It's been a day ever since the incident with the demon. Akuma has been brought back into the rented Guild room and has not regained conciousness yet.
While Akuma is recovering from the injuries he had sustained in his last fight, Zack is sitting alone at a table behind Boren's shop. He is sipping on some cold dwarven beer Boren took out. And yet, instead of rejoycing that everyone is alive after an encounter with a demon, he has his head lowered with a depressing look on his face. The old dwarf doesn't wait long to join Zack.
"Why the long face boy? You've been lookin' sour ever since ya came here."
Boren speaks as he sits down on a bench opposite to Zack who barely lifts his head before answering.
"Quite a lot of shit, i tell you that."
Boren looks at Zack with concerned eyes before grabbing his hair and lifting his head up. As soon as Zack agrees to keep his head up, Boren lets go of his Zack's hair.
"Then why don't ya tell me 'bout it? Whatever it is it can't be worse than what happened in ya village."
Zack sulks his head and avoids looking at Boren.
"It can't be that bad, but it can be just as fucked up. Hell where do i even start? Yesterday when we were out everything was going smoothly and suddenly BAM a fucking demon comes around! And that ain't even the worst part! The worst part is that that kid, Akuma used black flames-"
Boren cuts Zack out and finishes his sentence.
"The same flames that burned down ya home, eh?"
Zack only nods as a response. The depressing atmosphere doesn't stop. In addition a tear runs down Zack's cheek. Through clenched teets Zack starts talking about his past to the old dwarf, who knows full well about it.
"I....I saw Ichigo in Akuma....Those two looked the exact same. Same light brown hair, blue eyes fucks sake he even acted like him."
Boren wants to say something, yet he chooses to wait for Zack to pour his heart out.
"When i first saw the kid i thought it was Ichigo. I didn't want to believe that it ain't him."
The moment Boren waited for has now come.
"Ya know, every single time ya tell me that story it feels worse and worse. Though i understand ya the best. I know ya loved ya brother, even when i found ya fourteen years ago, ya were clinging to him. But ya made one fatal mistake when ya fixated Akuma as Ichigo."
Boren finally catches Zack's attention who looks Boren directly in the eyes.
"You're having a dilemma right now, aren't ya? You don't know what to do, you see Ichigo in that kid yet that kid used the flames that took ya brother in the first place. And now you can't decide what to do."
Zack's head drops low one more time.
"Yeah i don't know whether to kill Akuma or have him as a replacement for Ichigo...Tell me what to do."
Boren takes a sip out of his jug before making his final statement.
"I ain't gonna tell ya what to do cuz' i ain't ya father, but remember Zack once you let yourself be consumed by your own hate for the Black Flare, you'll be no better than that black demon. Remember, it's your life, you make your choices and whatever that choice will be, i ain't gonna hate ya."
Zack stares at Boren while wiping off his tears and a smile appears on his face as he stands up.
"Thanks Boren."
With grateful words Zack leaves Boren's backyard.
Meanwhile Akuma is still unconcious in his room. Haku is sitting beside his bed on a chair. Haku can't help but stare at Akuma's unconcious yet uneasy face that is dripping with sweat.
"Havin' a nightmare, pal?"
As expected Haku's words don't reach Akuma. That is due to the fact that the exact same dream as the one he had last night is being replayed time and time again, except that now he witnesses horrific scenes of burned homes, corpses torn to pieces and people begging for mercy as well as a single child swearing revenge upon him, while holding a corpse in his hands.
Once all the dreams are over Akuma's eyes open. Haku notices the look on Akuma's face, it is simply the look of pure fear. Before Haku is able to express his joy of Akuma finally waking up, he is stopped by Akuma's tears. Even though Haku sees his friend is terrified, he doesn't know what to do.
Akuma sits on the bed covering his eyes with his hand.
"It.....It was like hell....i swear to god that's what i fucking saw..."
Tears burst out of Akuma's eyes yet he still hides behind his hand. Haku, doesn't exactly know what to do but he understands that Akuma must have seen something terrible to weep like he does, decides to comfort Akuma by hugging him. Haku's attempt works, since Akuma soon calms down.
"Whatever you saw, it was a dream. None of it was real, got it?"
Akuma pushes Haku off of himself before nodding with a soft and pained smile. As soon as the two finish their conversation with a high five, the door opens, grabbing the attention of both Akuma and Haku. Its's Kaede, who jumps at Akuma as soon as she sees he is awake. Almost immediatley, her eyes fill with tears as she clings to Akuma. Through the tears of joy she manages to blurt out something that resembles a sentence.
"Thank god Akuma! Thank god you're alright!"
Akuma who is embraced by the girl he likes quickly glances at Haku, who only gives Akuma a thumbs up with a smug grin on his face as if saying "Now's your chance!" and Akuma is not aboit to let this chance escape, so he swiftly hugs Kaede back.
"You've had me so worried! I'm so happy!"
Kaede's words wash away Akuma's fear from his nightmare and replace it with a warm, lingering feeling.
After a while Kaede lets go of Akuma and stands up.
"All right! I'll go tell the rest that you're up!"
Full of energy Kaede rushes out of the room. Currently the only ones Kaede can tell about Akuma's awakening are Zoe, Hido and Zack since the rest have taken a different quest that takes them much more time.
Meanwhile Zack is notified about Akuma's state while he is talking to the woman who works behind the counter at the Guild. She is a friend of his though she is not as nice of a person one would think.
As soon as Kaede runs off to find Zoe, Zack stands up from the bench.
"All right, i'll do that."
With a short statement Zack heads up the stairs into Akuma's room. As he walks many thoughts run through his mind and before he realizes he is standing in front of Akuma's door. Breathing in, Zack opens the door and enters the room. Zack immediatley starts talking in a forced cheerful tone.
"Ah, Akuma, thank god you're alright."
Haku and Akuma don't see anything weird about Zack. After a while of the three conversing, Haku excuses himself out of the room. After all, he has been sitting next to Akuma for hours now.
As Haku leaves Zack sits down on the chair Haku's sat on. Again, for a while Zack finds a topic to talk to Akuma about. Somehow Zack steers down the conversation onto dungeons, where he mentions something interesting.
"Y'know Akuma, my friend told me there was a dungeon for beginners, wanna go there?"
A question such as that catches Akuma by surprise.
"I-I don't know. I feel like-"
Yet Zack isn't stopped easily and continues trying to persuade Akuma.
"C'mon, nothing's gonna happen. Haku, me and everyone else will be there with you."
Oblivious to Zack's ulterior motives, Akuma only sighs as he agrees to Zack's plan.
After a day of filled with joy and celebrations of Akuma's recovery, the morning comes around.
Akuma, Zack, Hido, Haku, Zoe and Kaede stop in front of the dungeon not too far from the border city they were in. As always, Zack steps up.
"All right guys. We're gonna do it like this. We'll split up like always, me and Akuma, Haku and Hido, Zoe and Kaede. We'll each show the kids what we know about the dungeon."
Everyone nods without the slightest bit of hesitation and they pair up.
As Akuma walks through the gates of the dungeon, he feels chills run down his spine that cause him to stop for a moment, catching Zack's attention.
"Something wrong?"
Akuma shakes his head at Zack's question.
"Nothing."
"Then let's head out!"
Filled with false enthusiasm Zack leads Akuma through the dungeon. Now far enough from Hido and Zoe, Zack goes down a certain darker path. As Akuma follows he notices one thing, the wall around him start to look more and more like a cave. This would be enough for Akuma to feel uneasy, were he alone. Which thankfully enough, he wasn't.
At the end of the path Zack was leading Akuma stood a normal, man made wall.
"C'mon i'll show you something cool."
As the two reach the wall, Zack presses a few of the large bricks and the wall opens up like a door. Akuma is nearly mesmerized by what just happened. A tap on the nose from Zack is enough to make Akuma snap out of his trance.
"This way."
Akuma follows Zack through the narrow path. At the end of the path is what looks like a cliff. The water from a waterfall is falling from far above the cliff. As the water falls, it is illuminated by the fire from Zack's torch.
Taken away by the beauty of the waterfall, Akuma walks towards the end of the cliff and touches the water as it falls, with Zack being a few steps behind him.
"So, Akuma now that we're here, i have a few questions for you"
Stunned by Zack's serious tone Akuma quickly turns around only to find Zack with a nervous yet angry expression.
"W-what do you want to ask?"
A the silence of a pause that Zack takes before speaking is only filled with the sound of water falling and hitting the ground somewhere far below.
"Are you...the Black Flare?"
Akuma who doesn't have the slightest idea of what Zack is talking about, gives the only response he can think of.
"What is the Black Flare?"
However, Akuma's response wasn't the one Zack was looking forward to. He is already convinced that Akuma is the Black Flare, he simply wanted to hear Akuma confirm it.
"DON'T SAY YOU DON'T KNOW!"
Akuma is terrified at Zack's outburst and continues to say the only thing he can.
"I really don't know what you're talking about Zack!"
"LIKE HELL YOU DON'T KNOW! YOU'VE USED THE FLAMES THAT KILLED MY BROTHER!"
Akuma is frozen at the sight of the approaching Zack.
"I'm really sorry then-"
On his final impulse, Zack pushes Akuma off of the cliff and for a moment it feels like the time has slowed down for a few brief moments, during which Akuma hears Zack's final words before falling to his death.
"IF YOU'RE SORRY THE APOLOGIZE TO ICHIGO PERSONALLY!"