Chapter 25: Aftermath
Notes: Part 4 of the Entertainment District Arc. Canonically, Uzui was too poisoned to talk anymore by the time Tanjirou reached him, but this is my AU, so.
When Tanjirou came to, he was strangely unharmed by the wreckage around him.
"Ow…" he moaned, as he carefully sat up, "Oh, whoa… This is awful. Everything's a wreck." he said softly, before remembering, "The others…! What about the others?!" he exclaimed and made to stand up.
'My body… The poison…!' he thought, falling to his knees,
"Meow." Chachamaru appeared beside him.
'Tamayo-san's…!' he remembered.
"We have been working on something else, beside the drug to kill Muzan. We think it might act as an antidote or a cure. I must ask for your help once more, Tanjirou-san."
"Ah, don't worry, Tamayo-san! I will test it for you, if the need arises."
Tanjirou searched the pouch of Chachamaru's back, relieved to find three vials with Tamayo-san's and Shinobu's possible antidote.
He drunk from one and gagged.
"Should work on the taste." he coughed.
But he concentrated and felt it work. Slowly, but it worked.
"Tanjirooooouuuuu! Tanjiroooouuuuu!"
"It's Zenitsu's voice!"
Tanjirou wobbled over to his friend.
"Zenitsu…"
"When I woke up, my whole body was hurting so bad! And why the hell are my legs both all broken?! Who did this to me?! It huuurts! I am scared, Tanjirou! What happened?! I can't see!"
"You're okay! That's great!" Tanjirou said relieved.
"No, I am noooot! I'm pretty messed up. But Inosuke is even worse! His heartbeat is slowly getting weaker…!"
"Where is he?"
"He's over there! Theere!" his friend pointed to the far side.
Tanjirou made his way to his other friend, Chachamaru at his side.
"Inosuke! Inosuke! Inosuke! Keep it together! Hang in there! Inosuke!"
He placed his hand over his heart.
'His pulse! It's getting weaker!'
He pulled another vial.
"Inosuke? Can you hear me?" he asked, "I need you to swallow something. Inosuke?" he tried to wake his friend, "Chachamaru?" Tanjirou turned to the cat, "Do you have a syringe?"
The cat purred and Tanjirou beamed, opening the pouch on his back. He pulled the syringe and quickly used it to administer the antidote.
"Thanks." he said, "Inosuke, focus your breathing on healing yourself. Concentrate. It's like Total Concentration; Constant. I know you can do it. After all, you are the Great Hashibira Inosuke-sama, the God of the Mountain, right?"
Suddenly, Inosuke gasped.
"I'm hungry! Give me something to eat." he demanded.
"Inosuke!" Tanjirou was glad his friend was feeling already better. He hugged him tight, to the other boy's confusion.
He followed the wailing towards Uzui-san and his wives.
"NOOOOOOOOO! DON'T DIE! PLEASE DON'T DIE, TENGEN-SAMAAAAA! WE ALL MANAGED TO STAY ALIVE! AND WE WON! NO, NOOOOO! WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT THE DEMON POISON? THE ANTIDOTES AREN'T WORKING! YOU'RE CRUEL, GODS! SO CRUEL! IF YOU LET TENGEN-SAMA DIE, I WON'T BE PRAYING TO YOU GUYS ANYMORE! I WON'T EVER FORGIVE YOU!"
"HEY, SHUT UP FOR A BIT! TENGEN-SAMA'S SPEAKING NOW! I'LL FILL YOUR MOUTH WITH ROCKS, YOU DUMB WOMAN!"
"MAKIO-SAN IS BULLYING MEEEE!" Suma-san, Tanjirou recognised, wailed.
"DUMBASS! SHUT UP!"
"She's actually putting rocks in!"
"STOP! STOP IT!"
"You don't look too flashy, Uzui-san." he smiled, appearing between the four, stopping the argument between Suma-san and Makio-san.
Uzui-san laughed.
"I am dying and you are making fun of me." the Sound Pillar said.
"Here, drink this."
"What is it?"
"An experimental antidote. I was given enough for three people. It's working slowly, but it's countering that demon's poison. Focus your breath to accelerate it."
Uzui-san drank it.
After a moment, he blinked.
"It is." he said, surprised, "Is this one of Kochou's new poisons?"
Tanjirou just smiled and stood up
"Yes and no. Tamayo-san and Shinobu-san's. Your wounds are pretty serious and still there, so don't move around anymore. But I'm glad you're all safe." he said.
"Thank you." Suma-san was crying beside Uzui-san.
"Is that so? No, wait. You shouldn't move either or you'll die. Your wounds are just as bad!" Uzui-san said.
"I'll be careful." he said, "I'll go look for the demons' heads. I can't be at ease until I confirm that they're there myself." And with that limped slowly away.
He let his nose lead him, Chachamaru following him.
'I smell demon blood there! A clot of…blood? Demon blood.' he neared it, 'Okay, there aren't any incoming attacks.' he looked around to make sure he was safe, then let Yushirou's tool do its job, 'I got the blood of an Upper Moon.'
He handed it over to Chachamaru.
"Take this to Tamayo-san, please." he smiled to the cat, which ran off away, meowing and vanishing.
He continued on.
"Nobody's here, huh. Thank goodness, Makio-san and others managed to get everyone out. I'm glad…" he said relieved, "Over there. The scent of demons is stronger over there." he turned towards it.
Soon he heard voices and followed them to the two heads fighting amongst themselves.
"Why didn't you save?!" the obi demon demanded.
"I was fighting a Pillar then, dammit!" the sickles demon countered.
"So what?! Why couldn't you finish him off?! You could've just split his head open!"
"I was trying to do just that!"
"Huuh?!
"The earrings brat was still alive, so I wanted to finish him off first. I mean, you didn't even do jack shit, so you could've at least finished the damn Pillar off!"
"Then you could've just manipulated me to do that! And yet you didn't do anything! You let your guard down!"
'They're still alive…and they're arguing. But their flesh bodies are slowly crumbling piece by piece.'
"Oh, just shut up! You have that Upper Moon title, even if it's just as a joke! At least try to beat two wounded underlings on your own, dumbass!"
"…There's no way an unsightly thing like you could ever be my sibling!" the obi demon said, "I'm sure you're not blood-related to me at all. I mean, we don't even look alike! You're so useless! Your only good point is that you're strong. Nothing else. Once you lose, you have no worth at all. A deadbeat failure, who's unsightly to boot!"
"Don't joke around, loser! If you were alone, you'd definitely have been dead long ago. I saved your ass so many times. You're the one who's a deadbeat failure. Weakling! Now I'm truly regretting all the times I've protected a sucker like you! From the bottom of my heart I regret protecting a shrill harpy like you! If you weren't there, I would've had a different life. It would've been better! It's all your fault! If only you weren't there! Why am I the one who has to clean up all your damn messes? Things would've been great, I'd have been better off, if only you weren't bor…"
Tanjirou covered his mouth, having walked up to them unnoticed, kneeling beside him.
"That's a lie. You don't mean that." he said softly, "You honestly don't think that. Just try to get along. Don't end your lives fighting like this. All you siblings have left in this world are each other. You're the only family each other has." he picked them up, bringing them close, letting their foreheads touch, "Nobody's going to forgive you for what you've done. You're hated and despised by all the people you've killed, and now they're disparaging you, cursing your names. No person will be your ally. No one will miss you. Family is all you've got left. That's why the two of you shouldn't be cursing at each other right now. You mustn't turn on each other. Stick together until the end."
"You're so annoying! Keep out of this! Don't just lecture us! Go away, you shitty brat! Go somewhere else! Beat it! This sucks! Do something, Gyuutarou-nii-chan! I don't wanna die! Onii-…" and with that she vanished.
"UME!"
He soon followed after her. Tanjirou watched as their ashes spread.
"I hope I wasn't too late and got through to them. I hope they made up." Tanjirou whispered, 'May you find peace.' he prayed.
Then he carefully made his way back to his two friends. Inosuke had gotten up and made his way to Zenitsu.
Tanjirou crashed into them and laughed, tears of relief running down his face.
"WAAAAAHHHHH! THANK THE GODS! WE'RE ALIIIIIIVE!" Zenitsu cried.
"Yeah! Yeah!"
And then, slowly, the three of them lost consciousness.