Disclaimers Apply. I do not own Ao no Exorcist, only this story plot.

Ap Captandum

Prologue

It was your average day in True Cross city, with citizens walking about doing their business, mother's chatting as they pushed babies in strollers, and working men hurrying to and from lunch. It was a Saturday, and Rin whooped for joy as their grade was released, the twelve o'clock bell tolling loudly throughout the town.

"Come on, Yukio!" Rin shouted giddily, grabbing his brother by his hand so as to drag him faster.

Yukio grinned eagerly, returning his brother's steady grip so that the pair of ten year-olds held hands as they ran down the street tops. Yukio knew Daddy had told them not the run in the streets, but it was okay if they held hands, right?

"Daddy said he'd have lunch made by the time we get home, and I'm hungry, so hurry up!" Rin yelled back to his brother, who despite training laboriously in his exorcists studies never could match Rin's natural athleticism.

"Nii-san, not so fast!" Yukio laughed, pulling back on their shared hands to slow his bull of a brother down. "If you keep going like this, you're going to hit someone."

"Nuh-uh!" Rin retorted as he rounded a corner, using their momentum to swing his brother around. They collapsed, laughing hysterically with the jubilance of youth. "You tripped me!" Rin accused his brother.

"You tripped yourself and then pulled me down too!" Yukio denied, kicking his brother's foot. Rin retaliated by pushing his brother down, only to laugh even harder when Yukio's backpack prevented him from actually touching the ground.

The younger twin scowled, rolling around and picking himself up. He dusted his pants off, before slanting a glare towards his brother, who was still chortling on the ground. Yukio grinned.

"Here, nii-san," he said, extending a welcoming hand down to Rin. Rin, still giggling, didn't notice the evil glare in Yukio's eyes and gullibly took the offered hand. As he was pulled up, Yukio quickly let go, letting Rin fall back down with an inelegant "oomph!"

Yukio lost it. He laughed so hard tears sprang to his eyes, and Rin good-naturedly laughed as well. Finally, the two brother's picked themselves up, clasped hands once more, and continued their interrupted journey.

"I told you you were gonna fall." Yukio chided.

"No you didn't! You said I'd hit someone!" Rin exclaimed in mock anger, releasing their joined hands so that he could walk backwards as they talked, folding his arms behind his neck and glancing up towards the azure sky.

"And you did. You hit me."

"Aw, you don't count as someone." Rin returned, lowering his gaze to glimpse his brother's amused face.

But before Yukio could reply, a piercing scream interrupted them, and the twin's whipped their heads towards the startling close sound, tensing as it echoed morbidly in the shadowed alleyway beside them.

The sunlight lit up the buildings on either side of the narrow alley, but in the crevice between the two towering structures darkness pervaded so thickly it was hard to see through.

Yukio immediately gripped his brother's arm as Rin surged forward, prepared to meet - and possibly help - the seemingly young girl in distress. "Nii-san, no! We need to go get someone!" Apprehension swelled in Yukio's stomach as he tried helplessly to see through the mouth of the alleyway further in.

Rin took but a moment to glance back at his twin in disbelief. "Get someone? We need to help her now!" With that Rin overpowered his brother and ran in, leaving Yukio to stand nervously as he watched the darkness swallow his brave brother up.

Angry, Yukio yelled, "Stupid nii-san!" before wheeling around to hunt down a stranger, a police man, anyone.

Yukio's shout echoed back to Rin as he pounded down the concrete walkway, his own steps coming to reverberate in his ears. A pervading silence weighed down on Rin, and as Rin felt himself drawing nearer to the source of the earlier scream, fear twisted his gut. It was too too dark for midday, even in an alley - Rin couldn't even see his feet! Something was very very wrong, he felt.

Nervously, Rin glanced upwards but found he couldn't even see the sky. His heart thundered in his chest, and Rin was suddenly feeling that maybe following Yukio's advice would have been better.

"Hello," a voice cheerfully sang, right by Rin's ear.

With a shriek Rin jumped away, crying out when his head slammed into the brick wall behind him. His eyes wheeled about in the darkness, trying uselessly to see who his assailant was, but he couldn't see anything. It was like he was blind.

"Aww, are you scared," the voice said happily, cooing in delight it seemed. Rin only felt marginally better that the source of the voice seemed to stay where it had been. "Did you hear my scream earlier? I've been working on different types. Please, tell me, what did it sound like to you?"

Stuttering, Rin answered. "Y-you sounded li-like a girl." The poor boy swallowed dryly, and now he couldn't feel his hands or feet, like his body was slowly going numb. He felt warm breath waft gently against his right cheek, and Rin shrieked once more. He tried to jump away but found he couldn't move, pinned against the wall, numb and terrified.

"Really?" The voice demanded excitedly. "Oh, wonderful! I've been working on that for months now, but people always say I sound like a little boy, but," here, the voice paused, as if in thought. "You sound like a little girl when you scream too."

Here, Rin's indignation flared briefly, enough to overpower his fear. "I'm a boy!" he shouted towards the voice.

"And how delightful that is! I do prefer men over women, but little boys will do too." Rin thought he could see gleaming white teeth smile wickedly, but he wasn't sure. Maybe I'm just imagining everything, he thought, hoped. Maybe it's a dream and Daddy will wake me up soon with pancakes and syrup and Yukio will laugh and hug me.

"No dearie, it's not a dream." The syrupy voice giggled, when suddenly it grew demonic. "It's a nightmare!" As Rin's terror rose, the demon seemed to grow even more intoxicated. A slippery wet sensation slid up Rin's throat, and the young boy whimpered as he realized it was licking him.

His heart pounded so hard in his little chest that Rin thought it was about to explode. He couldn't breathe. Even now he kept trying, breathing, breathing, breathing, but nothing seemed to reach his lungs. Everything was burning, his arms his stomach, his chest, his hands, he couldn't breathe!

"Yes, yes, yes! Go on, keep getting scared! After all, there's no one coming to save you! Dear Yukio's gotten lost. Maybe I'll go after him!"

Here, Rin's fear spiked, and a thousand images of his small little brother in his same position filtered through his mind's eyes. No! He wasn't going to let this monster touch his brother! Nobody would ever hurt his brother!

With an inhuman roar Rin yelled and jumped away from the wall, blinking as a soft blue light flared to life. A hideous monster had been crouched over him, a long slimy tongue hanging from it's triangular like head as it's back remained arched high into the air, legs bent like an animals', with arms too small for its body. A long thick tail, like a lizard's, thrashed behind the monster.

At the sight of Rin's blue flames the monster screeched and reeled away, pressing against the wall Rin had been on in shock.

Rin caught sight of blue flickering, and when he looked down he found himself covered in blue flames, consuming his body wickedly, eagerly, wrapping around his fingers and arms, his legs. He was swallowed whole by the flames. Wildly, Rin flapped his arms, trying to dispel the fire. "Get it off, get it off!" he screamed, not noticing how the flames never burned him.

"My lord," the demon whispered, crouching forward to peer intently at the flickering azure light Rin gave off. "My lord, we've been searching for you!" Here the demon scuttled forward on lizard like feet, grasping with his hands towards Rin. Startled, Rin jumped back with a yelp, his attention returning from the blue flames sprouting from his body to the creature before him.

"Wh-what are you talking about!" Rin demanded, and yet the fire was still on his body. He wasn't burning...there was no pain. Was he dead already?

"No, my young prince, you are not dead!" The demon eagerly reassured, reading Rin's mind. "Your power has returned to you! Come, your father will be very pleased to see you!" At these words, Rin perked up, but quickly scowled.

"You're not going to take me to my daddy!" The words, though delivered strongly, were still feeble, and the demon could sense the weakness plaguing Rin's mind. Oh, what a wonderful meal he would have made! Regretfully, however, this one was out of reach.

"But, young lord, I am! It's not that long of a trip, I promise you!"

Rin saw the logic in these words, the truth, for Rin and Yukio had actually not been too far from home when the shrill scream had stopped them. Suspiciously, Rin peered at the demon.

Once more finding Rin's doubts, the demon cajoled him further. "My young lord, your father will be able to subdue your flames!"

The eager words did the trick as Rin stared down at his flame covered hands, watching the energetic fire leap towards his face, which he suspected was also covered in the flames. After a moment of contemplation however, Rin scowled. "No! You tried to eat me! Go away!" With this, Rin pushed the approaching monster away, heedless of the brutal yells following as the monster began to burn with the blue flames. Rin ran away.

He ran towards what he thought the entrance was, but darkness was all around him, penetrated only by the soft glow of flames still encasing his body.

"S-someone!" Rin yelled, eyes grasping to see anything, something, someone, in the limited light his flames provided. Rin ran and ran, his feet pounding on black, his hands searching, but there was nothing.

"Daddy!" Rin screamed, crouching down and crying. He sobbed into his hands, little body shaking. He was lost, gone, he'd never see his daddy again.

Rin didn't know how long he crouched there crying, it was impossible to tell time in this dark void of a world he'd been sucked into. Gradually, however, sounds reached his ears, the hubbub of True Cross city breaking the darkness. Rin blinked and looked up, and when he saw sunlight he cried in relief again.

Perhaps it was only a rat, but a scuttling sound behind Rin sent the boy up and running once more, and Rin eagerly took the turns and roads leading to the monastery he lived in. He no longer paid any mind to the flames caressing his skin, nor to the fact that nobody seemed to notice them either. Rin ignored the overly large flies littering the skies, or the strange bobbing shapes clinging to walls and people - all he could think was to find his daddy and have him fix everything.

The monastery was in sight, as gloomy as ever even in the blinding midday sun, but Rin was undeterred. He slid to a skid in front of the gated entrance of the church, gasping for breath from his continuous run. There, there was his daddy! Standing with policeman and Yukio at the entrance to the church, Shiro was conversing sternly with the few uniform-clad men that had been sent, his heavy black robes weighing down on him and Yukio clinging to them, sobbing.

"Daddy!" Rin called, knees weak and unable to carry him further. He was home, he was safe, Daddy was here. Everything was okay. "Daddy!" Rin yelled again, watching as Shiro's head jerked up towards Rin, a giant smile spreading across his face. Yukio, following Rin's voice, and having spied Rin, pushed so hard from Shiro he almost fell, stumbling in his haste to run towards Rin.

"Nii-san!" Yukio screamed, already ahead of Shiro and the police men.

"Rin!" Shiro yelled back, pushing past the police men to run towards Rin.

There was suddenly a warmth at his back, though, and when Rin turned to look behind himself he found a tall grinning man. Huge curling horns adorned his temples, and his teeth were sharpened, his smile feral. A black miasma curled from his borrowed body, and Astaroth bent down, slipping his arms around Rin's shocked body.

"Come, let us take you to your father," Astaroth said, before slipping away into the darkness, Shiro's last yell following them and Yukio's cries dying in his ears.

A/N: Yes, this plot is a little bit over done, the whole "Rin is taken to Gehenna" but I've yet to find a good completed fic of it, so I decided I'd give a go at it.

There will be no romance! This is more family/friends-centric, so for those shippers out there, sorry!

Edit: Well, there's a new AnE anime, and with it there are people finding this fic. Wow, has it really been three years since I've started this? In honor of the new anime, I'll slowly be going through each chapter and fixing mistakes and editing it slightly to reflect my new writing style. Welcome new readers and I hope you enjoy this take on an already over done idea haha.

As of 5/26/14: 2139 words

As of 1/24/17: 2140 words