Samurai Jack: XL
by Misterebony
 
 
...
 
...
 
...
 
Consciousness.
 
Breath.
 
Aku's face. The being lives again. Demongo's fire returns, and he stares at his master.
 
"So, the weakling stirs. At last you return at my call."
 
Demongo bowed low. "I live only to serve you my lord, and no other, You know that!"
 
"So you made clear." Aku said with a narrow stare, making Demongo cringe. "But I have a task for you. The fool of the blade has inspired many families. They seek to begin rebellion against my law. But they will pay for it."
 
Demongo. "How my lord?"
 
"You will enter their homes, and steal what they value most: The lives of their children. Let them rebel against me THEN."
 
Demongo. "As you wish." Departure. Manacial laughter. Revenge.
 
Aku.
 
**********
 
Out in the plains of a vast field, several children of a tribe of bear people play amongst the ruined husks of several of Aku's insectoid robots. They laughed as they tossed about one of the large bolts like a ball, unaware that someone was watching them.
 
"Ahhh.... fresh prey. I wonder how their souls will taste." The form said. Several children came close to the bushes where he hid. It was time to make his move.
 
He emerged from the bushes, the bear cubs too frightened to do anything but stare in horror as Demongo grabbed hold of one of the children, pulling out his soul. The bear cub collapsed, lifeless, while the soul struggled in the grasp of the monster.
 
"What a wrigly appetizer." the demon said, biting into the soul. It screamed out for help, begging for release. But Demongo did not listen, devouring the soul as if it was a gummi bear. He ahhed when the last bits of the soul were sucked in like a deep breath.
 
"Ahhhh.... who is next?" He said, pouncing a screaming girl. On the nearby hill, her father stared in shock.
 
"Ursa! NO!" he screamed, but it was too late. The little bear girl had her soul ripped fromher, and was devoured by the ravenous creature, the father watching as she was like little more than a caramel bear of shining blue. Wiping his lips, Demongo looked to the father.
 
"Aku sends his reguards." He said, turning to the other kids. They cringed in fear as he pounced them...
 
***
 
Regret.
 
Hatred of self.
 
Why?
 
Why?!
 
Why had he done it?!
 
***
 
Several little children of various races were entering the school, waiting for the teacher to show up. They did not know the teacher was actually laying face down, out cold in the back, Demongo preparing to seal the kids inside. He looked out, it was a banquet of them.
 
But he hesitated. Inside him were voices saying to spare them, to let them go.
 
"No, I must do my duty!" He shouted, emerging from the closet. The kids turned, frozen in fear as they saw his now much mopre ominous form.
 
"Children, the lesson today, Soul devouring 101! With his improved powers, he extracted the souls of the children all at once, the children falling onto the desks looking like they were asleep, the souls struggling in the monsters grip.
 
Demongo began to mold and stretch the souls together, trying to make them look less like children and more like food. It took a bit of effort and he had to endure lots of screaming by the creatures, but when he was done the kids souls had been merged to form a large batch of grapes, each soul alittle orb on a central vine soul.
 
But as he popped each soul into his flaming maw and chewed, more and more regfret filled his heart. He winced as he devoured the last, doubling over.
 
"No,get out of my head!" He screamed. But the voices continued. He could see them, the happy memories, the regrets, their pleading for mercy. He screamed out for release from this torture.
 
But nobody came.
 
****
 
A cute little girl piglet was walking back to her tribe, taking with her a basket of grains they had just harvested for the revolution. Ever since Jack had freed one of the princesses nearby, her family and their friends were working to rise up against Aku and somehow help the mysterious Samurai defeat the being once and for all. But as she walkd into a dark woods, she heard a sound like someone in pain.
 
"AAAAUUUGGGHHHH!!! STOP, PLEASE!!!!" It said. The pig girl blinked and went into the woods, finding the source of the screaming to be a giant dark creature with a skull of flame, hands on his head, crying out embers.
 
"Please, no more flashbacks... I can't take it..." He whimpers, turning to see the child. He stares for a minute. Then... "help me... please help me..."
 
The girl blinks. "Oink, you okay? You look.... sick..."
 
Demongo chuckled. "A fitting word. I am a horrible creature, a murderer who won't release my prey even after death, but use their power as my own. I am a terrible creature who has done many terrible things."
 
The girl approached. "But... everyone does bad things. I stole by brother's lunch yesterday. But it really was his fault, I mean it was Meat biscuits!"
 
Demongo chuckled. "You compare... my wrong... to stealing a lunch?"
 
"Why not? Wrongs are all the same dad says, but if that's the case they can all be made right, right?" She asks. "But you don't look too mean. Not like Aku."
 
Demongo chuckled. "Little one, If I had been myself you wouldn't say that. I steal the souls of children. I have about 100 or so inside me right now. But with each soul, I lose more and more of the dark inside me. I can see clearly every hurt I inflicted, every cowardly act I caused, every warrior I forced to fight for me, every dark deed. And... For the first time... I regret it all. I regret what I have done."
 
The pig girl placed a hoof on him ."But if you regret it.. .then that means you want to make it right, right?"
 
Demongo nodded. "yes.. and if I do, I will go back to what I was."
 
The girl shook her head. "I don't think so. If you want to do right, surely all you need to do is just... do it."
 
The demon turned to the girl.
 
Honesty.
 
Caring.
 
Hope.
 
She showed all that in her eyes, ad inside warmth built.
 
VOices.
 
Encouraging, not repremanding.
 
Demongo stands.
 
"Just do it." He repeated. "Do what is right." he could feel the power of the kids flowing freely now.
 
Innocence.
 
Laughter.
 
Faith.
 
HOPE.
 
Each kid he devoured now was giving him that, forging something inside him, a warmth that burned brighter than any candle. He opened his eyes, inside flaring a mix of white and blue.
 
"Do what is right." He said, raising a hand up. "JUST DO WHAT IS RIGHT!"
 
With a shout,a beam of light shot into the sky, and from it many smaller lights flew out, each light returning to the body from whence it came, but making it stronger, braver,even powerful. Demongo gave each soul a portion of his magic.... and in return, the children all left the Soul Eater a portion of their souls.
 
Enough to forge his own.
 
He turned to the child and smiled, finally embracing her in a hug.
 
"I have you to thank my..." He suddenly turned. "RUN!" He screamed, as Aku popped out of the earth.
 
"DEMONGO! YOU HAVE FAILED ME AGAIN!"
 
Demongo stood ready, turning back to the child. "Run child. run,. and be safe. Thank you for giving me hope." He turned to Aku. "You will not harm any children this day!"
 
Aku lauched, flying at the pig, but suddenly was knocked away by a forceful blast. Demongo raised his claws, and fired multiple beams at Aku. At most it only angered the immortal dark lord, but he had to save the girl. he had to stop him! He had to.
 
THUNK.
 
Pain.
 
Intense.
 
A glance down.
 
A black spear through his chest.
 
"DIE." Aku.
 
Darkness.
 
But...
 
Warmth.
 
***
 
Does one good act override a lifetime of sin? Can a creature of evil ever become redeemed? To most scholars that may not be so.
 
But as Jack observed from his post, that is not true. He approached the dying form of Demongo, and smiled. The dark creature smiled back, the two shaking hands.
 
"Your time on this world is not done yet." Jack said, pulling out a small vial. Inside was one soul: the soul of a mighty swordsman, the last weilder of the ehanted katana.
 
Demongo was wid eeyed. ".....w....h....y.....?"
 
Jack opened the vial, the soul flying into the maw of the sorcerer. "Because you deserve a second chance. Because you know why I fight."
 
Demongo breathed. "Because...."
 
"You have hope."
 
Demongo stood. He remebered the faces of the children who gave him a psudo soul, voices who offered to help even more. VOices who wanted him to fight.
 
"AAAAAAAKUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!' He shouted, forming a blade inhis hand, one a darker version of Jack's blade. "I am Demongo! And I vow I will atone for my sin by destroying your evil! FOR THOSWE WHO GAVE ME HOPE!!!!!!"
 
Cheers.
 
Encoragement.
 
Voices lead him on.
 
Aku's days are numbered.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
-.-