I JUST WANT A FAMILY

Rui watches with unblinking eyes as the pillar lands upright on the ground. His head bent down with his chin nearly touching his chest. How frustrating -- these pesky demon slayers coming to his mountain, to his home, just to ruin every single bond he's crafted over the years. How is it fair that they can do this to him, yet they get mad when he retaliates? It isn't fair, it isn't fair, it just isn't fair!

He knows that his family is not real. He knows that his bonds were poorly built and soon to snap. He knows this and yet he tries so hard to ignore it. Tries desperately to pretend he can't see the obvious. He's been trying to do this for centuries now. To have this man announce it to the world that what he's worked so hard to obtain isn't real so easily pushes him over the edge. He's just about to lash out again when the pillar revokes his previous statement by speaking the contradiction.

"..." Whether the bonds were real or not no longer matters as his family has been completely eradicated before his very eyes. The pain in his chest and stomach has returned at an intensity he can barely handle. It's just like that day -- just like the day he lost his real bonds. The day he killed his mother and his father. That day ended and created everything.

He's now back to being alone, again -- nobody around to truly love him -- nobody who would risk their very lives for him. The bonds he created were real to him, but not to them. His 'mother', 'father', 'sisters' and 'brothers'. None were real. They merely stayed because he forced them to. He knows this and so the words Rengoku speaks are now meaningless.

"They're real." He mutters, though now he's trying to convince himself rather than the demon slayer so far below him. His trembling fingers grip the sides of his face hard enough to draw blood. He rakes his nails down to his cheeks, leaving disgusting marks that heal within seconds.

His eyes move from the firey source below to the night sky. He's done with this conversation -- he's done with this demon slayer. He's done with this mountain and this pain. Rui's just about to make his exit when he hears a 'demand' he's never heard before, nor one he expected from a human of all beings.

"What?" Speechless, dumbfounded -- completely in shock. Rui's arms drop back down to his sides, fingernails tinted red with his own blood. His normally passive face shows more emotion now than it ever has in such a long time.

"Eldest... Brother?" The intensity of the demon slayer's words urge him to follow, but Rui isn't dumb. He's scared ( is that what this feeling is? It's been too long... ) of believing him. Scared of being betrayed. If he descends from the safety of his webs so high up in the sky, that sword that is sheathed now could easily slice his head off his shoulders within a second.