1 Prelude: The Calm Before The Storm

The sounds of thousands of men marching filled the city of Venice, Italy. As fanfare explodes all around battalions of soldiers ranging as far as the eye can see, far from the Japanese mainland, some of which were Zenitsu, and Tanjiro. They were drafted in March of 1915, and boy, they were excited. (Of course, having to add 2 years to their ages)

"We finally get to be somewhere out of Japanese lands! Hell yeah!" Tanjiro pumps his fist, sharing his excitement with his yellow-haired friend.

"We'll have so much stuff to do. Go to Paris, finally try out some wine, maybe you'll get a few girls~" Tanjiro says, nudging Zenitsu's shoulder, causing him to blush.

"Sod off, Kamado." the Thunder-breather snarks.

"Aw, I'm hurt." The other says, mocking offense, positioning his Arisaka Type 30 on his shoulder, fastening his helmet.

"Shut up."

"兵士! 今日,あなたは世界のために戦う! 皇帝のために! 日本のために!" ("Soldiers! Today you will fight for the world! For the emperor! For Japan!") Their commanding officer yells out, causing everyone to lift up their rifles and shout

"世界と日本のために!" (FOR JAPAN!)l

"Well, here we go, Zenitsu. Alsace-Lorriane here we come!"

"All we have to do is defend against some guys with pointed hats, it'll be fine."

"Heh, yeah. Pointed hats." Tanjiro chuckles a bit at the remark, but keeps his composure.

"What? That's what they wear, right?" Zenitsu asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I think. Plus, they always have shit that's excruciatingly painful to pronounce." Tanjiro groans, lulling his head back at the sound of their commander issuing another march.

"Another march? You've gotta be fucking kidding me." Zenitsu complains, frowning.

"Also, when we get on the train to wherever we're going; for God in heaven's sake, I hope there isn't a bar." Zenitsu says while marching, glaring at Tanjiro, much to the latter's surprise.

"What'd I do?"

"Alcohol, that's what you did." Zenitsu snarks, as the marching finally comes to a close, and they arrive at the train.

"Ok, this'll be over by, maybe Christmas?" Tanjiro says, shrugging as he enters the train along with Zenitsu.

Oh, how wrong he was. They were up for much, much more than that. They would be roped into a war that cost millions of lives. Roped into a war that was supposed to "end all wars", but all it did was show the world how close humans can get to demons.