"Oi! Wake up, clown bastard!" A familiar voice grouched. Mephisto knew that voice, but why did it seem wrong for him to hear it?

"Shiro, let them be, they look happy." Another voice that he thought he'd never hear again chided.

"God damnit, why are you such a nuisance? Wake up already!" The first voice growled again and Mephisto gave a sigh and peeked an eye open. It took him a second to register who was glaring down at him and who was standing next to him before he sat straight up and stared at the nearly see-through man glowering at him with his arms crossed. A woman stood next to him, shaking her head. Then, Rin stood next to her, taller than both of the spirits.

Amaimon grumbled about Mephisto's sudden movement disturbing his nap and sat up too, yawning. When he saw the ghosts and Rin, he sat there for a moment before leaning forward and attempting to shred the man from his face to his stomach with deadly claws and a vicious growl ripping from his throat. It would've worked if the man had a solid body.

"The only time it's good to be dead." The man sighed. Both the woman and Rin giggled and sounded nearly identical.

"Shiro? Where did you even come from, dear friend?" Mephisto was utterly befuddled. "Hell." The man answered bluntly. "You've been living in the castle this whole time, what are you so grumpy about?" Rin rolled his eyes. He was back to his original body and wearing something that was obviously Tartarus' doing, because the outfit was all dark colors. Though, he never would have thought the entity had a thing for fishnet. Or exposure.

Mephisto threw the Earth King a dirty look and stood up, brushing nonexistent dust off his clothes and looking down at Shiro with a grin. "I thought I'd never be able to see you again. That is, see you as you used to be. You look good Shiro." The man seemed to be caught off guard by the comment and frowned.

"Why are you suddenly so nice to me now?" He asked suspiciously. Mephisto grimaced. "Rin's had a bad run in Assiah until a few months ago. You weren't an ideal father figure, but I made you raise the twins anyway and they're both horribly scarred now. If I'd looked a little further into things I stead of leaving them to go without my further intervention to see what happened, I would've noticed something I really shouldn't have missed." The demon sighed.

"Do tell." Shiro said, intrested to hear about Mephisto's mistakes. He gave the man a baleful look and sat down on the couch. "Something I never thought of was how Satan formed when all that was possessing Goro was some tiny little piece of a soul. How could Satan possibly form from that? I thought that same little piece had just gained more power the longer it possessed Goro over the years. That's not what happened though." Amaimon was finally done laughing in Shiro's face over his predicament of being dead and useless and sat down next to the Time Lord on the couch.

"When we went to Section 13 not too long ago, Rin said he remembered being in a tank just like the ones I preserved. It was only then that I realized that what Rin is and what Satan is are two completely different things. Rin isn't a piece of Satan that separated form him when he impregnated Yuri Egin. Satan was a malevolent spirit that began as a will-o'-wisp and slowly gained more sentience as it observed humans. It possessed Goro along with that little nobody of Goro's malnourished and malformed soul and tried to absorb it for more power. But Goro didn't want to be part of something else and in revenge, caused Satan's emotional instability as he gained an Ego. When Satan and Yuri made Rin and Yukio, that piece escaped and merged with baby Rin's soul. So, in conclusion, Rin's flames really are his own and no one else's." Mephisto finished this explanation. "And, Goro was there first, so that also means Rin was first. So technically, Rin is older than Satan? Man, that's a story! And really weird, because I raised him." Shiro admitted. A snort from Amaimon drew his gaze to the demon. "Don't toot a horn that doesn't exist, Priest. You didn't raise shit. You trained one to be a killing machine and totally neglected the other for most of their lives." His face relaxed. "But it's this guy's fault, and Humans aren't perfect, so you get a break for once, congratulations." He poked Mephisto's cheek merely to annoy him in retribution for letting things get so bad.

"Uh.....Thank you....?" Shiro didn't know what to make of that, so he turned back to Mephisto. "I'll accept your apology if you can find a way to get me out of Tartarus. I'm getting tired of reliving everything I wanted to forget." He sighed. "I can't, but Rin probably could. The grip of Tartarus can't be loosened unless the King wills it, and even then, it might be difficult for him to convince the Pit to just let you go." Mephisto told him. "Just out of curiosity, is Yuri placed near you down there?"

Shiro gave a heavy sigh. "Yeah. She's always sobbing, it's annoying. She and I have wandered around that castle and just been continuously surprise attacked with memories to relive as we fail over and over again. She literally just gets to sit there and think about her life. Then, she remembers I'm right next to her, she runs to the edge of her area and gets blown back by Tartarus. And then she cries more because she can't get to me." Shiro seemed more than done with Tartarus' sense of humor and justice.

"Rin doesn't really blame you for anything. He just wishes he was good enough for your care as a child. He never faulted you for chosing that little shithead over him." Amaimon's expression went sour at the mention of Yukio. "Amaimon, be nice, they resolved their issues." Mephisto chided.

"What's the point? He didn't come to the Christmas party, he never comes to dinners, and even though we're inviting him, he won't come to the Wedding. You know we're gonna win that bet against Shura." The Earth King pointed out. Rin shrugged. "His choice, but I'm still giving him the benefit of the doubt." His words were said with finality and Amaimon stopped arguing.

"So the twins separated and Yukio refused to be anywhere around you, huh? Sounds like him. I raised that kid to kill demons and protect his brother and himself and he just ended up as an insecure asshole with an inferiority complex and a superiority complex at the same time. It's ridiculous." Shiro groused, receiving a sympathetic pat on the shoulder from Yuri. "And for some reason,  you were never angry over it. All you were ever angry at me over was lecturing you on being a decent person when I myself wasn't a prime example. You know how to call people out and it's one of the qualities I always admired about you." He chuckled self-deprecatingly and Rin gave a strained and somewhat awkward smile.

"You're not the one who died half an hour after they were born and spent sixteen years watching yourself try to teach the Devil to Love and then have to leave your babies and let them be damned by humanity." Yuri muttered bitterly. The similarities between her and Rin's expressions were almost creepy. Rin was like a carbon copy of Yuri, but with Satan's color scheme and slightly more angular features.

"The blame game has not aged well on this subject, so I'm just gonna change it. Didn't know you were back, Rin." Bon said from the doorway, smoothly changing the topic and making the mood a lot less gloomy as he waltzed over to the teen and leaned down to steal a kiss from him with a grin.

Rin beamed at him and pulled him back down for a longer kiss. Amaimon pouted and separated them while Rin laughed. "You can't have all my attention, I'm dating three people, you brat!" He said. "Yes, but you're marrying me next Spring, that counts for something." Amaimon shot back. "Yeah, it means you have the biggest balls because you asked him first. Good job, you already got your reward for that. Quit hogging Rin already." Bon put in, flicking the Earth asking on the forehead and snickering when his nose scrunched up at the action.

"Is that legal in Japan now? Marrying multiple people, I mean? And same sex marriage?" Yuri wondered. "Pffft, no. We just don't care. They can try to stop us, but it won't end well for them." Bon answered. "Who are you?"

"Oh! Sixteen years and I've forgotten my manners!" Yuri gasped, standing and bowing politely. "My name is Yuri Egin, I'm Rin and Yukio's mother. It's nice to meet you." She introduced herself. "Ryuji Suguro, I'm Rin's boyfriend. Likewise, I guess." Bon responded. "So laid back! You used to be so uptight, Ryuji, doing everything so formally and with the utmost respect." Mephisto noticed with amusement.

"I've spent too much time around these two slouches." He jerked a thumb at Rin and Amaimon, who wore matching grins. "People only get my respect when they give it first. I think I've earned that much." Rin shrugged uncaringly. "I haven't earned anything, but I still expect it because they're afraid of me." Amaimon smirked.

"You realize they're gonna wreak havoc once they're married, right? Are we sure that's a good idea?" Bon raised an eyebrow at Mephisto. "Too late to stop it now. If they're destructive, that's their problem." He said. "Yeah, until you marry them next and have to deal with being associated with them." Bon pointed out.

"This is a nice conversation, but I can't hold souls in Assiah like this for that long yet. I'll have to keep them in the necklace Tartarus have me." Rin interrupted them. Shiro and Yuri's forms flickered and they looked down at themselves in surprise. "I've appointed them as my advisers, which gives me the power to keep them with me in Assiah as long as I can store them somewhere in a stasis." He explained. "Will we be able to interact with each other and you or will we be in a coma-like stasis?" Yuri asked. "You'll be able to talk to each other and any other souls I keep in there and observe what's going on outside the necklace, bit you won't be able to talk to me until I bring you out. I'll talk to you guys later." Rin bid his parents goodbye. They smiled at him as they faded out of sight.

The room was silent as the sapphire in the center of the choker around his neck glowed faintly before fading.

"Well," Mephisto said. "This day has been....interesting. We'll eat dinner and just watch a show after, yes?" He suggested. He got various noises of agreement and led his three lovers out of the room and to the dining room where he knew Belial had already set the table. They sat down and enjoyed dinner and later, fell asleep in the Living Room watching some anime Mephisto put on.