Chapter One: Live Free Or Let Me Die
EDIT: Story has been edited 12/31/2015
Death until the dust and we're waiting
Ruined in the rust of our craving
It feels like, it feels like
Don't you know the cost of your betrayal?
You're the one that's lost, you're gonna fail
It feels like, it feels like you're gasping with all your might
It started on a Thursday. How ironic that such an important even happened on the week's most boring day. Fate certainly had a sense of twisted humor.
It started when he was suddenly shoved from his sideways world into a blurry grey blob of existence. It took him a while to realize it was because his eyes were half closed. Eyes... real eyes!
Zangetsu jumped up so sharply he actually fell from the bed in which his (Ichigo's) body lay and landed so gracefully on the floor (not).
And it hurt. Smacked the back of his (their) head on a nightstand, banged his (not) funny-bone on the floor and maybe broke a tailbone as well. Perhaps he was exaggerating, but hell it hurt. And it was the most wonderful thing he had ever felt.
It meant it was real. He had an actual body that could actually hurt. Could bleed. Could feel.
It. Felt. So. Good.
His heart (he actually had a heart!) finally began to slow in its erratic thumpity-thumping and Zangetsu was finally able to look around and make sense of this odd turn of events.
Ichigo's room was dark, the half open window dimly reflecting dark sky, faint stars, and a pale sliver of a moon.
It was night then. Meaning the King had been asleep.
Asleep... and now he had control. Had King lost control while unconscious, inadvertently leaving the hollow in charge of their shared body? It was the most likely explanation.
He had a body now. At least until dawn.
Zangetsu let his head fall back onto the cool wood floorings with a thump. It was a bit much to take in.
He could feel the other half of Zangetsu shift in the back of his head. The Old Man was watching him carefully. Ever since the weaker two of the zanpakutou spirits had been hollowfied, the elder being had kept a close eye on him.
It wasn't so much that the Old Man didn't trust him. It was more that he didn't trust Zangetsu's newly acquired instincts.
Well he could just shove it! Zangetsu wasn't about to do anything especially stupid.
But he was going to do something.
Jumping to his feet as quietly as he could as not to wake the King's family, Zangetsu tapped himself on the chest and split from the useless little meat-suit that Ichigo insisted on wearing, trading it out for the much more powerful (and comfortable) shinigami form. Gently he laid the empty body back on the bed, situating it to look like it was still occupied and just sleeping.
Honestly, King could at least take the time to lay his body out carefully so it wouldn't cramp instead of just leaving it where it dropped. You'd think he'd take better care of something like that.
His task done, Zangetsu pushed open the window fully and climbed out. It was pathetically simple, sneaking out without a sound. Even Ichigo, the hopeless oaf he was, could escape the house in the middle of the night without anyone noticing.
Anyone except Rukia, but Zangetsu was more skilled then King. He knew for a fact the petit shinigami wouldn't follow him.
Zangetsu shonpoed around, wandering aimlessly, his mind swirling with all sorts of thoughts. He needed time to think.
And thus he found himself sitting on the roof of King's high school of all places. He remembered the spot in some far corner of his mind. He could distantly see King helping the 'mini-gami' (aka Rukia) stab a straw into a juice box. Honestly, how hard is it to impale a paper cube?
Memories aside, Zangetsu's mind drifted to more pressing matters, like what had caused this shift in power, how long he had until Ichigo woke up, and what chaos to cause between then and now.
Zangetsu laid down on his back, arms crossed behind his head to think. Every time he'd taken control had to be forced, so what changed? How had the weapon been able to overtake the wielder?
Ichigo's mental shields had always been iron thick, a precaution to keep Zangetsu trapped inside their inner world. Did they somehow slip while the King was asleep?
It was the only thing the sword could think of to explain what had happened, but it didn't seem all that solid. Why would King's usually iron-clad mind suddenly have control? Not only that, Zangetsu hadn't even been trying to take control, he'd been practically shoved into the driver's seat.
It didn't make sense, but Zangetsu was sure the old man could help him figure this mess out once he returned to that damn sideways world.
His attention turned to his second predicament, how long would it last? King was still nicely unconscious in their shared mind, lost in the oblivion of dreamless sleep thanks to his recent exhaustion. (life was taxing for a teenage substitute shinigami) Perhaps that's why his shields had slipped? He was simply too tired to keep them up fully?
But that didn't make sense. The kid had reiatsu to spare. His shields should have been able to survive a mental apocalypse.
So much thinking was giving Zangetsu a headache, so he decided to focus on his third problem, what to do.
He was bored.
Bored bored bored bored!
There was never anything to do in that sideways world of King's. Even teasing the Old Man got tiring after a while.
So how best to utilize his time outside that bland prison?
His question was answered for him when Ichigo's shinigami badge began to wail a hollow alert.
Zangetsu's face split into a maniacal grin as he reached out with his reiatsu, feeling for the hollow that dare encroach his territory.
His gold in black eyes gleamed in wicked delight. This hollow was strong.
With a mad cackle and elegant shunpo, his hunt began.
You can't take away my strength
Fix these broken veins
There's nothing left to fight
(Live free or let me die)
You can't take away my pride, I won't be denied
There's nothing left to fight
(Live free or let me die)
He didn't kill. He butchered. It was so much more fun then a quick death. Blood was a drug, pained screeches, music. Why Ichigo hated this, Zangetsu didn't know. Perhaps it was his hollow side, or maybe it was that sadistic part of him that was always there, but Zangetsu loved death. Loved pain.
Life wasn't worth much without the thrill of battle. The ability to fight for survival, to prove you deserve existence and not those weaker than you. It was the greatest feeling one could ever experience.
Ichigo might be the king of their body, but Zangetsu was Vasto Lorde, the ultimate hollow. He was above them all… stronger… faster… smarter.
So it was with great joy and exhilaration that he butchered the hollow that dared hunt in his territory. Dared threaten what was his!
The beast he fought was a powerful one, on the verge of becoming a gillian. A few more souls and the beast was destined to evolve. Something like that posed a threat to Ichigo's family and friends. And what belonged to Ichigo, belonged to Zangetsu. What the King would give his life to protect, the zanpakuto would kill for without hesitation.
He might have been born with Ichigo, laying dormant until a certain someone was stabbed with a reaper's blade, but it wasn't until Ichigo was hollowfied that Zangetsu was truly awakened. And when he was, the first thing he felt was the desperate need to protect. It had been ingrained in his very soul. It was who he was.
And so Zangetsu fought.
The hollow he battled roared in pain and fury as it was slowly sliced to pieces. Zangetsu returned the sentiment with an insane cackle and another slash with his sword.
The crazed sword spirit danced around the wounded hollow, stabbing and slashing to inflict the most damage possible.
With a mere flick of his wrist, Zangetsu severed the hollow's hand from its wrist. The creature shrieked, backing away from the blood thirsty predator.
The sword spirit pursued, shark grin bared, double tone voice laughing.
Zangetsu felt the Old Man stirring in the back of his mind, displeased with his act of butchery, but grudgingly accepting that this was a better outlet for Zangetsu's violent tendencies than other, more disastrous, activities.
The colourless being laughed all the more, taking great pleasure in slowly mutilating the pathetic excuse of a hollow.
After a quarter hour of one sided battle, the hollow was rendered a quivering bloody mess, too weak to even lift its masked head.
Now bored, Zangetsu put the beast out of its misery, cutting its head clean in half. The hollow vanished in a shower of ash.
Zangetsu glanced up. The moon was slowly fading and the sun was reaching out its thin fingers toward the horizon. It was time he got back, else Ichigo wake up and find his inner hollow in charge of their body.
Sighing in disappointment of his play-time's end, Zangetsu headed toward the Kurosaki clinic.
Sneaking back into the King's room, Zangetsu was careful to remain as quiet as he was when he escaped.
Sighing, he fell back onto the bed, slipping into Ichigo's human body as he did, and relinquished control.
There was always tomorrow... he hoped.
Insects walk below, I'm on a wire
Fire will burn below but I am higher
It feels like, it feels like
Don't you know the cost of your betrayal?
You're the one that's lost, you're gonna fail
It feels like, it feels like you're gasping with all your might
As it turned out, he did indeed have tomorrow, and the next night, and the next. Rukia had yet to return from Soul Society, and it seemed Old Man Yomma deemed 'Ichigo' capbable enough to protect Kurakara. What they didn't know, of course, was that Zangetsu was the one doing most of the work. The sword spirit momenerily fantasized what expressions the esteemed captains would wear if they were to ever find out of about Zangetsu.
He snickered. It'd be almost worth it to see actual surprise on Byakuya's face for once. Almost.
It was still relatively early in the night, around eleven, and there was absolutely no hollows to speak of.
Boring!
Grumbling under his breath Zangetsu was suddenly hit with an idea. An extremely stupid idea, no doubt, but it was better then wandering around Kurakara until King woke.
Thankful Tensa was 'sleeping' within Ichigo's inner world, Zangetsu swiped a hand through the air, tearing open reality itself to reveal the gaping black hole of a garganta.
With a wicked grin and slowly rising killing intent, Zangetsu leapt through the hole.
Do you remember how
You became who you are now?
Do you remember how
It felt to breathe without
Gasping with all your might?
Hueco Mundo was just as Zangetsu imagined it to be, barren and… hollow…
It felt wrong, yet at the same time, sorta right. Which passed him off to no end.
The zanpakuto just stood there for a moment, absorbing the world around him. The cool sand beneath his feet, the windless air, the silence.
It was so alien.
Zangetsu's eyes snapped open.
He checked once more to make sure his reiatsu was nearly invisible before he vanished with sonido.
This was gonna be fun.
You can't take away my strength
Fix these broken veins
Nothing left to fight
"Gah... why am I so sore?' Ichigo moaned. He rubbed his shoulder as he and Rukia entered their school.
"Maybe you were sleep walking." Rukia supplied sarcastically. Her lips were turned up at the corners in a smirk. The little Shinigami had returned to the world of the living two days prior after a long rest in Soul Society.
"Haha." Ichigo toned humorously. "Very funny. And I guess I've been going out and killing hollows in my sleep too?"
The near silent echoes of laughter in the back of Ichigo's mind had him freeze momentarily.
'What is he doing now?' Ichigo thought with rising dread. However, the laughter merely faded into the background of him mind. That only served to make him even more anxious.
His thoughts were soon interrupted with his and Rukia's arrival to class. The room was rowdy as ever, waiting for their morning class to begin.
Ichigo greeted his friends as always, with a nod to Chad and Ishida, a half smile Inoue, and a arm to the gut for Kaigo.
Normal as normal can be.
The two shinigami took their seats as class began. The teacher then proceeded to announce the arrival of a new student. Ichigo didn't bother looking up when said student entered the room.
His inner hollow, however, began to stir. Ichigo's brown knit in concern. He'd never felt the creature act like this. The hollow's mental racket grew louder until it was practically howling in his brain.
Ichigo shoved his darker half as far down into his consciousness as possible and slammed up his mental walls. With one last shriek, his head was finally silent.
Ichigo glanced up to see what might have caused the bizarre (and painful) behavior. His eyes finally landed on the new student who seemed to have taken ownership of the formerly empty chair next to Ichigo.
The blonde boy flashed him a smirk. Ichigo immediately felt on edge. Something was off with this guy.
"Name's Shinji," the boy introduced himself. His piano grin grew wider. "And I think we should be friends... Ichigo."
You can't take away my strength
Fix these broken veins
There's nothing left to fight
(Live free or let me die)
You can't take away my pride, I won't be denied
There's nothing left to fight
Nothing left to fight
Watching through their wielder's eyes, two spirits spectated with mixed emotions. The dark clothed one watched with growing trepidation while his bleach counterpart pulled back his lips in a snarl.
Instinct screamed that this guy meant nothing but bad news for Zangetsu. Why, he'd yet to find out. But there was something very wrong about Piano-Teeth.
"We need to be weary of this new player." Tensa spoke at last.
"No shit."
Live free or let me die
Author's Note: I've decided to go back and revise both What the Mirror Saw and Still-Born. I recently started a Tokyo Ghoul story, and in doing so, made a cool little stradegy for making my chapters longer. Each chapter gets a 'theme song'. I use sections of the lyrics as scene dividers. I've set myself a rule that I HAVE TO use all the lyrics (aside from those that repeat a lot) This has made my chapters grow from around 1k words to an average of 3k or 4k. I recently had a 5000+ word chapter. Pretty cool ain't it?
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or the song
Song: Live Free or Let Me Die by Skillet
