The Derailment of the Dream Train
Hello my fellow readers and welcome to the latest chapter for Breath of the Rifleman! As before I'd like to give a quick shout out to LoneTaker, groche9655 and Noble Eight for their contributions to this fic. Now, with no guest review questions to answer, let's jump on in!
Nighttime: Roof of the Mugen Train
Enmu, the Dream Demon. That was the name of the one whose body was now a train. And he'd given up on all forms of subtlety as Subaru and Genya were forced to dodge around hands and fleshy tendrils which were reaching up out of the roof from time to time in an attempt to snare the two slayers. It made for slow going as Subaru had to frequently cut through the ones directly in front of him while Genya made use of his own bayonet fixed to his shotgun to slash through any fleshy bits that happened to get in his way.
On at least three separate occasions, one of their feet would get caught and they'd have to resort to tearing at it with their blades or, in one case, shoot most of the bottom part to allow the captive to escape. That brilliant move had been Genya's idea when Subaru had gotten his foot caught at one point and nearly blew the Rifleman's own limb off along with the fleshy tendril. The Matagi had more than a few choice words for such an action, but the Shotgun Wielder acted dismissively as always and said 'don't get caught next time'. Shortly before getting caught himself.
But soon enough their destination was in sight, the train's engine at the front. And even despite the smoke from the stack on top of the train, Subaru was just able to make out Tanjiro leaping down and using his sixth form: Whirlpool, to slice through something that was forming out of their view in the conductor's compartment. Subaru surmised it was more fleshy hands and was quickly proven right as they arrived in time to see the floor being cut open by Inosuke's Second Fang: Rip and Tear, before Tanjiro used his Eight Form: Waterfall Basin to strike the spinal column that had been revealed. But instead of impacting against the bone, a mass of arms appeared and took the hit while the floor itself regenerated back to it's original, closed state.
"Ah great, now what," said Genya with a bit of frustration in his voice, "It's already too cramped in there for all four of us, especially if we're trying to fight off a bunch of arms."
"Well we should probably-shit!" Said Subaru as he noticed the rather tired, but angry looking train conductor was up and trying to stab Inosuke in the back with an ice pick while he and Tanjiro were busy slicing through the arms. The Matagi was quick to drop to one knee and aim down the sights of his rifle, lining up the shot and taking a half breath before holding it, and firing. The entire process only lasted a few seconds with the bullet flying through the air at speeds faster than sound before hitting the conductor in the arm holding the stabbing instrument, causing him to drop it and recoil backwards in pain.
"Subaru, Genya," said a surprised Tanjiro, "you didn't just-?"
"I hit him in the arm so he'll live," assured Subaru as he and Genya dropped down to the passageway between the front passenger car and the engine, "Let's just worry about killing this bastard first!"
"R-Right," said Tanjiro as he and Inosuke turned back to the task at hand. But as they were about to perform a combo maneuver, several eyes formed from the masses of flesh gathered around the engine. 'Blood Demon Art: Coerced Swooning Sleep,' said the voice of Enmu in all of their heads as an overpowering sense of drowsiness overtook them all. "Everyone, you can wake up by cutting your own th-."
Subaru wanted to ask him to repeat himself, but it was already too late. He'd fallen asleep and now he was trapped in his own subconscious.
The Mountains: Home
"What! Where!" Subaru said as he regained his senses and began looking around at the strangely familiar scenery. 'What's going on,' thought the hunter as he tried to gather his wits, having a fair bit of difficulty due to a pounding headache. 'How did I get here, and what was I doing before? And when the fuck did I manage to kill this big ass deer?!'
It obviously wasn't the first deer he'd ever killed, but for some reason when he tried to think back to how he killed this particular one, he was met with nothing but a hazy fog. His musings were interrupted, though, by another strange phenomenon. A strange wind had begun to blow up the hill in front of him, a wind whose currents he could actually 'see'. 'This is like, when I'm viewing the Prey's Thread,' realized Subaru as he began to follow the trail created by the wind currents.
As he approached the top of the hill, a small figure in a black kimono suddenly appeared at the top of it, her body somewhat obscured by the trees. All Subaru could make out at this distance was that she had the face of a girl, and a couple other odd features. But before he could ask who she was, the girl suddenly disappeared into the bushes. Subaru himself picked up the pace, his instincts telling him that she might know what was going on. "Hey, wait!" He called, "I need to talk to you! Do you know where I am?!"
He was met with no reply as the girl continued to move in and out of the shadows of the trees like a ghost, seeming to appear in one place then another without so much as a sound. The Hunter decided to settle on following the strange wind trail that wound and twisted through the forest until he finally broke out onto a trail that led up another hill. But as he looked around, the girl was nowhere to be found and the wind trail was starting to fade. Even that, though, became a secondary concern with what happened next.
"Hey! Subaru!" called the familiar voice of Tanjiro as the Matagi looked up at the top of a small hill to see his friend waving at him. "Hurry up! Grandad Saburo is already here, but we can't start cooking dinner until you get that deer, what was it called, field-dressed!"
"Uh, right," said Subaru as he began trekking up the hill, his surprise at the sudden turn of events overriding the other questions currently on his mind, "sorry about that, guess I spaced out."
"Are you feeling alright today?" Asked Tanjiro as he fell into step beside the rifleman, "I know things have been a bit hectic for us lately with New Year's just around the corner, but you usually take it all in stride."
"Guess I've just been working too hard to find extra meat," surmised Subaru as he rubbed his temple, "I can't recall the last time I had a headache this bad, at least if we're not counting the ones your siblings used to give me."
"Used too?" Said Tanjiro with a questioning look, "does that mean you've finally warmed up to them just a bit more?"
"Warmed up to them?" Repeated Subaru with clear confusion in his voice, "Tanjiro your brothers and sister are-." His statement remained unfinished as he nearly dropped the deer upon reaching the site where the old Kamado home was. Instead of an abandoned, lifeless husk like the Matagi had been expecting for some reason, it was alive with the activity of three children running around chasing each other while Tanjiro's mother, Kie Kamado, stood on the porch and watched with a smile on her face.
"About time you two showed up," said Saburo, who was sitting on porch himself looking very much like he wanted to be smoking his pipe. Tanjiro's mother was relatively lenient with much of the man's behavior, but one thing she did not and would not tolerate was Saburo smoking around the younger siblings. Especially not when she was tending to a sleeping little one. "Don't stand there gawking all day, you know what'll happen if that game meat spoils!"
"Right, on it," said Subaru as he snapped out of his little trance and made his way down the hill with Tanjiro.
"Big brother and Subaru are back!" Cheered the three younger Kamado siblings as they gathered around the two. "Will you two be going into town later? How did you find the deer this time? Do you think you could give us a ride on the cart later? Can I fire your rifle again?" This and other questions bombarded the duo as Tanjiro tried to calm them down.
"Now, now," said Tanjiro, "before we get to any of that, Subaru still needs to do some field dressing. And the three of you need to help me and Mother get the food together. You're gonna help with some of that too, aren't you Grandad Saburo?"
"I suppose I can finally unpack some of the herbs and spices I got the other day in town," replied Saburo, "it ain't a New Year's feast if the meat doesn't taste extra good."
"Uh, by the way," said Subaru, "has anyone seen Nezuko around?"
"She's out picking some herbs," replied Mrs. Kamado, "but don't you worry Subaru, she'll be back soon."
"In that case, I'd best get to work," said the Rifleman as he headed behind the house and began the process of cutting open the carcass and pulling out the more edible parts. After doing it often enough over the years, the Matagi found he could go through the movements without hardly thinking, which often made it was easy for him to get a bit lost on the other thoughts in his head. In fact, he was so lost he almost didn't notice another person sneaking up on him while he was busy wiping the blood off his hands.
"Gotcha!" exclaimed a voice that Subaru hadn't heard in almost three years as the Matagi reacted on instinct, dodging out of the way before grabbing the girl's arms and pulling them into a lock. "Gah, Subaru, I was only playing."
"Nezuko," said Subaru as he released her, staring in disbelief at the sight before him. It was really her, and she was human!
"Are you alright Subaru?" She asked as she waved her hand in front of his face. The response to her inquiry was Subaru suddenly enveloping her in a tight hug, almost losing his composure in the process. "Wow, I guess you're just extra-affectionate today. Normally I have to prod you a bit to get this kind of reaction."
"I'm sorry," said Subaru as he released her, "I just haven't seen you like this in so long. And you should know better than to sneak up on a guy who's using a knife. Do you have any idea the kind of accident it could cause?"
"I always wait 'til you put the knife down, you know that," said Nezuko with her dazzling smile lighting up her face, "by now I could probably even field dress something myself after having watched you do it so many times."
"Are you sure you won't get squeamish like your younger sister did the one and only time she tried to help me do this?" Questioned Subaru with a raised eyebrow.
"Unlike Hanako, I'm a big girl," said Nezuko with her arms crossed and a slight tilt to her head, "and I know you aren't being malicious when you cut the meat out of an animal, you're just making sure to not waste it."
"So you do listen when I explain the ways of the Matagi," said Subaru with a smirk, "and here I thought I was a boring speaker."
"I keep my ears open for the important bits," said Nezuko, "and speaking of important, Mother is ready for the meat in the kitchen. I'd best get in there myself to help with the food."
"I'll be right behind you," said Subaru, "just save me a seat at the table."
"Oh Subaru," said Nezuko as she suddenly pecked his cheek, "you've had a place at our family's table for a long time. That is one thing that won't change with the New Year." She turned and headed inside then, the smile on her face obvious even despite her back being turned to the Matagi. The Rifleman couldn't help but smile himself as he got to work gathering up the meat. That was until he saw the wind current appear again.
"So," said a childish voice suddenly, causing Subaru to peek over the deer hide to see a young girl standing in the snow, "are you really gonna keep letting this charade go on?" The Matagi was quick to snatch up his hunting knife and hold it in a defensive position. While it was a young girl of about eleven to twelve years old, her grey skin, animalistic blue eyes and sharp teeth made it obvious what she really was, a demon. She was dressed in a dark-colored kimono and seemed generally unconcerned about the fact that there was a hunter with a blade in front of her.
"Who are you?" asked Subaru, "and more importantly, why do you look like my Mother?"
"I dunno," said the girl as she flitted some of her dark hair back behind her neck, "probably the other blood that mixed with mine to help give birth to me."
"Give birth to you?" Said a confused Subaru, "only Muzan can give birth to demons by using his blood to infect humans."
"Yes, if I were originally human to begin with," replied the girl, "but I'm not. I've been in this demonic state since I was born. Been trying to put together the pieces for the last few years now while I've been hiding in your mind."
"Hiding in my mind?" Repeated Subaru, "that doesn't make any sense. How can a demon be birthed in my mind?"
"Still figuring that out myself," replied the girl, "but it's something both of us is going to have to wait on. I'm pretty sure I don't have to tell you this isn't real, right?" Subaru sighed before nodding.
"Yes, I know it's not real," replied the Matagi, "my memory might be a bit hazy, but my instincts have been screaming at me that something's wrong this entire time. Even despite that, I got a little lost in the moment."
"Well your friends need you at this moment," the girl pointed out, "and you'll lose them if you keep on dreaming here. Did you understand the message your friend was trying to tell you?"
"More or less," said Subaru as he held up his knife and examined it, "I just hope I'm cutting the right part of myself."
"Just follow your instincts on that one," said the girl, "like your Father always taught you." The Matagi took a deep breath then as he touched the blade of his knife to his throat.
"One last question, just in case we meet again," said Subaru, "what's your name? Assuming you have one?"
"Well," said the girl, "given that I'm currently in a childlike demon form of your mother, I believe Azakeru or 'Mockery' would be a good name for me. So just call me that."
"Good enough," said Subaru before taking another deep breath, "be seeing you." Then, grasping the knife firmly and steeling his nerves, the demon slayer raked the blade across his throat, feeling a surprising amount of pain as blood spilled from the wound. It took him only moments to black out.
Reality
"RAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Yelled Subaru as he shot up and instantly put his hand to his throat, noting that he was not back on the Mugen Train. After feeling around for a moment, he was relieved to find that there was no blood and that his throat was intact. 'That has got to be the worst way to wake up I have ever tried,' thought the slayer as he directed his gaze to where Tanjiro and Inosuke where still slicing away at the numerous hands and eyeballs. Genya himself hadn't woken up yet, having likely not heard Tanjiro's warning before falling under the demon art. But that was a problem that was gonna have to be fixed later.
For the moment, the best way to wake him and the rest of the passengers up was by killing the bastard responsible. And Subaru was feeling more than a little motivated as he switched his eye patch over to his right eye and drew his hunting knife. He didn't know why it worked or how he knew it would work, but for some reason when he gazed into the hypnotic eyes of the demon with his left eye, nothing happened. It was one of another dozen questions that would have to be answered later as the Rifleman charged into the fray, assisting his fellow slayers in slashing through the numerous eyeballs and hands that seemed to be sprouting endlessly in the train's engine.
"Subaru, you're just in time," said Tanjiro with relief in his voice, "we need to end this now, or Nezuko and the others won't be able to hold out."
"Then do whatever it is ya gotta do," replied Subaru as he cut into more arms and eyeballs, "just kill this son of a bitch already!" Tanjiro nodded before giving a signal to Inosuke.
"On it," said the Boar Fighter as he leapt up, "Breath of the Beast Fourth Fang: Slice 'n Dice!" The Slayer used multiple downward slashes to tear open an even larger hole in the floor than last time as Tanjiro, taking the opening Subaru was giving him, readied his new technique.
"Hinokami Kagura: Clear Blue Sky!" Exclaimed Tanjiro as he spun with his blade igniting in a brilliant flash of flames. It was similar to his Water Wheel technique, but created a ring of flame with its motion instead as the blade sliced cleanly through the spinal column in the floor. One other difference, that they noticed shortly after, was the power of the blow.
Not only did the technique slice through the demon's neck, it created a circular cut that severed the entire front of the train's engine. Subaru might've joked that he was glad he'd been behind Tanjiro if not for one problem. "Wow, that was an impressive technique," said the Rifleman, "but if this whole train was the body, what happens now that he's-?" The answer to that burning question was a horrendous dying scream which forced all of them to cover their ears.
"Ah, what the fuck," said Genya, having been awoken by the scream as well, "what's with all the noise?!"
"Better question is-WHOA!" Every last one of the slayers was forced to grab onto something as the entire train actually convulsed and raised itself up haphazardly in the air.
"Guys," exclaimed Tanjiro, "I think we're about to fall sideways!" And at the height they were at, a several ton train crashing down onto the ground would mostly definitely make a mess of them. The following thought was shared by everyone as they plummeted down to the earth below: SHIIIIIT! And the crash was nothing if not spectacular as the majority of them blacked out.
Whether it was just a couple of minutes or even a couple of hours later, Subaru didn't know. What he did know was that his back was halfway embedded in slowly dissolving demon flesh that had grown inside the train earlier. Ironically, it had managed to act as a cushion to soften the hard landing the group had suffered. But that didn't mean he was without injury. "Ah, my freakin' back," said Subaru as he managed to get up to a seated position to assess his condition.
Unsurprisingly, he had more than a few fresh bruises from the landing even despite the cushioning and his head was still throbbing a good bit. The demon slayer had to fight through the pain just a bit as he staggered to his feet and took in his surroundings. Both his bayonetted rifle and hunting knife had managed to embed themselves in two separate areas in the ceiling, which was now sideways. But upon pulling them out and inspecting them, the Matagi was relieved to find that neither of the hunting implements had sustained any real damage.
The sound of groaning alerted him to the next task at hand, figuring out what happened to everyone else. "Ow," said Genya as he popped up from further back in the train, "why in the world did that genius friend of yours cut off the whole entire engine? Has he never heard of a train derailment before?"
"No, actually," replied Subaru, "In fact this trip was his first time seeing a train. But that was also the first time he used that technique on purpose against a demon too. Guess it was more powerful than any of us expected."
"How many of 'us' are even left right now?" Questioned Genya as he collected his shotgun and checked its condition.
"Sanjuro!" yelled the voice of Inosuke from outside the train.
"Well we know he's still around at least," said the Matagi as he hopped up and pulled himself through the side opening of the train before standing up on the now destroyed passenger car to get an idea on the state of things. As suspected, every car was derailed and laying on their sides next to the train tracks, while the engine itself was a few feet away in decrepit condition. The entirety of the train was also covered in slowly dissipating demon flesh that had, hopefully, cushioned the rest of the passengers against the crash like it had for Subaru. But his most pressing concern, for the moment, was when he spotted Inosuke kneeling next to an injured looking Tanjiro a few feet away on the ground.
Hopping down and quickly making his way over, Subaru wasn't surprised when the first thing he heard out of his friend's mouth was whether or not there were any injured passengers. "How is he?" asked the Rifleman.
"He says he can't move right now," replied Inosuke, "guess that awesome move wore him out. He also says we should help that conductor guy that tried to stab me, but I think it's fine if he dies."
"It's not fine," said Tanjiro weakly, "Subaru already shot his arm, and you said his leg was crushed, Inosuke. I think that's enough punishment for him. So please, go save him." Subaru wanted to roll his eyes at the request, suspecting that the man would likely die of blood loss soon even if he was rescued. But he kept those thoughts to himself as Inosuke answered.
"Fine, I'll do it because you're my minion and I'm the boss," said the Boar Fighter as he began to trot off, "and after I save him, I'll pluck all his hair out!"
"You don't have to do that," said Tanjiro weakly as Subaru reached down and hoisted him up, putting his arm over his shoulder.
"Let's just worry about making sure everyone's okay first," said Subaru, "then we can mete out punishments if we need too."
"I just need a minute to stabilize my breathing," said Tanjiro, "and then I should be able to move around a bit better."
"Well let's start with getting you a better place to rest up than right here on the ground," said Subaru as he led his friend over to the crashed train. As he was about to pull Tanjiro inside, he noticed something coming from the engine, a moving pile of flesh with two eyes and some stubby arms. "Could you wait right here for a moment." Tanjiro was given no time to protest as Subaru leaned him against the roof of one of the passenger cars before climbing onto it himself.
He quickly made his way over to the engine, picking up a part of the chimney as an idea formed in his head. The demon didn't notice his approach as it spoke up, expressing his fuming thoughts. "Damn it all," said Enmu as his body began growing legs and tried to stand up, "one brat gets through my technique and then it's just bad luck after bad luck. Two hundred passengers and I couldn't even devour a single one because of-GAAAAHH!"
The demon was taken by surprise as Subaru dropped the chimney piece he'd picked up on what passed for the head, and was plenty amused by the results. "Ah, congratulations numb nuts!" exclaimed Enmu as he found his stubby arms unable to remove the heavy piece, "I hope you're happy! You've officially turned me into a freakin' Kokeshi doll!"
"I am amused if nothing else," replied Subaru as he pulled out his revolver, no longer needing to fear gazing on his prey now that the eyes were covered. As for Enmu, he surprisingly managed to get the chimney piece off just in time to see the Rifleman fire his revolver, before collapsing to the ground like someone had just hit him in the walnuts. Because he apparently had.
"AAAAARGH, way to go a-hole!" exclaimed Enmu, "I can't even control what body parts I grow anymore and now you've shot me in the balls! Isn't it enough that I'm dying already?!"
"Who could tell where your junk is being that you're a dissolving mass of flesh," said Subaru with a shrug, "but either way, consider that payback for fucking around with our dreams and insulting the memory of our families. And while I'm supposed to say 'may you hear pleasant sounds in the next life', I hope you have some pretty messed up nightmares too." Enmu would've said something back, but by this point there wasn't enough of him left to even shake his fist. The last thing the dream demon saw was the Matagi turning and walking away after collecting some of his blood off the flesh on the train. No dream awaited him as he finished dissolving.
Subaru glanced back only once to ensure the demon was dead before heading over to Tanjiro. His fellow slayer was, expectedly, already trying to stand and mildly succeeding. "Hey, sorry about walking off like that," said the Rifleman as he helped steady his friend slightly, "but since you seem to be standing somewhat, I guess you probably want to gather everyone else and get this mess sorted out?"
"Y-Yeah," said Tanjiro as he slipped and fell back against the roof of the passenger car, "you may want to go ahead. I'll catch up."
"You know I can help you walk for a bit," Subaru pointed out, "It's not like we need to be in a hurr-oh shit." It seemed the world was out to prove him wrong again as his well-trained eyes spotted movement along the edge line of the forest, a lot of movement.
"What is it Subaru?" Asked Tanjiro before wrinkling his nose. His face went from confused to a mixture of anger and worry, "no, it can't be. Are there really that many?"
"I'm afraid so," said Subaru as he checked the ammunition in his rifle and revolver, "and the bastards are closing in fast. Guess we'll need to fight for a little longer."
"Well the good news is, I don't think they're high level demons," said Tanjiro as he struggled to stand, "so we should be able to take them out relatively easil-BAAAAAAMMM!" A sudden impact similar to a small meteor hitting the ground nearby shook the both of them as the world decided it wanted to prove Tanjiro wrong as well. While the other demons were certainly low level, what had just arrived permeated the very air with its presence. It was a much higher-level demon than either of them had ever encountered, and its sight was set on the two of them. An Upper Moon had arrived.
Out of the living flesh train and into a demon swarm. Seems like our heroes aren't catching a break anytime soon. And who is the mysterious Azakeru in Subaru's mind? All that and more will be in the upcoming chapters. Until then, feel free to leave a comment or review about what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters. Be sure to stop in next time as the site of the train crash becomes a nasty war zone. 'Til then!