Summary
After defeating Aizen for the final time, Ichigo is left as the last person in two worlds. The world, everything and everyone that he has come to know is long gone, leaving him to succumb to his loneliness. His desire to go back is left unheard until Aizens defeat, when he wakes up in an unusual body. Time-travel AU.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach
Prologue
Warnings: Violence and blood
Ichigo lies in the remains of the soul society, gone, everything that he once knew is gone. The only thing that remains is the rubble and debris. Even the human world has been reduced to nothing more than dust, there is nothing left in either world. He is the lone survivor of the human race and the last soul reaper. Everything is gone. Even now, hours after the final fight, pieces of the seireitei gates are still crumbling, large chunks of the gates crashing to the ground.
A small pool surrounds Ichigo, he doesn't make a move to sit up, only looking around at the debris with dull, lifeless eyes. Shingles and large beams of wood stick out of large chunks of white sekkiseki stone that once made up the walls of the seireitei. Not a single house in the rukongai remains standing, only fragments, wooden boards and supports have been shattered to nothingness.
The soul society is empty, desolate, the type of quiet that echoes, the type of quiet that makes the silence ring in your ears, so quiet that it's deafening. Ichigo looks down to the left, among the rubble and dust is Aizen, he's still alive, at least that's what it looks like to Ichigo. He has no idea how much time has passed at this point, he stopped counting the days at this point, the date, time, none of it really mattered anymore. Ichigo no longer knew how old he was, for all he knows he could have been lying in the debris for years or for seconds. It all melts together, each day, each week, each month and each year, it's all the same and it will always be the same because he is the last. He is the last person in the soul society, the last shinigami, the last member of the 13 Gotei and the last living human that is, if he is even considered living anymore. He is alone, utterly alone.
He looks down at the hogyoku at his fingertips and stares that the bluish-purple orb that caused all of this. All of the death, destruction and despair that has occurred stemmed from this orb, a single small object caused the destruction of almost everything. Ichigo's lifeless eyes look down at the hogyoku at his side hoping that staring at it would make it go back to the way it was before the war, so that his friends survive, so that his family survives.
He grasps the hogyoku tightly in his hand, half wanting to break it in his grip and half not wanting too. Ichigo sighs and spins the orb around in his hand observing each side and the strange bluish-purple glow radiating from it. He places it back on the ground and winces as he pushes himself up into a sitting position carefully, so not to disturb any of his wounds, previous or current. He brings the orb at arms length from his face, and watches as the glowing grows brighter. Ichigo fiddles with the hogyoku in his hand and looks up at the sky. His gaze snaps back to the orb as the glowing shines brightly, bluish-purple rays and light radiate from it. Ichigo drops it, letting it fall onto the rubble, it continues glowing and shining only getting brighter as time goes by. A bright bluish-purple reiatsu fills the air surrounding the hogyoku, it swirls around it, creating a mini vortex of colours. Ichigo watches with slight curiosity buried underneath his lifeless gaze as the colours of the vortex mesh together making a deep purple.
The deep purple vortex suddenly implodes revealing a small girl with deep purple hair and bluish-purple eyes. Her hair goes down to her waist and is pulled into two long plaits, one on each side. She wears a dark blue kimono with yellow flowers on it and a red obi around her waist. She smiles at Ichigo showing the gaps between her teeth, Ichigo watches her then looks up at the sky again.
"You're the Hogyoku aren't you" Ichigo states, not taking his eyes off the sky.
She looks at him and smiles, "Yes Ichigo-san"
"Why are you here?" he asks, still staring up at the sky.
The Hogyoku giggles, "I'm here to send you back of course."
Ichigo looks down from the sky and stares at her, cautiously observing her as she skips around him.
"Why?" he asks breaking the silence.
"Ichigo-san is kind and nice," She stops skipping and her happy tone turns melancholic, "but lonely and sad, I love Ichigo-san, I want him to be happy." she exclaims, "If I sent him back he will be happy again, right?"
Ichigo smiles slightly, "Right" he says halfheartedly, not quite believing her.
The Hogyoku smiles, "Are you ready Ichigo-san?"
She crouches beside him and touches the area just above his heart, she smiles. Ichigo struggles to stay awake, the debris around him fading and the world spinning around him. His head pounds and his wounds burn, everything hurts. He looks over to where the Hogyoku was, only to find neither her nor the orb. His eyelids feel heavy, he can't stay awake for much longer. A flash of bluish-purple light shines in front of him as he loses consciousness.
Hello, I'm Etosca, this is a new story that I'm working on and I will hopefully be updating once every week or fortnight and surprisingly, I'm a little over halfway through the second chapter. Also this story will hopefully get better as the chapters progress so for the first little bit you'll have to bare with me and my awful descriptions. Anyway, constructive criticism is always appreciated, my writing style is a work in progress so any advice or suggestions are greatly appreciated. Another thing, my grammar is probably atrocious, I'm working on it so bare with me. Also if anyone has any ideas for a title, I'd be happy to hear them. Thank you.
Bye