And thus I continue adding characters before I should because it's funny to me.
Logically thinking, Tanjiro's first priority in case of survival should be a water source. However, Tanjiro isn't exactly in need of a water source, nor is he in need of much food at times. At this point, Tanjiro(and Percy) prioritized weapons over sustenance. They were going to fight, not survive. And fight they did.
Their first demon came a few hours after they entered, around thirty minutes after sundown. It was largely humanoid, with the only difference being the gray skin and the two small horns on its head. It charged at him from the front, allowing Tanjiro all the time he needed to position himself so that the demon ran his neck through the sword, as Tanjiro finished with force in the other direction, cleanly decapitating the demon. Wiping the blood off his blade he looked at the disintegrating corpse with disgust, seeming as if to say 'you could have done better'. Shaking his head, Tanjiro kept walking.
A couple minutes later, Tanjiro came into a clearing that seemed to be a demon hotspot. Around four of them were in the area, all hostile. However, they were angry at each other instead of him, something that confused Tanjiro greatly. Narrowing his eyes, Tanjiro sat back and observed, allowing events to run without his interference. One demon swiped at another, taking off an arm, while the other retaliated, biting off a chunk of flesh from the stomach. They leapt back, regenerating already, as they growled something Tanjiro could barely make out.
"My… yellow… feast" Tanjiro managed to make out, before looking around and seeing something he didn't earlier. True to the demon's words, a boy lay unconscious at the edge, a yellow haori and electric blond hair helping him blend in with the straw colored grass. Narrowing his eyes, he snuck around to the other end of the clearing, skirting through the shadows and ending up behind the sleeping boy. Tanjiro stealthily dragged him back into the shadows, a small ways away from the opening, and dumped ice cold water on the boy. Not the best method, but definitely the easiest. The boy woke up, panting, looked around frantically, saw Tanjiro's face, and screamed.
Tanjiro quickly stifled the scream with a hand to the mouth and a cold glare, but the damage was done. The demons had stopped their arguing and focused on Tanjiro, still holding the boy's mouth closed. The main demon, the one that had not fought but only observed, narrowed his blue eyes and crawled forward, claws on his hands glinting dangerously in the moonlight.
"My name's Tanjiro, what's yours?" Tanjiro asked the boy, finally letting go of his mouth and standing up, drawing his nichirin blade in the process. He stood protectively in front of the boy, his sword held out in front of them both. Ice frosted some nearby trees, but nobody noticed it, not even Tanjiro.
"Zenitsu, sir. My name is Zenitsu Agatsuma," Zenitsu stated, still quivering slightly. Tanjiro smiled at the boy from the corner of his mouth, attempting to display a safe aura, one that allowed Zenitsu to draw himself to full height.
"Well, Zenitsu, we've got four demons attacking the two of us," Tanjiro said, eyeing the four in question as they approached them, creating a sort of semicircle around the slayer prospects. "If you can take the main one, I'll take care of the small fry."
"I do what?" Zenitsu asked, his voice smaller than before somehow. He swayed once, twice, and then fell to the floor, seemingly unconscious once more.
"Oh, you're fucking kidding me," Tanjiro muttered, before finishing his defensive stance, readying a sixth form: whirlpool as a spread attack. Seeing Zenitsu fall unconscious, the leader demon growled something and launched himself at Tanjiro, the rest following soon after.
Tanjiro allowed the head demon to pass him, ducking under the lunge, as the first came catapulting away from him. The other three were about the same distance away, so he timed it right and made a singular slash, one that landed across the necks of all three, their bodies hitting him as a bunch of black dust, eerily reminiscent of the golden one monsters make when being sent back to Tartarus.
Suddenly, the hair on the back of Tanjiro's neck stood up, alerting him to an incoming threat. Tanjiro turned around, and saw the head demon back in the air, mid lunge, less than three feet away from him. Tanjiro saw time slow down, everything happening like it was captured by a camera, Tanjiro included. He raised his blade to defend, but he knew that in his heart, it was too slow, and the demon attacking him would at the very least take some flesh off of his face, if not outright kill him.
Then, the demon froze in place, literally, as several ice spears held him up, stopping him from moving. They extended from the nearby trees, the frost having collected and shot out of their origin spots. Tanjiro stepped back, out of range of the claws that were inches away from his face. The demon growled and shook violently, however the ice held sturdy and immobilized the dangerous beast in the body of a human.
Gotta be more careful, man, Percy told him through their mental connection. I'm not always gonna be able to set up things like that.
"Thank you Percy," Tanjiro said, breathing out a sigh of relief, the breath visible in the subzero temperatures created by the spontaneous ice. Tanjiro sliced the demon's head off, allowing the dust to be blown away before he retracted the ice. Looking back at Zenitsu's prone form on the ground, Tanjiro sighed and picked the boy up, putting him over his shoulders in a fireman's carry. Tanjiro took one more look at the clearing, the empty space once rife with battle. No signs remained of the struggle, nothing to remind anyone that there had been a life threatening fight, nothing to remind him that he killed four people with two swings of his sword. Tanjiro sighed and looked away, walking to take Zenitsu to a safe place, ready to just end the test right then and there.
"You think that was a mistake?" Sabito asked. He was standing with thirteen other ghostly visages, remnants of a time long past. He spoke to the group, but only a few recognized the question.
"Not at all," Akira responded. He was the fifth to die, and the first to actually see the current form of the hand demon that killed them all. "What he did shows compassion, something I find quite lacking in today's world." Akira rolled his head back to look at the rest. "If he dies, he dies, but chances are this won't affect how he performs."
"No, it definitely was a mistake," Seiya responded, glaring at the retreating form of the boy. The fourth, he argued with Akira all the time for not being able to kill it before it ate the others, while Akira was mad with Seiya for not killing the demon before the blood demon art activated. "He's going to get injured, likely debilitatingly so, because he just has to protect the boy that passed out at the first sign of a fight. If he lives, it'll be luck that did it, nothing more."
"You have no clue what you're talking about," Ketsueki, the eighth, stated, growling from behind his characteristic red scarf. "You didn't have to fight the strong one, you had it the best out of all of us, you damn coward."
"Why you-" Seiya started, only to be cut off moments after by the appointed leader of the group.
"There's no need to argue," Mesio, the first, stated, breaking up the arguments as he usually did. The eldest of them all, he had essentially adopted all of them once they died, much like Urokodaki had. He was the first to die at the hands of the demon there, but was undoubtedly the second strongest out of anyone there, dying because of fatigue, much like Sabito. He died protecting Araki, the second, and one of the two students that managed to survive the final selection, the other being Tomioka Giyuu, the current water Hashira. However, Araki died soon after in a house with a Twelve Kizuki in it.
"He stands a chance," Sakura, the eleventh, stated, twirling knives in her hands. She was caught by surprise after killing another demon, and got trapped, unable to move, and died the quickest out of all of them. "He's got skill, power, and speed, but what he lacks is drive. If he can find that, he handily beats the hand demon." That got a lot of people muttering, regarding what she said.
"Are you sure?" Makomo asked her, the only other female in the group.
"Positive," Sakura replied, before pausing. "Though, it depends on the circumstances, much like that of your peach haired crush."
"Crush? He's more of a puppy than a crush at this point," Makomo giggled, hiding her laughs behind a hand.
"I heard that you bi-" Sabito started before being tackled to the ground by Tenko, the seventh, who was one of the liveliest out of all of them, retaining his neverending positivity even after his untimely death. The two engaged in a playful wrestling match, laughing all the while, and Mesio couldn't help but smile, happy that all his successors could manage to find the light in such a dark situation.
"Tanjiro Kamado," he muttered, before looking where the boy in question went. "There's something special about you. What is it that makes you so different?"
Tanjiro set Zenitsu down in a tree a ways away from where the fight was, allowing the awakened one to relax in the trunk. Zenitsu was a couple branches above him, in clear view, and Tanjiro had no intention of letting him go out of that region anytime soon.
You really should leave him, Percy said, making Tanjiro scowl in anger.
"What is your problem with him?" Tanjiro muttered, knowing that Percy could hear him just fine. "He's done nothing wrong!"
He's done nothing at all! Percy shouted back, the voice causing Tanjiro's ears to ring a bit. Sorry, that was unnecessary, Percy spoke, before audibly sighing. He's dead weight. The purpose of this exam is to allow those who aren't strong enough to fight literal demons the experience to back down. He faints at the first sign of a fight, I bet that's how he got captured as well. We should take him back to the start, allow him to leave with his life. That's the best course of- Percy got cut off by a rumbling nearby.
"What the hell was that?" Tanjiro asked, getting up and drawing his sword, still perched in the tree. Suddenly, a weight hit him from behind, knocking him off and onto the ground. The impact knocked the blade out of Tanjiro's hand, the nichirin clattering uselessly to the ground, just out of reach. Tanjiro was pinned down by a demon, female by the looks of it, dressed with barely any clothes, nothing covering her except for some cloth around her cleavage and waist. The demon giggled maniacally, her crazed eyes somehow focusing on Tanjiro's angry green ones. The demon's tongue came out and licked Tanjiro, going across his face, slimy and wet saliva brushing across his cheek. The demon raised her head and bared her fangs, ready to bite down much like a vampire, when the head was cut clean off. The demon dissipated into black dust, hiding Tanjiro's vision before he got up. Standing in front of him, eyes closed and electricity sparking, was the clearly sleepwalking form of Zenitsu, down from the tree which he had been in moments before. Zenitsu lifted his head up, eyes finally opening, before focusing on the disintegrating corpse of the demon in front of him.
"Ah!" Zenitsu exclaimed, quickly backing away from the corpse as Tanjiro stood up. "Holy shit how did you kill it from below?"
"I didn't-" Tanjiro said, before being cut off by Percy.
Accept that he thinks you did it, Percy told him. It'd work better than convincing him he did it.
"I didn't," Tanjiro reaffirmed. "You did, Zenitsu. Thank you for that."
"I- wha?" Zenitsu exclaimed. "But I can't kill demons! I was asleep the whole time," he said, before getting onto the ground and bowing his head. "Thank you for saving my life again, sir," he said, before Tanjiro walked over. Placing a hand on the boy's shaking shoulder, he urged Zenitsu up, getting the boy to stand once more.
"Don't worry about it. Now, come with me, we have plenty of time to talk once we find a safe spot," Tanjiro told him, before turning and starting to walk. Zenitsu was still frozen in place, but was shocked out of it once Tanjiro was out of sight.
"Hey!" the electric boy called. "Wait up! Don't leave me here, alone, please!" he pleaded, running off in the direction Tanjiro had gone. Tanjiro chuckled, and allowed Zenitsu to catch up, the sun breaking through the trees and saving them for the time being. They had finished night 1 of 7.
The day was their opportunity to rest, and so rest they did. Taking turns in eight hour shifts, the two caught up on the sleep they missed, allowing the other the chance to rest while they stayed awake. Tanjiro offered to take the second watch, allowing Zenitsu to be perfectly well rested before the night fell again, and Zenitsu agreed. So, while Tanjiro slept, Zenitsu kept watch.
At least, that's what should have happened. Zenitsu fell asleep six hours in, so there was a two hour period during which both lay asleep in the canopies of the tallest trees in the forest. When Tanjiro woke up, he saw the adorable sight of Zenitsu curled into a ball at his legs, fast asleep and holding on to him. Tanjiro gently eased the boy off of him as he sat up, enjoying the sun on his face, rejuvenating him slightly.
"You think it would be cheating to call down a storm?" Tanjiro asked Percy, who still hadn't woken up yet.
Huh- what? Percy asked once Tanjiro yelled at him. Oh, probably not, but we shouldn't do it.
"Why not?" Tanjiro asked, humming slightly. He looked around, taking in the green foliage around them, surrounding them in a cage of viridian colors.
Because it would allow demons to come out, Percy deadpanned, making Tanjiro sheepishly chuckle.
"Fine, no storms. What about earthquakes? We haven't done any of that in this world yet, and the closest you got to using it was Mt. Saint Helens," Tanjiro asked, ready to drop down and test it.
Don't remind me, Percy groaned, before relenting. Fine, go ahead. But if this attracts trouble, I'm not helping.
"If I die, you die too," Tanjiro reminded the man in his head, before dropping down a couple of branches, Zenitsu still sleeping above them.
I'll just ask Amaterasu to be reincarnated into Zenitsu then, Percy stated, as Tanjiro finally reached the bottom.
"You mean the boy you hated from the get go?" Tanjiro rhetorically asked, causing Percy to groan and mumble something about the younger generation disrespecting their elders. "Oh well, here goes nothing," Tanjiro muttered, before concentrating his energy into his right fist.
Nothing happened for the first few seconds, but a rumbling hit Tanjiro soon after, his fist starting to move unbidden. Shaking slightly at the start, it vibrated quicker and quicker, gradually gaining speed until it was nothing more than a blur in front of him. Allowing some more power to collect, but also tiring him out slightly, Tanjiro slammed his fist into the ground, allowing the energy to dissipate.
A loud rumbling was heard as Tanjiro saw everything shaking, the shock from the hit vibrating through seemingly everything. Several animal cries were heard, yelling out in shock and surprise as a sudden earthquake tore through the mountain. Nothing affected Tanjiro, however, who stood at the epicenter of the disaster and remained untouched throughout it all. He looked around in wonder at his surroundings.
Several trees were tilted, falling in various angles, their trunks intertwining and branches being scattered across the ground, having fallen off from the trees. The energy was released so perfectly that everything seemed to have fallen in a circle, creating a full path for anyone to see who did it.
"Holy…" Tanjiro muttered, looking at the destruction he caused.
Shit, Percy finished, laughing maniacally all the while. What this could have done against the armies in the Titan and Giant wars!
That thought sobered him up, drawing his consciousness back inward to wallow in doubt and self pity, unsure of whether he did the right thing by choosing to leave his world to join this one.
"Hey, cheer up," Tanjiro told Percy once he felt the presence of his companion disappear. "You're in a new world, with new friends, and a new chance at life. I mean, I'd have died several times if not for you. You can't be blamed for doing the right thing," he said, hoping to encourage the man inside of him.
Cool, Percy responded, still thinking about his life, but more of him was now focused here. Hey, random thought, but do you ever think about the fact that we're basically shonen anime protagonists?
"What? How?" Tanjiro asked, trying to wrap his head around the concept.
Young boys with something bad happening to their family get called on to save a magical and mystical world that would be considered mythology by normal people, Percy explained. We've already been kidnapped, setting up our tragic backstory. Then we met Zenitsu, who's essentially our idiotic sidekick who doesn't believe in himself and now we have to help him with that. Any second now, some hotheaded idiot's gonna approach us talking about how he wants us to fight him, Percy continued, but he got interrupted by someone shouting from far away.
"Hey you!" the kid from the beginning shouted, still wearing a wild boar mask. "You look strong, fight me!"
I told you, Percy smugly stated, laughing from somewhere deep within the depths of his mind. Speak of the devil and he shall appear, wearing a boar mask and no shirt.
"Yeah, well this devil is hella muscular," Tanjiro said, carefully eyeing the threat. He had two serrated swords, not nichirin by the looks of it. "Eh, whatever. Fuck it."
"Hey pig head!" Tanjiro called out, getting the boy's attention back. "Fuck you loser!"
"Haha! That's what I like to hear!" the boar kid laughed wildly, running forward. "Pig assault! Pig assault!" he screamed, his head tucked in to back Tanjiro with. When the big ol' boar head was in range, Tanjiro jumped straight up, avoiding being hit by the rampaging idiot. Tanjiro let momentum carry him downwards, landing straight on the kid's back, knocking him to the ground. Tanjiro quickly spread ice over his hands, restraining him for the time being. The pig struggled for a couple of seconds, before Tanjiro hit him hard on the head, stunning him temporarily. This gave Tanjiro time to jump up into the trees and disappear, escaping the range the boar could find him.
You know we're going to find him again, Percy stated, still amused.
"Yeah, not looking forward to that," Tanjiro replied. "I took him down easily, but it's not something I feel able to replicate."
Eh, whatever. He's a pushover, relies too much on strength compared to skill. He had no technique, only going for his strongest attack at the start. Amateur move, Percy said, remembering the time he beat the minotaur because of luck.
"Are we sure that he wasn't a demon?" Tanjiro asked. "He sure looked like one."
Nah, demon blood and human blood are quite different. He's fully human, Percy nonchalantly responded, as if he hadn't just shaken Tanjiro's state of mind.
"How can you tell?" Tanjiro questioned, having a good idea where this was going, memories of Achlys coming to mind.
Human blood is like 90% water, while demon blood is less than 50. I just based my guess off of how much water is in his bloodstream. Not the best way, but it is at least accurate almost all the time, Percy explained, confused as to where this was going. I can show you how to do it sometime, if you want.
"No, but thanks for offering," Tanjiro communicated, deep in thought. He was almost back to Zenitsu as night was close to beginning. "Anyway, say, hypothetically, we were weaponless. Could you control the water inside the bloodstream?" Tanjiro asked, finally getting to the point. However, as soon as he asked the question, he could feel Percy flinch inside of him.
Yeah, but it's not something I want to do again, Percy responded, with an unnaturally quiet voice. Why do you want to- oh! Nezuko? Percy asked. You want to see if I can get rid of the demon blood inside of her?
"Yeah, that's the idea," Tanjiro responded, finally arriving at the tree where Zenitsu was. He started climbing up as Percy contemplated that.
Let's test it out before we do anything to your sister, alright? Percy offered, Tanjiro nodding in return. Alright, well, it wouldn't hurt to try. Stay down for a bit, let's let Zenitsu sleep some more.
"And to think you hated him so much when we first met him," Tanjiro teased, smiling slightly, resting at the foot of the tree, sitting on some outgrown roots.
Shut up.
Tanjiro laughed in response, as Percy grumbled about the insolent youth of today's society.
The cool night air breezed past the awake form of Tanjiro, standing guard in a tree near Zenitsu's sleeping form. The wind ruffled his locks, comforting him with the embrace of the storm. A groan alerted him to Zenitsu finally awakening from his ten hour slumber, Tanjiro turning around and jumping down to where Zenitsu lay.
"You awake yet, sleepyhead?" Tanjiro sarcastically asked, helping Zenitsu stand up. They wobbled slightly, the tree not being the best point of balance.
"Y-yep," Zenitsu said, looking down in shame slightly. Tanjiro frowned at that response, before putting his hand on Zenitsu's shoulder.
"Hey, I'm not gonna judge. I used to sleep for way longer periods of time," Tanjiro softly spoke, Zenitsu looking up at him slightly now. "Don't worry. In fact, come with me," Tanjiro said, climbing up slightly, Zenitsu scrambling to follow.
The pair arrived at the top of the trees, the stars fully shown under the dark night sky. Another full moon was awake, the light reflecting and illuminating the clean landscape that was formed by the tops of the trees. From their perch, Tanjiro and Zenitsu could see across nearly the entire mountain, some wisteria flowers blooming near the edge of their vision.
"Really puts into perspective how large this mountain is," Zenitsu muttered, Tanjiro picking up on it as well. Smiling, Tanjiro held out a hand to Zenitsu, as some clouds formed above him. Zenitsu looked up in shock, the sudden appearance of the storm shocking him.
"Don't worry, we'll be fine," Tanjiro stated. The absolute certainty of his voice made Zenitsu not question it, as the younger boy stepped forward and took the outstretched hand. "Come on. Let's go for a run."
"A run?" Zenitsu nearly screeched, looking around. "Up here? Are you out of your mind?"
"Not at all. Don't worry, it's perfectly safe," Tanjiro responded, readying himself to start freerunning.
"How can I do anything but worry?" Zenitsu asked, much more calm than before, though still with a bit of panic in his voice. "We're going to fall and die!"
"Do you trust me?" Tanjiro asked. Zenitsu just started blankly at him, before slowly nodding. "Good, then let's go," he said, grabbing Zenitsu's hand and taking the first jump.
"You're crazy!" Zenitsu shouted, before quickly latching on to Tanjiro's back in an impressive show of reflexes. "What the hell man?" he shouted, now acting like a koala, attached to Tanjiro and refusing to let go.
Tanjiro simply laughed and sped up, jumping from one tree to another. Everything somehow supported his weight, allowing him to continue running at inhuman speeds, feeling extremely exhilarated because of the adrenaline rush he experienced. Yeah, Tanjiro was an adrenaline junkie, sue him. He enjoyed it, and he could stay safe. Say what you want, he was skilled.
So I shut down for less than an hour, Percy said, waking up from his nap. And Zenitsu has turned into a koala, there's a thunderstorm that wasn't naturally caused, and we're flying across treetops for recreational purposes during a life or death exam. Did I miss anything?
"Only the happiness of having a physical form," Tanjiro shot back, knowing Percy would take it in good spirits.
Laugh it up, har har, Percy stated, rolling his eyes in a gesture Tanjiro could feel. What's next? Do you want me to sing a song?
"Yeah, actually," Tanjiro stated, as Zenitsu decided to finally look up after not feeling them both die, or being wet.
"How?" Zenitsu asked, pulling his head out from behind Tanjiro's neck, and looking around. The surroundings were flying by, trees blending together in an endless sea of green as Tanjiro sped across the treetops. "How are you doing this?"
"Practice," Tanjiro responded, before looking forward in time for him to avoid slipping on a wet leaf. He may be protected, but his surroundings could still be drenched.
Alright, give me control so Zenitsu can hear it too, Percy said, apparently going to sing a song.
"Alright, have fun," Tanjiro said, before jumping high, allowing Percy to take over and orient himself before continuing to run.
So this is how you feel all the time, Tanjiro spoke from within Percy's mind, Extremely weird.
"Yep," Percy said, before looking back towards Zenitsu. "Hey Zenitsu," he said, getting the boy's attention. "Enjoy yourself."
"Alright," Zenitsu muttered, still with his head close to Tanjiro, now Percy's neck, tickling it slightly with the golden blond locks.
(Tell Your Story(extended version) - Derivakat)
"I, I will tell your story," Percy started, Zenitsu looking up in confusion. Tanjiro also peacefully listened, observing the surroundings through the view of another. "All of the grief and all the glory."
Memories rushed past Tanjiro, thoughts flying a mile a minute about recollections of Percy's past life. He saw flashes of Zoe on her deathbed in the chariot, Bianca rushing into Talos. Beckendorf blowing up a ship, Silena dying to a Drakon.
"The tales from within these pages," Percy continued, changing direction to avoid getting too close to the Wisteria. "They come and they go in stages." Small ice shards rose around them, illuminating scenes from Percy's past before dying. Thunder rumbled in the skies above, lightning shocking the ice, electricity crackling around them once more in a protective field. Yet, Percy seemed lost in his own world, Tanjiro's body moving on autopilot in order to keep them moving. Percy was still moving, though.
"Now all that will remain," Tanjiro heard, seeing even more scenes pass by. "Are stories of joy and pain." Smiling, laughing people were seen and heard, enjoying themselves, Percy in the middle of it. Suddenly, everything switched, a funeral pyre being lit with a dual colored blade on it. They erupted in flames, the green fire encompassing everything and leaving not a trace that neither blade nor wielder ever existed.
"So look, look up at the sky," Percy spoke, waves of water cascading downwards in majestic patterns, spirals and sharp turns appearing, reflecting the light of the moon. "And keep, keep it all inside." These lyrics shocked Tanjiro out of his awe, and caused him to focus on the man in question. The sight was blurry, something that definitely shouldn't have happened, especially due to his water immunity and the ability to make water disappear. This meant that it was likely tears. Was Percy crying?
"It's time to say goodbye," Percy sang, as more flashes of mass funerals were shown. The shrouds were lit on fire, the green flame easily consuming them. Zenitsu was crying too, remembering his own friends and those that he liked. It was why he was so clingy and scared all the time, he didn't want to lose another. "The tears will come but don't you cry," Percy sang as his vision cleared, willing the water away. "Tell myself I'll be okay even if it's all a lie."
"And it's another friend of mine that's gone," Percy sang, Leo and Festus coming to mind as they went out in blazing glory. "Another friend won't see the dawn," he said, Jason being impaled by Caligula, dying in a pool of his own blood. "Stuck in between what I love and what I've lost(everything I've lost)."
"So I, I will tell your story," he said, picking up the pace of his running. He was now nothing more than a blur, the water and winds picking up in response to his emotions, showing the world just how powerful the son of Poseidon really was. "All of the grief and all the glory," he said, the storm clearing up, though Tanjiro hadn't lost speed. In fact, he got slightly faster.
"I come from another lifetime," he said, Amaterasu appearing in a water visage, talking to him from the great beyond. "To carry these worlds in my mind." It was true, he was the only one with knowledge of his world, aside from Tanjiro. He had to bear the weight of dying and leaving everyone he knew behind, just because someone who had never talked to him asked for his help.
"This burden's mine to bear," Percy sang, making Tanjiro even sadder, because Percy didn't share any of his problems. He always helped Tanjiro, why couldn't he do the same for Percy? What kind of a friend was he? "But don't give in to despair," he said, talking more to himself than anything else. He was reassuring himself, keeping himself from crying.
"So look, look up at the sky," Percy repeated, Zenitsu doing the action as he said it. "And keep, keep it all inside. It's time to say goodbye, the tears will come but don't you cry. Tell myself I'll be okay even if it's all a lie."
"And it's another friend of mine that's gone, another friend won't see the dawn, stuck in between what I love and what I've lost!" Percy crescendoed, before quieting down, everything disappearing as silence hit. "So I, I will tell your story," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "All of your grief and all your glory," he said, before disappearing, allowing Tanjiro to retake his body.
"Hey, are you ok?" Zenitsu asked, tears freely flowing now. They cascaded into patterns behind him, from where he was still clinging to Tanjiro.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry," Tanjiro reassured with a smile. "What about you, Percy?" he asked one person in particular.
I'm good, don't worry about me, Percy said, his voice choked with emotion. Give me a few minutes, and I'll be fine. Tanjiro furrowed his brow, but respected Percy's choice and allowed him to hold it.
"I'm here for you man," Tanjiro spoke, as they slowed back down and landed where they started. The sun was starting to rise, something that happened way too fast, almost as if Amaterasu wanted to give them divine protection. With a watery smile, Tanjiro turned away, and focused his thoughts on surviving the next day.
Thoughts on the dead people scene? Should I do it again for the hand demon? Also the names are extremely unoriginal, just put a couple words into google translate and took it from there, as well as slight references. Not sure how to proceed with that.
Have fun, and if you watch the super bowl, know that I vote Rams. Review with your thoughts please!