In the Beginning

Disclaimer: Characters and premise are the property of Kazue Kato. I'm just borrowing them for a little non-profit fun.

Epilogue: Family Bonds

"We aren't so different Son." Satan gave Yukio an approving look.

"Don't call me that!"

Satan continued talking over Yukio's protest. "You understand the need to keep your beloved family close and safe. You understand that there is nothing more cruel than to be stripped of your loved ones. That's why I've brought your cousin, my nephew back to you."

"That is not Rene!" Yukio exclaimed. "That is you wearing Rene's corpse, it's grotesques."

"But it will be Rene," Satan promised, unperturbed. "I brought his soul back to you as well. That was the hard part, much more difficult than reassembling his body and putting a spark of my power in it. There was next to nothing binding him to this life, if he hadn't wanted assurance that his sacrifice had saved you he would have been out in the Void awaiting his next life before I'd realized he was dead. After all the trouble I've gone to bringing him back to you, being allowed to make occasional use of this body to check in on my child seems a fair enough price."

Yukio felt a strange mixture of hope and guilt welling up underneath the terror Satan's comment about checking in on him generated.

"Your mother isn't in Assiah. Why would I want a material body right now?" Satan asked. "This time your mother allowed me to hold her spirit with me in Gehenna. She wasn't ready to be done with this life yet." He sighed, "Your mother isn't the type to leave the world with regrets, but as my power has continued to grow it becomes harder and harder to find vessels that can hold me, even for a short time." He gestured to Rene's body, "Obviously her bloodline, rejuvenated by her rebirth into that bloodline can withstand my presence but with so many of you humans filling the world, the blood thins quickly. By her next incarnation, your and your brother's descendants would be useless to me." A whiney tone crept into Satan's voice, "In the old days your royalty knew how to keep the door open for us, marrying their siblings or half-siblings generation after generation to so as not to dilute the the blood, but now humans object if you have children with your second cousin."

"Yeah for modern sensibilities, slamming the door in the face of greater demons everywhere," Yukio replied blandly.

"I will never allow your mother's soul to be extinguished. So long as she always comes back, the door will always open for me. But that is not enough!" Satan exclaimed. "The door opens after she's gone, mocking me! Samael, my ever so presumptuous son, would have me accept eons of separation and tortuous sojourns in the Void for both of us in return for a few brief decades with her reincarnations. And even then years of each incarnation would be lost in finding one another again, in building anew our relationship from the pitiful scraps that will remain after her periods of internment in the Void. Samael contents himself with that, but I will not." Satan declared. "To restore your mother to what she should be I will turn Assiah and Gehenna upside down. Tear them to pieces and build them anew."

"I'll oppose you," Yukio said.

Satan shook his head, he smiled at Yukio. "You'll help me."

"If you weren't in Rene's body I'd shoot you," Yukio snapped

"You allowed yourself to be swayed by the True Cross' nonsense. Because you listened to them and to the one you call your father you drove your brother to the point of suicide and were separated from him, for his protection. Because you trusted your grandfather, wicked old man that he was, you stood by and did nothing while the child you named Indigo was murdered, you killed Felix and caused the deaths of his twin and your cousin. You know this is true Yukio. And I know you, you're my son." He looked past Yukio to where Kit lay sleeping. "You've made mistakes, trusted the wrong people. But you've learned. You won't stand by while your child is torn away from you. You'll keep your cousin safe this time. Despite Samael's interference, you'll find a way back to your twin. I'll help you, and you'll help me. We will restore our family."

"I won't believe a word you say!" Yukio exclaimed. "You're Satan."

"All I want is to look in your mother's eyes and know she remembers me, remembers all of our past." Satan snarled. "I'm tired of losing her. Tired of lying to her in life after life, because how can I say 'You are the love of my life, I have waited centuries to find you again' when she only knows whatever stories they tell of me? Why is it so wrong to strive for a world where I can be with her? Assiah and Gehenna have been transformed time and time again as the ages pass to better serve the needs of humanity. I barely recognize either any longer, but still God refuses change them so that I don't lose her."

"I want to have sex with her again, material body sex." For the first time Yukio was tempted to let his aim waiver, if for no other reason than to plug his ears. But Satan continued his rant unperturbed. "I'd all but forgotten what it is like to join with her physically. If there's one thing I have to thank your grandfather for, it's sending your mother's twin to talk her into returning before he sent that thrice damned Paladin after her. Sharing a womb with her was enough to reinvigorate his blood and allowed both him and his offspring to withstand my presence. For three glorious weeks I finally had a body to touch her with for the first time in eons! But then she had to go and decide that her twin's wife and child deserved him back. Still it was good while it lasted. But why should it have to end? And what about those incarnations where her twin dies before I find her? Her parents and any other siblings are no good to me and she won't consider sleeping with her children even if I am possessing their body." Satan grimaced at his memories, "She was quite forceful about that the one life where I tried it."

"I am not listening to you!" Yukio declared loudly.

Satan chuckled. "I've heard children don't like thinking about their parents having sex."

"The idea of YOU being in a relationship with anyone is revolting!"

"You think I am evil because I'm a demon, but demons were created of the evil mankind did," Satan argued. "If you don't believe me ask Samael how his demon blood was awakened. Ask him what humans made of him before I freed him to recreate himself as the Angel of Death. And remember: I've restored your cousin to you. I've returned one thing this corrupt world stole from you."

With that the blue flames in Rene's empty eye-socket dimmed. He blinked and looked around with a lost fearful expression. Then he saw Yukio and smiled.

"Rene?" Yukio whispered.

"Yukio, is it okay I'm not dead?" Rene asked timidly and Yukio remembered that their grandfather had started torturing Rene when he'd survived the car wreck that killed his parents. "Aunt Yuri said it would be okay," Rene continued, his voice wavering but hopeful. "She said that being alive wouldn't hurt anymore, that you needed me back?"

"It's okay," Yukio said. "You and Kit will be okay, I promise."

Notes: Well, this story's been a bit of an experiment in world building for me, so I kept it short. I felt like I was leaning a little too heavily on having various characters TELL how the various rules of the world came to be so I wanted to have a story set when the rules were forming. I'm not sure how successful this venture was. As hinted, Mephisto will pick-up the story, but I think I'll keep that short and relatively free of subplots so it'll be skippable.

Next up, "Those who Favor Fire": A mission gone wrong leaves Angel, Rin and Bon trapped in Gehenna. Simply entering Gehenna is regarded as death sentence for any Exorcist, but Rin's never been one to give up in the face of the impossible. Unfortunately, Angel had his own orders going in and a past that inclines him to follow them.

I should post the first chapter this weekend since both this chapter and that one are a bit on the short side.