Demon Slayer Imagines

Ayaki Rui

A bond cannot be broken

❀ word count: 1633
❀ special warning: Soulmate AU - Red thread of fate

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 It is said that in our world, - perhaps a myth, or an unknown truth - there is a string, a red colored one, called the 'Red Thread of Fate'. When two people are connected by said string, they are destined lovers, no matter the time or the circumstances. The string can stretch or tangle, but it can never be broken, as fate is never wrong.
Many people believed so across the country, however, over the passing years, the beautiful story had become nothing but a myth among people, some sort of fairy tail young girls liked to believe in when they are still children.

Rui didn't remember much of his human life. He knew he was sick, and he felt a craving for having someone love and protect him at all costs. Years of torment seemed to have done things to his head, and the once young and innocent boy had become a heartless beast that mistreated his own fake family for his own whims, which greatly please his Lord, who had been fond of the child.
The spider demon sighed, as a rare moment of peace took him to a different reality. He had been accustomed to walking around and making sure every member of the family was doing their job as told, however, he too needed some time alone. Playing with his threads, sitting on a tree branch, the boy wondered what the little faded red thread attached to his little finger could be. 
It had been there since forever, and it seemed to continue to the infinite, however, whenever he had tried to pursue it, the string faded away, like it had never been there. He didn't pay much attention to it, after a while, but still wondered its meaning. Something about it seemed to spark a little emotion, deep within his blind heart.

Carefully, Rui jumped from the branch, and walked calmly through the forest, occasionally looking up at the moon. Something about it was definitely familiar. For moments, he wished to remember his past life, when being a demon wasn't on his mind, but he couldn't. His memories were sealed away, and reserved for his death bed, perhaps to make his suffering endure, as a punishment for his sins.
He was unknown to this, still the same young and naive child who had been through so much. His desperation, his growing obsessiveness had been a reflection of his lack of safety long long ago, in a distant past he couldn't tell. Rui knew, however, he hadn't had a good life, and lived by that without much questioning. Those who question much end up dead, and he didn't want that. He wanted love, he wanted a family.

Suddenly, he felt a breeze send shivers down his spine, and abruptly turned to attack whatever presence was there. But no one was there. Just the forest that surrounded him, and the sounds of crickets and other insects. He felt like he was going mad, and shook his head calmly. Something about that breeze, seemed almost like a sweet giggle he had once heart - a pleasant sound, he might add.
It was time to go back, and so, the boy turned, leaving the spot he would later on return to, for his inevitable fate.

❀❀❀

 The mountain has been in a great fuss all night long. The arrival of more and more slayers, desperate little parasites who tried to kill the spider family, had become quite the hassle for even the Spider Mother, who cried, sitting in her rock in fear of being yet again punished for her weakness. Rui's eyes pierced through her skin and almost burned like the sun itself, her fear for her own 'son' was bigger than any, even the fear of death.
So when the time was due, and the water breath user came to slay her, she opened her arms, and welcomed death almost like a holy salvation. It was, perhaps, how it felt, when the young boy gracefully and painlessly sliced her head, out of sympathy for the clearly disturbed demon. She faded, and Rui couldn't believe how disappointing she had turned out to be.
Something within him, however, seeing her die, made his heart clench in pain, knowing he had once more lost someone who was suppose to stick by him forever.