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The second area I struggled with was the actual ending ending after the climax was decided. Because here they are, two demons with no hierarchy, no community, no sense of self or even a real purpose. The idea of Douma committing suicide felt too easy but was definitely considered multiple times. It was addressed in chapter 30, where Douma contemplates what would happen if he killed himself.

Enmu was a man of grand gestures; ones that he believed gave him importance. With nothing left to lose, it wasn’t even a question that his pain would quickly become a reactive statement against the world that he was wronged by. For the sake of the innocent city dwellers, Douma was thoroughly and utterly trapped.

He doesn't want to assume any more responsibility for suffering after his delusions were shattered. But he also doesn't want to enact cruelty on Enmu by killing himself, as he sees this as making Enmu suffer on purpose. Thus, being trapped.

Enmu also doesn't want Douma to die and purposefully uses Douma's new moral code against him. Enmu has nothing left to care about given their entire old way of life is gone, making Douma his only thing left to be obsessive over. So the new question of how to end the story became "Who wins the battle?"

Does Enmu get what he wants and they live longer or does Douma get what he wants and they die? Or do they get some combination of it? There is an alternative "canon" ending that will be published as a oneshot at some point, I just didn't have the heart to do it right away.

Basically, Douma was hell bent on starving himself to death so Enmu forcibly joined their bodies to keep funneling nutrition between them. They essentially became an extension of a cave that Enmu used illusions to draw people in and flesh tentacles to kill and eat them. Neither demon is truly conscious as much as they're concepts of their former selves. Enmu's of obsession and Douma's of desire for absolution.

After one last forcefeeding, Douma has enough clarity to take over the shared meat mass of a body and kills Enmu, then kills himself, finally ending the cycle of codependency.

Enmu looks down on humans as tools or food and nothing else but Douma both looks down on humans as stupid and idolizes their emotional spirits. Enmu is explicitly sadomasochistic where Douma doesn't view himself as cruel to others, and any masochism is rooted in a desire to feel anything over deriving pleasure from it. Enmu values the rigid hierarchy because it means he might one day sit atop it as someone canonically jealous of Muzan, but Douma has no interest in hierarchies because they prevent him from connecting to others. He's been in a position of power since he was born. It's boring to him.

Their core values, Enmu's of manipulation for personal gain and Douma's of manipulation to fufill the purpose he was groomed into, are at odds with each other. Douma believes he is saving the people he eats but also revels in his gluttonous nature, as eating still provides some form of pleasure that fills the gap emotions should be in. Enmu can recognize Douma's cognitive dissonance but this threatens Douma's sense of self as a kind person. Douma won't pull away though because Enmu's indebted to him, and this gives him hope he can make Enmu care him and his devotion to the cult. The same cult he views as stupid and Enmu knows he thinks that too. Douma is a lonely, yearning character who defies a demon's nature by sticking close to where he was born. His role never really changed. But Enmu is notably a true demon. He has no sympathetic backstory he cared to dwell on when he died in canon, he only had pity for himself and the goals he couldn't achieve. He has no interest in humans or demons beyond how they serve his own purposes, and he will concoct elaborate plans to satisfy his wants.

The challenge for the fic, then, was finding a way to make Enmu continue valuing Douma beyond temporary shelter, proximity to power, and food. Basically the premise became breaking Enmu to redirect his selfishness towards Douma as an object of obsession and personal value. But in doing this, Douma ends up challenged on a lot of his cognitive dissonance because it no longer serves Enmu for Douma to be delusional, especially as Muzan doesn't care for their bond.

It became a series of push and pull reactions. There wasn't a concrete "plot" at first as much as they made their own plot by the nature of their equally stubborn personalities.

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