Luminescent

Section 13

They walked through the old halls of Asylum. "Asylum was a cover up for a research facility called Section 13. Section 13 conducted illegal human experimentation for the Elixir and mass produced clones of the Demon Kings." Mephisto gestured to the delivery tables, the bunks all stacked up along the walls, and the nursery rooms as they passed them.

They reached a whole shelf of files left behind and Lightning rushed to them. Rin followed close behind, wanting to see what was kept archived in a place like Section 13. Lightning handed him a book filled with the clones pictures, names, ages, mental and physical states, and abilities. Rin looked at the title-It was the Azazel clones. Lightning looked through Lucifer's.

On the catalogue of all the clones, right there in his face, was a very young Shiro, fourth on the list. He looked full and dead inside, just like the rest of his brethren. Some looked unhinged, some looked dazed, and some looked very aware. Shiro looked aware and absolutely miserable.

There was a picture of Goro under Shiro's at number five. Goro looked confused and dazed, like he didn't understand what was going on around him. The clones all looked identical except for minor details, like expression. The longer he looked at the pictures of the Azazel group, the more Rin recognized the features in Shiro's face and his and Yukio's.

He flipped to Shiro's individual page and read the details there. Shiro had apparently always been sharp. His healing was exceptional, faster than a regular human's. He was strong and had fast reflexes. But he'd also broken out of Asylum several times and constantly fought the scientists during tests, so they'd labelled him defective. Rin snorted. So his father, who'd lectured him on his temper and brashness, had been the exact same way, maybe even worse! "Fuckin' hypocrite...." He muttered.

He flipped to the next page, but only found the sixth clone. Goro's page was missing. Rin narrowed his eyes. He had a sneaking suspicion that Goro was important.

"Yes. Goro was thought to be completely useless. He'd lost his mind very early on. A demon slipped in, just the smallest, most pathetic presence. It settled in that broken body after the scientists put him in a tank of fluids that might heal his mind somehow. Then, as that insignificant little thing bonded with it over the years, Goro became very important. His DNA helped develop stronger and better clones for Lucifer over the years. Meanwhile, Satan grew from an insignificant spark of life to a horrid demon who knows nothing of manners or emotional control. He has no discernable personality, only selfishness and mania." Mephisto explained, reading the files over the boy's shoulder.

"But because he believes in himself and humans believe in him as the concept of Satan so intensely, his power is unmatched as of now. Hence the reason he created something that could destroy him and didn't destroy it immediately. He could've, but he hesitated because he wanted your mother to love him. He didn't really understand love, though. He tried to eat you and Yukio as newborns when he broke in here movements after you two were born. Honestly, Satan is just ridiculous and really shouldn't have survived this long. If he wasn't still on the throne, I wouldn't believe that nutjob was even worth more than a glance into the loony bin in Gehenna. So overrated." The Time Lord rolled his eyes.

"If you'd like to go through all this data, I can summon it back to the Manor." He offered. Rin nodded. "I think I'll go through it all with Lightning and see if we can find anything useful in them." He decided.

They moved on to the tanks-some still had bodies in them while others were broken open with grinning skeletons inside. The unbroken ones had bloated bodies floating in them. Over the years, they'd absorbed too much of the fluids they rested in. The clones were all curled up in the fetal position.

Rin felt a pang in his chest. Some part of him hurt when he saw this. Some part of him remembered being like these clones, nameless, floating in nutritional fluids as people passed by and stared at him, observing from the outside world. Was he a piece of Satan's soul that split off when he was concieved? Was he still his own person or could Satan control him that way?

Rin didn't feel any different at the realization. He still felt like Rin, so that answered that question. He looked at a broken tank with only bones inside. He remembered breaking out of his tank, falling to the floor painfully in front of people in while coats as the fluids spilled put around him and he coughed, gasping for air as he learned how to breathe with a body. He hadn't had one before then. He'd been pushed aside as Satan's ego continued to sprout. Rin had been that insignificant little thing. A piece left him to become stronger and he was pushed aside. Well, that was just insulting.

Amaimon's hand sliding into his snapped him out of the seemingly far-away memories. "You look like you've seen this place before." The Earth King murmured to him. "Some part of me does. But it's not a part of Satan. It's from that tiny piece of the nameless being that was trapped inside Goro, stuck sharing a body with Satan as his Ego fully formed. Being in those tanks is like being an animal at the zoo." Rin murmured back honestly. "My host remembers a life like that before it was taken out to be examined. I took my chance and possessed it. I remember the tanks too." Amaimon disclosed.

They walked on together, hands held tight.