Guardian Angel
Chapter 11
Home Sweet Home
Disclaimer: Bleach is not mine.
Okay, so this is the last actual chapter, not counting the epilogue. After I finish said epilogue, I'll start work on Guardian Angel II. I just want to say right now, that this is, unfortunately, not one of my better chapters in my opinion. I'm pretty sleep deprived, so forgive the poor quality.
On one last note, I just wanted to thank all you readers out there for sticking with this story all the way through. I'd like to make special notice to my three top readers: Human. Vizard for being my first reviewer, HistugayaToshiro96 for volunteering a plethora of idea's for the upcoming sequel, and Kuroi Amaya for her enthusiastic encouragement. You three made writing this story worth wild, and I'd be honored to see you reviewing the sequel.
Let's get this last one out of the way.
Matt had finally been released an hour ago from the infirmary. The doctors insisted that he say another few hours to recover more fully, but Matt was certain they were convinced when he threw both said doctors through the wall when they wouldn't let him leave. His wounds had already healed quite nicely; they had some killer medicine in the Soul Society. The only wound that hadn't quite repaired itself yet was where Toshiro had delivered his final slash to his torso.
He had gathered up Gabriel, the cloak that Ichigo had given him back in Karakura town, and his brand new Deputy badge which he had tied around his waist and wore it with pride. He was congratulated by almost everyone he passed; apparently news traveled quick in the Soul Society.
He was coming up on the gate that led back to the world of the living. As he approached said gate, he noticed four more figures than the usual two guards. Once he was close enough, he saw Nathan, Rukia, captain Jushiro, and Toshiro; they were all standing there waiting for him.
"Hey everybody, come to see me off?" he asked cheerily.
"That, and we have some last few things to discuss," said Jushiro.
"Like what?"
"Well, while you were recovering last night, we arranged everything back in Seattle for your return."
Matt was still confused. "I'm still not following."
"For starters, we augmented the memories of your family and family friends so they'd forget about your death. Next, we also augmented the police' memories and wiped all records of your death from the computers," explained Nathan.
"What about the news channels, I'm sure they reported about me?"
"Not to worry, I won't go into all the details, but we released a report last night through the media. It said that there was an error and your name came up by accident, if anyone asks, you've been at camp for the last two weeks or so," continued Nathan.
"There was a lot more effort that went into it than what we've told you, but basically, no one will even remember you died, it'll be like you just went away for a while. We already have a gigai waiting for you when you get back. You can return to your family and your regular life, but still be a Soul Reaper at the same time," finished Jushiro.
Matt stood there dumbfounded. "Wow, and you guys did this all in one night?"
Nathan shrugged. "Hey, those special forces guys are fast."
"You used the special forces for that?" Matt laughed.
"All that work and that's the thanks we get?" said Rukia sarcastically.
Matt put up has hands defensively.
"No, no, I'm grateful. I appreciate what you guys did, seriously."
Nathan smiled and put his hand, which Matt responded to by giving him a high five, then moved on to Jushiro, who put a hand on his shoulder and smiled. Rukia gave him another hug, which he was able to return this time, and finally came up to Toshiro.
"Well, I guess I'll see ya around Frosty."
Before he took another step though, Toshiro extended his hand to Matt. The silver haired captain refused to make eye contact, but still offered his hand. Matt smiled and took it, gripping it firmly.
"See ya, I guess," he mumbled.
"Remember, I'll be back for a rematch, so be ready," Matt warned.
As Matt was about to finally walk through the gate, Jushiro stopped him. He looked up at the white haired man with a confused look.
"There is one last thing you should know."
"What is it?"
"You friend Holly, she's become spiritually aware."
Matt's eyes bulged at his words. "Are you serious?"
"Yes, she spotted a Soul Reaper assigned you Seattle yesterday, her memory is the only one that hasn't been altered. I thought that she would be helpful in performing your duties if you explained everything to her."
"Alright, thanks for the heads up."
Jushiro smiled again. "Not a problem, now I suggest you get moving, you have duties to fulfill now."
"Right. Well, I'll see you all around, I promise not to be a stranger."
He took one last look at everyone, then stepped through the gate. Before he knew it, he was now standing on soft grass and was staring at bunches of trees. He realized he was standing in the park, not his favorite spot, but he was still in the park. He looked around, and his gigai was stashed behind a bush and leaning against a tree. It was dressed in blue jeans and a black T-shirt with the Linkin Park logo on the front. (I love those guys.)
He jumped in and melded with the physical body. After a moment of getting comfortable, he shook his limbs to make sure the body worked properly. When he was satisfied, he walked out onto the cobblestone walkways. His clothes fit perfectly and he could still feel his reiatsu, so he could at least still use kido in a crunch.
"Ah, thank you special forces," he said to himself as he stretched out with his spiritual senses. He decided that his first order of business would be to find Holly and get the whole, 'I'm still dead but I'm also not', thing out of the way. She wasn't hard to find, the only spiritually powerful being besides her and him were a few other Soul Reapers in the city. He actually sensed that she was close by, but there was something else that made his heart race; there were three other spiritual pressures around her, and they weren't Soul Reapers.
How in Gods name did she get herself into this mess? She just came here to relax, to be alone, to get away from everything that normally made her life so hard. This place had always been so tranquil, always provided her with a sense of peace. But now, now this place was filled with nothing but fear and dread.
She sat on her knees, facing three horrible creatures that she couldn't even guess where they came from. They were all different shades of brown and green, but they all had one thing in common, they all wore skeletal masks. Their presence was cold and empty, and their laughs were chilling to the bone. Fear filled Holly's eyes, and tears threatened to spill out her eyes any second.
The middle creature suddenly raised its hand, and prepared to bring it down on her. As it did this though, she felt a new sensation enter the mix; it was warm and comforting, like she'd known it for years. Then, out of no where, and red beam shot past her and collided with the creatures head, knocking it over and causing it to disintegrate. The next thing she knew, a pair of strong arms picked her up and carried her to the other side of the pond in the clearing.
She was put down gently and looked up at her savior, and the face stopped her cold. The deep blue eyes, the raven black hair, he was even wearing the same clothes he was wearing the day he died; it was Matt. He looked down at her and smiled like nothing was wrong.
"What's up Holly," he said nonchalantly.
"M-matt...how did..."
"Don't worry about that right now, at the moment I've got a job to do," he said standing up, pulling out a brown talisman looking object. He walked straight up to the two creatures left, who were much more nervous now. He held up the object and stared them down.
"Who are you?" asked one of the creatures.
"Name's Matt Anderson, newly instated Deputy class Soul Reaper. I do believe you two boys are in violation of some rules here, namely the assault and attempted consumption of a human soul."
Holly sat behind him, not quite understanding what exactly was going on. What were these things, what was a Soul Reaper, for that matter, how was Matt here?
She cut her own thoughts short as she watched intently at Matt's movements. He held up his hand and pointed out his index and middle fingers, pointing one at either of the two creatures. Suddenly they began to glow in a white aura at their tips.
"Way of Destruction 4: White Lightning."
Two small but fast white beams erupted from Matt's hands and shot the creatures in the head. They both disintegrated before they hit the ground, leaving nothing behind. With that, Matt turned around and returned to where Holly was sitting in a total state of confusion and awe.
"M-matt..." she managed to get out.
"I know...we have a lot to talk about. What say we head back to my house and I'll explain everything," he said, holding out his hand.
She slowly took it and nodded. He smiled, lifted her up easily, and led her out of the clearing.
Things only got weirder for Holly when they arrived at Matt's house. For one, his parents were acting completely normal, they even asked him how camp was; what was that about? Not only that, but when they arrived at his room, all his stuff was still there, even though she'd seen his parents pack up most of it just a few days ago. There was no way they could have put everything back in order like that, it was so weird.
Then the weirdest things of all came. Matt began his explanation of what had transpired in the clearing and what had happened to him the last two, almost three weeks. He talked about people he'd met, tried to explain where he'd been and why she could see all these strange things. It was all so confusing, but she was honestly trying to understand.
"Okay, so let me see if I understand everything. You're died and became a...Soul Reaper, which is sort of like a police officer for ghosts. You were in Japan being trained by this guy named Ichigo. Now your living in an artificial body and everyone's minds have been erased so it was like you never died?"
He shrugged. "That's the basic gist of it, yeah."
"So if everyone had their minds erased or something, how come I remember everything?" she asked, still confused.
"Because, you're spiritually aware. You can see Soul Reapers and Hollows; most people can't. You would have found out eventually anyway, plus, the Soul Society thought you might be helpful."
"Helpful? How would I be helpful?"
"You can spot Hollows; plus, if you're spiritually aware, you might develop some unique abilities of your own," he explained.
"So...what happens now?"
Matt just shrugged. "Nothing, I go back to living here. Gigai age just like humans do. Granted my true Soul Reaper form will age much slower, but I'll still look the right age in this thing. The only real difference here is that I'll be fighting Hollows and such; other than that, it's back to normal."
"Normal isn't quite the word I'd use," commented Holly.
"Okay, point taken."
He laid down on his bed and spread out on it, sighing in comfort. He looked out the window next to his bead and stared out at the Seattle skyline.
"Man, it's good to be back."
"It's good to have you back, things were so different without you here," she admitted.
He lifted his head and grinned.
"Yeah well, you don't have to worry about me going anywhere this time."
She sighed and sat down next to him on his bed.
"Good, there's been too much drama lately, a little normalcy would be nice."
The two sat there for a while in silence, both of them absorbing everything that had happened lately. Matt thinking about all the battles and training, and Holly was thinking about all the soul searching he'd done.
"So, tomorrow is Saturday, you wanna do something?"
"Yeah, we could go see a moving or something."
Matt cocked his eyebrow. "What, no dates with Brandon or something like that?"
At the mention of that jackass she felt a pang of guilt.
"No, I dumped him a week ago."
Matt smiled at this; hell, he even laughed.
"I can't say I'm not happy to hear it," he admitted.
"You don't need to worry either; I'm never skipping out on another Saturday again."
He laughed again and sat up. "Well, we've got some free time now, let's head to the arcade."
Holly nodded and followed Matt out of his house. As they headed down the sidewalk though, Matt's badge began to go off and he sensed a Hollow nearby. He sighed and brought out the badge.
"Can you look after my gigai for a while?"
She nodded. "Go on, it's your job after all."
He gripped the badge and popped out of his artificial body, revealing his robed Soul Reaper form with the brown cloak that Ichigo had given him.
"I'll be back in about ten minutes," he said, and gave a quick salute before leaping off after the Hollow.
Holly held onto the limp gigai and sighed.
'Yeah...this is definitely going take getting used to.' She thought to herself as she dragged the gigai back into the house. Despite how weird everything had gotten though, she couldn't help but smile. For better or worse, she had her best friend back, and life would be anything but boring now.
Okay, maybe not the best ending, but we still have the epilogue coming. It'll act as the bridge between the events of this story and the sequel. I'm sorry if this chapter was a little lame, but I'm kinda sleep deprived as it is, so cut me some slack please.
The epilogue will be better I promise, and the sequel will be much longer than this one was. If I had to classify this story, I'd describe it more as an interlude or an introduction to the sequel than an actual stand-alone story. What I'm trying to say is that what happened here really just set up the actual story.