Notes: Welcome to part three, now with less zombies and more skeletons.
o-o
On the other side of the door was a wide mid-day sky and Kurogane momentarily covered his eyes, unprepared for the sudden brightness. He and Fai were standing side by side on a staircase made of the same white marble as the wall. There were only three short stairs, weathered and partially crumbled as if belonging to an ancient building, and from there the steps disappeared into nothing but blue sky and clouds. Looking down Kurogane thought he could see a faint tinge of red far down past the clouds but it was hard to tell if it was truly there or only a trick of the light. There was a long wall that stretched out from either side of the stairs, creating a sort of corridor in front of them, one with no ceiling and no floor. The walls were decorated with high arching windows and elaborate circular columns, and there were strange shadowy figures lingering like ghosts behind them. They had no faces, only fathomless black eyes that shone eerily behind bone-white masks.
Straight ahead of them at the opposite end of the corridor was another set of billowing curtains, barely more than a smudge of red in the distance. Kurogane thought he could almost see some sort of symbol printed upon them, a black shape that could have been a butterfly or a bat.
"So now what?" Kurogane asked Fai, who was looking forward with an unreadable expression. "More invisible stairs?"
"The Daylight Stair," Fai intoned. "And they're not invisible this time, Kuro-tan. You just have to know where to step." With that he took a single step forward into nothingness.
Kurogane instinctively moved forward as if to grab him, but even as he did something stopped Fai's fall. A white disk, wide and slightly curved like a saucer, seemed to appear out of nowhere underneath Fai's feet. As Kurogane watched, a second disk appeared just below the first, this one slightly smaller and a few inches to the right.
Fai paused for just a moment on the first disk, his hand twitching almost imperceptibly towards his ears. There was a slight wince in his expression, quickly hidden, but Kurogane saw it nonetheless.
"This one is easy, Kuro-pi," Fai said, looking back at him with a pasted on smile that was stretched thin like piano wire. "Just stay on the white stairs and don't fall off. If you do, you might not be able to come back up."
"What's below us?" Kurogane asked, watching Fai with sharp eyes.
"The places where sinners are sent," Fai said, not looking at him. "A place of drowning. So keep your feet, all right?"
Without waiting for an answer, Fai moved forward onto the second disk. His jump was slow and oddly graceful, as if he was almost swimming through the sky. As his feet touched the second disk, a third one appeared, this time wider and flatter, requiring a slight jump upwards to reach.
Kurogane gave the 'steps' a distrustful glare and took a careful step forward. His body felt momentarily light and floaty as his feet slowly left the stone steps and landed on the first white disk.
The minute both feet were planted firmly on the disk he was suddenly all but overcome with a boiling rage. Kurogane stumbled forward, nearly falling, gritting his teeth.
This is how you should feel. The demon's presence was like sudden bonfire bursting into flame behind his eyes, and Erebus's voice was louder and clearer than it had ever been. Pitiful human. Did you really think you could keep it held back for a thousand years? No…not a human. You're not really a human anymore, are you?
Shut up,Kurogane thought fiercely, forcing himself forward. As his feet touched the second step he noticed that Fai's movements had grown noticeably slower as the blond moved from step to step.
Worthless, worthless always, the demon taunted him. Something gray and ghostly swept out from the walls, curling around Kurogane like smoke and then disappearing, leaving behind a faint trace of mocking laughter. The masked figures behind the wall were watching him with frozen faces. Can't save anyone, not even himself. How many do you think died in that prison, that you could not save? How many did you leave to the plague while you hid in your room?
That was because of you, Kurogane thought, his legs feeling heavy as lead even as he half-floated forward. The steps were growing further apart and he stumbled uncharacteristically as he jumped from one to the next. Damn it, what are you doing to me? What the hell is happening?
I am only opening your eyes to all that you are, Erebus laughed, the sound like rocks scraping against each other. You locked yourself away from humanity for so long, as if that would keep them safe from you. How many homeless on the streets did I eat, while you pretended you were keeping me in control? How many human souls have been consumed by me, that you could not save even with all your vaunted control? You say you cannot save anyone, but that is only you washing your hands of the desire for it. If you fail, you can say it will not matter because you did not try.
It has nothing to do with you,Kurogane thought, momentarily falling to his knees, breath coming in short gasps. Fai was several steps ahead of him now, barely seen through the clouds.
Do you hate your father for doing this to you, I wonder? Do you hate your mother for giving you a last command you were never able to follow?
"Shut…up…" Kurogane growled again, barely aware that he had said it out loud. The demon's presence was suffocating, pulling him down like the weight of a chain.
Why did you keep a sword chained to the wall all this time? Why didn't you throw it away if it was so useless? Erebus mocked him. You pretend that a thousand years of deaths have stripped human things like hope from you, but it's all a child's lie you tell yourself. A man who does not wish to protect anyone with a sword has no need to keep one. Why have you held on to that sword all this time?
"How do you even know anything of that?" Kurogane hissed. "You're just a fucking demon."
I am your demon, Erebus replied. I am your rage. I am the thing that you think holds you bound. But it seems you are, as ever, a human. Not like that one. Kurogane could feel the thing's attention divert momentarily towards Fai, who was standing stock-still in the distance. Though you die each night, the lingering stench of death is not on you yet. Why is that?
"Stop talking in fucking riddles," Kurogane said, standing up with effort and taking a shaky step forward. He could feel sweat running down his face and gritted his teeth against the anger that was sweeping through him.
Do you really have nothing to lose, Kurogane? The demon's voice seemed different, somehow. There was a tone to it that made him think, oddly, of his father — not of the day his father had cursed him with the demon, but his father in the years before the plague: kind, wise, strong, wanting only the best for him. Have you really lost the sensation of human things like hope? Have you really nothing left to protect?
"Why should you even care?"
There is always more to lose, as long as you are still human. You have cast away those things every time for fear of losing them. If you don't hold to it tightly, it will always slip from you in the end. Is it really only the demon that you keep bound in chains? You have always wished for something you could save. That sword is not meant only for killing. That strength is not only for killing.
Suddenly all the rage seemed to drain out of him and Kurogane found himself crouching weakly on the stair, feeling strangely empty. The demon's presence had retreated to the very back of his mind.
Kurogane's eyes were drawn to the sword at his waist and he quickly looked away. No. He had given up on those things. He had not been strong enough to do anything then, and he was not strong enough now. It was frustrating, but a thousand years of nightly deaths, of hiding in alleys and forests and under bridges, away from people, unable to stop himself from harming those who dared get near to him…that strength had never done anything but harm those around him.
Why did you keep a sword chained to the wall all this time?
Kurogane shook his head and slowly rose to his feet. He wasn't going to waste time thinking about such things, not now. Maybe if the idiot's promises turned out to be true, if he was actually able to have the demon taken out of him, then he could stop and think about it. For now, he could only move forward. Kurogane shook off the weakness and quickened his steps to catch up to Fai. The blond had not moved for some time, standing rigid as a statue in the distance.
"Hey, idiot." Kurogane tried to get his attention as he drew closer, but Fai did not turn. Irritably Kurogane made one last stride forward so that he was finally standing on the same step as Fai.
Immediately the sheer rush of soundnearly drove him to his knees again. It was almost like the voice of the demon when it was at its strongest but multiplied ten-fold, hundreds of distinct voices crying out in rage and pain, drowning out his own thoughts. Kurogane's hands instinctively went up to cover his ears, but that didn't silence the voices that swirled around him. They were oppressive, a living force of sound which pressed down upon him like a hand upon his back.
"Demon child!"
"You brought this on us!"
"It was all because of you!"
"Why didn't you just die? Then none of this would have happened!"
The voices seemed to meld together into an indistinguishable hum and Kurogane forced himself to stand, concentrating as best he could at keeping the sounds out. Fai still stood in front of him at the very edge of the disk, trembling lightly.
Is this what he hears all the time? The thought forced its way past the million other voices. Somehow, Kurogane was certain of it — these were Fai's voices, the ones that the man had claimed were always screaming in his head. How can he even think with all this damn noise? It's enough to drive you—
—mad.
Fai's head suddenly turned and then he was staring at Kurogane out of wide, glassy eyes, his face too pale and his smile a gaping wound.
"I'm sorry." The words cut through all the other voices like a knife as Fai stepped off the edge of disk.
"Idiot-" Kurogane dived for him but he was too late. Fai disappeared over the edge and was gone.
Kurogane stared down after him. There was nothing visible below him, just endless sky and something hovering beyond it, taunting him.
"The places where sinners are sent. A place of drowning."
Kurogane looked back up at the curtains ahead of him. At this distance he was still unable to make out the exact symbol upon them. That was where they had been heading. All he needed to do was go forward, and he would be at his destination.
All he had to do was let Fai disappear into the darkness below and forget about him. Who was the idiot to him, anyway? Just a strange mad prisoner who had appeared out of nowhere, telling him about stupid shit like Lords of the Underworld and madness and voices, who'd sat prattling on while the demon inside Kurogane sat silent and obedient in his presence.
Just a person who had fought at his back when they'd been forced to battle their way through a prison full of plague-mad inmates. Just a person who had remained by his side all night while the demon walked in his flesh. Just someone who had suffered the same curse that Kurogane himself had, and who was so obviously drowning under weight of it that it was a wonder the idiot thought those smiles could fool anyone at all.
Just someone who had kept him walking down the Night Stair when Kurogane would have been overcome by it. Just someone who did not expect to be followed and did not wish to be saved.
"I'm a bigger idiot than he is," Kurogane said, disgusted, and then he jumped over the edge of the stair into the unknown below.
o-o
His body hit the water hard and the breath was momentarily knocked from Kurogane's lungs. He didn't even remember the fall, only that one moment he'd jumped off the Daylight Stair and the next he had been slamming into the water below.
If what he was floating in could even be calledwater. The place he was in looked like some kind of underground sea, so deep he couldn't see the bottom of it. The water around him was thick and red like blood, with flashes of yellow and orange slicing through the surface whenever Kurogane moved. There was nothing above but a deep darkness so thick it was almost tangible, and there was no sign whatsoever of the bright daylight sky where he had been. Black shapes like twisted, burnt skeletons floated here and there in the water, black rocks jutting up from the depths like knives. There was the sound of rustling wings from above, like bats settling in a cave, but Kurogane could see no signs of anything living.
"Damn it," Kurogane swore through clenched teeth as he looked about for Fai. He felt something heavy on his wrist and pulled up one hand, staring. A chain had begun to wind its way around his wrist and he found himself beginning to sink slowly like a stone, the chain winding around him like a snake. He felt a sudden drowsiness sweep over him.
"And you should not sleep, Kuro-sama."
Kurogane shook his head to clear it and grabbed tightly onto the chain, pulling at it with all the strength the demon inside had given him. It crumbled in his hands like dead wood, breaking apart and sinking under the water.
"Where the hell is this?"
Lovely, dark and deep, Erebus whispered in his mind. The Drowning Sea where the condemned will be pulled down under the weight of their own sins. Your precious friend is a dead soul now, foolish little human. Get us out of here before we suffer the same fate.
"Shut up," Kurogane snapped. "He's not my friend." Even as he spoke he was already swimming awkwardly forward, looking about desperately for Fai. Heedless of Erebus's hissed warnings he took a deep breath and lowered his head beneath the water, trying to see through the red haze.
A flash of blond caught his eye and Kurogane swiftly moved forward towards the sight. Damned if he would let it happen like this.
Fai was struggling visibly, thrashing about wildly in the water as chains rose from everywhere around him, wrapping around his arms and legs and torso, snaking even around his neck. There was a nearly feral look in his eyes and he was making a choking noise as he began to sink beneath the red water, his limbs moving slowly as if he was swimming through mud. Kurogane reached for him, wrapping a hand around Fai's torso as he grabbed at the chains, trying to break them. Even as the metal crumbled in his grip more seemed to come out of nowhere, sliding back to take the place of the broken ones. There was no end to it and Fai was growing heavier in Kurogane's arms every moment.
"Damn it, what arethese things?" Kurogane pulled apart another chain, the links disintegrating into ashes in his hands. He needed to get them out of the water, but there was no sign of shore anywhere. Finally Kurogane spotted a wide expanse of black in the distance, a low flat jutting of rock that sat like an island in the middle of the ocean. Slowly, painfully, he swum towards it, desperate to keep both his head and Fai's above water. As he swam he could see that Fai's face was growing even paler, the skin seeming suddenly thin and almost translucent beneath his grip and Kurogane had the momentary panicked thought that he had to get Fai out the water now or the blond would simply crumble beneath his grip, turned to ashes the same as the chains. He shook his head to clear the thought away and swam forward with even greater determination.
I thought you couldn't save anyone, Erebus laughed at him. Or perhaps you'll die together, hmm? How romantic.
Kurogane ignored him, not having the breath to waste in reply. They were nearly to safety now. With an effort Kurogane heaved himself onto the sturdy black rock, dragging Fai along with him. A few chains remained wrapped around Fai's legs and Kurogane had to break them before he could finally pull Fai all the way onto the dry surface. As the last chains drifted away into nothingness Kurogane noticed for the first time that his hands were covered in blood and thick black stains.
He dragged Fai into the very center of the island and all but collapsed into a panting heap, Fai's limp body resting on his lap. The blond stirred slightly, mismatched eyes blinking groggily up at him. His face was still too pale and there was blood matting his hair, though Kurogane could not see a wound.
"That…was very stupid, Kuro-tan." Fai's voice was thin and breathy.
"I don't need to hear that from you," Kurogane snapped, running a hand through his wet hair as he took stock of their situation. He still had Ginryuu and his knapsack of supplies on him, but Fai had lost both his own pack and the poker. With only Kurogane's pack they would have enough food for two days, maybe three, but water might be a problem. There was no sign of anything living around them and Kurogane couldn't see any sign of shore no matter what direction he looked. For all intents and purposes, they were completely trapped in the middle of nowhere.
"You shouldn't have come down here," Fai said, smile wound over his face like a bandage.
"You'rethe one who jumped," Kurogane said darkly.
"And you lied," Fai replied. "I thought you said you didn't protect anyone."
"You're the last one to lecture people about lying," Kurogane said. "So? Where are we?"
"Some place that no one ever leaves," Fai said, smile dropping away. "You should let me go back. The chains will drag me down, but you might be able to-"
"You're a bigger idiot than I thought if you think I'm doing that," Kurogane said. "I'll find a way out of here."
Fai gave a weak laugh that ended in a wet coughing noise.
"This isn't a place you can fight yourself out of." Fai looked as if he wanted to say more but his voice was cut off by another choking cough. He was shuddering heavily in Kurogane's grip, and something black seemed to be spreading around his arm. Kurogane grabbed his wrist roughly, staring.
Chain links were burning themselves into the flesh of Fai's arm like a brand.
"You see?" Fai's eyes were empty. "You can't get me out of here, Kuro-tan. You should have let me go."
"Shut up," Kurogane said, because he didn't know anything else to say. His fingers closed uselessly over the hilt of his sword. "You don't get to die that easily."
"It's…not really easy," Fai said with another hoarse laugh. He seemed to be having difficulty speaking.
"Shut up," Kurogane said again, helplessly. He wished there was something to hit besides Fai.
"It's all right not to protect me." Fai rested one trembling palm over Kurogane's wrist. "I told you, I'm not someone worth that. You'll regret this in the end."
"You don't get to decide that," Kurogane snapped. There was a momentary silence, broken only by Fai's shuddering breaths. "Why did you do that, anyway?"
"Hmm?"
"Don't 'hmm' me! Why did you step off the stair?"
"Ah…that." Fai gave a weak half-shrug. "I didn't really think about it at the time. It was just…too loud." He pressed a hand against his ear. "I just didn't want to hear it anymore."
So all those voices…that's what you always hear?"
"You heard it?" Fai looked up at him in momentary surprise before giving a soft chuckle that ended in another wet cough. "I suppose you did. The Daylight Stair is dangerous because of that, after all. What did youhear, Kuro-sama, before you caught up to me?"
"Just the same thing as always," Kurogane muttered, aware Fai was trying to change the subject but letting it go anyway. "The stupid demon."
"Right…the demon." Fai gave another quavering laugh. "Was it different than usual?"
"What's that mean?"
"Nothing. I just…noticed your demon was different. From mine, I mean." His eyes started to slide shut and he gave a heavy shudder, forcing them back open. The mismatched eyes were bright with fever and his voice seemed thinner than before. Kurogane could feel an unfamiliar sensation of panic rising in his chest. "Say, Kuro-rin…what do you see, when it tears its way out at night? Just darkness?"
"Memories, mostly." Kurogane didn't know why he was telling Fai this. It was none of the idiot's business, and there were more important things to worry about right now. But the words came nonetheless. "Or things pretending to be memories. Usually it's the night my father out this thingin me, watching my parents die and waking up to see Suwa burning."
"Suwa?" There was something strange in Fai's tone that he couldn't quite name. "Is that your homeland?"
"It was," Kurogane said tightly. "No one's heard of it now. It was a country along the coast of a small island. The rest of the island was all mountains where nothing lived, and there was nothing much even in Suwa's lands."
"Was it nice?" Fai's voice had a dream-like quality to it, as if he wasn't completely there.
"I was happy there," Kurogane said quietly, not looking at him. "Suwa was protected by the Priestess of Tsukuyomi, my mother, and the island protector who wielded the sacred sword Ginryuu, my father. It was a peaceful island until the damn plague destroyed it all."
"The plague." Fai's eyes were hooded. "It comes out of nowhere and strikes down all who it touches. Except us."
"My mother was never infected," Kurogane said. "She and I were the only two…"
No. That wasn't right. Ash covered hands held tight in his father's grip.No, he hadn't been infected, his father had. That was why his father had called the demon—
—his father smiled weakly and then black began to spread along his fingers—
That wasn't right either. Had they both been infected, then? Kurogane couldn't remember. A thousand years of deaths and visions made his memories blur together, no longer able to recall which were true and which were only nightmares.
There was something moving in the distance. Kurogane's head jerked up as it approached, holding Fai close to his chest as he struggled to his feet.
It was a single black boat, being rowed by a figure covered all in shabby black robes. It looked up as it came past and Kurogane found himself staring into a pair of empty sockets set inside a grinning skull.
Well, well. Its mouth didn't move but Kurogane felt the words nonetheless. What have we here? The living do not belong in this place, boy.
"I know that," Kurogane said darkly. He narrowed his eyes at the boatman suspiciously. "You can take us out of here."
That is not my job. It rested one skeletal hand against its chin as if deep in thought. I will be back for you once you've died properly, boy. It shouldn't be long. That one is already being eaten away from the inside.It nodded towards Fai and Kurogane found himself clutching the blond's body closer to his chest.
"How else can I get out of here?" Kurogane asked. The boatman threw back its head in silent laughter.
You don't, boy. A human soul that bathes in the waters of this sea will be dragged down by the weight of its own sins and devoured. You have no hope of reaching the opposite shore with your will still intact. It regarded him intently and Kurogane thought he could see a blue flame glowing deep within the empty eye sockets. Even with the thing that sleeps inside you, rotted as it is. But perhaps we can make a deal, boy.
"What kind of deal?" Kurogane didn't like the tone in the thing's voice.
You give me that — it pointed one skeletal finger at Fai's still shaking form — and I will take you across.
"No." Kurogane's voice was heavy and final.
That will not last long here, the boatman said. It is too far gone, even for you. Can't you tell, boy? It stinks of death.
"I won't leave unless he comes with me." Kurogane gingerly set Fai down and reached for his sword.
That toy will not help you against me, boy, the boatman said, unconcerned, even as it began to row the boat away from the island. I have work to do. Think about my offer. A soul like that thing has is of no value to a human. At least think of yourself.
A sudden black fog seemed to cover Kurogane's eyes and mouth, choking him and forcing him to his knees. When he opened his eyes again there was no sign of the boatman.
Kurogane sat back down beside Fai, who no longer even seemed to be aware of his presence. The image of a black chain was slowly burning its way around Fai's neck and the blond was muttering something to himself that Kurogane couldn't hear. He pressed one hand against Fai's forehead, feeling the heat beneath his palm, and gazed back out at the empty water surrounding them.
"Damn it."
o-o
He was not surprised when the darkness closed in on him this time.
Kurogane stood in a high stone tower with a single window. It was a place he had never been before, but somehow that did not trouble him. Looking out the window he could see a courtyard below and far beyond that a plume of smoke darkening in the distance.
There was someone else in the tower with him but he couldn't make out their form. It was a person, sitting hunched against the far wall, head in his hands. He was waiting for something.
"Do you agree?" The voice did not come from the person, but there was no one else visible in the tower. It was flat and completely emotionless and there was something strange about it, as if the words it spoke were simply a feeling that his own mind was interpreting as speech.
"Will it—will it save him?" It was the hunched person who spoke, voice shaky and choked with tears and fright.
"I will not consume him," the strange wordless presence replied. "Is that not what you wish to save him from?"
"I know." The hunched figure stood and squared his shoulders as if preparing to walk to a gallows.
"Do we have an agreement? I have your consent?" It was like words being inscribed on a tomb, final and absolute.
"Yes."
Something black began to seep in from under the door. The tower's occupant stepped back in fear, back pressed against cold stone as the blackness continued to pour in, dripping even from the between the stones in the walls. It began to swarm over the figure, covering every inch of its body, into its mouth, its nose, its eyes, underneath its clothes. The figure made a piteous, half-choked noise of protest that was drowned out by the thing sliding inside it. Kurogane wanted to move, to do something, but his body didn't even seem to be there at all. He was only a spirit, helpless to do anything but watch as the figure collapsed under the weight of the black thing and was utterly consumed.
Darkness fell, and then he was in a long winding hallway. Light from a red moon shone through the open windows and there was blood on the stones at his feet. Someone was running through the hall ahead of him, bare feet against cold stone, breaths coming in short gasps. Shadows moved in the darkness around them, stretching towards the figure like long black fingers.
The person skidded to halt in front of a large wooden door. The figure placed a trembling hand on the wood and the door swung open. The hall was suddenly bathed in bright light, obscuring Kurogane's vision completely, and the air was filled with a single wordless cry of pain and grief.
Then he was inside the room, standing in front of a crumbling throne. Torn tapestries fluttered behind it like fallen banners of war and there was a figure hunched among them, hands wrapped around its knees. Another figure sat upon the throne, its face obscured but hands an unmistakable black.
"I can't. You can't—you can't ask that of me." There was someone standing at the foot of the throne, looking at the ornate sword in its hands as if it didn't understand where the sword had come from.
"I know." The second voice was deep and weakened by illness. Though Kurogane could not see the face, he had the sense that the man was smiling kindly. "I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize to me." The first voice was twisted with pain and misery. "I-"
"It wasn't your fault. This was
never your fault."
"I only wanted to save-" The voice cut off with a choked sob. The silent figure behind the throne stirred briefly and then fell still. White hands clenched around the hilt of the sword and Kurogane suddenly noticed the deep black bruises all around the pale wrists.
"You will. As long as it's by your hand, you will. Everyone will be saved by you."
"But-"
"Nothing would have stopped this. I saw it in my dream." Kind eyes stared down at the miserable figure standing before the throne. "The choice you made, you made out of love. No one could blame you for this."
"I
can't—"
"I know. It will always be this kindness of yours that wounds you most of all [—]." Kurogane couldn't make out the name, but he was sure one had been spoken. "I would not ask this of you if I could. I had hoped to be able to do this myself, but it is too late." The man on the throne stared down at his black hands. "Quickly, before all sense leaves this body. Us, and all the rest of those outside-"
There was a guttural, sobbing scream and the flash of a sword, and then nothing but blood.
He was back in the tower. It seemed like some time must have passed — the smoke in the distance was gone, and the courtyard below was brimming with weeds. The once clean gray stones of the tower were worn with age and dust. Something still lay huddled in the corner, covered by a tattered black cloak. The only sound was the figure's labored breathing.
"Do you want to get out?" The voice came from nowhere, echoing off the walls. The figure in black barely moved.
"I don't deserve that."
"Oh?" The voice was amused. "Then what else could you want?"
"I want-" The figure gave a heavy shudder and said something Kurogane couldn't hear. There was a shiver in the air and he
heard the bodiless voice smile.
"Very well. That wish…I will grant it. But in return, you must do something for me."
Kurogane awoke feeling stiff and sore. He was still sitting upright with Fai stretched out in his lap, silent and unmoving save for his hesitant breathing. Kurogane gently laid him to one side and stood, trying to regain the feeling in his arms and legs.
They were still alone in the middle of the water, with no sign of anything living or otherwise around them. As he massaged his numb limbs Kurogane glanced back over at Fai. The blond's condition didn't seem to have worsened at all while Kurogane had been unconscious, but it hadn't gotten any better, either.
The visions had been strange this time. It wasn't one of his memories, he knew that, but even as he thought back to it the images were already becoming fuzzy and indistinct in his mind, like a half-remembered dream.
Perhaps they were his, then,Erebus whispered to him.
"Since when do you care?" Kurogane muttered.
I was unable to escape this body last night.There was a simmering resentment to the words that almost made Kurogane want to laugh.
"Good," Kurogane snorted. He paused, considering his next words. He wasn't fond of conversing with the demon, but there was something he had been wondering about. "Isit different because we're in the Underworld?"
Is what different?
"The damn…possession, or whatever the hell we're calling it." Kurogane gestured towards Fai. "He said it was, but he couldn't tell the truth if I strangled it out of him. The things I saw, last night and the one before, they were different than normal. More…real."
Perhaps, Erebus replied with uncharacteristic thoughtfulness. The Underworld is a place different from any I have ever been to.
"What does thatmean?" Kurogane demanded. "You're a fucking demon, this should be the place you came from, right?"
Erebus was silent and Kurogane gave a snort of disgust. That was what he got for asking the stupid thing questions in the first place.
Ah, you're still here, boy. The voice made him turn as the boatman rowed towards the island again. It paused just out of Kurogane's reach. Still alive?
"For now."
Have you considered my offer? The boatman nodded toward Fai's prone body. Sacrifice only that one beside you, and your life will be spared.
"No." Kurogane's tone made it clear there would be no argument.
Your funeral then, the boatman said with a shrug, a human gesture that seemed almost comical coming from a walking skeleton. Literally, of course.It began to row away again.
"Wait." At the sound of Kurogane's voice the boatman stopped and turned to look back at him.
What now, boy? I haven't got all eternity to deal with the likes of you.
"Fight me," Kurogane said, hand on his sword. "If I defeat you, then you get us out of here."
The boatman stared at him for a long moment before bursting into laughter. It sounded like the rustling of dead leaves.
Don't be foolish, boy. I was killing your kind before your ancestors were even conceived. You will lose.
"We'll see about that," Kurogane stated, drawing Ginryuu.
If you insist, then. The boatman laid down its pole and stepped towards the island. It moved through the water easily, as if it were only a puddle formed by the rain, black cloak remaining totally dry even though the edges dipped below the water's surface. As it stepped up onto the solid ground of the island it reached into the cloak and withdrew a black sword that looked as if were covered in thorny vines. But you must make a deal as well, boy. If you lose, that soul is mine. It nodded towards Fai. Will you still fight me?
"I will." He had no choice. If he didn't do this, they would both die. Kurogane prepared himself.
Very well.The boatman moved faster than the eye could see, and it took all of Kurogane's training and reflexes to dodge the first blow that would have severed his head from his body.
This was unwise, Erebus murmured quietly in his head. That one is your better, human. Give up on that pathetic soul and let us leave this place. If you wish to die so much I will oblige you as many times as you like.
Kurogane didn't have the luxury of even thinking at the demon to shut up, too busy trying to dodge the next blow. The boatman's movements were faster and more sure than even his father's, sword strokes precise and powerful. It was only the power of the demon inside him that kept Kurogane from being completely overwhelmed.
The boatman struck out at him again and Kurogane blocked the blow with his own sword. The black sword pressed down against Ginryuu and Kurogane felt his arms starting to shake from the effort of holding up his sword.
A well-made blade, the boatman said, expressionless face staring down at him. It does not crack, even against a blade forged in the Underworld's flames.
Kurogane only grunted in reply as he rolled away from the blow. Sweat was already running down his face from the effort of the fight and they had barely begun. The boatman seemed undaunted, approaching him slowly, black cloak billowing out behind him like the night sky.
Give up, boy, the boatman said. Give me that other soul and I will let you leave.
"Drop dead," Kurogane growled, raising his sword again. His arms were shaking still and the sword felt twice as heavy as it normally did, and there was only one last thing he could think to do.
Without another word the boatman flashed towards him again. This time Kurogane did not dodge but instead moved intothe strike, allowing the sword to pierce straight through his stomach and out his back.
Giving up already?The boatman's previously flat voice registered only the slightest sound of surprise, its hands still holding onto the sword.
"Not quite." Kurogane smiled through a mouth full of blood as he raised his own sword and with a single movement severed the boatman's head from his body.
The skeleton's body staggered backwards and collapsed into a heap of bones and rags. Kurogane fell to his knees, the black sword still lodged in his stomach. Blood was pooling on the ground beneath him and his vision was growing hazy.
You fool! Erebus was raging at him. If you die, we both die!
"Idiot," Kurogane muttered weakly. "I can't die, remember?"
Red closed in on the corners of his vision and consumed him.