Welcome To The Maginot Front: Your New Hell
December 14th, 1915
The train ride was eventful, for lack of a better term, filled with dancing soldiers, sake, and music. After waking up from a not that peaceful sleep on his Type 97, Zenitsu straightens his helmet, and walks over to the cafeteria compartment, only to see Tanjiro singing an old folktale song while sipping sake.
"でも木々は踊り,滝は止まる 彼女が歌うとき,彼女は「帰っておいで」と歌います. でも木々は踊り,滝は止まる 彼女が歌うとき,彼女は「帰っておいで」と歌います. 彼女が歌うとき,彼女は「帰っておいで」と歌います. でも木々は踊り,滝は止まる 彼女が歌うとき,彼女は「帰っておいで」と歌います. でも木々は踊り,滝は止まる 彼女が歌うとき,彼女は「帰っておいで」と歌います. 彼女が歌うとき,彼女は「帰っておいで」と歌います. 彼女が歌うとき,彼女は「帰っておいで」と歌います. 彼女が歌うとき,彼女は「帰っておいで」と歌います"
(Translation: "When the trees dance and the waterfalls stop When she sings, she sings 'Come home'." When the trees dance and the waterfalls stop When she sings, she sings "Come home". When she sings, she sings "Come home". When the trees dance and the waterfalls stop When she sings, she sings "Come home". When the trees dance and the waterfalls stop, When she sings, she sings "Come home". When she sings, she sings "Come home" When she sings, she sings "Come home". When she sings, she sings "Come home")
Zenitsu facepalms and groans tiredly, bracing himself on the compartment door, as Tanjiro sings.
"嵐の真っ黒な山の中,一人でさまよう
私は氷河を越えて進みます
リンゴ園に老人が立っている
そして「いつ帰ってくるの?」と歌います.
いや!
でも木々は踊り,滝は止まる
彼女が歌うとき,彼女は「帰っておいで」と歌います.
でも木々は踊り,滝は止まる"
(English translation: "Wandering alone in a stormy black mountain
I go beyond the glaciers
A fair maiden stands in a vineyard
And she sings, 'When are you coming back?'
NAH!
But the trees dance and the waterfalls stop
When she sings, she sings "Come home".
But the trees dance and the waterfalls stop
When she sings, she sings 'Come home'.
When she sings, she sings 'Come home'.")
"Cheers!" Tanjiro says, downing a cup of sake in one gulp, as Zenitsu walks towards him.
"I see you've made new friends." Zenitsu crosses his arms, leaning on the door.
"What can I say? I'm good with people." The burgundy-haired one shrugs, sipping his sake. "Dude, are you seriously going to get drunk-"
"I haven't had that much, mom." Tanjiro rolls his eyes sarcastically.
"Fuck off." Zenitsu chides. "Plus, we're not even SUPPOSED to drink, we're 16."
"They don't know that, do they?" Tanjiro says. The train arrives, and the whistle blows at a deafening volume, prompting Zenitsu to cover his ears due to his hearing.
"CHRIST ON A BIKE, COULD THIS BE ANY LOUDER?!"
They eventually come off of the train, (albeit with mild difficulty, as Zenitsu had to spend 10 minutes prying Tanjiro off of the bar, and ripping part of his haori by accident, which he preferred to keep on over his soldier attire.) and they step foot on the blackened soil of the Maginot front, observing the trees that hold no leaves, the wasteland stretching as far as the human eye can see on both sides.
"Welcome to the Eastern front, your new hell."
"So this is France? Jesus, smells like shit, and everything's black. Where's the France that I was told I would go to?" Tanjiro questions, covering his nose, almost coughing, as he watches thousands upon thousands of soldiers from other deployments go to the back, middle, and front trenches.
"They sold us a lie." Zenitsu says, long realizing what they'd be in for.
Their battalion stands at the ready, as their commanding officer speaks.
"あなたは敵のラインに向かって突撃を導くことになっています. 倒れた仲間を拾うことを恐れないでください,しかし死んだ仲間ではありません. 私たちは皆ここの兄弟です."
(English Translation: you are to lead the charge to the enemy lines, don't be afraid to pick up fallen comrades, we are all brothers here.)
"ドイツ人はいつでも攻撃している可能性があるので,準備をしてください. カフェテリアには防毒マスクがあり,ほとんどが十分です."
(The Huns could be attacking at any time, so be ready. There are gas masks in the empty foxhole next to me, mostly enough for everyone.)
The moment their commanding officer says that, Zenitsu and Tanjiro rush over to the foxhole, and grab the gas masks, stuffing them in their knapsacks. Then, the artillery starts, hitting the ground with explosions that sound like God himself was punching the ground. It's begun. Tanjiro and Zenitsu wade through the crowd as their commander speaks.
"私がこの笛を吹くとき,あなたはすべて充電します! 皇帝の栄光のために! 一歩後退することはありません! 後ろにいる人は誰でも裏切り者です!"
(When I blow this whistle, you are all to charge! No step back! Anyone who stays behind is a traitor!)
"This is suicidal! Is he crazy?!" Tanjiro whispers-shouts to Zenitsu, earning a shrug from the latter. Tanjiro or Zenitsu weren't able to hear the rest over the constant artillery blasting away at the already decimated wasteland; littering the ground with shell craters, as biplanes roar overhead, some engaging in dogfights with the Luftwaffe. One of the planes gets hit, as Tanjiro watches the plane rocket down to the wasteland, smashing into the ground, pieces of the plane flying every which way, and a propeller blade soars over to the trench Tanjiro and Zenitsu's battalion were in, and barely misses their commanding officers head, lodging into the right wall of the trench, making the man fall down in shock.
"神は私を救った!" (God has spared me!) the man yells in delight.
"Yeah, he really is delusional." Tanjiro says, extremely disturbed at how this guy could take a near-death experience like that, as he chuckles nervously.
'What have I gotten myself into?' Zenitsu thought, clearly disturbed at the officer's delusional happiness, as rats scurry by, making tiny splashes in the mud.
"Fucking hell, rats too?" Zenitsu says disgusted. Then, their commanding officer blew the whistle. The charge had begun.
The soldiers climb the upper rungs, most of them being ripped down on sight by MG fire. Running at max speed Zenitsu flashes past the other soldiers, to their disbelief, with his Nichirin sword in hand, as Tanjiro joins in too. Quickly climbing up the rungs of the trench, Tanjiro rockets off, as he maneuver past 3 shelling attacks, and kill the attacking Germans, catching up to Zenitsu.
"C'mon now, you can't have all the fun." Tanjiro looked upwards, the fourth shell was flying right for him. Time seemed to slow down, as he looked over to see Zenitsu's horrified face. So, Tanjiro did the only thing he would have thought of. He used his momentum and kicked forward, burying his foot in the dirt, not enough to break, but just enough to lunge himself and Zenitsu, in whom he grabbed onto, forward, narrowly missing the shell. But one person was behind him. A soldier, yes. No more than 18. The petrified look he had as the shelling made its way towards him, and....
Boom.
pieces of the young soldier flew towards Zenitsu and Tanjiro, while the rest flew in every which way. Brains, bone, muscle tissue, a skull fragment, a piece of the soldier's heart. The blast sent the two flying, as Tanjiro looked back, absolutely distraught at the sight of body parts and organ tissue everywhere, even on himself and Zenitsu. The two landed. Hard. The only thing that cushioned the fall (if you could say that) was the equally as hard sandbags. The roar of the biplanes overhead was now something the two got used to in the short 3 hours they've been on Maginot, but one of the biplanes dived downward, headed straight for them, ready to fire the machine guns on the bottom. The sounds of the Machine Gun rapid fire prompted the two to roll away; get up, and vault over the sandbag, into the enemy trench.
"Water Breathing: 2nd form, Water Wheel!" getting up quickly, Tanjiro executes the water wheel, cutting two foot soldiers in half while Zenitsu shoots another in the neck, as they clear out the trench.
"C'mon Fritz, give us a real challenge!" Tanjiro taunts, and as if God laughed in his face, four German Flammenwerfer troopers walk in, flamethrowers at the ready, the nozzle already spurting out flames.
"Maybe I said that too late." Tanjiro remarks as he dashes to cover, as the flames lunge out of the nozzle, as Zenitsu uses another German soldier as a human shield for the flame. But the enemy plane mistook the soldiers for French flame troops, and shot the fuel canisters with pinpoint accuracy, causing all four of the troops to blow up in a gory flame, the heat of the flame making the two Demon Slayers sweat profusely, as the heat circulates everywhere in the trench, as if the flames of Hell itself was scorching the German trench.
"No shit." Zenitsu says, taking out his Nambu pistol and quickfiring it, hitting a still burning German Flammenwerfer in the jaw, killing him instantly.
"Damn, Zenitsu. You're a good shot."
"Yeah, I'm a sniper, what do you expect?" Zenitsu snarks, earning a "Point made." from the burgundy-haired Demon Slayer, as the latter uses a Water Surface Slash to cut another German foot soldier in half, exposing the innards of the poor soldier, making Zenitsu retch.
"Fucking God, what the hell?!" Zenitsu yells, retching, as Tanjiro sprints across the trench, using the various Water Breathing techniques to kill the German troops, clearing out the trench. Soon, a deadly mix of thunder and water cleaned out the trench, as if God himself had ordered the elements to do so. Soon, the trench was covered in blood as they made their way through the enemy trench line, as Tanjiro sheathes his Nichirin blade, after cleaning out the whole trench along with Zenitsu.
"Job well done, hm?" Tanjiro says, looking at the bloody trench.
"Yeah, job well done." Zenitsu says, wiping his sword, before sheathing it.
"Should we stop using the swords....? Nah, they weren't worth a bullet." Zenitsu says, as the battalion they were in jumps in the trench, only to find blood mixing with the mud of the trenches.
"どのように神の名において..?" (How in God's name....?) one of them says, as Zenitsu coyly responds with a smile
"Sorry for hogging all of the fun."