The Good Demon [KNY]

Part 89: Regrets

Lefty awoke once again, in the mirror plane. He groaned, rubbing his wound-less arms. It seemed the damage didn't transfer from the real world. He realized why he was there and sat up, looking around frantically. He saw that Ume was only a few feet away, still trying to process where she was.

"Where the hell are we...?" Ume asked.

"...Where you'll find the truth." Lefty got up and brushed himself off. 

"Took you long enough!" She barked. "So how does this work?" She stared at the wall of glass-like shards in front of her.

"You just have to touch it, and you'll experience your entire life story from an outside perspective." Lefty said.

"Oh, well that sounds easy! What were you so afraid of-" Ume went to touch it willy-nilly, but Lefty grabbed her wrist and stopped her in her tracks.

"Wait." Lefty lowered his voice into a fierce growl, and Ume froze. "I'm not gonna lie, what you're gonna see won't be pretty." He said. "Just know that whatever you see in there, she isn't you." Lefty stared her dead in the eye as he said it.

"Well if that isn't fucking ominous..." Ume wiggled her wrist out of Lefty's loosening grasp as they both went to touch the wall. 

"Last chance-"

"One, two, three!!!" Lefty was cut off when Ume rushed to touch the wall, leaping to touch it at the same time so as not to lose her. 

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Lefty woke up in the red-light district. He sighed reluctantly, knowing that whatever happened in here would lead to utter insanity once they woke up. 

"I've never known what happens if you get lost in here, so it's best that we stay... close..." Lefty turned around to find no one behind him. He tore his gaze to his sides and saw nothing. "Oh shit..." Lefty whispered. "Ume? Ume!" Lefty called out for her with no answer. He took in a deep breath, and relief washed over him as he picked up on her scent. 

That relief was washed away when he smelled ash as well. 

"Ume!" Lefty yelled and turned in the direction the scent had come from. He finally noticed a pillar of smoke billowing up from far away. He gritted his teeth and zoomed into the location in an instant, screeching to a halt as he saw the sight in front of him.

A half-dug grave, littered with ash and the smell of burnt meat.

The corpse of a samurai,  head split in half by a rusty tool. Judging by the messiness of the cut.

A set of footsteps leading away from the scene, tears and clumps of burnt... pieces among the footsteps.

He took off along the trail, only running for a moment before he caught up to Ume.

And caught up to them.

He slowed down and slowly came up to Ume's side as they stared at the sight in front of them. 

A sickly little boy, holding the charred remains of his only reason for living, cried his eyes out as snow began to fall. The doors of the houses surrounding him were shut and locked, and not a light could be seen from inside any of the houses. 

He was surrounded by people, but he might as well have been alone.

"That's... me..." Ume whispered.

"Well well well..." 

Lefty and Ume whipped around and were met with a blonde man dressed in a luxurious kimono, fanning himself with a metal fan, despite the cold snow falling around them. In his other hand, he clung to the leg of the woman that had partnered with the samurai, casually biting a chunk out of her calf muscle.