribs from where she hit him and turned to pout at her.

"That's twice you've hit me, Li- er, Red!" Rin whined, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye. Erza rolled her eyes at him and mumbled how he shouldn't say such stupid things then.

"You're so mean, Erza," Rin ribbed good-naturally and grinned when Red's lips twitched into that familiar smile.

They spent the rest of their lunch break ribbing each other and knocking each other over. Rin, for the first time in a while, felt like he had found a family in this horrible place. They were all his friends and his family, and he was glad to have met them.

And it was all the more reason he would get them out of here.

When their lunch was over and he parted ways with the others, he found himself awakened with a new resolve and got to work in making allies.

Got my muse back and time-restraints are gone, so, it's glad to be back. It helps that this is a low word-count chapter kinda story, of course that just means there will be more chapters than my other stories but easier to post too. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and thank you all who gave your support to me.

Sincerely,

ol' Gothic Rain