Thank you to all of my faithful readers, for sticking with me until the very end. I'm honestly amazed at the response this story has gotten - I remember the first review I ever got, from 'guest' who kindly informed me that I uploaded the document's html file and not just the text. And I still read every single review I get and it makes my day.

Disclaimer: I don't own Blue Exorcist.

AN: This is a couple years later.

Guard duty was boring, it really was; at least ninety-nine percent of the time nothing happened and they just stood there. The other one percent was when an ambassador or dignitary went through the Gate (it had been placed there after the treaty between the kingdom of Gehenna and the Exorcist order was finalized), which while exciting only lasted a short time before returning to monotony.

Except now something was happening and he hadn't heard anything about it, which he knew meant it was an unauthorized use of the Gate. A quick glance at his partner assured him he was right; she was watching the Gate warily as well.

He activated his radio. "Sir, the Gate has been activated. Not much activity yet besides agitation - wait, small visible arcs of energy are appearing. Over."

The radio crackled. "Roger that. We're sending an ArcKnight down. Over."

He clipped the radio back to his uniform and shared the orders. "They're sending an ArcKnight down, just keep watch!"

"Yes, sir," the other guards chorused, and they watched with bated breath as a small figure appeared in the Gate. He edged closer warily, and was utterly shocked at the appearance of a small child lying on top of the eerie heads. The kid sat up and scowled.

"Who you?" He demanded, standing up and wading out of the Gate. "Look funny." The kid's hands went down to his hip.

Great. The kid had attitude. And a knife. He looked at him carefully, trying to figure the kid out. He looked to be about four or five years old, with blue eyes that were almost purple and short black hair that revealed pointed ears. A demon for sure then - the clothes also gave him away.

"Calm down, kid, we're not going to do anything."

The boy scowled again, obviously still suspicious.

"Hello!"

He and the rest of the guards breathed a sigh of relief as Lewin Light entered the room. Light noticed the kid immediately and his eyes narrowed, though his cheerful grin remained.

"I'm Lewin Light. What's your name?"

"Yukio."

The name sounded familiar, he just wasn't sure where he'd heard it before. And it was familiar to ArcKnight Light, too, if the widening of his eyes was any indication.

"I apologize, Prince Yukio. We will tell your father immediately and he'll come get you, okay? And while you wait you can stay with your Uncle Samael, how about that?"

"I like Uncle Iblis more," Yukio said, still scowling, and he nearly fumbled his spear. This kid - he was the son of Rin, the King of Gehenna. And from what ArcKnight Light had said - King Rin was coming here.

"We'll tell your Uncle Iblis, too, okay?" The kid nodded and followed ArcKnight Light out of the room. Light turned around before leaving to add, "Rin's probably gonna show up real soon, so just don't attack, okay? And if he asks you anything, tell him I've got him."

Light was gone before he could compose himself enough to protest - demon kings were way above his paygrade - and he looked back at all the other guards in the chamber. They all were similarly stupefied but as he watched the expressions started to turn panicky. So he steeled himself and did his duty as captain.

"It's okay, guys - just pretend there's a really irritable demon that's going to come through the Gate. We've dealt with demons before. We've dealt with irritable people before. We've dealt with irritable demons before. And this time, he probably won't be trying to kill us."

His group looked marginally better - still terrified, but not panicked. It was an improvement, at least. And now it was time to wait - maybe they'd calm down some. But then again, the wait would also wear down their - and his - nerves.

Fortunately the wait wasn't actually that long - it was perhaps half an hour before the Gate started becoming more active again. It was a bit more violent this time, too: the crackles of electricity were thicker, and blue flames danced over the surface. A silhouette grew in the middle of the seething mass of heads and the King of Demons emerged.

He was surprisingly average - his head was bowed slightly, dark bangs overshadowing his eyes. He was dressed rather simply - a white shirt, a vest, trousers - and a circlet of silver on his head, which was the only thing marking him as royalty. And then his head snapped up and cold burning blue eyes bored into him.

"Where is he?"

He took a shuddering breath - the King, despite his youthful appearance, had an unearthly presence about him that was more terrifying than he could have imagined.

"A-ArcKnight Light has him - said they were going to Samael."

The King swept past him, heat radiating from his body, and left the Gate chamber, shoes clicking softly on the stone floor.

"Sorry about that," someone said in a conversational tone. "It's just little Yuki is rather vulnerable and Rin worries."

He whipped around; another demon had come through the Gate while everyone's attention was on the King. He looked similar to Rin except he was a bit taller and lankier - that and his hair was literally flaming.

"I'm Iblis, by the way, and I should probably leave now and make sure Rin doesn't burn down anything too important on accident, nice meeting you!"

Iblis disappeared as well, and he breathed a sigh of relief, as did the rest of his team.

"That didn't go too badly, did it?" He asked, voice still a bit shaky.

"Wait till I tell my brother about this," he heard one of the other guards say, and smiled. It seems they'd be fine.

Rin was absolutely terrified. And he couldn't show it because that would only put Yuki in more danger; the more who knew about his disappearance the more possible it was someone with a grudge would go after him, and that absolutely could not happen. He'd gotten Iblis and his wife in on the search; he'd gotten all those in his employ he knew were trustworthy; he'd even gotten Beelzebub to look around.

No Yukio.

But then - then - a contracted demon had shown up, saying that Yukio was in Assiah. He'd rushed to the Gate with Iblis tagging along (he said it was for damage control and Rin fully agreed) and hadn't hesitated before jumping through.

He admitted he'd probably been a bit cold to the guards on the human side of the Gate, but he didn't have the time to waste on pleasantries. Yukio was waiting for him, in Samael's company, and possibly Light's.

He slammed open the door to Samael's rooms - still covered in otaku paraphernalia - and stormed in.

"Samael! Yuki?"

"Dad!"

His son ran out from behind a stack of boxes and tackled his legs. Rin picked him up and held him against his chest, breathing in his scent to reassure him he was fine. And then held him out at arm's length to glare at him.

"What did we tell you about wandering on your own, huh?"

"…that I wasn't s'posed to do it."

"This is why you listen to your parents, Yuki, so you don't get lost like this. Next time, do what we ask, okay? Or else I'll make you stay in your room and practice reading. All day."

Yukio looked horrified, and Rin couldn't help but smile - he'd definitely inherited his own more active nature.

"Okay, dad, I promise."

AN: I went back to school, and my schedule has been pretty busy, but then November rolled around and I decided to finish up. It also took me forever to figure out what I was going to do for this chapter and eventually I settled on this. It wasn't quite what I was expecting, but *shrugs*, here it is.