Title: Give the Devil His Due

Author: Moi Fah

Genre: General/Angst

Topic: Ao no Exorcist (Blue Exorcist)

Pairings/ Characters: Shiemi, Amaimon (implied pairing if you squint?)

Word Count: 348

Feedback: If you feel so moved...it's much appreciated!

Rating: T

It wasn't water that nourished this garden...but tears.

Like one of the many plants she tended to, she felt rooted to the spot. Hazy, almost dizzy. As if she wasn't altogether there.

The tears she shed, the ones that streamed down her face in two thick rivulets, were killing the flowers. The filthy, salty tears she cried would kill them. But she couldn't stop. She wouldn't stop, not until the pain in her heart ceased from its roaring state to a dull pain to a final numb sensation.

Why did her heart hurt though? Why did she grieve? What did she grieve for? Who did she grieve for?

The sensation of it all was overwhelming and she fell down into the carpeted cove of blossoms. If her tears had killed the flowers, then why had they continued to grow in size around her? Swelling up and engulfing her body fully until she felt the air being crushed from her lungs.

Was this their revenge? Their counterattack at the idea of being destroyed?

No, this wasn't her garden.

It was Amahara...but sinister.

God did not preside over this place. It was not a place of Heaven, or in Heaven, like her grandmother had predicted. It was a tainted place. A place fit for a demon.

And the ground in which she lay was no longer lush foliage but instead cold, soulless earth. It was a grave. A shallow one. She found herself still immobile, watching as the freshly dug dirt began to fall back down into the hole in harsh clumps.

She was going to be buried alive, tears and all.

At the foot of her grave stood a shadow, one she didn't recognize. A tall, masculine shadow that gave off no love or warmth. He wanted her to drown...to suffocate in her bed of soil.

Before the last clump of dirt entombed her inside her earthen casket forever, she saw a smile. A pointed, fanged smile. A clawed hand waving a melancholy 'good-bye.'

...for you have grieved, and now, the Devil has come to collect his due.

A/N: I didn't really want to add author's notes to end or beginning of this piece as I thought it ruined the overall appearance of the piece but I think I'm kind of known for explaining things to hell and back so...yeah. This has no explanations anywhere. XD I haven't picked up Ao no Exorcist in awhile (I started reading the manga before the anime even came out) so I suppose I used my slight lack of memory to write this piece. And yes, I'm secretly hoping there will be more Amaimon and Shiemi moments in the future or I'll be super sad with the series.

Anyhow, the line 'give the devil his due' has been around forever and day and means that even though something bad may happen, you still have to give someone credit, for example, a messy cook in the kitchen still makes a fantastic dish. I, however, combined this idea with the Aesop Fable of 'Grief and His Due', which tells us that we shouldn't give in to grief too much lest it become a sin and make him more powerful (the more we grieve, the more powerful he becomes). So basically, Shiemi doesn't want to give in to Amaimon (possibly even the idea that Amahara isn't a tainted place) so she gives in to her grief instead, so much, that it does become a sin which means Amaimon can collect his due in his own way.