In the dark, dense forest, Akaza lay behind a tree, while flames rose from his body, particularly visible.
"FUCK!!" Marcus's face went green. "He's really planning to die!"
'Don't fuck with me, Akaza, don't fuck with me! I spent a whole injection on you, you son of a bitch!'
He drew Makomo and drove her deep into Akaza's chest.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Rengoku was stunned. "Didn't you want to save him?! Now you want to finish him off?!"
"Don't talk!"
Gripping the hilt firmly, Marcus crouched down and closed his eyes.
"I'm saving him!"
...
Somewhere, a place without a name, without time, without walls, everything was an immaculate white. A white that didn't blind; that simply was, as if the world, before it began, looked like this.
Akaza… no. Better said, Hakuji.
Because there, in that place, he had already shed the form of the demon.
He had recovered the appearance he'd had when he was really alive. Hair completely black, short, eyes a deep, alert blue, and eyelashes almost the same shade of color they were in his demon form, framing a gaze that no longer frightened anyone.
But tears were still falling from those eyes.
He was lying down, his head resting in the lap of a young woman in a pink kimono.
"K-Koyuki…"
He was crying like an inconsolable child.
And Koyuki, her eyes also shining with tears, was stroking his hair slowly.
"This time," she murmured with a small smile, "we're not going to be apart. Wherever you go, I'm coming with you. My husband…"
As those words fell… the surrounding landscape changed.
It shifted from immaculate white… into a dark night, a covered sky, flames climbing everywhere, the earth dyed a deep red.
But Hakuji didn't seem to notice, since he kept on crying against Koyuki's lap.
But…
"Stop crying. How old are you now, two hundred and something? Aren't you embarrassed?"
The voice of a third person made Hakuji's crying come to an abrupt halt.
It was then that he realized, now, that he had his face buried in Koyuki's lap like a little kid.
His face turned red immediately.
But he could recognize that female voice, except… why did the tone feel a little strange?
Lifting his head from Koyuki's lap, he looked around cautiously.
"Miss Makomo…?"
"I'm not Makomo."
The voice, soft and feminine as before, came again. But it carried a hint of smugness there was no way to disguise.
"I'm Marcus!"
Hakuji was perplexed.
"Marcus? Your voice—"
"Don't fixate on little details right now. I had no way to talk to you directly in here, so I could only ask Makomo for help."
Hakuji finally understood, and when he was about to say something, Koyuki, beside him, who had already stretched out her hand to help him stand up, stepped forward and bowed in a deep reverence.
"Mister Marcus, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your help. A kindness this great can't possibly be repaid, but in the next life we swear to you that—"
"You're not going to have a next life." Marcus cut her off mercilessly. "I came precisely to talk to the two of you about that."
Hakuji furrowed his brow. "What do you mean?"
"Are you playing dumb? Are you not aware of how many people you've killed?"
"…"
"I know you want to be together…" Marcus's voice softened a little. "And I have nothing to say about that. But Hakuji, think about it. You can't go to heaven, and if Koyuki wants to follow you… the only thing the two of you are going to be able to do is go to hell together."
"I don't care!" Koyuki spoke with a calm firmness, no theatrics. "I'm willing!"
"I'm glad you're willing," Marcus replied, with infinite weariness in his voice. "Now ask your husband the right question: is he willing to let you suffer an endless torment by his side?"
"Torment…" Hakuji was thrown off. "Endless?"
"And what did you think hell was?" Marcus's voice had a hint of tired mockery. "A place for you to rest? Hell is a place of atonement. There you'll slowly pay for hundreds of years of sins."
"If Koyuki goes with you, it's true that you'll be together… But it will be to suffer the torment together."
Hakuji's face went pale and he abruptly looked at his wife. "Koyuki… is what he's saying true?"
Koyuki looked at him with a calm tenderness, with an unchanging smile, showing that she had known from the start.
"Whether it's true or a lie doesn't matter to me, Hakuji. I'm going with you. Wherever you go. The rest… the rest is what matters least."
"NO!!"
Hakuji took a sharp step backward. "I-I can't allow you to suffer for me again!"
Then, he lifted his head.
"Marcus! Didn't you say you came just for this?! You must have some way, right?!"
"Looks like you're finally using your brain…"
"…"
"All right, let's get back to the point." The voice turned serious. "It's simple. But whether the two of you accept or not is up to you, you'll have to talk that over between yourselves. I'm only going to ask you one question."
"If Koyuki were to reincarnate, and her appearance changed completely… would you still be able to recognize her?"
Hakuji was thrown by the question.
But after a moment of silence, he looked at Koyuki… he looked at her face, her eyes, the exact shape of her mouth, that way she had of tilting her neck a little when she listened to him.
"Of course I would." He declared with solemnity. "No matter what Koyuki turns into… I'd recognize her at a glance!"
And the moment he said it, he was stunned.
Seeing that he had understood the question, Marcus didn't speak again.
Whatever came from this point on was up to the two of them. They'd have to talk it over between themselves. And even if the conversation ended in something different from what he was expecting, he wasn't about to stick his nose back in.
….
In the forest.
The moment Marcus opened his eyes, Rengoku grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him hard.
"What did you do?! Why is he regenerating now?! Why, Marcus?!"
"Nothing out of this world. I just told them that instead of forcing themselves to stay together by suffering side by side, sometimes a brief separation is for the best. For… a better reunion."
…??
Rengoku was left with his mouth open. He was absolutely lost.
"Just don't ask. Single guys simply wouldn't understand these things."
"…"
He wanted to retort. But he realized that, in fact, he didn't understand.
Then, Marcus drew his sword.
And in the same instant the blade came out, Akaza inhaled sharply, and opened his eyes.
Sitting up slowly, he leaned back against the tree.
And, before Rengoku's perplexed eyes, his appearance went on changing second by second.
The wounds were closing on their own, but along with them, something more was happening. The tattoos that covered his body began to fade slowly, like ink washed away by a patient rain. His skin recovered its natural tone, the one it had when he was still human. Even his hair, strand by strand, kept darkening until it returned to the black it had been before.
When he finally became aware of the two men surrounding him, he reacted on instinct.
Swish
He pulled away in one motion, gaining distance.
But then he looked at his hands… his feet… his skin. And the bewilderment fogged his eyes like a cloud.
"This is…"
"I gave you a medicine. From now on you don't need to eat humans anymore. And you'll never be under Muzan's control again."
Akaza's eyes shot open, the shock was total.
But right after, he closed them again, carefully feeling his own body.
Until a few seconds later he opened them again and looked at Marcus, who was smiling at him.
After a moment of silence, he bowed deeply.
"Thank you, Marcus."
"You used to call me just Marcus before and I didn't take it the wrong way. But now…" The smile playing at the corner of Marcus's mouth turned into a mischievous smirk. "How should you be calling me?"
__________
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