The Good Demon [KNY]

Part 22: What Do I Have to do Again?

Akai awoke in his bed. It was a quiet morning, as usual. He wondered if pops had woken up yet.

"Dad!?" Akai called as he rubbed his eyes. 

"I'm here, Akai." His dad answered. Akai got up excitedly and ran out of his room.

"Dad!" Akai ran over. His dad was normally out of the house by now, cutting wood.

"Son. I made breakfast." Akai's father showed him a tray of his favourite food. Pickled fish and rice.

"Wow! Thanks dad!" Akai sat at the table and his father placed the food in front of him.

"I have to go now, Akai. Sell the wood I collected." Akai's dad turned to leave.

"Wait, dad." Akai's father stopped at his request.

"Yeah, son?" He turned around.

"Why do you always stay out all night on some days. What do you do in the dark?" Akai asked.

"I'll tell you when you're older." Akai's father gripped his axe which, (doo doo doo doo!!! Trumpet) was tinted red... and went to leave.

"I love you, dad." Akai gave a warm smile.

"Love you too, son." Akai's father turned back around one last time at the door before leaving.

"Now to dig in!" Akai cheered and grabbed the fish and rice with his bare hands.

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Akai laid on the seat, knocked out by an unknown cause. Inosuke, Zenitsu, Tanjiro, Rengoku and every other passenger was the same.

"I punched their tickets and put them to sleep... Now please put me to sleep...! Let me see my dead family...!" The conductor was in the engine car at the front of the train, kneeling in front of a severed hand with a mouth and eye.

"Sure thing. You did a good job!" The hand spoke. It supported itself by using its fingers like spider legs. "Now sleep. And have a good dream." The hand let out a dark whisper and the conductor fell unconcious. It seemed the demon had control over sleep.

"What about us?" A small group of kids behind the hand asked.

"You will be getting sleepier soon. The sharp witted slayers might suspect something is wrong and wake up. Be careful not to touch their bodies as you fasten the cords." The demon hand explained. The kids were all given separate ropes that tied instantly around their wrists. "Do your best, and you will have sweet dreams forever!" The demon promised the children.

Outside the car and on top of the train stood the demon pulling the strings. Lower Moon One: Enmu.

"It doesn't matter how strong these slayers are." Enmu laughed. "The driving force of all humans is the soul. If I were to destroy the 'spiritual core' of the slayer, they would be living corpses." The demon said.

"That's where you kids come in." The hand spoke. Everything the demon said, the hand said to the kids inside. "Infiltrate their dreams and destroy their spiritual cores! If you succeed, you'll be blessed with happy dreams forever!" The hand exclaimed.

"Okay." The kids nodded and went to fulfil the demon's request.

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The slayers were sprawled out on the floor. Dreaming their best dreams. Inosuke dreamed of exploring a cave with Tanjiro, Zenitsu, Akai and Nezuko as his minions. Zenitsu dreamed of running through a peach orchard with Nezuko. Rengoku dreamed of supporting his little brother, Senjuro. And Tanjiro dreamed of being with his family.

Akai, well...

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"This... tastes like garbage..." Akai muttered. "It must be spoiled." Akai spat it out and went to throw it away. "But even spoiled fish never tasted that bad... there must be something wrong with my tongue." Akai muttered. "Something wrong with my tongue... food tastes bad..." Akai wondered for a moment, it felt like he had thought that before.

And like that, the memories came back.

Demon. Demon attacks. Dad is dead. Rage. Hunger. Demon. Kill the demon. Go find the demon that killed dad. Go find Muzan. Chase after Muzan. Find Muzan. Attack Muzan. Prison. Prison for one thousand years. Get out. Slayers-

Slayers.

Have to get out!!! Have to escape!!! Have to save my friends!!! Demon!!! Have to-

"Oh yea. I have to sell the wood." Akai chuckled. He threw the fish away and went to grab a basket to hold the wood. Through a window in his house, he glimpsed a child running by with a small ice pick.

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In the real world, that same child was fast asleep next to him. He had tied the rope to Akai's wrist to enter the dream and destroy his spiritual core. Around him, the other kids had done the same to the slayers.

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In Akai's dream, the boy with the ice pick ran through the town, avoiding people.

"What am I supposed do? Oh, okay. Get in the unconcious zone, find the core, and break it. How far is does it go out? Where's the edge of the dream?" The boy thought as he ran. He shouted suddenly when he collided with an invisible wall. The kid rubbed his head and looked up. He had rammed into the end of the dream.

"This is it! Now I have to get beyond!" The kid raised the ice pick and stabbed it into the wall. He tugged at the hole and tore ot open like it was paper. The kid jumped up and into the hole he left.

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"Here you go, Mrs. Yamaguchi! (That's a made up name btw)" Akai smiled and handed a few logs to an elderly woman.

"Why, thank you Akai! The work you and your father does is the most important around here! We'd all freeze without this firewood!" Mrs. Yamaguchi thanked Akai and left for her home.

"Hm. Chump change." Akai looked at his hands, that held only a few coins. "Meh, it's something." Akai went back to his home before grabbing his fishing rod. He walked out of the village and onto the ice of a river not too far by. He punched a hole in it and dropped a bait in the hole he left. He honestly never knew where the strength to punch through inches of ice came from, but he remembered the strength always came after deep breaths. He stuck his line in and after a few minutes, he caught a fish. He smiled widely. Fishing was his favorite hobby, sometimes he'd wait hour for a single fish. It seemed he was lucky today. He kissed the fish on the head and tossed it back. He got up and got ready to head back to shore.

Crack

"Oh no..."

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The boy with the ice pick stepped into an empt blackness. It was like the night sky, a bluish black abyss with flecks of light that shone with life in the blanket of suffocating darkness. The boy's attention was drawn to a blazing orb in the distance.  It shone a violent blood red. A red that emulated pure bloodlust.

"Woa..." The boy muttered and walked around the orb. He was suprised when he saw a second color. Pink, that of love. He walked to the side to see that the orb had two halves. Red and pink. Hate and love.

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Akai stood cautiously still as cracks drew from the ice hole and where his feet were. The cracks slowly made their way towards eatchother. It was unusual, it looked like the cracks were moving towards eatchother. Lile they were trting to get him to fall. Eventually, the cracks stopped growimg and stopped only a few inches from eatchother.

"Whew. That was close. No ice bath for me." Akai sighed and went to slowly walk away.

CRASH!!!

Akai saw a fist with iron knuckles come from under and blow a hole in the ice. Causing it to give away under his feet.

"OH FUCK!!!" Akai screamed before being submerged in the icy water.