Author's Note: Hi! So it's been a while hasn't it? I didn't have writer's block, but I did lose my motivation. Anyway, it's back for now and hopefully it stays. I did go back through the previous chapters and fix a few things, particularly with Chapter 9. I don't want anyone to waste their time going through the story again for the changes, so here's a recap of the plot so far.

Amai's demon heart was ripped and stolen from his body, causing his mind to split into two: Amai and a demonic voice in his head called 'Ghost'. While Mephisto is chasing the thief, Rin volunteers to keep an eye on the broken demon. Things seem to be going well until Ghost becomes restless and attempts to take over the body he shares with Amai. This leads to an attack on the exwires and results in Amai receiving a suppressant for Ghost from Yukio. The injection successfully quiets the voice in his head, but also makes it so Amai can't function properly. After a short while, he convinces a doctor to help him bring Ghost back. Infuriated that Amai tried to kill him, Ghost turns his anger on his host and attempts to drown him. He is resuscitated by Bon, who reluctantly agrees to be a 'friend'. Meanwhile, Amai's constant presence is causing Rin's demonic instincts to surface. He is slowly becoming more violent towards those who get too close to Amai, now seeing him as a potential mate rather than a dangerous demon king.

Hope this clears up everything. If you have any questions or are confused about anything, please don't hesitate to ask me!

Annoyed that he had been interrupted, Bon got up and peeked out into the hallway. Sure enough, a light shone through the crack at the bottom of the bathroom door. "Tch—are you fucking kidding me?" He knocked loudly, hoping to frighten whoever it was. "Do you have any idea what time it is!?" Bon received no response—not even a startled splash. "...Asshole."

When he turned to leave, he noticed that cold water was seeping out from the under the bathroom door.

"What the... H-Hey! Are you alright in there?" Bon banged on the door again, growing more and more anxious as the seconds slowly dragged by. Finally unable to withstand the eerie silence, he grabbed the handle. "I'm coming in, okay?"

Nothing could have prepared Bon for what he would find on the other side of that door. On his knees in front of the overflowing bathtub was Amaimon—his head and shoulders completely submerged in water. His mind was muddled by exhaustion and a sudden panic, but he acted quickly, jerking the demon upright and trying desperately to shake him conscious. His cold body fell limp in his arms.

Chapter Twelve
. . .
Fake

"Ah, now then," the doctor paused to adjust his small, round glasses. "Open your mouth and say 'ahhh'." Amaimon cocked his head and glared. From his lap, Behemoth let out a low growl, gnawing impatiently on the leather straps around his mouth. The doctor eyed the hobgoblin anxiously and pocketed his stethoscope. "M-Maybe later…" He turned toward the twins, a hand resting under his chin thoughtfully. "Well, fortunately—or unfortunately, I suppose—there doesn't seem to be anything wrong…aside from his, ah, more obvious issues, of course."

Yukio was less than satisfied by the doctor's conclusion. "Then what exactly happened?" He didn't direct the question to anyone in particular, but Amaimon answered him regardless.

"Ghost." He removed his thumb from his mouth long enough to spit the demon's name, making it a curse.

"Already?" Rin slumped against the wall behind him, as if all the breath had been knocked out of his lungs. "Yukio, what the hell is going on? You said the suppressant would last a few days! It's barely been twenty-four hours!"

"I…" The young exorcist shook his head slowly. "I don't know…"

"Ah, gentlemen, if I may…" Exhaling, the doctor attempted to make himself comfortable in the chair provided for him, stretching out his legs as he leaned back. "I think we're forgetting just how unique Amaimon's, ah," he hesitated, glancing at the demon king uneasily, "problem is. His…type of species…is known for being exceptionally intelligent."

"By 'type of species', you mean a demon king, correct?" Bon was strategically seated on the other side of the bedroom at Yukio's desk, keeping a safe distance from both a temperamental Rin and an unstable Amaimon. "I've noticed everyone keeps avoiding those words. Is there a reason?" He waited for a reply, scrutinizing each of them in turn—the doctor, Rin, Mr. Okumura, then back to the skittish doctor—but his only answer was an uncomfortable, tense silence as they avoided his eye. And then it clicked. "He…doesn't know…"

"Doesn't know what?" Amaimon's lack of comprehension only proved to confirm his suspicions.

"A-Ah," the doctor cleared his throat loudly to bring the attention back to him. "Wh-What I mean is… 'Ghost' is an intelligent being. It's going to learn from its environment and adapt accordingly." He turned to Yukio. "You could try to repress it a second time, but I fear that will only make it more resilient to anything we could possibly use in the future—say, perhaps, in an emergency. And, ah, consequently, it will only make it more powerful. I suggest avoiding any further medication unless it is absolutely necessary."

Yukio nodded slowly before opening the door and gesturing for the doctor to leave. "Thank you for coming on such short notice, doctor," he said simply, his voice showing no hint of emotion. "I believe we can handle things from here. You know the way out, right?"

He stood, his charcoal tail swinging back and forth nervously. "Ah, b-but… Are you s-sure? I could-"

"No, thank you," he cut the man off abruptly. "Please leave."

The doctor sighed quietly through his nose, brow scrunched in a bemused expression. "…Very well." He glanced back at Amaimon, giving him an almost apologetic shrug. "Please contact me should you need more assistance."

Yukio stepped outside after the doctor. He lingered in the doorway with his arms crossed tight against his chest, ensuring the man took the correct staircase and was out of ear shot. "Let's go, Amaimon." He immediately walked back in and roughly grabbed the demon by his arm, causing Behemoth to jump out of his lap. "We're going to try a stronger suppressant."

Both Bon and Rin perked up at Yukio's aggressive tone. "Hold on, teach—didn't the doc just say not to give him anything?"

He cast a disquieting glare at the exwire. "That man is hiding something, and until I figure out what it is, we are not listening to a thing he says." He tightened his grip on the demon and pulled him to his feet. "Come on."

"Ow—stop, you're hurting me!" Amaimon's words, laced with a sudden and obvious fear, forced all of Rin's protective instincts to surface with an undeniable fury. Before Yukio could react to the blue flames rising from his brother's changing form, Rin slammed a fist against his temple, ripping Amaimon from his grasp and knocking his glasses to the floor.

Yukio landed hard on his side, shocked and dazed by the sheer strength behind Rin's punch. He raised his head, brows scrunched in a bemused glare, and stared into the smoldering pits of Rin's demonic eyes. Bon was on his feet in an instant, though he wasn't certain what an inexperienced exwire like him could do to stop a fight between the twins.

"I will not let you hurt him," he spoke calmly in spite of his livid expression. The blow he landed on his brother's head seemed to satisfy Rin's anger—the violent flames dissipated into small flickers and his eyes almost returned to normal.

"I'm trying to help!" Yukio retorted, struggling to pull himself to his feet.

"No, you're not! You heard what the doctor said: it's only going to make things worse. I don't understand how that's 'helping him'."

Yukio snorted sarcastically. "And you actually believe him?"

"Yes! Amaimon was almost killed tonight!" Anger flashed across Rin's face, and something dark had crept into his voice.

"All the more reason to-"

Rin continued as if his brother never spoke. "But you would like that, wouldn't you? You want him to die so you won't have to put up with any more demons in your life. One is enough, isn't it?" Yukio stared at him with stupefied disbelief, unable to form a response. "Amaimon is my friend. He cares about me, he listens to me, he makes me feel better when it seems like no one gives a shit—things you're supposed to do as my brother, Yukio!"

Yukio gritted his teeth and, out of rage, pulled his tranquilizer gun from a hidden holster on his belt. In response, Rin grabbed his sword from beside his bed and unsheathed it, causing brilliant, blue flames to light the room. Amaimon backed into the corner and put his hands to his ears, trying desperately to block the sound of their shouting.

When had things gotten this bad between them? When had Rin thrown aside his resolve? His ambitions? Didn't this—protecting a demon king—go against everything he had strived for so far? Everything he was trying to accomplish? "Don't you remember why you're here, Rin!? You would throw all of that effort away to protect the very thing you've been trying to destroy!?"

Bon felt obliged to stop them. He couldn't allow Rin to destroy his relationship with his brother like this, no matter how compassionate Amaimon was to him. "Knock it off—both of you!" He stepped between them, but the twins continued to stare each other down as if the exwire didn't exist.

"Don't lump me in with you! The only one trying to destroy him has been you, Yukio!"

"What!? Giving him the suppressant was your idea!"

"Hey! Listen to me!"

"That was before I knew it was killing him!"

"Hey! Did you two ever stop to consider that maybe you have the wrong demon!?"

The boys froze, finally taking notice of Bon's presence. "...What are you implying, Suguro?"

"A demon losing its heart makes its conscious split in two, right?" Bon spoke with less urgency, relieved that the two had stopped arguing long enough to hear him out. "Maybe this Amaimon," he gestured to the cowering figure that had shoved himself into the corner, "is the second conscious created when his heart was removed."

Rin lowered his sword, the angry light of his flames slowly fading. "But...that would mean..."

"This 'Ghost' you keep trying to get rid of is the real Amaimon. And that's why it keeps coming back."

Yukio dropped his arms to his sides. "I...I never even thought about that..."

"What?" Amaimon moved his hands and hastily lifted his eyes to Bon, his face hard with consternation. "What do you mean 'real Amaimon'?" That couldn't be right—Ghost was a figment of his imagination, a demon that no one else could see or feel. How could that be considered more real than him? "Rin, what does he mean?" He turned to his friend, desperate for an explanation that none of them felt comfortable giving. The heavy silence that followed only served to fuel his anxiety. "Tell me!" he snapped, his breath ragged and his body trembling.

"...It might not be true, but it's a possibility," Bon began hesitantly. "Ghost acts a lot like how Amaimon did before he lost his heart, but you," he gestured again, "act nothing like him as far as we know."

"Why..." Amaimon felt everything crumble around him. He retreated back into his corner and sank down to the floor, his legs no longer having the strength to hold him up.

But Bon continued, oblivious to his anguish. "It makes more sense if you were the one who was created from Ghost, not the other way around." He turned his attention to Yukio. "We were discussing this earlier—it's true that we don't know enough about Amaimon to know which personality is truly him, but I really believe that—based on what we do know—it's Ghost."

"Why are you saying these things?" Amaimon managed to compose himself enough to speak. "Aren't we supposed to be friends?"

Bon cringed at the word and pressed his lips together, not wanting to say more.

"No... No! It's not true! I won't believe it!" Rin shook his head defiantly. "I know Amaimon! I've fought him before! I've talked to him! Sure...maybe some things about him are different, but this is the original Amaimon!"

"That's enough." Yukio returned his pistol to its holster. "What Bon suggests has merit, but we shouldn't make any assumptions yet."

"Says the guy who won't listen to the doctor," Rin scoffed.

"Drop it, nii-san," he shot his brother a stern glare. "Look, too much has happened tonight and we're all too tired to make any rational decisions. Let's just go to bed—we can figure this out in the morning."

. . .

Amaimon didn't bother with sleep that night. His mind was too full of unanswered questions and dreaded possibilities to let him rest. He sat on his bed, knees pulled up to his chest, arms wrapped around his legs, and stared blankly into the darkness that shrouded his room.

Was it true? Was he the fabrication? Did losing his 'heart'—whatever that meant—cause his mind to create not Ghost but him as a method of coping with the trauma?

But...that would make everything about his nightmares real—the sharp teeth, the angry eyes, the massive tail, the hunger for blood.

No, none of that could be real. It just wasn't possible. Monsters like that only existed in fairytales, bedtime stories to put children to sleep.

And yet, this thought offered little comfort to Amaimon. No matter how hard he tried to convince himself, he just couldn't believe it. Those dreams had felt so real...he couldn't bring himself to believe they were fake.

Then, which of them was the original?

"Ghost?" He called out to the demon, but received no response. Ghost had been silent ever since the brothers started fighting; at first out of quiet amusement, and then out of startled uncertainty. Amaimon supposed it didn't matter much if Ghost stated his opinion or not—chances were he was just as confused about all this.

His thoughts were interrupted when his door opened, flooding his sullen room with a sliver of bright light from the hallway. "Sorry." Rin smiled gently at him through the gap. "I didn't know you were still up."

"Can't sleep," he muttered.

"Me either." Rin closed the door behind him and sat next to Amaimon on the bed. Behemoth let out a grunt of disapproval at his sudden presence and groggily moved to the other side of the mattress before curling back to sleep. "...Hey, can I tell you a story?"

"Huh?" Amaimon raised a brow. It was an odd request from Rin, but he figured they both desperately needed a distraction, so he agreed to listen.

"Once upon a time, there was a boy who was never accepted. Everyone seemed to hate him and viewed him as a monster. Regardless of the good he did, or the people he helped, he was always seen as bad. He was a little clumsy and really short-tempered, and he always said what was on his mind—which, believe it or not, got him into trouble a lot—but he tried his best to do good things.

"One day, he accidentally awoke a real monster living inside him. It was always trying to get out, to take control, to hurt the people he cared about, to stop him from being who he wanted to be. The boy tried really hard to control it, even going so far as to hurt himself, but he couldn't. Nothing he did seemed to satisfy the monster in him. So, instead, he tried to hide it, repress it. But that only made him distant—he was always afraid the monster would come out and hurt everyone around him.

"Despite this, he managed to make friends at a new school. These people liked him for the idiot he was, even if that was just a facade to hide the monster. But, there was still this nagging fear in the back of his mind...that, one day, they would find out about his secret and hate him for it.

"While camping together in a forest for a summer study session, they were attacked by another boy who was similar to the monster. In order to protect the people he loved—his new friends—the boy released his own monster and fought back.

"Just as he expected, everyone was afraid of him. Even when he tried to pretend like nothing had happened the next day, even when he went out of his way to act silly and make them smile like usual, they avoided him. So the boy was all alone again. People could only see him as a monster.

"Then, one day, he started talking to the monster who attacked their camp. And the boy realized he wasn't a monster at all. In fact, they had a lot in common and ended up being really good friends. The boy from the forest taught him how to smile again, made him feel whole, gave him a reason to continue in spite of all the shit that happened to him.

"And the boy loved him for this." Rin's voice, soft throughout the course of the tale, trailed off wistfully.

Amaimon looked up and moved his thumb from his mouth. "That's it?" Though his expression was blank, there was a hint of disappointment in his voice. "There's no ending?"

Rin smiled playfully at him. "No, not yet. I was hoping...you could help me figure out a nice way to end it?"

"You pervert!"

His entire face burned a bright red. "I-I didn't mean it like that!" Embarrassed, he turned his head, and then mumbled, "b-but I wouldn't mind...if that's what you want..."

Amaimon—thankfully—didn't hear him. "Thanks. I feel...a little better." That was a lie, but he didn't want anyone to worry about him.

His good mood suddenly vanished as Rin stood to leave. "Try to get some sleep, okay?"

"W-Wait," Amaimon reached out on impulse, his arm trembling.

He stopped, a hand on the door, and turned to face him. "What's wrong?" His brow knitted together in concern.

Amaimon wanted to beg him to spend the night, wanted to tell him that he was lonely and terrified Ghost might try something violent again, but, instead, he curled his fingers into a fist and shook his head. "Nevermind... It's nothing." He was so stupid—how could he expect Rin to care about him when he wasn't real?

He couldn't, of course. Regardless of what Rin said or what he believed, the forest boy from his story was merely a fabrication. Amaimon couldn't allow his friend to fall in love with a fake personality, no matter how much it hurt.

"Amaimon?" He flinched and looked up, surprised to find Rin seated beside him on the bed again. "Is everything alright? Do you want me to spend the rest of the night here?

He panicked, afraid that Rin could somehow read his thoughts, and shied away from him. "No! No, I'm fine."

"A-Are you sure?"

Amaimon drew in a slow, shaky breath to calm himself. "Yes, I'm sure. I just...wanted to tell you goodnight." He kept his head bowed low, knowing that, if he met Rin's gaze, his resolve would shatter and he would break down.

He felt movement beside him as Rin stood. "I'm right across the hall if you need anything, okay?"

"Goodnight, Rin." Please...just leave me alone.

A sullen silence stretched between the two for an extended moment. Amaimon hated himself then—for being weak, for being a coward, for being fake. And he hated Rin too—for being so compassionate, for loving him even knowing his existence might be a lie.

Relief washed over him when he heard the door open. "Goodnight."

Amaimon didn't sleep at all that evening.