El Vacío y la Esperenza

Chapter One: Descubrimiento

Harry Potter is owned by J.K Rowling and Bleach by Tite Kubo

"Potty Potty Potty!" taunted Dudley and his gang, Iris risked a quick glance behind her, they where still gaining.

Running into an alley Iris hoped to lose them in it's darkness. But was devastated to find that it ended with a brick wall, she was trapped!

"She's trapped, let's get her!" yelled Pierce Polkiss pointlessly, the "brains" of Dudley's little merry band of bullies.

They all rushed in and surrounded her before she could even contemplate running away, Dudley shoved her hard, and she felt herself fall backwards.

Smash!

She hit something, hard, something that broke under her weight, her breath was knocked out of her and she grunted in pain. Iris tried to stand back up but her body felt like it weighed a hundred tonnes.

"Fuck, she's really hurt, let's get out of here!" yelled someone she couldn't see, and she heard the patter of feet away from her, she was alone.

Looking around Iris finally saw what injured her, a jagged piece of glass was sticking out of her chest, edge facing outward and covered in blood, "My blood." thought Iris despondently.

She felt her eyes getting heavier, and she weakly attempted to pry the piece from her, but she couldn't even move her hands, realizing the futility of the situation she began to cry, two tears managed to make their way onto her cheeks before she closed her emerald eyes and nine year old Iris Potter knew no more.

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Ulquiorra Cifer regarded the busty red haired girl attempting to catch is hand with dispassionate curiosity. When her fingers brushed his, he saw that they gave way and crumbled to dust, the rest of his arm quickly following.

"I... See." he managed to say, unsure if he was disappointed or not, he saw that tears where beginning to flow from her eyes, she looked... Sad? Yes that was the emotion he was looking for.

Turning his head away from her and towards his victorious opponent. Kurosaki Ichigo looked angry, and looked away when his gaze met his. Feeling the rest of his body rapidly disintegrating, the Quatro Espada was finally free.

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Iris opened her eyes, and frowned. She felt... Different. Looking down she saw the reason for her death, and frowned again before realizing that the piece of glass was not there anymore, there was a gaping hole where her heart was, perfectly round and positioned where the glass struck.

Iris frowned for a third time, she was surprised that she was unaffected by this situation, she quickly stood up, her body suddenly receiving a burst of energy.

"I remember dying, what the hell happened? Why am I still alive?" she thought furiously. She began to examine the hole in her chest. "My heart is gone, why am I still alive?" her thoughts repeated. Another burst of energy hit her, and she doubled over in pain, she felt like her veins where on fire. The buildings around her began to rumble, it felt like an earthquake. Before she could ready herself another burst of energy slammed into her again, this time Iris collapsed from the pain, she couldn't take it any more, she began to scream, however what came out her mouth was not the high pitched shriek of a pre-teen girl but the roar of some terrifying monster, utterly inhuman.

"What's happening to me!?" Iris thought with panic.

The buildings around her began to collapse, the pavement beneath her began to crack around her, like thin ice, the cracks forming a circle around her and continuing to grow at a tremendous rate. Realizing that if she didn't get out of here soon she would be crushed, Iris began to run but blinked in surprise when she suddenly appeared in front of Number 4 Privet Drive, followed by a loud boom.

"This is too bizarre, I felt myself run, but it was so fast I couldn't register it, I was in that alley one second, and now I'm here..." Iris thought, confused beyond belief.

Covering her hole with Dudley's old denim jacket, which felt like a coat on her. Iris meekly began walking towards the front door, desperately hoping she could sneak into her cupboard without anyone noticing.

Opening the door Iris listened intently. She could hear the television blaring in the background, and the clang of plates in the kitchen, which meant that her Uncle and Dudley where watching TV and Aunt Petunia was cooking dinner.

"Perfect, they won't even notice me." Iris thought with satisfaction. Slowly but surely, Iris began to sneak her way towards the cupboard.

Sighing with relief when she crawled her way inside and quickly closing the door, she crawled towards her "bed" which was no more than a pile of old sheets, covered in faded yellow marks from when Dudley wet the bed and a pillow which consisted of many of those sheets stuffed into a ball.

As she laid down Iris felt herself quickly fall asleep, exhausted from her apparent miraculous resurrection.

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Opening her eyes Iris regarded her surroundings, she was standing in a vast desert of grey sand, with strange skeletal crystal trees. A waxing crescent moon hung in the starless night sky.

"This is Hueco Mundo." Came a male voice to her right, turning to face him, Iris regarded the strange man.

He was of average hight, his skin paper white. He was wearing strange white robes that reminded Iris of something she saw on TV when she caught an excerpt of a documentary on Samurai. His feet where covered in blacks socks and white sandals. What looked like a katana hung from it's scabbard which was attached to his left hip, held there by a green sash. His hands where resting in his pockets.

Looking up Iris saw that his robe was opened and he had a hole in his chest, the exact same position as hers. He wore a strange helmet that only covered the right side of his head, it looked to be made out of bone and was ridged, ending in a single horn. Lank black hair feel around his neck, a single tuft sticking in the middle of his forehead. His face wore no emotion, and two green lines flew down his face from his brilliant emerald eyes, looking like tears.

"Who are you?" Iris asked.

"Mine name is... Or was, Ulquiorra Cifer." He looked confused for a second, but was back to his emotionless state quicker than she could blink.

"It appears I am inside your mind, would you mind telling me how I came to be here?" asked Ulquiorra, his emerald eyes boring into hers with cold intensity.

"I... I don't know, I-I died recently, m-maybe that's why?" stammered Iris, she moved her arms around her, and felt her jacket slip off her thin shoulders, it fell onto the sand with a soft thud. Ulquiorra's eyes widened when he saw the whole on her chest.

"I see... You appear to have a Hollow hole, but you are still human, and most importantly still alive, how?" he asked.

He paused for a moment and closed his eyes. Opening again he regarded her with open curiosity.

"I can sense power on you girl, my power and... Something else, something I have never felt before." He half whispered, more to himself than to her.

"You said you where Ulquiorra Cifer, d-does that mean you died too? And what's a Hollow?" Iris asked timidly after a few seconds of silence.

He closed his eyes again, and turned his head to face away from her.

"Yes, though I was technically already dead and I died a second time. A Hollow is a soul that is transformed into a monster after death, and constantly hungers for other souls. They vary in appearance but they all have a hole replacing their heart..." He pointed to his hole, "And a mask." He finished, resting a hand on the strange bone helmet of his for a second.

Taking a wary step away from him, Iris began to regard the man occupying her mind a little fearfully.

"Where I still alive would be right to fear me child, but since I am powerless inside your mind, I cannot do anything to you, even if I wanted to." he explained calmly.

"Oh..." Iris muttered stupidly. A thousand questions where raging inside her mind, Iris picked one to ask.

"After I woke up from my... Death, the buildings around me began to shake, like an earthquake, and then I moved so fast that I didn't even notice I ran a mile in the blink of an eye, how?" she asked, the question escaped her lips like a flood released from a damn.

"That was your Reiatsu, or Spirit Energy, which you seemed to have acquired from me, you would have to be careful and learn to control it, lest you rip apart any more buildings around you. And you ran so fast because of Sonído, a technique known by powerful Hollows which allows them to travel at extreme speeds." He explained, turning to face her again.

"Cool!" Iris exclaimed. "I can finally outrun my Cousin!"

The strange man raised an eyebrow, the question was evident in the air.

"T-that's how I d-died..." stammered Iris. "Dudley and his gang cornered me in an alley and Dudley pushed me onto some glass." she finished, her voice so quiet he had to strain his ears to hear her.

"I see." He eventually said, his eyes looked considerably softer.

"Do you wish revenge?" He asked. The question completely surprised her, she blinked a few times trying to digest it.

"Um... No, not really, I mean he didn't mean to kill me, it was an accident so..." she rambled, avoiding his eyes.

"You are a most curious girl, everyone else would have rushed off to kill him, it's what all Hollows do after their conversion, they seek out those closest to them in life and kill them, it is like an obsession to them." He said, his voice monotone.

"Maybe I didn't because I'm still alive and not a full Hollow?" she looked at him again, and noticed something. "Wait, you said all Hollows had a mask, where is yours?" she accused, pointing a finger at him.

He looked pensive for a moment, as if deciding whether to tell her or not.

"I used to have one, but it broke when I became an Arrancar, a Hollow/Shinigami hybrid." He explained before she could ask.

"Shinigami?" She asked instead.

"Death Gods or Soul Reapers, they are the ones who protect souls from Hollows, and help human souls to enter Soul Society, which is what you might call Heaven."

He waved a arm around himself.

"This is a representation of Hueco Mundo, where Hollows reside, it is a realm, like Soul Society, but for lost souls."

"So... It's Hell?" asked Iris, trying to understand the strange worlds of the dead.

"No, Hueco Mundo is more like Purgatory. Hell is something completely different."

"So what's the difference between Hollows and Arrancar?" she asked, burning with curiosity.

"They-" he began to explain, but a sudden rumble jarred him from his thoughts. He looked around, and finally at her.

"It seems you are waking up girl, I feel myself fading, so this might be the last we speak, know this girl, you carry a power far beyond mortal comprehension, use it wisely." He stated cryptically.

Before Iris could ask him to elaborate she saw the would around them getting darker and darker, and felt herself starting to fall.

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Iris opened her eyes, and then closed them again when she felt a monster of a headache starting. She was back in her cupboard, her strange dream still fresh in her mind. The headache worsened and Iris began to moan in pain, it felt like something was trying to cram itself inside her head.

After what felt like an agonizing eternity, the pain eventually subsided. Iris blinked as new information began rushing into her brain, an entire lifetime's worth of them.

"I see." she eventually said in a monotone voice. A beam of light shone through the crack of the cupboard door, revealing two green tear like stains on her paper white cheeks.

Thanks for reading!

This is a companion piece of sorts to my other story "Iris Potter and the Soul Enigma.", where that one focuses on Iris in Soul Society this one will focus on an Iris/Ulquiorra hybrid going to Hogwarts.

I will be updating both stories regularly, this idea was not something I could pass up, and I have a solid idea where both stories will go.

BTW I'm stealing the idea for Spanish chapter titles from the amazing story "Amenaza" by Alban55. :P