☆.｡.:* Everything was falling apart. Rui was dead. The rest of the family must've been dead, too. Arata didn't know what to do.
They say denial was the first stage of grief, then anger. They were right.
Arata couldn't believe her eyes. Her body trembled, as it froze, still in a half-sitting, half crawling position. Rui half-smiled with sorrow, as his eyes were apologetic that he couldn't be a good older brother to Arata.
Tanjiro pulled Arata into a hug, along with Nezuko, who was unconscious. As Rui gazed, he started to remember, finally, his memories.
His headless body, crumbling away, walked, stumbling, and fell before the three, his hands reaching for what he could never grasp.
Tanjiro lifted his head from Nezuko's forehead and patted Arata's shaking, sobbing body, then put his hand on Rui's body, after sensing the unbearable sadness coming from the two.
"But... I've killed mountains of people, so I'm going to hell, right...?" Rui muttered, almost all of his face and body faded away, "I don't get to go to the same place as Mom and Dad..."
"R-Rui! Rui!" Arata whispered, trying to push Tanjiro off of her, "Rui! Rui!"
Tears were pouring down her face like a waterfall, and it wasn't Tanjiro's weight on top of her that caused the unbearable suffocating mass.
"Wh-Where... Where are you going?" Her voice was cracking up, and a sob came out of her mouth with every word, "D-Don't... go...!"
Rui disappeared, with nothing left behind except for his clothing. Arata reached out and tried to grab it, though still pinned down from Tanjiro's hug.
Giyu stepped on the flat clothing and put his sword against Arata's neck, "Don't waste your sympathy for a demon that has devoured humans. It doesn't matter if it looks like a child. It's still a hideous monster that's lived for decades,"
"Shut up! You don't know anything about Rui!" Arata wailed, pounding her hands on the ground, distraught.
They ignored her.
"To avenge the people who were killed, to make sure there are no more victims, I'll bring my blade down on any demon's neck without mercy!" Tanjiro exclaimed, "But, as for those for whom being a demon meant despair, for those who regretted their actions - I will never trample over them! Because even demons used to be human at some point, they were once human, like you and I!"
Giyu stared at Tanjiro. Arata continued to sob quietly.
"Please step off of him," Tanjiro said to Giyu, "They're not hideous monsters at all. Demons are hopeless creatures, they're tragic creatures!"
