Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, or any of the characters used in this fic. They all belong to Tite Kubo. I only own any of my original characters that I choose to include, as well as any of my own original plot ideas.
Remnants Of A Past
Prompt: "I try to run, but I don't want to ever leave till the walls are going up in smoke with all our memories..."
A/N: For a friend on LJ, alternate events (Winter War).
It had seemed so promising, the idea that redemption would come and again wash the world clean. There would no longer be that dark residue on crystal glass. It would have been streaked through with clear and beautiful clarity before being pure the way he remembered it. Instead, it was far worse a sight than it had been before, far too similar to the apocalyptic programs that flashed on television screens at all hours of the day. There was no smoke and mirrors, just the blatant facts that had been laid out on a place gone to waste.
He'd expected better than this from the people of this city. They'd always upheld order in the greatest fashion, bringing that vibrance to the world. But they had failed, fallen, only to end up buried beneath the rubble.
How the enemy had made it this far was unclear. He just knew that their all hadn't been enough to spare their home from destruction. He could just watch as whitewashed buildings tumbled to the earth, leaving much dust and falling debris in their wake.
It wasn't so much the material as the intangible that mattered. When he looked out the window in the mornings, the view would never be the same. There would be a gap in the distance where those familiar structures stood. Structures where they would engage one another in those reckless, childish games of chase. She would hide, laughing and mocking him, and he would strive to find a way to silence her.
Nobody would have guessed that he'd secretly enjoyed the times that she'd teased him. He'd seen it as another challenge, another art opening in which to outdo her. It was a shame that her banishment had turned all that to dust. Not long after had he given up on the notion that she'd come charging back, having found a loophole and a reason to stay.
"You thought that a few laws would keep me away, little prince?" he'd imagined her saying. "It's just like you to doubt me."
She hadn't returned in the way that he'd believed, but she had thrown herself well against the barriers that should have kept her away. And, upon their encounter before Rukia's staged execution, she'd challenged him again.
It was just a shame that the tower, where they'd met and dueled in the past, was crumbling.