Record of Ragnarok

Five: The Boy, the Myth, and the Legend

"Come on, he's gotta be around here somewhere!" Lloyd said in an aggravated tone, as Humanity's fighters searched for their thirteenth member. Nagisa had been absent ever since he had walked away from his encounter with Death, and it had now been almost seven hours. Everyone had agreed to split up and search for him in pairs, and that's what happened.

"We'll find him, Lloyd. He can't have gone too far" Tanjiro assured his fellow champion, and the two headed off to another area to search again. Nearby, another pair were in a deep conversation. They came around the corner, not missing a beat.

"I'm telling you, espadachín, death is nothing to be afraid of!" Puss in Boots laughed, fingering the hilt of his sword in a loving manner. "I mean, look at me! Puss in Boots laughs in the face of death! That boy has no reason to be as scared as he is!"

"You have clearly never had a reason to fear death, Boots" replied Samurai Jack bluntly, causing Puss's smile to falter. "You are a cat. You have nine lives, correct? If that's the case, it's no wonder you have never even considered death as a threat to you". 

Puss paused for a moment, coughing. "Well, actually, I am apparently down to my last life. I somehow lost track of my other lives somewhere along the way. But that is understandable, no?" He laughed again, only to stop at the look on Jack's face.

"You may be strong and skilled. But has anyone ever told you that you are also arrogant and have an oversized ego?" Jack spat. "Just because you do not fear death, does not mean that fear of death is non-existent. You have one life? Value it. Cherish it. Maybe that way, you can understand how that poor boy is feeling right now".

"Aw, come on!" Puss said bracingly. "Why bother living if you aren't gonna try and do daring things with it? You need to seize the day! Get out there! Get noticed, y'know?"

"If that's the way you see the world, I am very shocked people consider you a hero" Jack said, in a tone that stated that the subject was closed. Puss caught the hint, and fell silent. The two continued searching the outer areas of the reality they were confined in, looking over hills and searching under rocks.

"There" Jack finally said, indicating towards a cliff edge, with a single tree planted upon it. Puss looked closer, and spotted Nagisa leaning against the trunk, looking at the horizon. Both cat and samurai approached the young assassin, and Puss whistled to get his attention. 

Instead of Nagisa just turning to look at them, however, as Puss was expecting, the boy snapped his head around in all directions, brandishing a branch he had snapped straight off of the tree. Puss and Jack looked at each other in surprise, then went up to Nagisa, standing on either side of him. Nagisa had seen them at this point, and had sat down next to the tree, breathing heavily and holding his face in his hands.

"Hey, kid, you alright?" Puss asked, putting his paw on the boy's shoulder. Jack eyed the cat with a 'don't-start-with-that-again' sort of look on his face, which Puss took no notice of.

"Yeah, I'm... I'm honestly..." Nagisa tried to say 'fine', but his emotions were so magnified at that moment that he couldn't get the word out. He simply resorted to putting his face in his hands again. Jack noticed that the boy hadn't cleaned either his cut or his hand from his near-death experience, meaning he was getting blood all over his face.

"You are clearly troubled at this moment in time, young Shiota. Are you willing to tell us why?" Jack asked, and Puss looked up as though he found Jack's question insulting.

"Troubled? No, no, he's not troubled! He just had a small scare, heh?" he chuckled, elbowing Nagisa in the arm. Jack put his hand on his sword handle, clearly telling Puss to cut it out. Puss understood, and fell silent.

"'Small scare' does not appear to begin to describe it, Boots. Shiota has clearly been deeply affected by what ever he saw in there, and-"

"I almost died in there".

Nagisa said this so quietly, that neither Jack nor Puss would have believed he said it had they not watched his mouth move. They stared at the boy for a second, and the Puss laughed.

"Is that all? I really thought it was something serious!" Jack glared angrily at Puss, but the cat took no notice. "Listen, niñito, you have nothing to fear! Death is nothing to be scared of!"

"Puss, be quiet. Now" Jack said this in a tone that sounded normal, but Puss picked up on the tranquil fury that only the calmest of men can give. He immediately back away, allowing Jack to speak his opinion. Jack reached into the tree's branches, and picked an apple. He then knelt next to Nagisa, and offered it to him. Nagisa accepted the fruit, and Jack began to talk.

"I know the feeling. The feeling of fear. It consumes you. Overwhelms you, like a sickness in the mind. I also feel the fear of death. No one wants to feel the pain of passing on. No one truly knows what lies beyond the boundaries of mortal life. But there is also not one being who knows when their days will be cut short. Not even the gods. All we know is that our days are numbered. We don't know what that number may be, but it is set, regardless of cause".

Puss raised his eyebrow. "Are you comforting him, or giving him a lecture?" Jack snapped his eyes up at the cat with a look that said 'Be quiet', and Puss relented once again.

"I cannot understand how you personally feel at this moment, Nagisa. Everyone feels this fear differently. But I can give one piece of advice; if you wish to conquer your fear, you must search your soul, and find the thing that gives you that fear. What makes you fear death? What makes you afraid of passing on? Find that reason, and you will come to accept that you will die, but you will value what time you have in the mortal plane".

Puss stared at the samurai, wondering whether to laugh or not. Whatever he had said, though, had clearly impacted Nagisa, at least. He took a bite of the apple Jack had picked for him, and looked up.

"The thing that makes me fear death... is that wolf and his skill". Puss's demeanour changed immediately at these words. Did Nagisa mean who he thought he meant? "I don't know who or what he is, but he called me the 'God of Death'. I don't know why, I'm not a god. Then he told me that I wasn't valuing my life, and then he invited me to attack him. That's how I ended up like this". He gestured to his head, which had dried and scabbed over by this time, leaving a long, jagged red line along his temple. He still hadn't found any way of tying his hair back up, so he had left it to flow down to his shoulders.

"I see" Jack murmured, thinking hard. "So this wolf is keen to take your life, because he felt as though you did not value it to the fullest?"

"Yeah, that's what he said" Nagisa replied, looking at Jack, ignoring Puss completely, who did not like being ignored.

"Hey, come on! If that's all it is, just train a little to be better than him, then kick his rear back to whatever hole he came from!" he said in an annoyed tone. "Life is given to us to be risked! If we didn't, what's the point? Live it on the edge, that's what I do!" He placed his paw on Nagisa's arm, causing the assassin to look at him. "I may only have one life, but I'm not changing how I treat it compared to my other eight, am I?"

Nagisa considered this for a moment. He could see both side's arguments. Life should be cherished, as it was given with care, but how you spent that life may decide how you end up. Should you play it safe, and live a life of peace? Or should you throw yourself out there, and live it on the edge?

"Ah, there you are! Guys, he's over here! Jack and Puss found him!"The group started and looked up to see Kamala peering around the tree, looking very relieved. All three of them stood up.

"Please remember what we have said, niñito" Puss told Nagisa in a meaningful tone. "It's your choice which of us you listen to, but you must make a decision sooner rather than later, if you are to face that wolf again".

Nagisa nodded slightly, and he, Puss and Jack moved off with Kamala, who was waving to the rest of the champions, who were now quickly approaching them.

Nagisa was still holding the apple. It felt comforting to him.