Yo everybody! Now I know I have tons of other stuff I should be working on but as of late I find my mind drawn to a bunch of my half-written, half-thought up Bleach story ideas and I've kind of decided to write them up a bit for you my fans, for your enjoyment and possibly for your own inspiration.
This first one I've had in my mind since fairly early on in the Fake Karakura Arc. It's had many forms but it's revolved around a singular core idea. Aizen, in one last spiteful act following his defeat, attempts to destroy Karakura with the power of Hogyoku. However it doesn't quite go as he planned and instead the city plunged into an undiscovered world. Some of the original drafts had Ichigo and the other core characters present in this world as well but as I refined this idea got away from that in favor of focusing powerless characters struggling in an extremely dangerous world without the security net of Ichigo and the others. Plus I really love Tatsuki, Keigo and Mizuiro as my long time fans now. In fact I could see any one of those three being the main character of Bleach instead of Ichigo and it still be interesting. Speaking of with, those are among the story ideas bouncing around in my head.
Anyway, on with the show.
Title: The Shadowlands
Rating: T-M
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.
'When I awoke in these lands I knew my life was over. The world I knew was gone, replaced by a realm of unending twilight, a stygian abyss, a land of living nightmares, a nexus of human wickedness, despair and horror. However in time I would learn the truths of the Shadowlands, what it truly is and our role within it. Now I proudly call it home…'
-excerpt from the writings of the Grand Hierophant of Violet Eye
"There," Mizuiro Kojima quietly announced as the door unlocked.
"One day you're gonna explain how you know how to pick locks," Tatsuki Arisawa replied, pushing the door open. She turned to the others in their group who were standing watch. "Come on. In and out people, before we're noticed."
Mizuiro nodded his head as he pocketed his tools and grabbed the empty bags at his side before standing up and moving through the door, the others behind him as he entered the dark grocery store. Flashlights were flicked on, partly illuminating the darkness of the building's interior. They wouldn't and couldn't turn on the lights of the store. There was no more electrical power within Karakura beyond what batteries and smaller generators they could find but more importantly it would draw their attention and that was something they could not afford.
"Remember food, water and medical supplies first," Tatsuki said, her tone low. "And keep it down."
No one needed to be reminded of that fact. Several weeks of living here had taught them this lesson well. Stay as quiet as possible, stick to the shadows, don't draw attention to yourselves and above all run like hell if you hear Them or anything else coming. One could only survive by obeying those simple rules.
"I'll take a look through the pharmacy," Kenichirō Nanbu said as they silently walked through the backrooms of the grocery store. "Someone what to give me a hand?"
Though he hardly knew Kenichirō beyond that he had been the fourth rank student at Karakura High, the teen had revealed weeks ago that he was also the son of a pharmacist and had desired to follow in his footsteps. If anyone that knew what they could make use of it would be him.
"I'll help you," Tetsuo Momohara replied, shouldering a metal baseball bat.
"Alright, everyone else look for water bottles and nonperishable food," Tatsuki said, pushing open the doors to main area of the store. "And keep your lights low."
Most of the store was intact and largely untouched save for the large truck that had plowed through the front, one of the reasons why they had snuck through the back rather than entering through the front. Better to pick a lock than to try walking over broken glass and the noise that could make it. Noise could attract attention, the dangerous kind.
They quickly spread out among the isles, searching the shelves for what they could use. Mizuiro's nose twitched, the smell of rotting food was prevalent in the air. The produce, meat and dairy products had long started going bad. But the canned goods and dry foods were still good and unspoiled. Hopefully there'd be enough food to keep them alive for some weeks to come. If not… well there were other stores out there they could hit.
Mizuiro sighed as he piled cans of vegetables into one of his bags. It was hard to believe how much had changed so quickly. A couple weeks he was an ordinary high school student albeit with very unusual friends, living in a normal city. Now he was spending just about every moment of every day fighting to survive in a city that now laid somewhere that was not Earth.
Everything had gone wrong that day. How exactly he could not say but they were all now living with the results of it. Somehow Ichigo must have been defeated by that man Aizen. It didn't seem possible. Ichigo never lost a fight when it mattered so how could he lose when all of Karakura was on the line? Yet there was no denying what had happened…
Beneath their feet the ground began to tremble and shutter, a low rumble at first but it quickly grew into violent quakes that knocked them to the concrete. Howling winds raged around them, throwing all kinds of things around them. The sky above filled with black clouds, bolts of lightning rapidly dancing across them before randomly striking the ground. A bolt struck a nearby car, instantly exploding in a ball of fire. Another slammed into the pavement a few feet from him. The air was sucked out of Mizuiro's lungs as he was thrown into the air by accompanying blast before crashing on the hard ground. Pain tore into the back of his head as the world and his senses seemed to fade into the background.
As the dull pain coursed through him Mizuiro found his mind drifting to odd places. Was Ichigo still alive? Or had Aizen killed him before doing this? And what of the others? Had they managed to bring back Orihime? Were they in Karakura as well? Or were they helplessly watching beyond the city limits? And what of his mother? She was off in…Tokyo if he remembered correctly so she would be spared from this. Yet he could not help but wonder how she would take his death.
By far that was the strangest thought going through his mind. He and his mother had not had any real relationship in years. They were practically strangers that sometimes lived under the same roof. So why was he thinking of her now?
"…uiro…Mizuiro…" a familiar voice echoed through his ears, something lifting him up. "…are you alright…"
Mizuiro blinked his eyes, the world beginning to return to focus. A pale faced Keigo was knelt over him, trying to lift him up off the ground. He raised a hand to his head, drawing it back when he felt wetness. "I don't really think it matters anymore," the teen replied, staring at the blood on his fingers.
As if summoned by his very words a great black sphere rose up from elsewhere in the city, consuming building after building, city block after city block in its unending expansion. Chizuru let out a bloodcurdling scream while Mizuiro could feel Keigo tremble in fear, a terrified whimper escaping his lips. But then something appeared in the corner of his eyes, over where Ichigo had placed his unconscious father. A figure shrouded in shadow and darkness was lifting up Isshin Kurosaki. No one else seemed to notice the figure but it seemed to notice him, turning what he could only assume was its head to him. Black eyes stared at him, looking at him, peering into his soul. Power, wisdom and world-weariness radiated from those eyes along with an unusual familiarity, almost as though he had seen those eyes before yet he could not place it. Then as quickly as the figure had appeared it disappeared with Isshin into the darkness that enshrouded it. With it gone, Mizuiro turned back to the rapidly encroaching blackness. Nothing mattered anymore. It was all over. He knew that from the bottom of his heart. The blackness was now little more than a block away. He closed his eyes, accepting the approaching oblivion…
But oblivion was not to be their fate it seemed. Instead they awoke to find themselves and Karakura in a place that was definitely not Earth. For starters the sky of this unusual world was always in a perpetual state of a dark twilight of reds, blues and purples around an unmoving, giant violet sun that emitted barely any light. Patches of blue dirt and rocks emerged from broken ground and concrete. But that was not all that had appeared on the ground. Clusters of large crystals that glowed were growing from the ground while in other areas an unusual miasma flowed from small fissures and rents. None of them dared approach either out of fear of what they could be and it could do to them.
That first day here in this new world had been rocky to say the least. Initially they had decided to go to Urahara's for…well for answers, for help, for whatever. But when they got there they found the little shop abandoned, not even Ichigo's body was there. After that Tatsuki had demanded that they head over to Ichigo's house to make sure that his little sisters were alright. Mizuiro himself had agreed with her as had Keigo and Don Kanonji while Chizuru and Michiru were too afraid to be on their own and came along solely to avoid being alone. However it turned out to be just as fruitless as their trip to Urahara's, finding only an empty house. Oddly even that giant poster of Ichigo's mother was gone from its spot on the wall.
But as they were leaving everything began to collapse around them and the full danger of this world began to manifest itself.
A great serpentine flying creature descended upon the neighborhood. If ever there was a flesh and blood creature that could be called a dragon it was this. Within seconds the dragon was tearing apart houses and consuming anyone it could catch in its jaws. They ran while Kanonji tried to stop it or at least stall it long enough for everyone in the area to flee. Say what you want about Kanonji but he was a hero to the end.
The next several hours were a blur but somehow they ended up in Karakura High with dozens of others, friends, family, classmates, strangers. All of them just as lost and scared as they were but because the three of them had some small inkling of things beyond the world they all knew everyone was looking to them for answers. It was overwhelming. What could they say to them? In the end they told them what they learned from Urahara and probably violated soul reaper laws in the process. Unsurprisingly given their new circumstances most were willing to accept it and those few skeptics were at a loss to suggest any other possible explanation. Some even seemed to take it has a sign of hope. Surely the soul reapers would come for them and take them back to their world.
Mizuiro stood up, shouldering the half-full bag as he looked for more food. Yes, more than a few in their group clung to the notion that if there were power death gods that regulated the flow of life and death that had fought to protect the city and everyone within it surely they would be seeking to find them and take them back home. Yet no matter how much Mizuiro wanted to believe that it was still just a fantasy. Urahara had told them that Aizen had been planning to destroy Karakura, using the souls of city's inhabitants to create some sort of mystical key, the Ōken. And it was to that was why he could hope that help was coming. His private theory on what happened to Karakura was that somehow Aizen had gained an upper hand over Ichigo or momentarily incapacitated him, allowing him to start the process of creating the Ōken but before it could be finished Ichigo or possibly someone else stopped Aizen before he could finish, throwing the spell, ritual, whatever into chaos resulting in Karakura being ripped from Earth and sent to this place. Chances are all the soul reapers thought they were dead, killed by Aizen in his failed attempt at making the Ōken.
Plus they had greater things to worry about in this shadowy world. The dragon was not the only one of its kind here nor was it home to just the dragons. There was all manner of vicious creatures living here.
Mizuiro paused for a moment, inspecting a pile of fallen cans of soup mix. If they could find some powdered milk they should be able to make use of these. Just in case he began to stuff some of the cans into his bag, pausing when he realized the cans had been laying on a dried stain of what had been red liquid. It was blood. A quick, flashlight-lit glance further down the aisle confirmed what he already knew. Someone had been attacked while searching for food, killed and dragged somewhere else to be consumed. He had seen it before and he had no doubt that would see it again.
No…they were not creatures or ordinary beast, they were monstrous parodies of animals both living and extinct. Virtually all of the ones that they had seen looked it had been at one point a normal animal from Earth but warped into something horrible. Even gentle herbivores had turned into something that could and would kill anyone if give the chance. What caused these transformations in ordinary animals none could say but Mizuiro knew that it didn't matter. They were here and wondering how they came to be wouldn't solve anything. However there was one concern that was always present in the back of his mind. Would whatever happened to those animals happen to them one day? Would they become some warped versions of themselves? Or were they destined to slowly become like Them?
Suddenly he heard it, the laughter that always stopped his heart. It was feral and animalistic, the kind that a human throat could not make nor was it alone. And worse it was close, far too close for comfort. Slowly Mizuiro raised his flashlight towards the front of the store. The light reflected off more than a dozen sets of eyes. Attached to those eyes were monkey-like bodies that were the size of large dogs and possessing an extra set of arms. On each and every one of their digits were long talons that could slice through car doors like a hot knife through butter while their powerful, bone-crushing jaws were filled with razor sharp fangs. The last and most unusual feature of the beasts were crystalline growths on their bodies that resembled the crystals growing on the ground.
"LEAPERS!" Mizuiro screamed, already spinning around.
The sounds of cans, boxes and other items falling to the ground, feet rapidly hitting the ground and the leapers howling filled the dark store as Mizuiro took off. True to their name the leapers chased after them with their loping-jumps, their claws scratching across the floor.
Somehow Mizuiro managed outrun the leapers reaching the back of the store where Tatsuki was holding the door open, ushering everyone else through it. "Pick it up Kojima!" she yelled, a frantic edge to her voice. "They're right on your ass!"
He didn't need didn't need to be reminded, he could hear them behind him getting closer. A set of claws suddenly raked across his backpack, urging Mizuiro to run faster, to run as fast as he could. "Hurry up!" Tatsuki screamed.
She was considering shutting the door to stall the leapers long enough for the rest of them to escape; Mizuiro could see it in her eyes. Tatsuki would leave him behind to die to save the others like she had done before. One life wasn't worth the lives of the entire group. But she would wait as long as she could before sacrificing someone. That was the kind of person she was. Mizuiro wasn't he knew that. If their roles were reversed he honestly wasn't sure would have waited.
At the last few feet to the door Mizuiro jumped, diving through the door as Tatsuki slammed it shut. There were loud thuds as the Leapers banged against the metal door with their bodies. Scratched and scraped up from hitting the concrete but otherwise fine, Mizuiro gasped and panted for air on the ground for moment before Tatsuki and Keigo lifted him up. The others were already gone, heading back for the hideout. "Come on we gotta get going," Keigo said. "There's no telling if-"
His words were cut off when two sets of arms wrapped around Keigo's body, one set around his waist while the other wrapped around his neck and shoulders. The arms were connected to a body attached to rope that stretched upwards into the sky. The attacker let a loud wailing howl that filled the air. It started lifting Keigo up as he frantically fought back, trying to reach the knife he carried in his pocket. But both Mizuiro and Tatsuki were on the pair, prevent it from lift Keigo any further up. Tatsuki had pulled out her pocket knife, hacking and stabbing at Keigo's attacker. Black blood sprayed out from its wounds but it didn't let go. While she slashed at it Mizuiro reached the teaser he kept in his pocket and jab it into one of the arms around Keigo's waist. The attacker shuddered as the electricity surged through its body. Not even its strong muscles were able maintain its grip on him with all that electricity coursing through it and Keigo dropped barely a foot to the ground, followed by both he and Tatsuki while the attacker raced upwards on its rope.
"Damn Hangman," Keigo muttered as he got up to his knees. "Always showing up at the worst times."
Mizuiro glanced upwards, already knowing that there would be nothing there. Hangmen never stayed around for long. Either they would strangle a helpless victim and disappear or they'd fail and flee. They were truly hideous things to behold. Outwardly they appeared to be pale, genderless humans being hung by fleshy cords fashioned into nooses. However that was where the resemblance ended. Their legs had warped into a second, larger set of arms while burlap sacks were stitched to their heads like skintight masks.
All and all they were one of the less dangerous things out there, so long as you weren't alone.
The creatures vicious and dangerous but they still possessed a base animal mentality. Smaller ones could be scared off easily enough while larger ones could often be heard before they were upon them. But that was not the case with the things they all universally referred to as Them or the Wraiths. Unlike the creatures that were driven largely by the basic things like hunger, all of the Wraiths were driven by an insane rage and hatred for everyone and everything else around. But they seemed to hold a special hatred for humans, largely ignoring the other creatures that inhabited this place in favor hunting and killing of them. Worse it was impossible to tell when one was about to attack as they always appear and disappear out of nowhere like apparitions, hence the name.
In the first week after the Fall many, many people had died at the hands and claws of the Wraiths. Mizuiro himself had seen the aftermath of a Wraith attack on a police station. According to the last dying man in the station, a few Wraiths had slaughtered the entire building with ease despite all the armed officers inside. After that the rule of running from Them became Rule Number One.
There were different kinds of Wraiths their group had seen in weeks since they ended up in this place, giving them names if for no other reason than to lessen the terror they caused. Hangmen, Slashers, Gunmen, Arsonists and Gorgers. Terrible names for terrible things. Yet they truly summed up what these things were and how they killed. Gunmen had all manner of modern and old firearms growing out of their limbs, Gorgers devoured anything or anyone they could get their stubby fingers on, the always burning Arsonists possessed a bizarre control over fire and Slashers with their bladed limbs more than lived up to their names.
Some people had suggested that given that all the Wraiths had at least a near human form and their unusual supernatural nature that were the spirits of dead people, twisted and corrupted into vengeful horrors. Last spring Mizuiro would have scoffed at the idea but after everything that had happened in the months since he found that such ideas far less crazy. Urahara had told them the basics of the Soul Society, soul reapers and how the dead moved on when he explained a bit of what Ichigo had been over the last months. However this place and the Wraiths did not match anything he had told them which truly did not bode well for them.
Keigo patted his shoulder, drawing Mizuiro from thoughts. "Come on we get going before-"
"Ring-a-ring-a-roses, a pocket full of posies," a child's voice sang out, sending shutters of dread down the teens' spines. "Hush! Hush! Hush! Hush! We're all tumbled down."
With saying a word the three took off, running as fast and as far as their legs could take them. Neither of them dared to look back at what could be behind them. For the only other time they had heard that rhyme they found their old hideout in Karakura High a mess, the rest of their original group on the floor, walls and ceiling…
…at least what was left of them.
Whatever that thing that sang in a child's voice was, it was vicious and extremely dangerous. Maybe Ichigo with all his strength and power could stand up to it but the three of them would ended as little more than red stains and bloody chunks littering the alley.
"We want to play!" another voice called out. "Come and play us!"
"Yes play with us! It will be ever so much fun," a third added.
"Chased by freaking little girls!" Keigo exclaimed as they ran. "This place is freaking insane!"
"We know already!" Tatsuki shot back. "We heard you the first hundred times!"
"Ring-a-ring-a-roses, a pocket full of posies! Hush! Hush! Hush! Hush! We're all tumbled down!" the girls started singing again and again together.
No matter how far they ran, no matter how much they zigzagged through the streets and alleys, the singing never stopped. The things chasing them weren't and wouldn't tire out, they on the other hand was an entirely different story. Mizuiro's lungs were beginning to burn while his legs were starting to feel like jelly. He wouldn't be able to keep this up much longer. Tatsuki seemed to be fairing a little better, Keigo however seemed to be in the same boat as him. If they couldn't lose them soon they were going to die.
They turned a corner into another alley only to come face to face with a pile of discarded boxes, a half-broken dumpster with a cluster of violet crystals growing from it and a large section of a building collapsed in front of their path. The singing was growing louder and louder behind them. There wasn't enough time to try climbing over the debris.
Keigo fell to his knees, a look of utter defeat etched into his pale face. "It's over…" he uttered. "It's all over…"
Mizuiro on the other hand was not about to give up, looking around for something, a door, a manhole cover, a window, anything that could allow them to escape. He wasn't alone though, Tatsuki was looking around as well. But there was nothing other than the boxes and the dumpster.
'Unless…' Mizuiro thought, pausing for a split second. 'Maybe we could…'
Acting quickly he grabbed Tatsuki's and Keigo's arms, dragging them over to the dumpster. "Get down and don't say a word," he whispered, crouching as close as he could to the metal garbage bin.
The others followed suit, pressing their bodies against the wall and him. Mizuiro had to place a hand on the dumpster to steady himself, silently praying that it work. Keigo put a hand on his shoulder, gripping it painfully tight in fear.
"Come out come out wherever you are," the things that weren't girls called out as reached the alley.
The echoing sounds of tiny feet and the heavy thudding of his beeping heart filled Mizuiro's ears. 'Please don't come any closer,' he mentally prayed. 'Please don't see don't see us. Please for once, just once let luck be on our side.'
Then the things chasing them stepped into view and Mizuiro's heart skipped a beat. Outwardly the things were pale skinned, dark haired little girls in light blue dresses. But their eyes…their eyes were pools of pure blackness.
"Where are you? Don't you want to play with us?" one said, clutching a little rag doll.
"Yes. We want to play," another added. "So please come out and play us."
The third girl turned her head towards them, staring straight at them. Mizuiro froze as he found himself looking directly into those eyes. They terrified him; they truly, truly terrified him. Within those eyes were nothing but pure malice and hatred despite the innocent form that held those eyes.
Yet despite the meeting of their eyes the girl-thing did not react, continuing to scan around for any sign of them. None of those things seemed to be able to see them, visibly upsetting the things-that-weren't-girls. "Where did they go?" one asked.
"No fair! We were playing tag not hide and seek!" another cried out, stomping her feet and shaking her arms like a child throwing a tantrum.
Shrieking laughter filled the air, signaling the arrival of more leapers on the rooftops of the buildings around the alley. The leapers' eyes were locked upon the girls, baring their fangs. The girls were not intimidated in the slightest, joyful smiles spreading across their faces.
"Will you play with us?" one asked innocently.
The leapers howled as they jumped from the rooftops, eager to rip them all apart.
What happened next was a truly disturbing sight. The leapers were crushed in pulp, brutally smashed against walls, ripped to pieces or thrown high into the air before slamming back to the ground. Within less than a minute some two dozen leapers were dead, killed by three little girls that had not so much as raised a hand against them while they giggled and laughed like any child at play. Gore, blood and mangled body parts littered much of the alley. The girls however were completely clean. Not so much as a speck of blood dirtying their dresses.
"Aw…we broke them," one girl whined as she picked up a severed leaper head and shaking like it was some kind of broken toy.
Another child-thing grabbed the head from her fellow and threw it into the air where it exploded like a popped balloon. "Let's find more playmates!" she said with a giggle.
The other two starting jumping up and down, cheering loudly in joy. "Yes! More playmates! More games!"
With that the girls left, singing their rhyme as the faded away like Wraith did one they had temporary slated their bloodlust. Only once they were gone and their song a fading echo on the wind did Mizuiro allow himself to breathe again. Somehow they had survived the encounter which was more than most could say.
"Holy shit…" an absolutely terrified Keigo uttered, still squatting down. "Those…those…"
Tatsuki stood up and nodded her head. "We saw it Asano. We saw it." She turned to the two of them with a look of concern. "How did we survive that?"
Prying Keigo's hand from his shoulder, Mizuiro merely shook his. "No idea," he replied, standing up as well. "For some reason they couldn't see us."
"But they looked straight at us. They should have seen us," the brown haired boy said, trembling with distress and disbelief. "They should have…"
Keigo's words trailed off but they both knew what was trying to say. The three of them should be dead right now, torn apart by those things like the leapers had been. Yet somehow they still were among those living in this dark nightmare of a world. Maybe death wasn't the worst thing in this world, maybe it was being forced to live here.
"Kojima your hand's bleeding," Tatsuki suddenly commented, pointing at his right hand.
Mizuiro glanced down at his hand where a cut ran along his palm. It didn't look too deep but it was bleeding a little bit. His eyes darted over to the broken dumpster where his hand had been. However the blood was not on the broken metal but rather on the edge of one of the violent crystals. He had cut his hand on one of the crystals that they had all agreed not to touch. "Yeah," he said, turning to the other two. "I must have cut it on the dumpster."
If Tatsuki could tell he was lying she gave no indication. "Well we better get back and get that cleaned up." The girl then turned to the still trembling Keigo. "I think he needs some tea or something to calm himself down."
Mizuiro nodded his head, sticking his injured hand into a pocket. "Yeah…"
All and all I rather like how this one turned out, both the idea and what I wrote. And it's easily number one on the list of stories I should write. Though if someone really likes this idea and would like to take it up themselves, just ask and I'll share with you the full idea and perhaps even some of the discarded ideas related to this one.
Oh and the two minor characters featured in this page are actual Karakura High students, just very, very minor ones.