Darkness surrounded him on all sides.
Despite his best efforts, he couldn't see anything within the dark depths pressing in around him now, couldn't possibly make out a single shape within the black, smothering shadows suddenly flooding his vision, effectively rendering him virtually sightless within this new, peculiar environment. The deafening silence he was met with the moment he attempted to strain his hearing, perhaps in hopes of catching some sounds, no matter how faint, that would give him a clue as to where he actually was, even with his damaged horns, failed to calm him whatsoever, instead putting him even more on edge than he ever was before.
Even though he could not see or hear another creature's presence besides his own, he knew instinctively that he wasn't alone here. Knew that something was lurking within the pitch black depths of the seemingly endless abyss he'd suddenly been thrust into, watching him, scrutinizing him, not unlike a predator studied its yet ignorant prey as it circled it, taking note of its every weakness. Its every little misstep.
Aku would be lying if he said that it didn't frighten him, to finally be on the receiving end of this terrifying game of hide and seek. One in which the victim usually thrashed and hid and begged not to be killed, all the while entirely left to guess when the mortal injury would finally be dealt to it, all too aware of its soon-to-be killer watching it from the shadows, enjoying its panicked squirms. Was intimately familiar with all of the little details of this peculiar game because.. because he'd done this himself many times during the long years of his terrifying reign. Had reserved this.. this torture method for the worst of the worst of his enemies, locking them in a bubble of complete nothingness and hate and simply watching them slowly shatter beneath the pressure of their own actions, their burning anger and loathing towards him steadily turning against them, morphing into a near constant state of terror and paranoia, the lack of anything, even pain, eventually driving them insane.
The demon didn't hurt them in such cases. Rarely chose to resort to physical torment because he simply had no real need to do so. Their mortal minds could not survive in such an environment for very long, where there was nothing to be touched, nothing to be seen, tasted, smelled even, the would-be heroes soon shattering to the point that they were no more than babbling, crying lunatics, sobbing and muttering nonsense and begging for death during the occasional few seconds of clarity they got before descending right back into madness.
Of course, that's not to say that many didn't beg to be simply executed even before they were sent down to suffer here. Some even tried to commit suicide the sheer moment they learned of their horrifying sentence. Everyone, man, woman and child dreaded ever being sent down into this empty hell, this dark, seemingly endless hole of complete emptiness and hatred. No matter how strong they were in body or spirit. No matter how much animosity towards him burned fiercely within their hearts.
All feared the Pit of Hate.
Eyes slowly sliding shut, powerful tremors just barely starting to travel through his thin, bony form, Aku sank to what he instinctively presumed to be the chamber floor, even though he knew that such a thing did not exist here. Not truly. There was no ground, no walls or ceiling or sky in this place. No light, no warmth and no cold. No softness or hardness of soil, stone, metal or wood. No sensations of a fresh breeze against your skin or stale, dusty air filling your nostrils in smothering waves. No scents of cut grass, car fumes, or indeed any other smells you were bound to become accustomed to on a daily basis in the course of your entire life. Even tastes, bizarrely enough, did not exist here, whether sweet or sour, salty or bitter.
Nothing existed here except for your own hatred until it inevitably consumed you. The demon knew that maybe better than anyone else, but..
Some part of him had to wonder if he should perhaps be grimly amused by the situation he now found himself in. After all, how many times had he dreamed of finally sending the samurai himself to suffer down here? How many times had he stopped to imagine what this would do to his most powerful enemy? For how long had he longed to see the human wallow in his own pain and grief and anger, slowly driving himself past the brink while the demon watched from the shadows, savoring every moment of his greatest foe's destruction?
But now.. it was Aku who was trapped in this place instead, left to forever relive the many atrocities he had committed during his long, terror-filled reign. To recall all those hellish, nerve-wracking eight years he had spent trapped in a lifeless wasteland, unable to move, unable to use his powers, experiencing great difficulty even when trying to fulfil a task as simple as just speaking up. As well as.. as well as his year long punishment endured at the hands of those vile humans.
Something brushed lightly against his back and he lurched away in instant reaction, a frightened, strangled-sounding keen escaping his parted green lips as he shuddered heavily within this menacing darkness swallowing his form, the pitiful remains of his once prominent horns lowering in visible distress. Eyes snapping open once again, he frantically scanned the pitch black shadows surrounding him now, tried to catch even a glimpse of the creature hiding within them, something icy sinking deep into the pit of his stomach, a strong sense of nausea following closely at its heels.
He'd rarely touched his victims after sending them down here... Had always preferred to merely sit back and watch them slowly self-destruct... What was going on here?!
"What a miserable, pathetic creature," a voice suddenly whispered into his ears, cold, rumbling and terrifyingly familiar. Dark claws, razor sharp and as black as the cosmos itself, gently traced the soft curve of his cheek and jawline, hooking beneath his chin and forcing him to look up— right into the giant, black and seemingly bottomless eyes of the monster circling him now.
A ragged gasp left his throat against his wishes at the horrifying sight, his already pale, sage-colored face going even paler by at least several shades, and Aku fought to keep himself from recoiling, knowing all too well that that would only please the beast towering over him now. His own muzzle, neon green and contorted in merciless cruelty and malice, stared down at him from the shadowed heavens above, long, curved and overlapping fangs baring in the jagged grin he knew so well, sending cold shivers running down his spine, his throat flexing in a heavy swallow and his mouth going suddenly dry.
This is what he used to be, not so long ago. Strong. All-powerful. Arrogant. Invincible. Virtually unchallenged and all but unbeatable. Unsurpassed in both intellect and abilities.
Monstrous.
"Should I... end its worthless existence? Those long claws slid even lower, abandoning the soft curvature of his sage colored cheekbone and gently brushing against his throat, almost tenderly tracing the faint outlines of the veins there, the movement dripping with dark mockery and venom. Aku shuddered heavily within the threatening hold, involuntarily tilting his chin upwards and pulling himself away from the bladed edges of the other's giant fingers as much as he possibly could, a frightened, strangled sounding whimper slipping past his bruised lips once more.
Please.. please stop this... Please put an end to this...
But he was no longer the same, could perhaps never again be called by any of the things he'd been described as a mere fourteen months ago. Aku was now nothing but a shell of his former self, a pitiful excuse for an immortal and omnipotent being, broken and wracked with eternal shame and anguish. He wasn't even so much as a shadow of the terrifying demonic tyrant that had ruled this world with an iron fist for thousands of years on end. No. All of his pride, his powers, his will - it had all been taken away from him. Probably forever. All because.. because he hadn't been strong enough to protect himself. Had been too weak to do so, too.. too foolish and arrogant and naive to believe or even accept the slightest possibility that he could someday be defeated. That someone would eventually bring about his downfall.
He should've learned his lesson after the human Emperor... After— after the samurai, but he.. he hadn't, his many victories clouding his judgement, filling his mind with false notions and ideas of never being truly threatened. Of never again being hurt.
And now... he was finally paying the price for that grave misjudgement.
"Perhaps you should..," a new, faintly melodious voice whispered within the dark shadows currently caging him in this personalized hell and Aku sharply looked up, wide black eyes frantically searching the surrounding gloom, his breath hitching within his heaving chest. A flash of turquoise flickered briefly within his line of sight, there and gone within seconds as the voice's owner stepped farther away from him, concealing herself from his searching gaze. Not that it stopped him from identifying her regardless, cold horror and yet at the same time relief welling within his heaving chest.
No... She.. she couldn't be here. Couldn't possibly be present. Simply couldn't be-
"Akua!" he choked out, vocals cracking with pain and desperation, dulled claws reaching out in the direction of the faint glow as he called out pathetically to the one creature who had always been there for him, the one person who had ever truly cared about him, his core clenching within his battered chest in grief and overwhelming sorrow. Only now did he realize just how much he'd missed her, missed hearing her voice, longed to feel her soft fur beneath his fingertips, to experience the loving, comforting warmth of her embrace once more.
"Mother!.."
The word left his lips suddenly, against his wishes, shocking even Aku himself in the process.
He'd never referred to her that way, had never outright called out to her while using that particular word. It had always remained unsaid between them, both of them knowing the name of this.. this bond connecting them for all eternity but neither actually voicing it aloud, ever, determinedly avoiding giving it an actual title.
As if afraid that it would only be taken away from them both as a result.
The blue glow left the pitch black gloom surrounding him entirely at his call, vanishing from sight as he reached out desperately for it, called for its owner to come back, to.. to not leave him all alone. Not again.
Not again...
Cold, monstrous laughter echoed above him yet again as the monster circling him suddenly shrank to his level, sharp, terror-inducing claws clamping tightly around his discolored face and pinning him securely against the body behind him, the tips of the creature's unoccupied digits lightly tracing the line where the golden collar wound tightly around the demon's throat.
"Do you really think that she will answer you, Aku?" It whispered venomously into his ear, long, curved claws hovering mere centimeters away from his pale essence, causing an intense shudder to travel down his spine and a muffled whimper to escape his suddenly heaving chest even though he tried his best to stifle it, tiny, crystalline tears already prickling at the corners of his dull eyes. "You?" The demon barely stopped himself from trembling pathetically within the other's grasp as unpleasant, rattling laughter sounded around him once more, the very air appearing to vibrate with the force of the other's amusement.
The foreign claws tightened even more around him as the monster pressed ever closer still, black, bottomless eyes seeming to stare right into his very soul as it curled around him, its every movement bonelessly fluid, unnatural, terrifying—
"Do you really think that she cares for you? That the samurai cares for you? That all of them care about what happens to you? After everything you've done to them?"
Aku's eyes clenched tightly shut as light suddenly flooded his vision, unbearable, scorching heat licking torturously against his scarred essence as flames erupted everywhere from the ground beneath him, consuming the previously dark world surrounding him within an instant, haunting screams following closely at their heals. A thousand images flashed before him all at once, his breath hitching uncontrollably within his chest as he was again forced to witness all the bitter memories he'd buried a long time ago.
He could see Satina lying collapsed on the stone floor of his citadel, spitting and hacking out green blood and looking up at him with so much surprise, so much terror, the brutal strike she had been dealt practically out of nowhere sending her to her knees, the reptile nursing her cheek and the already blossoming bruise upon it, no doubt wondering what she could have possibly done to displease him. Glimpsed the hurt look that flashed over Akua's felinoid face, the elegant head dipping before him in a show of submission and resignation, markings fading to a barely there glow, and was disgusted to feel the satisfaction blooming within him at the apparently won argument, the sheer savage joy that welled inside of him upon realizing that he'd finally managed to hurt her, after all those months of trying fruitlessly to get a rise out of her. Heard the deafening, utterly heart-wrenching screams of burning people and the distant, ear-shattering thrum and boom of collapsing buildings while his own laughter, haunting and terrible, rumbled monstrously in the background, barely audible over the cacophony of noise.
The claws around his face tightened until their cruel hold on him was nothing short of brutal, his eyes clenching even tighter shut as he shuddered heavily within the monster's grasp, guilt, pain and sorrow wrapping tightly around his chest, choking him until he was gasping desperately for breath—
"Look at what you've done to them, Aku," the creature above him purred and though he could no longer see the other's muzzle, the demon knew that his double was openly grinning now, enjoying the sight and memory of the agony and devastation he had wrought upon others not so long ago. "Isn't it beautiful?"
No, no it wasn't. Aku knew it wasn't. Could no longer bring himself to revel in it. To enjoy seeing the obvious looks of hurt and anguish etched into countless faces, to take pleasure from hearing their screams for help, for salvation.
For their suffering to finally come to an end..
The hand abruptly released him and Aku collapsed heavily to his knees, his shaking legs no longer capable of supporting his own weight, his dulled claws clamping tightly around the sides of his head, sage colored features contorting in pain. The monster above him merely hummed thoughtfully at that, leaning over him with an awful sound of creaking and crackling wood, black, bottomless eyes studying his hunched form intensely. The vile grin upon its face only stretched even wider. "Don't tell me.. You are actually regretting it!"
Aku tried not to cringe away as the unpleasant, terrifying laughter bubbled forth once more, the entire world seeming to shake with the force of the creature's mirth around him, his double leaning down and plucking him easily from what they both presumed to be the ground and holding him up by his neck in front of it, squeezing ruthlessly as he began to struggle pitifully within its unforgiving grasp, gasping desperately for air that he knew he wouldn't receive. Despite the other's laughter, however, something told Aku that the other wasn't nearly as amused as he was before. No.. if anything, he was the complete opposite.
"The Mighty Aku, the Shogun of Sorrow, the Master of all Masters - actually regretting putting those pitiful whelps in their rightful place!"
The fingers around him tightened even more, and the demon gagged, his thin chest heaving as he struggled to draw breath, dull claws now scrabbling with almost feral desperation at the giant digits crushing his neck, eyes going almost painfully wide. The creature before him pressed even closer than before, if such a thing was even possible at this point, its scorching, foul breath washing over him not unlike a wave as it looked down at him with so much disgust, so much loathing.
"Pathetic!"
It screeched and the claws released him just as suddenly as they had curled around him, the former tyrant collapsing heavily to the ground, coughing and hacking uncontrollably and drawing in deep, ragged intakes of air.
Through the persistent ringing now viciously assaulting his hearing, Aku could just barely make out the horrifying sounds of laughter consuming the world surrounding him, his own cruel cackle mixing with several others, the darkness surrounding him somehow becoming even blacker, locking him in a cage of pure nothingness along with his own demons.
They were all laughing at him, he knew they were. Could clearly distinguish his own monstrous cackle in the cacophony of noise flooding his ears, could barely catch snippets of Satina's and Akua's own, unpleasant laughs soaked in cruelty. Could faintly hear Jack's quiet chuckles.
And above them all - rang a cold, malicious and all too familiar laughter that he now knew so well, his insides turning to ice at the mere sound of it and panic swiftly taking hold.
No... He couldn't possibly be here... No, no, no!
His eyes snapped open once more, looking up in horror at the tall form now standing over him, his wide, black eyes meeting icy, dark brown.
He knew those eyes.. the ones that no longer belonged to a human. Not anymore. Those that simply could no longer truly be possessed by any mortal creature of this world, resembling only one other beast that Aku was intimately familiar with, his breath stalling within his chest, blind terror consuming him entirely.
The eyes that were just like his own.
"J-Jack?.." He whispered pathetically, his lips barely moving and his voice suddenly refusing to follow his commands as the monstrous form before him suddenly stalked forward, something golden already gleaming within one hand. "Ak-kua?"
But there was no response to his quiet calls and the beast moving towards him never slowed or halted in its long strides, the demon scrambling desperately away from it as much as he possibly could, soon finding himself with his back pressed against the wall that had suddenly risen from the dark depths of the hell surrounding him, effectively leaving the former tyrant trapped with no escape, forcing him to look up at the monster mercilessly bearing down on him and realize that there was nothing he could possibly do to escape his cruel fate.
His green lips trembling, cold sweat he hadn't experienced up until now thickly coating his form, he tried again, his mouth going dry as the other steadily drew near. "Jack!.. Akua!.."
"... Mother?"
=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=
Aku was shivering again. Had been for the past hour.
Even through the thick fabric of his gi, the human could feel the faint tremors now travelling through the other's form, the demon unconsciously settling even closer to the samurai sitting beside him, seeking the comforting warmth his body provided. Wordlessly, Jack allowed him to press flush against himself, slipping one arm around the former tyrant's shoulders and permitting him to lean comfortably against his front, another equally strong shudder wracking that thin frame.
No matter what they tried, Aku appeared to be stuck in a perpetual state of constant trembling, his shoulders shaking almost imperceptibly where he leaned against the fluffy pillows behind him and his long claws grabbing fistfuls of thick blankets in order to pull them up to his very chin, his white nose nuzzling softly into the comforting fabric. Jack would be lying if he said his heart didn't warm somewhat at the sight, a small smile quirking at the corner of his lips every time as he helped tuck Aku in, wrapping him as much and as tightly as possible so that they covered most of the other's body without being too constricting and sending the former tyrant into another panic attack.
That was the last thing they needed now, after all.
Satina had said that the reason behind Aku's sudden hypersensitivity to cold was the fact that he was healing. That his constant trembling was actually a very good sign, a sure mark that the demon was officially out of the woods and well on his way to recovery, but Jack still couldn't help but worry, rarely straying from the demon's side for more than twenty minutes.
The full extent of said recovery still remained unknown. The possibility of severe and permanent scarring — all too real.
Ailith seemed to notice the other's obvious discomfort as well, because she soon looked up from her meticulous work, hands stilling where they were busy tying the ends of fresh wrappings over the deepest of Aku's old wrist wounds, right where the demon had cut into himself in a desperate bid to rid himself of the enchanted restraints, her dark, honey brown eyes fixing on the other's face with undisguised concern.
"Are ye cold, dearie?" She asked, her voice quiet and soft, almost motherly in its gentle whisper.
Jack withheld a sigh at that, his fingers tightening instinctively around the demon's thin shoulders, fully expecting him to explode in loud indignation, but —
To the samurai's great surprise, however, Aku didn't protest at the affectionate term. Didn't so much as grimace at the kind tone now directed at him, or the light, comforting touch of the woman's hand on his pale essence, head merely dipping in a shallow nod of affirmation. Perhaps he was too cold to do so, simply too exhausted to even try to act like his old self. Given the circumstances, Jack didn't really blame him for that, instead finding himself rather relieved that the demon was no longer fighting against them, freely allowing them to actually help him.
He knew that Aku still dreamed of simply ending it all. That the thought of comitting suicide had not yet fully left his mind. Every time the other woke up screaming. Every time Jack was forced to shake the demon awake, murmuring soothing words as the other pressed himself almost frantically against him, seeking the comforting warmth and hidden strength of his body, reassuring himself that the samurai was still there, still near, the human knew what was going through the tyrant's mind. Every time Aku called out in the dead of night, either for him, or for a creature he still did not know, whose presence the demon longed for even in his weakest of moments, Jack knew that the former tyrant did not wish to be here, genuinely longed to just cease to exist—
"Ak-kua?... M-mother?"
Shaking those bitter thoughts away, however temporarily, Jack shifted where he sat against the wooden headboard, allowing both himself and Aku to settle a little more comfortably as Ailith finally stood up with one last affectionate pat to the other's dull claws and left the room, presumably to fetch another blanket to cover the defeated lord with.
He had probably misheard him anyway. Had simply been very exhausted, to the point that he began imagining things, but...
He hadn't misheard. And Jack knew it all too well.
Aku let out a soft purr as his pale fingers brushed against the soft tips of the other's ears, the human marveling slightly at the sensation of that ethereal skin beneath his fingertips, his long digits trailing down in soothing caresses against the other's shoulder and arm, a soft smile gracing the warrior's features as the demon relaxed fully against his form, taking comfort from his strong presence.
It did not matter. Not now, at least. All that truly mattered now was Aku's recovery, physical as well as emotional. And.. and his subsequent face-off with the people who had done this to him.
The demon shot him a questioning look as his fingers clenched even tighter around one of those no longer spiked shoulders, the human warrior instinctively drawing his former enemy even closer to himself in a protective gesture, his face darkening in held back anger and building hatred.
No matter how hard he tried, he simply couldn't understand it.
How could anyone do something like this? How could anyone even think of comitting such atrocities against another living being, no matter how abominable their actions might be? How could anyone inflict so much agony upon another and then simply sit back and watch, actually enjoying the sight of their victim writhing in pain?...
... How could a human being be no different from a demonic tyrant?
"Always be alert, my son. For the presence of evil is sometimes... right behind you.."
Swallowing heavily, Jack slowly pulled himself away from the dark form clasped tightly within his warm embrace, Aku's horns twitching in discomfort and alarm and a powerful shudder travelling through that thin body at the loss of additional body heat, the demon shooting him a questioning and somewhat suspicious look over one shoulder. The samurai would've normally apologized for this, in fact, he wanted to apologize for the sudden movement, but suddenly could not quite muster up the strength of will to do so, to gather the courage in order to ask the one question that had been nagging at him for so long, tormenting him in his dreams, his nightmares for years on end, never allowing him any respite.
Ever since he was a child, ever since he was thrust into this frightening, terrible future against his will, he'd needed to know... But, the question now was.. did he really want to?
"Aku.." he began, weighing his words carefully, and the demon immediately looked up, his dull, black eyes fixing upon his hunched figure in a silent inquiry, green face oddly unreadable. As if he could already sense that what the human said next would not at all please him. "What happened between you and my father?"
The temperature of the small bedroom seemed to instantly drop by several degrees.
Aku's gaze hardened, eyes narrowing in the vicious glare the human knew so well, his jaw setting in what Jack already learned to recognize as restrained fury a long time ago, the former tyrant suddenly pulling himself even farther away from his long-time enemy, the mattress bouncing slightly at the rough and sudden movement as the other pointedly turned away from him, instead opting to glare outside the single window gracing one of the bedroom's walls.
Guilt blossoming within him with startling speed, the samurai reached out to softly place his hand upon one of those dark shoulders, but Aku wrenched it out of his grasp almost immediately, pearly fangs flashing in silent warning in the early rays of the morning sun.
"Aku?"
"You already know this story, samurai," the demon hissed, venom thickly coating his vocals and all but dripping off his trembling form in waves. "Why do you wish to hear it once more?"
"Because I have not yet heard your version of events."
Body stiffening in unconcealed surprise at the unexpected and quiet admission, Aku turned just enough to peer at him from the corner of his eyes, the faint flames making up his eyebrows flaring before dimming until they were barely more than tiny wisps once again.
Jack couldn't stop himself from releasing a heavy sigh if he tried.
"Aku, all my life I have been taught to hate you. Even before you returned to burn down my village, my days were often spent listening to the horrors and atrocities that you had committed against my people. My father would often use whatever time he had between meetings to sit me down by the tapestries.. and tell me the tale of how he had saved us all, and being a very small child at the time, innocent and blissfully ignorant to the real world existing outside the palace walls, I never questioned his story. Never asked why you had immediately attacked us or how he could've known that you were evil from the very start."
A ridiculing snort left the demon's hunched form, but Jack could already see some of the tension leaving those dark shoulders, even though the tyrant still remained stubbornly facing away from him, refusing to meet his gaze. Nevertheless encouraged by this, he continued, voice quiet and almost gentle.
"And then.. you came for my father on that fateful day and I was sent out into the world to train and learn how to defeat you, hatred ingrained deep into my heart, erasing any doubts or questions that I might have had about you. Though you might not like to hear this, you did not help matters either by sending your minions out to fetch me, ruthlessly slaughtering and torturing those who had dared to help me."
Aku looked away at that, the pitiful remains of his horns lowering and green features darkening, but Jack did not apologize, looking at the disgraced demon evenly, noting his reactions.
"The anger blinded me for a long time, Aku. The sheer hatred... It is only recently that I have begun to learn of my misconceptions about you. That you can be anything but evil. That there are people that you do cherish, and who cherish you in return. That there are creatures genuinely grateful for what you have done for them, even if most of what you did was unintentional.. What I am trying to say here, Aku, is that... After all these years of remaining blissfully blind... I finally wish to understand you. Understand why you attacked my village and why you took away my father. Why this hatred between us was even born in the first place."
"I want you to tell me your side of the story."
Aku didn't answer him, not for a long time. So long, in fact, that the samurai began to worry that he would not receive a reply at all, that the demon would simply ask him to leave, reluctant to share or even recollect some of those past, distressing events. But.. after what seemed to be an eternity of tense and awkward silence, Aku finally shifted to lay on his back, not openly facing the samurai, but no longer hiding his face from him completely, allowing him a clear view of those beastly, animalistic and yet at the same time completely human features.
"Very well.. If you so insist.."
Jack allowed himself a small, relieved smile at those words, settling more comfortably upon the chair he had pulled up next to the demon's bed, nodding encouragingly for the other to begin. The corners of Aku's lips twitched.
"I will tell you now that I do not remember much of my beginning, samurai, or even of how I came to be on this wretched planet. As far as I can recall, I have always lived upon this earth, though I was not always conscious of it, so to speak. Much like a worm, for instance is not aware of either itself or what is surrounding it," here Aku's face scrunched up in a dark grimace, as if the analogy were a direct insult to his ego. Which, knowing Aku, it probably was. Jack withheld a quiet chuckle. "So was I not aware of who or what I was. Much less where I suddenly found myself to be."
"Everything I did back then was instinctual and not out of any.. malicious intent. At least, I do not think so. I was a mindless, soulless, ever growing creature. I could not control my growth. Neither was I able to learn what it was doing to the creatures surrounding me. I did not know that I was destroying entire lands and civilizations. I did not know that I was the cause of many tragedies. And neither did I care, because I was not able to, because I simply possessed no consciousness to do so. Merely instinct. And then.. your father came."
A barely audible growl crept into the demon's voice at those words, its appearance abrupt, practically out of nowhere, and the look of absolute fury and hatred that now gleamed within the depths of Aku's black eyes — jarring. "All of a sudden.. I was free. I could think, I could feel, I was finally aware of everything surrounding me as well as myself. I did not even realize that I was trapped until that very moment and... It.. it was wonderful. But.. it soon turned out that I was freed into the wrong world at the wrong time." Aku's vocals grew thick, and a tiny shudder travelled through that thin form, barely visible, but undeniably there nonetheless. Concern blooming within him, Jack reached out, his pale fingers gently brushing against one of those bony shoulders, softly clasping around it in a soft gesture of support. The tyrant, thankfully, did not refuse his comfort.
"I thanked him for setting me free.. and he declared that he had intended to destroy me. Though I was insulted, to say the least, I did not attack him. It was only when he shot arrows at me that I reacted with equal violence."
"You then burned down the village." Jack said and the demon's head dipped in a shallow nod, the pitiful remains of his horns lowering until they were all but pressed flat against his essence. The human's face darkened at that. "There were innocent people there, Aku. You had no right."
Aku looked away again, eyes shuttering in resignation and at the same time regret. "No.. I did not. I realize that now. But back then I was angry.. so angry." Dragging a heavy hand down his green face, dull claws scraping against his essence, the demon sagged heavily against the pillows cushioning his form, an exhausted sigh leaving his parted lips. "It was only much later that I learned why he had reacted that way, why the person who had.. had created me by shooting that poisoned arrow into the dark pools from which I had risen rejected me almost instantly upon witnessing my form. But, of course, by then I was too furious to even consider the possibility of sparing his miserable life." Jack frowned at that but said nothing, reluctant to interrupt the other's story. The former tyrant, now visibly reluctant, continued.
"What do you know of demons and the war between them and your people, samurai?"
Jack looked away, brows furrowing in a thoughtful frown and lips pursing, his eyes growing unfocused as he dredged up every lecture he'd been taught upon the subject, before and after his village's destruction.
"I... Well... The ancient scrolls spoke of many things upon the subject, but I.. must admit that the beginning of the conflict is still unclear to me. It is the opinion of some that demons are the spirits of disgraced warriors, ones who had betrayed their masters, tainted their honor and became filled with cowardice, malice and greed. Horribly disfigured by their sins, they roam the lands, seeking to punish those who are still pure and good. But.. there are also others who have said that the demons are malicious spirits, jealous of our happy lifestyles and thus seeking to destroy everything we have built out of spite—"
Aku's fangs bared. Seeing this, Jack immediately fell silent, sensing that what he'd said might not have been all that wise. However.. he had been asked a question and he was not about to lie just because the answer did not quite suit the injured creature now lying beside him. After a few moments, however, Aku seemed to settle once again, the tension still clearly present, but at least the snarl was gone, hidden behind an expression the samurai could not read, the former tyrant calmly, yet at the same time somewhat irately gesturing for him to continue.
The samurai chose to oblige him.
"Regardless of their origins, it is clear that my people have been at war with them for many centuries even before your arrival. They attacked our settlements and burned them to the ground, not a single house remaining standing after the heinous deed. They stole newborns from their cradles and even their mother's arms, feeding them to their own children so that they would develop a taste for human blood. They would slaughter our cattle, leaving entire families to starve during the colder seasons, and would pick off any who dared venture into the forest in hopes of finding food. They–"
"Were just trying to survive," Aku suddenly interrupted, the look in his eyes having now grown dangerously dark. "Just like you."
Jack stared at him, irritation and confusion already just barely starting to gnaw at his insides. "They killed our people, Aku. Burned down entire villages for no reason whatsoever. Not for food, not for water, or wood, or any other supplies imaginable. If it were not for the enchanted weapons created by our mages–"
"And where do you think those weapons came from, samurai?" The former tyrant asked him, shooting him a sharp glance from the corner of his black eyes. "Humans do not possess magic of their own. And the sword you always carry with you is by far the only known blade to be created by the Gods. So.. how could your mages, as you refer to them, perform any enchantments? Where could they have possibly procured such powerful magic?"
"From the human spirit," Jack said almost instantaneously, the all too familiar fire rekindling within his onyx eyes. "And the power of righteousness."
Aku laughed.
It was an ugly, harsh sound, a far cry from the joyous guffaws the human had heard back in that tiny bathroom. Bitter, cold, and menacing, it sent shivers running down the samurai's spine, his fingers clenching around the soft folds of his gi, knuckles going white with the force of their tight grip as suppressed memories rose to the forefront of his mind once more, reminding him of a not-so-distant time.
It sounded too much like the laughter of a tyrant he had once used to know.
"No, samurai," Aku said, the same, horrifically familiar grin spreading across his green face, baring rows of sharp, overlapping fangs.
"They came from demons."