Wisteria Eyed

39

'If I remember correctly, Nezuko was the one who was able to wake them up—' But as I looked down at the young demon, doubts began to creep up in my mind.

'What if she was only able to do that because of those children and their connection to their subconscious?'

Well, if that was the case, then this was gonna be a whole lot more difficult than I initially imagined.

"Nezuko, dearie," I called out the small female as she looked around at the sleeping figures frantically, "Don't worry, they are not dead, just asleep— yes, yes, I know, there's a demon nearby and they are sleeping. It's because of that demon's blood art technique that they were sleeping and we have very less time to try to wake them up! So, listen clearly—" I got up from my position in front of her box and walked towards Inosuke and Zenitsu's sleeping figure, "—You are maybe the only one who can wake them up! Their conscious mind should be deep into their unconscious state by now, and the only way we can reach out to them is maybe by influencing them physically."

"Are you following me?" I asked Nezuko soberly as she nodded and looked towards her brother, "Yes, so, try to wake him up first— I'll try my luck with these two here."

I took a deep breath and repositioned the two younger slayers, their even breaths brushing over my hands as I vigorously shook them as my first attempt.

'That's no good,' I tried slapping, pinching, name-calling— nope, none of those is working.

"How had they woken up in the manga?" I asked myself quietly in English before my attention snapped towards incoming footsteps.

"H-How are they awake?!" The girl with twin-braids yelled in surprise while looking at her other companions, which I noticed were four more kids and none of the five looked any older than Tanjiro.

'These are the humans who did the dirty work for Enmu, aren't they?' I absent-mindedly mused as all five of them snapped and sprinted to attack me and Nezuko.

I swiftly avoided their awls as they tried to gang up on me.

"Do not harm them, Nezuko!" I ordered firmly before knocking a kid out in my left by chopping the underside of the back of their neck.

"Don't get in the way!" One of the girls screamed at me as she tried slicing my throat, "We can't have sweet dreams because of you! Just shut up and—"

"And what?" I asked bluntly as I knocked another boy unconscious, "You think that these dreams would last forever? That you'll be able to run away from your present if you live in them? Are you stupid?!" I yelled, feeling my anxiety-fueled anger grow as I took a step forward and glared at them.

"What would you know about it?!" The girl screamed at me with all her might, her eyes watering as the other kids looked at me with the same despair that was reflecting in that girl's eyes, "You don't know anything about what we are going through and—"

"And that warrants for you to take it out on others?" The kids froze as my voice dropped a few octaves, "What do you think? That I don't know how you feel? Bullshit. I may not know what your past is, but I assure you when I say I've seen way more horror than you ever have." I took a deep breath to calm myself, "And please do try to understand this— the demon you're helping is going to kill you without any remorse. Even the dreams he shows hold no guarantee of being the ones you want as he has no obligation to you once you have done what he wants. It'll be you with the blood on your hands, in the end, not him."