WEEK THREE EXECUTION

[grigori]

week three: execution interred with their bones

Hopefully you got a long night of sleep? Barring that, you got whatever answers, or closure, you might have needed. Because it's strangely quiet, the following Sunday morning. There's something almost oppressive hanging over the city, the market silent for the day as businesses remain closed and merchants remain indoors.

Breaking the silence, somewhere, much like the song of Friday, there is the echoing, cruel laughter of voices you should faintly recognize throughout the city. It's followed by humming of that newly familiar song. It's strongest, interestingly, close to the outpost.

As time turns to 1 PM, though, there is a change as the voices fade. While there's no compulsion to investigate it, there's a small gathering out beyond the outpost, in the desert proper. Your three Watchers are here with their daemons, and so are... Rin, and his daemon, front and center. All damages and evidence, anything amiss from the weekend, is all gone, and replaced with the state of the city from the week prior.

Nearby, the Watchers stand clustered together. Satariel stands close to Rin, hand gently between his shoulders, though they periodically look back Yomiel's way or around the area with an uneasy dread. Yomiel stands a short distance away from the others, avoiding the others' gaze as well as they can (that is, badly). Their ocelot daemon crouches beside them, fur bristling. Rameel stands somewhere between Satariel and Yomiel to act as some sort bridge between the three of them. Their puma daemon settled by their feet as it keeps tabs on Yomiel's ocelot as Rameel makes sure to not look away.

And then, another party will be compelled to join them. Yukio will find that his feet are carrying him to his destination, Miki sticking close to him as they travel past bones across shifting sands. Once he passes a certain point, opposite where Rin stands, he'll find that he can't go back, and neither can his daemon.

Likewise, no one can enter the area further than where the three Watchers stand, Satariel having been pushed back, stopped only by their daemon shifting to its bear form. There will be no interfering from outside parties, no matter what it is that's about to happen. Any attempts to do so will result in them meeting an invisible barrier, one that rebuffs them with the same amount of force used against it—so take care.

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Comments

[reflash]

[Rin pulls on the sword, and Yukio... pulls harder. A quick step and slide of his leg to sweep Rin's feet out from under him.]

You really will die today if you don't take things seriously.

[aono]

[Aaand there he goes. To his credit, he's still holding onto the sword as he falls flat on his back.]

I already know I'm dying today, Yukio. But not until I knock some sense into you!

[Being prone on his back means he can kick at Yukio's feet too and knock him down as well.]

Why won't you just talk to me, huh?!

[reflash]

[He catches himself by landing with a knee in Rin's stomach instead of on the ground. It's a deliberate move.]

Nii-san. Do you really think you're going to be able to "knock some sense into me"? You barely know how to fight. If you value your life, at least try to defeat this weak little brother of yours.

[aono]

[Well, there goes his breath for the second time in 30 seconds. At this rate he'll die of asphyxiation.

But instead of complaining, he finds himself chuckling, as much as he can while he's had the wind knocked out of him. 'Weak little brother', is it?]

I don't think I can call you that anymore. You've gotten strong in the last year, haven't you?

[He sounds...proud? That Yukio is stronger? This boy's emotions, man.]

[reflash]

[He grabs Rin by the collar, pulls him up as he stands. Punches him in the stomach again.

That laugh is back.]

The last year? Who did you say needed glasses?

You only started noticing anything going on around you after Father Fujimoto died! You never noticed a damn thing before that!

[aono]

[Rin is easily dragged up and punched, his only reaction being flinching and coughing in pain. Is that a trickle of blood at the corner of his mouth?

But once he's recovered, he just gazes at Yukio with sad eyes. It's not wrong, Rin hasn't been watching Yukio so closely. That's how he got away with all that secret training for years and years, Rin never watched carefully enough to notice how Yukio was changing.

'If he's stronger, then he'll win. Fight. Stop holding back.'

Rin continues to ignore the voice poking at the back of his mind, and instead focuses only on Yukio.]

You're right, I should have been paying better attention. But even if it's just for a moment, I can see you now. You're strong. I'm- I'm really proud of you, you know? You're smart, you're strong, you always know what to do...

['Stop it! Fight him!']

...you'll do just fine, I know it. You're a better person than I could ever hope to be.

[reflash]

You're wrong. [That smile drops, and Yukio slams the back of his gun into the side of Rin's face.]

In case you didn't notice, I'm about to beat you to death with my own two hands.

1/2

[aono]

[The gun hits his face and there's definitely something broken now, but Rin can't think straight long enough to figure out what hurts. It won't matter anyway soon, right? His head is swimming, his vision is going blurry, and Yukio might have a clean shot if Rin just passes out here.]

2/2

[aono]

[But he doesn't pass out. After a moment of being unbalanced, Rin's hand abruptly snaps out. It grabs onto the hilt of the sword, rather than the scabbard, drawing it easily in one smooth motion as Rin uses a half-turn to put some distance between him and Yukio. Just enough distance to be out of punching range.

The eyes that meet Yukio's gaze are cold, unkind. The movements fluid and deadly at the same time. His posture is one that speaks to a level of seriousness that Rin has never shown here.

This isn't Rin. This is Something Else.]

[reflash]

There you are. [Yukio says, and his smile is back, but different now. He's found his target.]

I was wondering when I'd get the chance to meet you.

[aono]

You weren't hitting him right. Aren't you supposed to be the demon expert? Target their hearts to let weaknesses form so demons can slip in.

[The voice is still Rin's, and yet it's not at the same time. The speech is clipped, straight to the point, lacking in any of the emotion that Rin shows pretty much every time he speaks. And yet, the words still sound like something Rin could say, albeit in his cruelest moments.

It's Rin, but it's not, but it is all over again. Who is he?

The demon works his wrist a few times, stretching it out as he starts to circle Yukio. Rinkou is hissing in the background- hissing at Rin- but makes no other move.]

Wrong choice, little brother. I'm not gonna kneel down and die like that soft-hearted weakling.

[reflash]

I wouldn't expect you to. [He's still, watching the demon circle him. Yukio's body language has shifted too, more ready for a fight than before. This isn't his brother, this is a demon, and he is an exorcist. He knows how to compartmentalize. He has to.]

[aono]

[Well compartmentalize this, Yukio: the demon is going to come in swinging, stepping quickly and aiming a piercing stab right towards where Yukio is standing.

The form may be familiar. While Rin himself often forgets what he learns, his instincts have retained the knowledge of months of sword training with Shura. And this demon is functioning mostly on instinct right now.]

[reflash]

[Rin's training has had months to form the sort of muscle memory that the demon is relying on now. But Yukio's been training for almost a decade.

He sidesteps, strikes the side of the blade with the butt of his gun to try and unbalance the demon, in the same movement gets behind it and slams a fist into its spine, right between the shoulder blades.]

[aono]

[The demon stumbles, but he can predict the kind of attack Yukio is going for. So instead of forcing himself to stand back up (and meet that fist with his spine), he continues with the motion and tumbles forward, under Yukio's arms and away from him.

And as he tumbles, his tail- long and white-blue, to match his new hair color- sweeps across to try to knock Yukio off his feet.]

[reflash]

[Yukio steps on that tail, hard.]

[aono]

[Fuck.

The demon is screeching yowling like a cat (thanks Lisa) and trying to yank his tail out from under Yukio's foot with one hand, while trying to stab Yukio's legs with the sword in the other.]

[reflash]

[He takes one strike to his left leg from the sword before he gets out of the way. Then he fires, a shot that goes right by Rin's head, narrowly missing one of those pointed ears.]

[aono]

[The demon doesn't even waste any time. He's back on his feet, tail swaying behind him in annoyance, giving Yukio a half-second of consideration before rushing in. Without his demon strength he can't do any of the crazy acrobatics that he normally does, but he can stay low to the ground so he can dodge around Yukio's aiming and avoid any more shots he takes.

Instead of aiming to stab, this time he's trying to body-check Yukio and knock him down. Yukio might have more training, but Rin has always had more raw strength. Time to put that to good use.]

[reflash]

[Yukio's at a slight disadvantage here, with his height and the demon staying low. He lets himself be tackled, deliberately taking the impact and twisting to turn this into a grapple as he goes down. Yukio's no weakling either.]

[aono]

[A grapple is fine. The demon has the advantageous positioning to start with, so he can land it so that he's pinning Yukio down by sitting on him. Yukio can hold onto Rin's clothes if he wants, that will just keep Yukio in place. He doesn't need long, just a moment of strength over Yukio, one moment of distraction on the younger twin's part will be the end.

That's all it took with the sword-man, after all. One mis-step on his part.]

[reflash]

[He's down, hits the ground heavily and it knocks the breath out of him for a second. That's enough for this demon, isn't it? That's all it's going to take if it really wants to kill him.]

1/2

[aono]

[It's more than enough for the demon, yeah. His unkind grin is followed by an unhinged chuckle as he shifts his grip on the katana and holds it above Yukio, the point of the blade right above Yukio's heart.]

Tell crane-boy I said hi.

[And then he plunges the sword down-]

2/2

[aono]

[-into the dirt next to Yukio's shoulder.

Gasping, Rin leans a little on the sword, exhausted. His face is sweaty and his breath is shaky and tears are starting to mix in too, but despite everything he's actually smiling down at Yukio.]

Ha...ha...I made it. I'm back.

['Tadaima', for you Japanese speakers out there.]

1/2

[reflash]

[The sword comes down and Yukio grabs at the gun and--

lowers it again.]

Welcome, back, nii-san.

[Okaeri.]

[There's something different about his smile. Tired, and a little proud.

He carefully rolls Rin off of him, sits up and looks at his brother for a moment. Places a hand on his shoulder. Stands. Takes a step back.]

Please, wait there and close your eyes.