Chapter 0: Grim Dawn, Lost Hopes and a New Plan
In the country of Japan: Currently within a destroyed and burning city, there is absolute chaos...A final battle is ongoing...
A battle between a malevolent progenitor, the Demon King Muzan Kibutsuji himself and the protectors of humanity, the Demon Slayer corp, that were fighting to finally end the century lasting bloodshed between mankind and demon-kind, once and for all...
But, just before the break of dawn... Before Muzan could be successfully burned in the sun... Something unexpected happens... The Demon King... Vanishes without a trace...
Scene change
In one of the streets of the demolished city, we see a heavily injured man, with short white hair, dark crazed eyes and many scars on his body, wearing a blood stained white haori over his torn up Demon Slayer uniform. The stitched up gashes on his stomach barely holding in the man's guts from spilling out and many other numerous cuts on his body, including two missing fingers, all sustained in one night, after fighting two of the most powerful demons to exist, back to back. As he stands up from a pile of rubble, gripping his katana as tightly as possible, he screams out.
"AAAAARGH, FUCK! FUCK FUCK FUCK! DAMN IT! WHERE DID THEY GO?! TOMIOKA, DO YOU KNOW WHERE THE KAMADO BRAT, NATSUKI AND THAT BASTARD MUZAN GO OFF TO?!"
An equally badly injured man, missing his entire left arm, covered in numerous cuts and bruises around his body, with long black hair and ocean blue eyes, wore a similar Demon Slayer uniform and a shredded two sided haori, yells back.
"CALM DOWN, SANEMI! AFTER MUZAN SWIPED TANJIRO AND THE OTHERS AWAY, I SAW SUBARU TACKLING HIM INTO THOSE BUILDINGS OVER THERE, WE GOTTA GO AFTER THEM QUICK!"
"DAMN IT, SUBARU IS THE ONLY ONE WHO'S CRAZY ENOUGH TO PULL SUCH SHIT! HE WON'T LAST THAT LONG BY HIMSELF, EVEN WITH HIS RIDICULOUS RESILIENCE! EVERYONE, IF YOU CAN STILL STAND AND FIGHT, KEEP HOUNDING THAT BASTARD, WE DON'T HAVE MUCH MORE TO GO TIL THE SUN RISES! KEEP GOING!"
"RIGHT!"
A collective war cry of all the remaining slayers in the area is heard as they rush to aid their comrades in the brutal fight... But, unknown to them, that brutal fight had mysteriously stopped just as the Wind Hashira, Sanemi Shinazugawa ended his speech...
Scene change
'Ugh... Wha... Where am... I..?'
"WAIT, MUZA-! ACK!"
A young boy, with short dark red hair and red eyes, wearing a torn up black and green checkered haori over his own Demon Slayer uniform, sporting a nasty clump of infected flesh covering his right eye and many other injuries, suddenly jumps up, but just as quickly falls back down grabbing onto his chest.
'My ribs... All of them... Broken... Can barely... Breathe... But... Must... Get... Up... I must... End... Muzan..!'
"Ack... Get... Up..."
But then, he heard a strong, yet calm voice call out to him.
"Easy there, Tanjiro, don't aggravate your wounds any further. You won't last long if you keep doing that."
The boy turned his head and saw a man he recognized. The man was covered in scars, had spiky black hair, a loose bang over the right side of his face, a short ponytail hanging low and almost glowing amber brown eyes. His Demon Slayer uniform is completely ruined from the waist up, with only the pants and sandals remaining somewhat in tact, whilst his scarred and brutally beaten torso is visible for all to see, yet despite being so badly damaged, he still stands tall as he props himself up on one of his weapons.
"Subaru-sensei, you're ok! I... I thought Muzan was going to kill you, when you took him on alone."
"Heh, what do you take your sensei for, Tanjiro? You and your friends should already know that my title as the Pain Hashira is not for nothing. My pain tolerance is far beyond any human in history and my stubbornness equally backs it up. I am pretty much the hardest Hashira to kill, even for the big bastard himself."
"Oh... Right, sorry for doubting you, Sensei. But wait, what about Muzan, where is he? I can't pick up his scent... Did you..?"
"Unfortunately, no... This will be... Difficult to believe... But he... He escaped... One moment I was about to tear him apart, but as I blinked once, I saw his ugly face turn up into a mocking smirk... After I blinked a second time, he was gone... Completely vanished without a trace."
Tanjiro was stunned after hearing those words.
"N-no... No, no, no... This is a joke, right..?"
Subaru only shook his head.
"You know well that now is not a time for jokes... And your sense of smell never failed you, right? Take a good whiff... No traces at all."
Tanjiro slowly sat up, sniffed the air and indeed, besides the blood, burning wood, stone dust and many other fragrances, there is no longer any scent of Muzan left anywhere. He's... Gone... Tanjiro began to shake with anger, sorrow and disbelief.
"N-n-no... I-it can't... A-all those sacrifices... A-all those deaths... W-were they all... In vain?"
As tears began to fall from his lone eye, Subaru walked over to his student, kneeling down and gently holding his head to his own shoulder.
"I am sorry, Tanjiro... But... He escaped... Muzan survived... We failed... No... I failed..."
As he said those words in a defeated tone, Tanjiro continued to cry, knowing that he failed to avenge his family and his fallen friends. Subaru slowly stood back up, using his large war-cleaver as a crutch. He has suffered many injuries in his past missions, but none compare to the ones he got after fighting the demon of all demons by himself. Maybe the closest to that would've been the beating he endured from Uppermoon 3, Akaza. Battered and slashed up, with several dozen broken bones, several of which were almost sticking out of the skin, heavy internal organ damage, heavily drained stamina and even poisoning from Muzan himself, yet he still moved. He picked up a grieving Tanjiro and spoke.
"Come, Tanjiro, now is no time to weep. We must go find the others, as well as anyone else that survived. Our priority now is to help the injured and regroup at the Butterfly Mansion. We must think of a new plan of action, now that Oyakata-sama and many of our slayers have died out."
"Right, Sensei..."
Tanjiro wiped away his tears, as Subaru helped him stand. The two slayers left the collapsing building they were in, only to see a very horrid sight outside. As the morning light shines upon the street, the student teacher duo were greeted by absolute carnage. There, on the road, hundreds of dead bodies lay, both demon slayers and civilians alike. Many bodies torn apart and mangled, unrecognizable masses of flesh, blood and gore. Amongst the dead, there were some who survived, but most were crippled, missing limbs and shattered bones, their anguished cries of pain filling the skies. The student felt sick, whilst the teacher grimaced, having being used to such scenes for the past 7 years of his demon slayer life. He quietly ushered Tanjiro to move forward. But before they could go any further, they saw two familiar faces rushing towards them.
"Sanemi, Giyuu, are you guys alright?"
"WE SHOULD BE ASKING YOU THAT, YOU SUICIDAL DUMBASS! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING, TAKING ON MUZAN ALONE?!"
"OI, IF I DIDN'T DO THAT, YOUR ASSES WOULD'VE BEEN SKEWERED AND MINCED BY THAT FUCKER! NOW SHUT UP AND CALM THE FUCK DOWN, WE GOTTA REGROUP WITH THE OTHERS, SO I COULD BREAK THE BLOODY NEWS!"
"HAAAH?! WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU TRYING TO SHUT UP?! WHAT ABOUT FUCKING MUZAN?! WHERE IS HE?!"
"THAT'S THE FUCKING NEWS I WANNA TELL, DIPSHIT, BUT WE MUST GATHER THE OTHERS FIRST! I AM NOT WILLING TO REPEAT THE STORY AGAIN!"
As the two scar-faces continue to shout obscenities at each other, Tomioka walked over to Tanjiro.
"Giyuu-san, your arm..."
"It's alright Tanjiro, I lost it fulfilling my duty as the Water Hashira, so you shouldn't worry too much. I'm more worried about your eye... That doesn't look good."
"I think Shinobu-san might have an antidote for this."
"Tanjiro, I don't think she..."
"No, Giyuu-san, she will be ok! Afterall, you managed to save her from Uppermoon 2 at the last second!"
"I hope you're right... That gash on her chest might've reached her lung though..."
As they spoke with each other, Subaru finally called out.
"Alright, enough Sanemi! Listen up, I'll explain everything you need to know, but then we'll have to get everyone back together for a new plan."
As Subaru explained what happened in his last confrontation with Muzan, his fellow Hashira were utterly shocked.
"So you're telling us... THAT FUCKER GOT AWAY AT THE LAST MINUTE?!"
"All of our efforts... All of those sacrifices... THEY WERE ALL FOR NOTHING?!"
The 3 actually got a little shocked. Sanemi's outrage was to be expected, but none of them expected Giyuu to show such strong emotions.
"Tomioka-san..."
"Look, I know you guys are just as pissed as I am, but-"
Sanemi roared with absolute fury, cutting him off.
"PISSED?! PISSED?! THIS IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT AT HOW INFURIATED I AM! MY BROTHER FUCKING DIED FOR NOTHING!"
Subaru then gut punches Sanemi.
"URGH! You asshole-"
"DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE TALK LIKE THAT! HE DIED TO SAVE YOU AND THIS IS YOUR RESPONSE IN THE END?!
"WHAT WAS THE POINT OF SAVING MY FUCKING LIFE, IF WE COULDN'T FINISH MUZAN TONIGHT?!
"WE DON'T KNOW IF HE'S DEAD OR ALIVE, YOU IDIOT! YOU COULD BE MAKING THIS FUSS ALL FOR NOTHING AND EVEN DISRESPECTING THE DEAD! YOU ARE THE WIND HASHIRA, ARE YOU NOT?! IF YOU ARE, THEN ACT LIKE ONE!"
Sanemi calms down after Subaru scolded him.
"Fuck, you're right... Argh! Alright, let's go then, I feel like my entire body is falling apart."
"Urgh, yea good idea, even I am starting to feel a little dizzy."
As the 4 of them proceed toward a makeshift medical site, we switch through perspectives:
Tanjiro POV
"Zenitsu... Inosuke... Kanao... You guys are okay..!" he calls out.
"TANJIRO!" They collectively shout back, happy to see their friend is alive. They shared a group hug.
"Ow ow ow ow ow, guys! Be a little more gentle, my ribs are all messed up!" he quickly shouts out.
"Tanjiroooo, I was so scared you died after Muzan lashed out at all of us!" a yellow haired and yellow eyed boy by the name of Zenitsu, yells at him with tears streaming down his eyes.
"DAMN IT, MONJIRO, YOU ARE CRAZY TAKING ON THAT BASTARD ALONE!" a boy with a girly face, short curly blue hair and green eyes by the name of Inosuke, shouts at him.
"I'm glad you made it, Tanjiro..." a girl with black pink-tipped hair and purple eyes by the name of Kanao, spoke barely above a whisper as tears of joy also fell from her eyes.
As the group of teens were enjoying their reunion, Tanjiro hears something he thought he'd never hear.
"Onii-chan!" a girl calls out.
"N-Nezuko..?" he shakily breathes out, "NEZUKO! YOU'RE... YOU'RE HUMAN AGAIN!"
As he rushes over to her, ignoring all the pain that is dancing throughout his body, the two siblings share a tearful hug, finally glad that one of their nightmares has finally ended, as the rest stood back and watched the tear jerking scene.
Giyuu POV
He stumbled towards a spot where he could sit down to have his wounds treated, he saw someone he thought he'd lost, awake and moving about, helping other injured slayers. Before his eyes, he saw a beautiful young woman with black, purple tipped shoulder length hair and gorgeous amethyst eyes. Her uniform's top was removed, as there was a thick layer of blood-stained bandages covering her well sized chest and the large slash she received against Uppermoon 2, Douma. As she finished treating another young slayer's wounds, she felt an arm wrap around her waist from behind.
"Don't push yourself too hard, Kochou..." he gently says.
"E-eh? Giyuu? You... Are you okay?" she turned her shocked gaze, almost tearing up, but then she saw the horrid state her friend was in. "Oh my god, your arm! Please, let me look over it right now!"
As he takes off the top of his ruined uniform, Shinobu immediately gets to working on his missing arm.
"How is your own injury?" he asks her, ignoring the stinging sensation coming from the stump she began cleaning.
"It's fine... I would've definitely died to that monster had you and Tanjiro not shown up last moment... Thank you for that..."
"I only did what was best... Besides, I don't know what I would've done with myself, had I lost you too..."
"Giyuu... I didn't know that's how you feel about me..."
"You were always there to keep me company, even if you mostly annoyed me..."
"Hey what's with the backhanded- mph?!"
Shinobu gets cut off by Tomioka placing his lips on hers. As he breaks the kiss, she blushes madly.
"W-w-w-what was that about!?" she stutters out angrily.
"I'd rather say this now than never... But... I love you, Kochou." he says as he smiles for the first time in a long time.
Shinobu's face becomes beet red, as she hugs Tomioka, with a few stray tears going down her cheeks.
"I see... I guess... The feeling is mutual..." she whispers as they stay like that in each other's embrace, grateful that they lived.
Subaru POV
As he and Sanemi collapsed on the ground from the blood loss, the medics immediately went to their aid. As he lays there, going in and out of consciousness, the raven-haired man had many things on his mind.
'How... How did Muzan disappear... I don't understand... And why was he smirking at me?! What was that all about? Ugh... This is making my head pound harder than it normally does after I receive a concussion... None of what happened makes sense... Kyojuro... Muichiro... Obanai... Mitsuri... Gyomei... Everyone... I'm sorry you had to die in vain... It's my fault... Had I pinned him down, the sun would've finished the job... I'm sorry'
As he silently took the blame for Muzan's escape, he drifted off into deep sleep. Within his dreams, he saw something... odd.
'Where am I... What is this place?'
He looked around the landscape of pure darkness, walking aimlessly, before he felt something ominous watching him. He turned his head in the direction of the ominous presence and he saw a figure... The figure looked like a woman, but her facial features were hidden by a black mist, only her glowing purple eyes were somewhat visible, as she gazed at him, muttering something to herself, that he couldn't hear. He tried to go over to her, but something else happened... He was struck, as he saw a fist sticking out of his chest, gripping his heart, yet he did not feel anything. As he turned to look behind him, he was shocked. As he gazed into his own amber eyes, only with a difference in them. They were dark... Cold... Lifeless... Just like his friend Giyuu before he got to know him. Before he could say anything, he suddenly woke up.
'What the hell was that about..? I feel... Like I'm... Missing something... But now's not the time for that, I must help them first.'
Time-skip: 1 Month
After everything had calmed down enough and everyone recovered to some extent, Subaru called for a meeting at the Butterfly Mansion between the Hashira, including Tanjiro, Zenitsu, Inosuke and Kanao, as well as Uzui who came from retirement. As he waits outside, one by one, the people he called had came. The first to come was the Water Hashira, Giyuu Tomioka, after that it was the Wind Hashira, Sanemi Shinazugawa. Later, the rest arrived. The former Sound Hashira, Tengen Uzui, the now former Insect Hashira, Shinobu Kochou, the newly promoted Sun Hashira, Tanjiro Kamado, the new Thunder Hashira, Zenitsu Agatsuma, the new Beast Hashira, Inosuke Hashibira and the new Flower Hashira, Kanao Tsuyuri.
"Wait, we're missing one more person..." Subaru mutters out.
"Hey hey! Sorry I'm a little late!" a new voice rang out.
As everyone turned their heads, they saw a young man, with lush brown hair tied in a small pony tail, striking emerald green eyes and a small scar on his nose. Wearing a long jade colored haori, with gold and diamond markings on the back, over his demon slayer uniform.
"Hello everyone, the name is Kazuma Satou and I'm the newly promoted Luck Hashira." he said cheerfully.
"Ok, as much as everyone is interested in the new guy, listen up, I have some grim news we must discuss." Subaru spoke up, gaining all their attention.
'How cold, man... Completely ignored...' thought Kazuma with comical tears.
"As of now, only 4 people, myself included, know about this, so this may come as a shock, but... Muzan... He is alive."
'Wait, what?!' Kazuma mentally screamed out, whilst he tried to keep up a poker face smile.
The others who haven't known of this were utterly shocked, some going pale.
"What do you mean he is alive?! I thought you guys got him!" the former Sound Hashira yelled.
"I know, I know, but unfortunately, in my final scuffle with him, just before I could slice him into pieces, he managed to escape within a blink of the eye. The problem is, I don't know whether he used a Blood Demon Art or some outside source helped him out. I'm leaning more towards the outside source, considering Muzan doesn't have any kind of demon art that allowed him instantaneous transportation." he explained.
"So you're saying there was another demon like that last Uppermoon 4 with her irritating infinite fortress?" Sanemi asked.
"Most likely, I wouldn't put it past that bastard to have a backup plan in case he actually felt threatened. But as of now, he was severely weakened, both by the aging poison and the amount of damage that was inflicted on him, as well as all 12 Kizuki were annihilated. He will be going into hiding undoubtedly, but we mustn't sit on our asses doing nothing. We must prepare, we must gain more ranks as well as train more Hashiras. Now that we have knowledge on the Slayer Mark, the trick to gain access to the Red Blade temporarily and a few rare cases, the See-through World. With all of the knowledge on those abilities, we can train stronger Hashiras. But for now, we will be quite busy. Just because Muzan is gone temporarily, doesn't mean we'll have much free time on our hands, since there are still quite a few demons roaming about. We will have to be careful with what missions we take and the number of slayers we could dispatch. The freshlings can go in groups, whilst us Hashira can fight alone, now with less stress, knowing we won't be encountering any of the 12 Kizuki again... Unless it were a demoted and cast out Kizuki, who didn't fit the bill to keep the spot."
As they continue discussing their plans, soon night falls and everyone leaves to rest and continue recovering. Subaru in the meantime retreated to his own room, where he proceeded to perform maintenance on his equipment, his uniform, his weapons. Before he retired to dreamland, he looked out the window and his heart skipped several beats in a row. There, outside his window, two yellow eyes were glaring at him, with the kanji "Upper 3" in them. The figure whom the eyes belonged to, suddenly turned away and ran. Subaru immediately dawned his Hashira attire and grabbed his two weapons: A large serrated War-Cleaver blade and an odd shaped Dadao with a double hooked end, linked by a long chain, as he then proceeded to jump through the same window to chase after someone he thought he had killed... As he chased after the figure of Uppermoon 3, everything around him started going dark, his thoughts were going a mile a second.
'How?! How is he alive?! I thought I killed him!'
His body was on auto-pilot, as he focused all of his strength on catching up to the demon ahead of him. His eyes were burning with anger and confusion, so much so he lost track of his surroundings. As the apparition of Uppermoon 3 dashed into a dark cave, Subaru hot on his tail, he kept running deeper within, but then Subaru began to blink unwillingly, as the darkness kept obscuring his sight further and further. One... Two... With the third blink, the figure of Uppermoon 3 stopped in front of something bright, as he turned and smiled. Subaru, for a split-second was startled, because the smile didn't have any malice behind it. But after regaining his composure, with one powerful leap, he aimed for the kill and upon one final blink, he appeared somewhere else, as he heard Akaza's voice, echoing behind him...
"We shall meet again soon... This time... Hopefully, on better terms..."
He lunged out of a random alleyway mid-swing, as he struck a wall in front of him with so much force, it shattered the stone into pieces... Subaru looked up from his kneeling position, now inside the building, he was greeted by the sight of several frightened patrons, who were staring at him wide eyed. He stood up straight, turned back and walked out of the now gaping hole in the wall, as he was greeted by a very strange sight before his eyes...
Well, the long wait has finally repayed, huh? To those who did wait for this story, ever since I posted that first art of Subaru as a Demon Slayer, your patience has been rewarded. I tried to get the story out sooner, but the first adaptation of the story, was honest garbage compared to the new version that I'm Re:writing (heh). The prologue that is chapter 0, may leave some questions, such as "How is Shinobu alive?" and etc., but I promise, things will be explained along the way as the story progresses. I will also be posting chapter related art on the Re:Zero subreddit, each time a new chapter comes out. For now, thank you for reading and hope you enjoy the Pain Hashira's journey in Re:Zero, as the story goes along. Next chapter, I will cover the entirety of Arc 1, with a few interesting extra bits and a little twist at the end. Til then, readers!
Important Note (2022-08-10): I've temporarily removed Chapters 1 and 2 for reworking. I've written Chapters 3 and 4, but I've miscalculated, writing 10,000+ words for each chapter, in other words, not splitting either of them in parts like I did with the first, hence why I removed them temporarily, merging the 2 parts of the first chapter together and fixing some grammar, as well as extending chapter 2 somewhat. Sorry for the inconvenience!